A Meandering Flow through Personal Knowledge Management

Richard Pircher
Review of "Personal Knowledge Management: Individual, Organizational and Social
Perspectives" edited by David J. Pauleen and G. E. Gorman
Studies suggest that information overload, interruptions during work, innovation barriers and
similar problems on the individual level dramatically hamper productivity both of
individuals and of organizations. Knowledge and innovation are core success factors in
today's economy, and in the first run they are always intra-personal. Despite this assessment
the diagnosis of the editors of this book that it is the first book on personal knowledge
management (PKM) appears to be correct (apart from other languages e.g. the German
monograph by Reinmann / Eppler 2007).
PKM, like the parent discipline Knowledge Management (KM), has grown out of a
combination of fields like cognitive psychology, philosophy, management science, education,
communications, etc. The editors collected contributions by scholars, consultants and expert
practitioners, which are expected to develop "an accessible, holistic and detailed
understanding of PKM as it concerns the individual and individuals in relationship to
organizations and society as a whole". The target group consists of academics, students and
reflective practitioners. The 12 chapters of the book are not clustered according to topics but
put together in a sequence intended to be coherent and to represent a "natural flow of
ideas".
In the preface the editors raise several interesting aspects of PKM: a lack of empirical
research and of significant conceptual development, an inherent conflict between KM and
PKM or PKM as a path for effectively instilling a KM ethics into the organization. On the one
hand, knowledge workers must be responsible for their own growth and learning and need
a certain amount of freedom and self-organization to do a good job. On the other hand, the
company has to provide this organisational freedom to enable them do so. PKM as a form of
self-management may trigger much more existential questions than KM usually does.
Technology should only be a non-dominant part.
In their introductory chapter the editors suggest that PKM not only empowers workers but
also helps to link individual strategies of the workers with those of the organization they
work for. The concept is expected to help individuals manage more than just their careers: it
also serves as the impetus to consider lifelong learning and the development of skills and
networks to extend ones horizons to become not only more knowledgeable about `things,
but to become more reflective and ultimately wiser about life. As such, the editors regard it
as serving the individual, the organization and society as a whole.
Brief glimpses at the chapters of the book are supposed to give an impression of the "free
flow of ideas" and of the multi-faceted character of PKM mirrored in this volume.
In chapter 2 by Case and Gosling Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?, core
characteristics of knowledge both personal and organizational are discussed. It is
suggested that western civilization has rejected wisdom in favor of data, information and

knowledge. The authors propose that we could learn from pre-modern philosophies like
Stoicism and Aristotle.
Peter Murphy claims in chapter 3 that creation requires ambiguity, symbiosis of analogy and
paradox.
Mark Wolfe stresses the significant point of the crucial meaning of communication and
communication theory for knowledge management and moreover for PKM in chapter 4.
The notion of Systems Intelligence represents the core term in chapter 5. It offers the
opportunity to discover the significance of the individual's ability to be aware of the systems
around themselves and the personal role within. As such it shows a link between
(organizational) KM and PKM. Parallels to Scharmers Theory U (2009) may be drawn.
Prusak and Cranefield propose four foundational practices for PKM in chapter 6: scan and
reinvent, vet and filter, invest in your networks and get out of your office. Helpful examples
of and insights into information filtering and assessment are offered.
Chapter 7 is based on an interview with the well-known KM-expert Dave Snowden and
mainly focuses on social knowledge networking by means of technological tools. Seven
notable principles highlight his understanding of what underpins successful KM.
Chapter 8 by Kolb and Collins addresses chances and downsides of connectivity which
needed management in order to achieve a valuable status of connectivity flow.
William Jones emphasizes the role of information in chapter 9.
In the following chapter Tom Davenport, a KM pioneer, summarizes findings on knowledge
workers' behavior and challenges from an organizational perspective.
The links between PKM and organizational learning from a KM perspective are explored in
chapter 11 by Cheong and Tsui. The authors suggest that PKM is an enabler for effectively
managing both individual and organizational learning.
Finally Karl Wiig links PKM with the knowledge-society. He argues that PKM requires indepth understanding of societal contexts, knowledge work, etc. He regards PKM as a
necessary societal challenge.
We may summarize that the book is no introduction to PKM for beginners or for practitioners
keen to apply PKM immediately. It does not offer an easy grasp on PKM models or a set of
methods and tools ready to use the next working day. Nor does it provide a kind of guiding
map or model which would help to obtain an overview of PKM and to easily locate the
chapters of the book within the field of PKM (which would support learning and the
application of PKM for the reader). However, through the "free flow of ideas", which includes
high level contributions, the book discloses a complex and sometimes contradictory offer of
what PKM could mean and include.
PKM presents itself as an conglomerate of different approaches and perspectives which
provide for a rich and multi-faceted discourse. Some aspects recur: Technology is often useful
but represents only one aspect subordinated to personal PKM skills. These may include
information management skills like retrieving and vetting, but even more importantly
awareness of the self, of emotions and of systems, strategic competency development, to
know how to learn and to know and reflect oneself comprehensively on a regular basis.
PKM like presented here invites the ambitious individual to try to get to find out more about
themselves, to improve the ability to deal with personal knowledge systematically and
according to personal goals and preferences. Viewed like this, PKM turns out to be of
essential assistance in our time of information overload, attention economy, changing nature
of work, lack of orientation and stress-induced diseases.

Literature
Scharmer, C. Otto: Theory U: Learning from the Future as It Emerges, Mcgraw-Hill
Professional, 2009
Reinmann, Gabi / Eppler, Martin: Wissenswege. Methoden fr das persnliche
Wissensmanagement, Huber 2007