David Gurteen has published an interesting letter from Bob Buckman of Buckman Labs in response to discussions of knowledge sharing by James Robertson. Robertson doesn't like the term "knowledge sharing." Buckman doesn't like "knowledge management."
Bob Buckman on Knowledge Sharing
David, I was struck by James Robertson's position that 'Knowledge Sharing' should not be discussed beyond the KM team. This is completely contrary to our experience at Buckman. Where we got into trouble was using the term 'Knowledge Management' to describe what we wanted to do. Immediately, everyone thought we were out to manage what was in their heads. 'Mind Control' was one term used.
At some level, I don't know why this matters. The goal behind the initiative has got to be performance improvement somewhere. At another level, it's handy to have a useful term to refer to the program.