Articles
How The Mighty Are Fallen
In ancient Nordic legend, when warrior heroes die they go to Valhalla, a place of great feasting, golden mead and limitless food. After sating themselves on wine women and song, they turn to their favourite sport, mortal combat. They fight till only one is left standing. Yet in the morning they rise again, whole and complete, to start their heavenly round of feeding and fighting again.
Posted by edgar on 18/07/00 at 02:04 PM | Categories: KM Competencies, Leadership | Permalink
Becoming A New Economy Manager
There is no single digital divide. The digital divide is not simply a matter of the gap between technology haves and have-nots. Behind this simple description of the rift there are deeper and bleaker gaps in literacy, skill and attitude that few of us see – even in ourselves. While commonly described as a special problem with the lesser-educated older worker in Singapore, these fault lines actually cross the entire spectrum of employment from operator to chief executive, and across the range of organisational forms. Failure to address these gaps will mean failure for workers in the market for employment and it will mean failure for organisations in the market for customers.
Posted by edgar on 11/07/00 at 01:58 PM | Categories: KM Competencies, Leadership | Permalink
The New Landscape of Risk
Why then are we suddenly asking our managers to pursue risk? It is not that the manager’s job in the new economy has changed, and risk of itself suddenly brings automatic rewards. It doesn’t. We are as prone today to loss through folly, fraud and failed predictions as we ever have been – indeed, in these volatile times, some would say more prone. We desperately need sound and prudent management of the risks we are pursuing – and that means risk aversion on a scale to balance the risk pursuance of the markets.
Posted by edgar on 25/04/00 at 01:52 PM | Categories: Risk & Uncertainty | Permalink
Buying Into Risk
Investors love risk, managers dislike it. Risk provides an alternative to making money by the sweat of your brow. Putting money into a risky situation is what makes profit. For those who doubt this, take a look at the insurance industry – a business wholly devoted to the assessment and conversion of risk to financial premium. In Singapore alone, about 35,000 people (almost 2% of the workforce) are either wholly or partly employed in this industry. The assets of the industry in Singapore grew by more than 50% in the two years of the Asian financial crisis to S$31 billion. Over the last five years the annual growth rate has
averaged 16%, reaching revenues of almost S$8 billion in 1998. There is a lot of money in risk.
Posted by edgar on 18/04/00 at 01:48 PM | Categories: Risk & Uncertainty | Permalink
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and the Technology Trap
There is a type of obsessive compulsive disorder which involves a mania for counting, cataloguing, tidying mundane objects over and over again. It is classified as an anxiety disorder, and 23 million Americans suffer from it. We all suffer from it in one form or another, if you loosen up the definition a little. Do you remember the examination study schedules drawn up meticulously in different coloured inks, which took so long to perfect, that your study plan fell behind, and you had to revise the plan? Pretty soon, you are spending most of your time on getting the plan right, and not doing much actual studying.
Posted by edgar on 07/03/00 at 12:31 PM | Categories: KM Critiqued | Permalink
Gutenberg’s Periscope: Or Why We Need to Know What We Don’t Know
Most knowledge management theorists will rally around the motto: “If only we knew what we knew”. In fact, quite often, it’s not the knowledge that’s resident within a company that’s important. It’s the knowledge that the company doesn’t have, and doesn’t even know exists.
Posted by edgar on 02/02/00 at 01:45 PM | Categories: Risk & Uncertainty | Permalink
Fashion, Magic and Knowledge Management
Let’s be completely honest about this. Knowledge management is a fad. And like most things faddish and fashionable, it’s going to make you look good, it’s going to make you feel good, and it’s going to cost you a lot of money. The only thing is, in a couple of year’s time you are going to throw it aside and run after something else.
Posted by edgar on 18/01/00 at 12:24 PM | Categories: KM Critiqued | Permalink
A - Z of Knowledge Management
Knowledge Management is one of the biggest buzz words to hit management practice in Singapore since the ISO 9001 bandwagon started four or five years ago. If, as a Training or HR Manager, you are hoping it will pass you by, you are sorely mistaken. The Singapore government is deeply committed to investing in the human capital of Singapore, and the concept of the “knowledge based economy” is almost a national mantra. Just do some sums: if the Productivity and Standards Board and the Skills Development Fund are committed to supporting half the workforce (approximately 1.2 million people) on the national Critical Enabling Skills Training (CREST) programme by the year 2003, at a maximum of $320 per person for each of seven modules, that is a commitment worth S$1.4 billion over 4 years.
Posted by edgar on 01/09/99 at 12:18 PM | Categories: KM Competencies | Permalink