Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Gaby Neumann and Eduardo Tomé
example <strong>the</strong> logistics one, even nowadays <strong>the</strong>re is still a slack implementation <strong>of</strong> KM into practice
(Neumann and Tomé 2006) indicating a serious delay in <strong>the</strong> evolution at least – obviously because <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> bad reputation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> term KM and all ideas related to this (and <strong>the</strong> deeper than normal valley KM
evolution has to go through).
visibility
technology
trigger
peak <strong>of</strong>
inflated
expectations
trough <strong>of</strong>
disillusionment
slope <strong>of</strong>
enlightenment
plateau <strong>of</strong>
productivity
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
maturity
Figure 1: The Knowledge Management Hype Cycle [adapted from Fraunh<strong>of</strong>er 2005]
Since <strong>the</strong>n, science in all KM-related areas has been working to overcome this, amongst o<strong>the</strong>rs by
changing focus from <strong>the</strong> IT and accounting perspective towards an integrated, application-driven and
process-oriented view. Never<strong>the</strong>less, <strong>the</strong>re is still a wide-range uncertainty about how to best
introduce and run KM in practice, <strong>the</strong> methods and tools that might be applied and <strong>the</strong> way this should
happen, how to gain maximum achievements, or what to measure and how to evaluate <strong>the</strong>ir outcome
and impact. Precisely this kind <strong>of</strong> uncertainty keeps company managers away from practically dealing
with what <strong>the</strong>oretically everybody agrees with: knowledge has become a strategic resource directly
enabling a company’s fur<strong>the</strong>r performance at <strong>the</strong> market if used and handled carefully or eventually
causing a company to vanish from <strong>the</strong> market if ignored or treated inexpediently.
After ten years in <strong>the</strong> KM scene, <strong>the</strong> authors <strong>of</strong> this paper think it is necessary and it is time to put
forward <strong>the</strong> new concept <strong>of</strong> a knowledge clinic (KC). The KC aims at dealing with knowledge-based
and knowledge-related problems in a way corresponding to a medical perspective. Therefore,
knowledge can be described, <strong>the</strong> problems detected, <strong>the</strong> solutions selected, and if possible
implemented. The main reason for <strong>the</strong> existence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> knowledge clinic is that nowadays, <strong>the</strong> main
problem organizations face, is not to know that knowledge is important, but ra<strong>the</strong>r how to manage
knowledge. In consequence we may state that companies have doubts about what in fact is <strong>the</strong>ir
particular need for knowledge or knowledge-based interventions, and how to solve that problem. In
order to introduce <strong>the</strong> concept, Section 2 enumerates <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>oretical background underlining <strong>the</strong>
existence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> KC before in Section 3 <strong>the</strong> idea <strong>of</strong> KC is explained in detail. Finally, Section 4
presents conclusions, limitations, implications and suggestions for fur<strong>the</strong>r research including details
on <strong>the</strong> possible implementation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> KC.
2. Theoretical Background: What <strong>the</strong>ories and concepts may base a KC?
2.1 The underlying concepts
In this paper it is assumed that knowledge is understood information and that information is classified
data. It is also assumed that knowledge and information are possessed by people, organizations and
regions.
Knowledge management (KM) is defined as having two different meanings:
The activities performed by all those that have to manage <strong>the</strong>ir knowledge;
The scientific body <strong>of</strong> work made by scientists trying to make sense <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mentioned activities.
As a management activity, KM is essentially made by “knowledge” persons, companies,
organizations, regions or countries. Those social and economic entities possess more intellectual
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