People-focused knowledge management

Structural Enterprise Reference Models
Governance
Approach
Models
Situation
Recognition
Models
Decision-Making/
Problem-Solving
Models
Execution
Method
Models
Enterprise Intellectual Capital Assets & Other Capabilities
Systems and Procedures – Structural Intellectual Capital – Employee
Sensemaking
Decision-Making and
Problem-Solving
Implementation
Monitoring
Enterprise Governance Competence and Perspectives
Enterprise
Situational
Awareness
Enterprise
Action Space
and Innovation
Capability
Enterprise
Execution
Capability
Situation
Information
Understanding
of 
Situation
Decision:
Selected
Action-
Option
Feedback
Feedback
Feedback
Guidance & Corrective
Adjustment
Guidance & Corrective
Adjustment
Action
Actions
to Change
Situation
Effective
Enterprise
Action
Figure 6-1
Organizational situation-handling depends on the enterprise’s structural
knowledge (IC) assets and capabilities. Copyright © 2001 Knowledge Research
Institute, Inc. and Karl M. Wiig. Reproduced with permission.
ch06.qxd 5/3/04 2:34 PM Page 161

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upon general capabilities such as employee competence and behav-
iors, structural IC, and the embedded capabilities in systems and 
procedures as discussed earlier.
There is a pronounced difference between information and knowl-
edge within the enterprise. Situation information, we emphasize, is
very different from reference models and other knowledge assets.
Effective enterprise situation-handling requires good personal and
structural knowledge (IC) assets and, separately, good information
about situations. Hence, effective information management becomes
an important aspect of the enterprise’s ability to act effectively in both
routine and complex situations. This attains particular importance
when dealing with unexpected events where the need for compre-
hensive information may be required to understand the situation
appropriately.
3
The Four Enterprise Situation-Handling Tasks
The four primary tasks of situation-handling occur everywhere in
the enterprise. In numerous, almost countless, occasions, situations
must be identified, assessed, and handled. As they are handled,
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People-Focused Knowledge Management