People-focused knowledge management

Provide Formal Education and Training. Utilize methods
ranging from in-house courses and seminars with employees as
instructors to external corporate university arrangements. The
objectives are to provide employees with greater expertise in
areas that are considered important for corporate success
according to the reigning management philosophy. They can
range from hands-on training classes to gain proficiency in per-
forming concrete tasks to learning critical thinking and acquir-
ing metaknowledge to general education in areas such as
environmental and social systems.
Foster Communities and Networks of Practice. Facilitate 
collaboration and socializing by people with similar or identical
responsibilities within an organization (community of practice).
The purpose is to enable these individuals to share experiences
and insights and collaborate to find innovative solutions applic-
able to their daily work. Networks of practice are formed by
people with similar functions from different organizations
(Dawson 2003).
Conduct Town Meetings and Conduct Knowledge Cafés. Town
meetings refer to assemblies of many employees in one facility
to be briefed on a topic (such as new corporate strategy) and to
then discuss the topic and provide feedback on how it is per-
ceived by the attendees. Knowledge cafés refer to group sessions
in which a number of people (from a small number to several
hundred) are assembled to discuss the implications of some topic
that affects them and their organization. Typically, the knowl-
edge café is conducted by presenting the topic and its back-
ground to the group. This presentation is followed by brief 
(5 to 15 minutes) discussions by small groups (five or fewer
persons) of the implications and what they may mean for the
participants. The groups are then scrambled, and discussions 
are repeated, often for four or five cycles before summaries are
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collected. Often, continued informal discussions are encouraged
for days or weeks.