I have started again with my most favorite course (Knowledge management and management learning: the biology of business) that I am doing together with my wife Erna. For the students, the first few powerpoints are available on the readings page. At the same time I have taken over from a colleague the fundamental in Management in Complexity, a course that I have been doing for a number of years but stopped a few years ago. In fact, my book "Organisational learning and knowledge technologies in a dynamic environment" (1998) was the first version of my course book. It has evolved ever since.
I understood better that knowledge is less of a technological matter (though that was already argued in that book). It is more about the purpose of business, the network of cooperating people (that are willing to share and co-create) and above all of a different philosophical perspective.
I can suggest a very interesting article in that respect of Ed Weymes (Waikato Management School): A challenge to traditional management theory. According to him, the historic and possibly arcane purpose of business, to maximize shareholder wealth, is no longer a relevant proposition. It is according to him timely to reflect on the purpose of business as adding value to society and rejecting the focus on accumulation of personal wealth.
Knowledge-creating enterprises (according to Ed) are founded on the development of sustainable relationships within the organisation and with stakeholders and thus require a different philosophical perspective.
