The Roots of an Emerging Discipline

Abstract

{Excerpt} Organizations must become information based: (i) Knowledge workers are not amenable to command and control; (ii) In the face of unremitting competition, it is vital to systematize innovation and entrepreneurship; (iii) In a knowledge based economy, it is imperative to decide what information one needs to conduct one’s affairs. Knowledge is the result of learning and the process of identifying, creating, storing, sharing, and using it to enhance performance has always occupied man. The pursuit of any human activity leads to the acquisition by those involved of know-how about how that activity may be successfully conducted and, insofar as what is learned can be harnessed, subsequent practitioners—even later generations—can build on experience and avert costly rework. Even so, for much of history, applications of know-how were confined to farming and craftsmanship.