Knowledge and Business Process Management

European Journal of Information Systems (2003) 12, 159–160. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000452 As more and more books under the label Knowledge Management (KM) are published, there seems to be an increasing entropy and fragmentation of this area of study. Possibly because KM has been appropriated by various disciplines and, to a large extent, its objectives have been re-aligned in accordance with the objectives of each of these disciplines, taking in this sense a uni-disciplinary approach. Therefore, in a compilation of articles individually grounded on a different discipline, it becomes very challenging to compose a unifying perspective on KM. This book, however, has taken a truly multi-disciplinary approach to the topic. The reason is twofold. Firstly, the objectives of this field of study are stated and consistently kept in focus throughout the collection. Secondly, each discipline contributes to the achievement of KM-specific goals – rather than appropriating them – thereby enhancing cohesion of the field. Convergence of various disciplines to the overall objectives of managing knowledge in organisations is achieved by anchoring these perspectives to the fundamental concept of ‘business process’. The thread and the argument are convincing. Chapters in Section I, with few exceptions, follow the usual KM literature pattern – a necessary one for the sake of completeness here. The reader is confronted with the usual well-referenced definitions of knowledge, and a number of unresolved issues, mainly concerned with research trends. Sections II and III provide some answers and innovative ways forward. I find particularly interesting and refreshing the use of computer simulation in the business process and KM context. Chapter III provides a timely, comprehensive and useful summary of five wellrecognised and polarising change management strategies (TQM, JIT, BPR, PI, KM). More importantly, it reminds the reader of the enormous potential of simulation modelling and of computer simulation in analysing a business process – both ‘what it is’ and ‘what-if’ scenarios critical to the management of change. A wider review of existing work on the simulation of soft processes, particularly those based on the notion of agenthood, would have made this article more complete, thorough as it is. Chapter VI is an interesting and encompassing account of managing knowledge and business processes at Infosys Technologies Ltd – from design to implementation and adoption. A detailed architecture for implementing KM is presented, which addresses the four critical areas of People, Content, Technology and Process. Chapter VIII encapsulates the book theme, being broadly the road map of this compilation. The authors argue for the characteristics of business processes (BP) that justify their use as a foundation of KM. It links KM to BP in a tangible and experiential way, demonstrating with case studies the management of knowledge in three types of change (incremental changes to the same processes, radical change to one process, radical change across the whole of the organisation). Chapters X–XII are good examples of European Journal of Information Systems (2003) 12, 159–160 & 2003 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. All rights reserved 0960-085X/03 $25.00