Chapter Twenty-TwoThe Role of Change Management
in Knowledge Management
Marc J. Rosenberg
We often spend so much time introducing what seems to us as a
great idea that we fail to notice when people either don’t care
about it or don’t want it. Knowledge management (KM) can fall
into this trap. KM is more than an information technology (IT)
project or the deployment of a new tool. It almost always represents
a fundamental organizational transformation that requires careful
attention to helping people accept and adopt a new way of work-
ing. Make no mistake: there will be resistance. The question is,
how can we overcome that resistance before it engulfs us?
This chapter argues that change management is critical to
implementing a successful and sustainable knowledge management
initiative. It presents twelve change management factors that must
be addressed to ensure that the KM system is not only launched
successfully but accepted as well. Ignoring even one of these factors
can put KM efforts in jeopardy. A knowledge management and
change management checklist is provided to jump-start this
process.
“If you build it, they will come.” While this famous line may
have proved prophetic for Kevin Costner in the movie Field of
Dreams,they may not come so readily to the new and promising
world of knowledge management. As we deploy better knowledge
systems in our organizations, we hope that new tools, technologies,
and approaches to improving the way people create, access,
and share information will be welcomed with open arms. This is
wishful thinking.
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