Proceedings of 8th European Assembly on telework (Telework2001)

151On the other hand, the presence <strong>of</strong> technological networks implies an increase in the knowledgeworker’s autonomy/independence. He/she has to make decisions being able to rapidly consult his/her co-operation network (team, working groups, suppliers) with no need to involve a hierarchicalescalation. That hierarchy that is useful to keep together large organisations with a low connectivitylevel, here becomes a cultural and cybernetic obstacle for the organisation efficacy.It is clear how the work organisation design can no longer be set aside the technologicalinfrastructure that reduces the coordination costs. The infrastructure is not simply a service for theorganisation: it is its ‘alive’ skeleton, an inherent part <strong>of</strong> its reproduction processes. The design<strong>of</strong> the electronic work environment must be able to be part <strong>of</strong> the “biological” upcoming <strong>of</strong>communication and control processes. We can now synthesise some points for this designing:• The environment must connect in a single space all the knowledge workers involved in thespecific shared domain. This means that, in a transparent fashion, the environment consists inthe consensual domain in which the people are, time by time, involved• The environment must provide both real time (i.e. chat, whiteboard, audio/videocommunicationetc.) and asynchronic communications tools (e-mail, newsgroup, broadcast messages).• The environment must provide the possibility to share domain interrelated documents bymanaging ownership functions for in-progress files, up to versioning managing, depending onthe specific needs.• The environment must have functions that support the group coordination by favouring theflexible management <strong>of</strong> appointments and working processes.• The environment must allow the browsing <strong>of</strong> past files and process• The exit from the environment must coincide with the exit from the consensual domainAn environment that meets the above basic requirements allows to access all the communicationrelated to a domain therefore generating a Collaboratory. The project design <strong>of</strong> this infrastructureis not the making <strong>of</strong> a traditional s<strong>of</strong>tware application but rather it is the design <strong>of</strong> a cooperationnetwork through an electronic environment. The traditional idea <strong>of</strong> two different project designone for IT and one for the organisation has become a cultural obstacle against the networkpossibilities.«“You see it, don’t you? …!” Well, this is the typical way <strong>of</strong> expressing<strong>of</strong> someone constrained by a rule.» 165. Knowledge management: an ambiguous ideaIn the organisation ambit the issue <strong>of</strong> knowledge is particularly crucial. It becomes central in anycontext that enables language-based production processes supported by technological systems; inother words, where the interaction happens through communication flows, followed by the making<strong>of</strong> a product, an event, a s<strong>of</strong>tware, a certificate and so on.A knowledge management system should allow an organisation, to manage its experiences,processes, information to make them available to its human resources, project teams, to those whohave to cope and solve problems. Accordingly, a knowledge management system can be seen asa method that drives the human resources to share their experience/know-how deriving from the16 Ludwing Wittgenstein, Ricerche fi los<strong>of</strong>i che, Einaudi, 1967