Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration: Knowledge Cafés: Do It Yourself Knowledge Sharing? Dan Remenyi (2004)

Knowledge management is far more than a technological issue and thus, what is really needed is a rethink with an emphasis on the people-side of knowledge management. One such approach is the use of a knowledge café.

Abstract

It is now clear that knowledge management is not just another fad which has been hyped up by the management consultants and technology vendors. In fact, it has a long pedigree with considerable support from a number of management thinkers of our times. Although knowledge management has much to offer it is no simple matter to implement it successfully.

Although very large sums of money have been spent, technologically based knowledge management solutions have produced questionable results. Simply knowledge management is far more than a technological issue and thus, what is really needed is a rethink with an emphasis on the people side of knowledge management.

One such approach is the use of a knowledge café. A knowledge café may be defined as a way of bringing together a group of people who have some sort of common interest and who will be able to benefit from talking together and listening to each other on the subject of issues related to and surrounding that common interest.

The individuals who will benefit from a knowledge café need to have an open mindset, have a common objective and have similar shared values and be people who like to collaborate in their working relationships. The operation of a knowledge café is actually more complex than it first appears and this paper discusses how to operate a successful knowledge café.

Author

Dan Remenyi
Visiting Professor
Trinity College Dublin
Ireland
dan.remenyi@tcd.ie

Paper

Knowledge Cafés at the Water Research Commission

Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Cafés – a Case Study in Higher Education