Volume 35 Nº 3 - November 1999

Knowledge management? A conversation

Dr Gray Southon

What is this strange term that is floating around?

Somehow it seems to jar on the senses - almost an oxymoron. Knowledge in personal - it is what is in the head, hidden, intangible - whereas management is about things - tangible, physical - rather controlling and intrusive. The two words just don't fit together. It seems so much like one of those management fads, tied up with international corporations, consultants and technology. Hardly something for cash-strapped schools. Schools are about people: teachers and learners, as well as teaching and learning processes.

Dr Gray Southon is senior lecturer in Knowledge Management in the Department of Information Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, at the University of Technology, Sydney. His research interests focus on the organisation and the complex of difference factors that go into making an organisation operate effectively. He is particularly concerned about the anomalies of many of the recent management approaches and sees that knowledge management offers a viable alternative. He is exploring ways in which information professionals can be assisted in playing a more effective role in the development of their organisations as knowledge organisations.
gray.southon@uts.edu.au