knowledge stock. Other practices aim to speed the movement of
knowledge through the organization, thereby improving knowl-
edge flow. Besides electronic knowledge systems, work designed
around multidisciplinary teams, communities of practice, and
decentralized decision making are perhaps the most prevalent fea-
tures of knowledge-intensive organizations. Some organizations
also offer incentives and rewards to encourage employees to
develop their personal knowledge and share what they know with
others. A few organizations even create new measurement and
accounting systems to track and assess the value of their knowledge
assets.^1
Formal policies and structures that create more opportunities
for knowledge accumulation and movement are certainly a needed
first step toward competing effectively in knowledge-intensive
industries. Yet while formal systems have been transformed in
recent years, managers have found that employee behavior is less
malleable. Often subtle social barriers that are difficult to see inter-
fere with the effectiveness of new management systems. In this
chapter, we describe how social factors can impede or facilitate the
development and flow of knowledge within and between organiza-
tions. Our presentation is organized around a few myths that seem
to prevent some organizations from maximizing their knowledge
management capabilities. For each myth, we propose an alterna-
tive reality and its implications for managing knowledge more
effectively.
Myth 1 Versus Reality 1Myth 1:The main objectives of knowledge management (KM) are
archiving and distributing knowledge.
Reality 1:The most valuable knowledge management initiatives
motivate people to create, consider, debate, and effectively use new
knowledge.256 LEADINGORGANIZATIONALLEARNING