Publications

Organizing Knowledge: Taxonomies, Knowledge and Organizational Effectiveness by Patrick Lambe

imagePatrick Lambe published his second major book in 2007, entitled Organising Knowledge: Taxonomies, Knowledge and Organisation Effectiveness - and it’s now available! It explains the role that taxonomies play in organizational life, how they support the objectives of knowledge management, and gives practical guidance on how to set up a taxonomy project.

Taxonomies are often thought to play a niche role within content-oriented knowledge management projects. They are thought to be ‘nice to have’, but not essential. In this groundbreaking book, Patrick Lambe shows how they play an integral role in helping organizations coordinate and communicate effectively. Through a series of case studies, he demonstrates the range of ways in which taxonomies can help organizations to leverage and articulate their knowledge. A step-by-step guide in the book to running a taxonomy project is full of practical advice for knowledge managers and business owners alike.

Visit the book’s webpage at www.organisingknowledge.com to preview selections from the book, and see comments by readers. Buy the book online from the Straits Knowledge Store.

Posted by Patrick on 17/04/06 at 12:06 PM | Categories: Taxonomy | | Permalink

Governing and Managing Knowledge in Asia edited by Thomas Menkhoff et al

This collection of papers examines the role of knowledge management and knowledge governance in Asia. It contains a case study by Patrick Lambe in the form of a “decision game” on KM challenges faced by the fictional Knowledge Research Institute of Singapore. This chapter is taken from our 2003 research report, KM Implementation Challenges: Case Studies from Singapore Organisations.

Buy the book from Amazon

Find out more about the research report

Posted by Patrick on 14/12/05 at 11:51 AM | Categories: KM Applied, KM Critiqued, Leadership | | Permalink

People, Knowledge and Technology edited by Bruno Trezzini, Patrick Lambe and Suliman Hawamdeh

This collection of papers from the First International Conference on Knowledge Management (iCKM 2004) offers insights into the state-of-the-art in KM and the challenges lying ahead. Grouped into six themes — communities and collaboration, knowledge sharing, culture as context, knowledge management strategies, knowledge creation, and knowledge discovery — authors provide thought-provoking theoretical and practical discussions, through quantitative analyses and detailed case-studies. iCKM 2004 was organized by the Information and Knowledge Management Society (iKMS), a non-profit society dedicated to the promotion of KM theory and practice.

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Posted by Patrick on 21/12/04 at 11:44 AM | Categories: KM Applied, KM Critiqued | | Permalink

Challenges of Doing Business in China: Case studies for SMEs by Patrick Lambe and Edgar Tan

This series of six case studies was published by Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) in November 2003. The research project was conducted as a knowledge transfer exercise, seeking to elicit the complex knowledge of experienced China hands and packaging this knowledge in the form of “decision games” - interactive case studies designed for individual or group use.

Read about the findings here (Part 1) and here (Part 2)

Read about the methodology here

The full report may be purchased at S$20.05/ S$21.92 (SIM members/ Non-members) by contacting

Posted by Patrick on 20/11/03 at 11:01 AM | Categories: Knowledge Transfer | | Permalink

Global Knowledge Renaissance edited by National Library Board

This collection of papers from the World Library Summit hosted by the Singapore National Library Board in 2002 contains an introduction by Patrick Lambe entitled “The Knowledge Wizards”.

Read the introduction here

Buy the book from Marshall Cavendish

Posted by Patrick on 10/12/02 at 11:17 AM | Categories: Innovation, KM Competencies, Risk & Uncertainty | | Permalink

Rethinking Knowledge edited by Kim Sbarcea

This 2002 collection of articles is edited by Kim Sbarcea and contains a chapter by Patrick Lambe: “Wittgenstein’s Ladder: or the coming irrelevance of knowledge managers”.

Read Patrick’s chapter here

Buy the book from Lexis-Nexis

Posted by Patrick on 09/10/02 at 10:11 AM | Categories: KM Competencies, KM Critiqued | | Permalink

The Blind Tour Guide: Surviving and Prospering in the New Economy by Patrick Lambe

What has the new economy got to do with blind tour guides? In what ways are new economy CEOs similar to deceased Viking heroes? Why do geeks,women and criminals seem better adapted to the needs of the 21st century?

In this highly readable book, published in 2002, Patrick Lambe explores the impact of technological change on business and working life, providing a frontline view of the day-to-day changes that accompany one of the most incredible transformations of society in the world today - the much debated new economy.

Though the book’s context and perspective are written from Singapore, the issues discussed are global ones. The thoughtful analysis and engaging style of its British writer range widely over new economy issues from the forests of Sweden (becoming rapidly depleted of women), to the cyber cafes of Kazakhstan (where teenagers eye Australian immigration rules).

Along the way he makes brief forays into history to display the older resonances with how humankind has adapted to technological change in the past, and to draw pointers for how organizations can continue to learn, innovate and manage risk in the connected economy.

Read a sample chapter

Buy the book online

Posted by edgar on 17/05/02 at 04:37 PM | Categories: Culture, Innovation, Leadership, Risk & Uncertainty | | Permalink