Leading Organizational Learning

chosen a type of reasoning in which the interaction with the
Japanese created a bond that enabled knowledge to be stored on
the network.

Top-Down Versus Bottom-Up Knowledge

Specifics about clients and products are stored in the heads of indi-
vidual staff members. Middle management translates these into
information that is in turn organized as knowledge by top manage-
ment. For effective knowledge management, the reconciliation of
this dilemma can be found in “middle-up-down,” in which middle
management is the bridge between the standards of top manage-
ment and the chaotic reality of those on the front lines. The other
way around is the knowledge of top management, which is often
just as crucial in organizing and defining the information coming
from within the organization.

Inside-Out to Outside-In Knowledge

Effective knowledge management is not constrained by the walls
of the organization. Inner-oriented cultures prefer to start from
enhancing the internal processes. Externally oriented cultures pre-
fer to start with the insights and needs of the client. The internal
and external environments need to be amalgamated to attain not
a “balanced” but an “integrated” organization, in which the client
has a direct influence on internal processes, which in turn serves to
increase the knowledge of the client.

Conclusion

In all of these dilemmas, the context of organizational culture dic-
tates the preference or the starting point of reconciliation, but
effective knowledge management is dictated by the integration of
rules and exceptions, group and individual, explicit and implicit,
top and bottom, and inner and outer worlds.

16 LEADINGORGANIZATIONALLEARNING