Mckinsey Case Study
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Case Study Review on McKinsey & Company: Managing Knowledge and Learning. Harvard Business School. Article 9-396-357. Rev. January 4, 2000
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Knowledge is fundamentally a cognitive phenomenon (Geisler, 2007.p. 467) which is embedded in the intellectual capital: the human and structural capital (Bercerra-Fernandez, Gonzales and Rajiv Sabherwal, 2002, p.3) of organizations. The acquisition or to be more precise to capture, preserve and to share knowledge has thus become the growing knowledge management trends of this century. Moreover, rapid advancement of technology has made knowledge easily accessible and transferable in an alarming fast rate. Thus, swift responses to address issues are demanded. Knowledge is treated as a broad and abstract notion as well as a significant organizational resource (Alavi, Cook & Cook, and Leidner, 2001, p.107). Thus, this has sparked the epistemological debate on knowledge management, more specifically the epistermetrics of measuring what we know- the nature of knowledge; how we know - the processes of transacting knowledge between individuals, and other individuals, and organisations; and why we know - the value chain and value proposition of knowledge (Geisler, 2007, p.469). In review, this article articulates the challenges and solutions of McKinsey & Company, a worldwide consultancy firm over a period of eight decades as they evolved from a specific expertise provider: “efficiency experts” or “business doctors”, advocating client service and profit sharing amongst members to a firm which anchors knowledge building and building individual and team capabilities as part of the firm’s revival and renewal process. They strongly believed that,
“… knowledge development had to be a core, not a peripheral firm activity; that it needed to be ongoing and institutionalized, not temporary and project based; and that it had to
Case Study Review on McKinsey & Company: Managing Knowledge and Learning. Harvard Business School. Article 9-396-357. Rev. January 4, 2000
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Knowledge is fundamentally a cognitive phenomenon (Geisler, 2007.p. 467) which is embedded in the intellectual capital: the human and structural capital (Bercerra-Fernandez, Gonzales and Rajiv Sabherwal, 2002, p.3) of organizations. The acquisition or to be more precise to capture, preserve and to share knowledge has thus become the growing knowledge management trends of this century. Moreover, rapid advancement of technology has made knowledge easily accessible and transferable in an alarming fast rate. Thus, swift responses to address issues are demanded. Knowledge is treated as a broad and abstract notion as well as a significant organizational resource (Alavi, Cook & Cook, and Leidner, 2001, p.107). Thus, this has sparked the epistemological debate on knowledge management, more specifically the epistermetrics of measuring what we know- the nature of knowledge; how we know - the processes of transacting knowledge between individuals, and other individuals, and organisations; and why we know - the value chain and value proposition of knowledge (Geisler, 2007, p.469). In review, this article articulates the challenges and solutions of McKinsey & Company, a worldwide consultancy firm over a period of eight decades as they evolved from a specific expertise provider: “efficiency experts” or “business doctors”, advocating client service and profit sharing amongst members to a firm which anchors knowledge building and building individual and team capabilities as part of the firm’s revival and renewal process. They strongly believed that,
“… knowledge development had to be a core, not a peripheral firm activity; that it needed to be ongoing and institutionalized, not temporary and project based; and that it had to
References: 1. | Alavi, M. and Leidner, D.E. (2001). Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues. MIS Quarterly. Vol. 25. No. 1. Pp. 107- 135. March 2001. | 2. | Bercerra-Fernandez, I, Gonzales, A., Rajiv Sabherwal. (2004). Knowledge Management Challenges, Solution, and Technologies. New York: Pearson Prentice Hall. | 3. | Geisler, E. (2007). The metrics of knowledge: Mechanisms for preserving value of managerial knowledge. Business Horizons (2007) 50, pp.467- 477. | 4. | Mark, K. (2009). IBM’s Knowledge Management Proposal for the Ontario Ministry of Education. IVEY 905E08. Ivey Management Service. |