People-focused knowledge management

Knowledge
(Action-Oriented Operational and Governance IC Assets)
Mental Reference Models – Concepts – Understandings – Judgments – Principles – Facts
Sensemaking
Effective
Action
Actions
to Change
Situation
Situation
Situational
Awareness
Governance Competence and Perspectives
Action Space
and Innovation
Capability
Information
Understanding
of
Situation
Decision:
Selected
Action-
Option
Action
Feedback
Feedback
Feedback
Guidance & Corrective
Adjustment
Guidance & Corrective
Adjustment
Monitoring
Decision-Making /
Problem-Solving
Implementation
Execution
Capability
Figure 5-2
The personal Situation-Handling model — from situation information and
Sensemaking to implemented effective action. Copyright © 2001 Knowledge
Research Institute, Inc. Reproduced with permission.
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People-Focused Knowledge Management
In this model, the concept of Situational Awareness originated with
the evaluation and characterization of fighter pilot competences and
behaviors (Wickens 2002). The concept of Action Space was intro-
duced to us through the work of Dr. Ragnhild Sohlberg of Norsk
Hydro. The work on tacit and explicit decision making that supports
the following discussions is reported by many researchers, including
Bechara et al. (1997), Damasio (1994, 1999, 2003), Glimcher (2003),
Janis (1989), Klein (1998, 2002), and Simon (1976, 1977). Beyond
these contributions, the large body of research provides foundations
for understanding many aspects of knowing, learning, decision
making/problem solving, innovation, and creativity. For current 
perspectives on mental functions, see Bereiter (2002) and Fauconnier
and Turner (2002). For a brief, excellent, and readable overview of
tacit decision making and associated processes, see Stewart (2002a).
Given these and other sources, we can explain the four primary tasks
and their functional proficiencies. It also helps us to realize that in
the past we misunderstood how people handle situations and make
decisions. We once believed that decision making is a rational and
mostly conscious set of deliberations. These generally held miscon-
ceptions have misled — and still mislead — the development of many
KM-related management practices with results that at times are quite
disappointing.
For the newer perspectives, many researchers have contributed
greatly to this field. See, for example, Anderson (1981, 1983), 
Baddeley (1992a, 1992b), Boden (1990), Damasio (1994, 1999,
2003), Gazzaniga (2000), Halpern (1989), Ivry and Robertson
(1998), Janis (1989), Johnson-Laird (1983), Kahneman, Slovic, and
Tversky (1982), Krogh et al. (2000), Lakoff (1987), Lowen (1982),
Neves and Anderson (1981), Pinker (1997), Polanyi (1966), Posner
(1989), Schön (1983, 1987), and Singley and Anderson (1989).
Figure 5-2 introduces the notion that knowledge in various forms
directly influences the performance of the primary tasks by enabling
the functional proficiencies. From a knowledge perspective of 
situation-handling operations, we are particularly interested in the
roles that mental reference models have in increasing the effectiveness
and performance of each primary task.
As indicated, situations are rarely single events. Instead, they are
often ongoing situations that require repeated attention and multiple
actions. In general, situations are dynamic and can change substan-
tially over time, caused by internal dynamics and external actions.
From the decision maker’s point of view, a situation may appear to
evolve, for example, as a result of obtaining additional information
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A Knowledge Model for Personal Situation-Handling
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about a business opportunity. It could also be as a result of the 
situation itself changing — by external events, by itself, or by being
changed by the actions executed to manage it. New information, new
considerations, and new actions need to be pursued to manage it.
Figure 5-3 illustrates some of the complex interactions associated
with handling ongoing situations in greater detail than Figure 5-2.