Saturday, August 18, 2007

Patrick Lambe's double whammy (2): sin

PL's second presentation is on virtues & vices in KM. I have less to say about this because it is in some ways gentler than his IIM broadside. Patrick uses the notion of "sin" & "virtue" to map positive & negative behaviours in the KM space. The concept of sin* presupposes a universal standard of measurement - do we have that yet in KM? We seem to be developing patterns (& anti-patterns). And this rogues/saints gallery strikes me as being a very useful set of (anti-)patterns.

Unlike Patrick, I was not raised in the Catholic tradition but rather an evangelical Protestant one - which due to its lack of a global hierarchy is both more dynamic and more vulnerable to charismatic conmen & demagogues. KM, like many emerging business ideas, is also vulnerable to such figures - as opposed to an established (necrotic?) field like librarianship. Beware anyone that offers you the truth, they are generally trying to sell you something.

*This metaphor trips the jesuit in me. In what contexts might sin not be sinful? The bad behaviours that Patrick identifies emerge because they benefit those that practice them - often those benefits may be short term and limited to that individual (rather than their organisation / clients/ wider KM community). But there are benefits none the less.

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