The Network Roundtable ∞ November 4, 2005

Synopsis

Larry Prusak (Working Knowledge Program, Babson College)
Larry will review his recent work in areas of knowledge management and social capital. Specifically, he will characterize research assessing the critical role of relationships in knowledge management and social capital. Larry is also considering transaction costs and how they can be reduced in well-functioning groups such as Communities of Practice.

Rob Cross (UVA) and Matt Koch (Capital One)
This session will provide a research update and report out on the Communities of Practice research stream. Rob will review five systematic ways that network analysis can be used to assess and improve CoPs and outline the Roundtable research report and method document. Matt will describe two recent applications of network analysis to CoPs at Capital One and how these ideas are likely to develop in the organization.

Dorothy Leonard (Harvard)
Dorothy will provide insights from recent research on Deep Smarts: tacit expertise consisting of practical wisdom, accumulated knowledge, know-how, and intuition gained through extensive experience. Her talk will focus on how Deep Smarts develop, what happens when people with this kind of expertise depart and potential ways to more effectively transfer and retain this expertise.

Agenda

8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.                Continental Breakfast

9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.              Emerging Ideas in Knowledge Management and Social Capital,
Larry Prusak (Working Knowledge Program, Babson College)

10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.            Break

10:45 a.m. – 11:45 am               ONA and Communities of Practice
Rob Cross (UVA) and Matt Koch (Capital One)

11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.             Lunch (Boxed Lunch and Initiative-Based Conversations)

12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.               Deep Smarts: Cultivating and Transferring Enduring Business Wisdom
Dorothy Leonard (Harvard)

2:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.                 Break

2:15p.m. – 3:45 p.m.                  Networks in Real Life II (Panel Session)
Vic Gulas (MWH): Vic will discuss ways that he has used network analysis to assess the CIO function, Communities of Practice and emerging applications to Leadership.
Zeke Wolfberg (Defense Intelligence Agency): Zeke will characterize ways that the DIA is applying network analysis to create a more adaptive culture.
Bill Bell (CIO Office Dominion): Bill will review how Dominion is using network analysis to assess the role and effectiveness of key technical architects.

3:45 – 4:00 pm                              Wrap Up and Next Steps (Rob Cross and Ryan Nelson)

Speakers

William B. Bell is Director-IT Risk Management for Dominion Resources Services, Inc.  Bill was hired by Dominion (then Virginia Power) in 1984 as a director in the Information Systems Department. He has served in a number of management roles in the Information Technology organization, including application development, infrastructure operations, SAP implementation, IT planning and engineering, and risk management. His current responsibilities include information security policy, security administration, regulatory compliance, change management, problem management and business resumption planning for Dominion’s IT program. Bill received his B.A. in philosophy from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, and his M.A. in philosophy from the University of Virginia.

Laurence (Larry) Prusak is a researcher and consultant and was the founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Knowledge Management (IKM). This was a global consortium of member organizations engaged in advancing the practice of knowledge management through action research. Larry has had extensive experience, within the U.S. and internationally, in helping organizations work with their information and knowledge resources. He has also consulted with many U.S. and overseas government agencies and international organizations (NGO’s). He currently co-directs “Working Knowledge,” a knowledge research program at Babson College, where he is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence. A noted authority in his field, Larry has lectured and been published widely. His most recent book publications include co-editing Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning (Oxford University Press, 2005), and co-authoring Storytelling in Organizations (Elsevier, 2004). His publications also include: What’s the Big Idea (Harvard Business School Press, 2003), co-authored with Tom Davenport, Creating Value with Knowledge (Oxford University Press, 2003), co-edited with Eric Lesser, and In Good Company: How Social Capital Makes Organizations Work (Harvard Business School Press, 2001), co-authored with Don Cohen.  He has also co-authored two other books with Tom Davenport: Working Knowledge (Harvard Business School Press, 1998), and Information Ecology (Oxford University Press, 1997). Working Knowledge has sold over 100,000 copies and has been translated into 12 languages; the paperback edition with a new Preface was published in 2000. Managing Information Strategically (John Wiley & Sons, 1994), co-authored with James McGee, is a basic text on the role of information in gaining competitive advantage. Larry’s more recent articles include, “Learning from the Internet Giants” (Sloan Management Review, Summer 2004), “The Performance Variability Dilemma” (Sloan Management Review, Fall 2003), “Where do CEO’s get their Ideas?” (Harvard Business Review, February, 2003), “Knowing What We Know” (Organizational Dynamics, Fall 2001), “People who make Networks Work” (Harvard Business Review, Fall 2001), “Preserving Knowledge in an Uncertain World” (Sloan Management Review, Fall 2001), “Where did Knowledge Management come from? (IBM System Journal, 2001), “How to Invest Social Capital?” (Harvard Business Review, June 2001), and “Eleven Sins of Knowledge Management” (California Management Review, Spring 1998). Previously, Larry was a Principal and founder of Ernst & Young’s Center for Business Innovation, specializing in issues of corporate knowledge management. While there, he was responsible for helping to build a consulting practice centered on organizations managing their knowledge resources. Larry’s professional background also includes work as a researcher and librarian at Baker Library at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, and as a teacher of the History of Ideas at several universities. Larry’s awards and honors include:  Simmons College Distinguished Alumni Award (2002); the Lewin Award from Organization Science (2000); an honorary Ph.D. from Long Island University (2000); the SLA Professional Award for Contributions to the Field of Information Science (1991); the H.W. Wilson Award for the year’s best article on information science (1990). In 2000, he served as a McKinsey Award Judge for the Harvard Business Review, and Work Frontiers International voted Larry one of the ten most admired knowledge leaders in the world. He holds a B.A. in history from Long Island University, an M.S. in information science from Simmons College, and an M.A. in economic and social history from New York University (where he completed all the examinations and course work toward a Ph.D.). He has lectured at the Harvard Business School, M.I.T., New York University, the University of California Berkeley, the University of Southern California, the Wharton School, Copenhagen Business School, Monash University (Melbourne), Queens University (Belfast), Tel Aviv University, and Victoria University (Wellington).