Knowledge management is the art of adding or creating value by capturing the know-how, experience, and judgment from within or outside an organization.* The notion of knowledge management is not new. For centuries. owners of family busi-messes have passed on their wisdom, experience, and contacts to their children, master craftsmen have taught their ideas to apprentices, and workers have exchanged know-how about the job. In some organizations the computer is used as a mechanism for codifying and storing knowledge. This knowledge in the form of databases can then be easily used. Ernst & Young have a Center for Business Knowledge that codifies and stores important knowledge. The culture in the firm encourages and rewards those who protect, store. and use codified knowledge. There are discussions among emplovees about sharing knowledge and an emphasis on accessing stored knowledge. By contrast, consulting firms: such as Bain. Boston Consulting Group. and McKinsey emphasize in their culture the use of personalized knowledge. The focus is on a dialogue among people, not using knowledge objects in a database. Sharing relevant knowledge face-to-face, by e-mail, and via videoconferences is what these firms encourage and reward These firms have each developed a culture that channels expertise and person-to-person sharing The different approaches to knowledge m anacemen results in different human resource practices. In firms with a codification culture of knowledge management, workers are rewarded for using and contributing to databases. Workers are trained in groups through computer-based distance learning. On the other hand, in firms with a personalization culture employees are rewarded for directly sharing knowledge with colleagues. Workers are trained through one-on-one mentoring *R. Ruggles, "The State of The Notion: Knowledge Management in Practice," California Management Review, Winter 1998, pp. 80-89. Questions for Analysis 1. Creating a culture that rewards the use of knowledge appears to be difficult. Why? 2. Bain, Boston Consulting Group, and McKinsey encour- age person-to-person exchanges and use of knowledge. If at some point these organizations downsized, would there be a loss of knowledge that could be damaging to the firms? Explain. 3. What norms regarding the use of technology to capture knowledge do you believe exist at Ernst & Young?