I understand Mr. Wilson’s disgust with management fads – I feel the same way when I hear people babbling about different buzzwords.  Most of the time these principles are not understood by the people who preach and use them.  I am inclined to think that Mr. Wilson’s vitriolic essay against Knowledge Management is driven less by an actual desire to urge against Knowledge Management than it is by a desire to squash the mindless managers who spout KM garbage.  Judging by his rhetoric, he feels a good deal of disgust toward this kind of person, and he makes no attempt to soften the blow or let KM proponents down easily.

            My initial reaction to his arguments is to say that he is arguing against the ineffective and often ignorant way that KM has been applied and used.  Managers are no different from other people: they have a tendency to overuse and misuse something that they like.  Wilson’s arguments however, do not, as he says, preclude any sort of KM operation.  Many of the other fads that have emerged and disappeared over the last twenty years are not completely dead – TQM, for example, has simply entered the collective consciousness.  It is no longer talked about so much because its worth is understood and it is used where appropriate without the need for preaching.  It is entirely possible that the same will be true of KM in 15 years.

 

Ares Casai