Sharing knowledge as a source of personal power

Comunidadesdo Conhecimento
Gestão de Prática Sharing knowledge as a source of personal power

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Sharing knowledge as a source of personal power
Presents a discussion about sharing knowledge as a source of personal power based on the
ABIPTI´s case study

José Cláudio C. Terra, Dr.

Introduction Theoretical Foundation
If knowledge is power, why should I share it? Authors and thinkers have predicted that, by
Almost everyone has heard of or given some means of new levels and forms of networking,
consideration to this question. As we we're beginning to see a rapid change in the
embarked on a project that required role performed by large corporations and the
researchers from across Brazil to share their emergence of a picture of how work should be
precious personal knowledge, we decided to carried out in the 21st century1. The Internet is
face this challenge head on. significantly increasing the importance of the
The project was developed for The Brazilian concepts of clusters and integration among
Research Institutions Trade Association companies. Unlike more traditional and
(ABIPTI), an organization that represents 120 symbiotic forms, the new ways of networking
research institutions across Brazil. ABIPTI’s are not restricted by geographic barriers. They
goals include information dissemination, do not involve crossed shareholdings (for
lobbying, benchmarking and training. instance, Japanese keiretsus), and the
Our objective has been to deepen connections information exchange goes far beyond that
between the research institutions, to cultivate which would be required to complete
knowledge sharing and to promote production orders. In many cases, exchanges
Communities of Practice (CoP). There is a of “intangibles” (information or knowledge) are,
strong potential for change from local, isolated in fact, the only relevant exchanges among the
perspectives to a broad, networked members of competitive clusters. In this new
perspective and compelling examples. The era, the participants of these networks
project highlighted 16 pertinent reasons why collaborate to attend to the long- and short-
knowledge sharing contributes to personal term needs of their customers and to create
power and helped to bring a greater new knowledge and products2.
awareness of the concepts and tools of The theoretical foundation and rationale for the
Knowledge Management to ABIPTI project has included important conclusions
participants. from these studies:
The project has shown that dealing with
personal perceptions about the value of 1. Michael Porter’s Competitive Advantage of
sharing knowledge is one the pillars for Nations, which called attention to the
success in building communities of practice atmosphere of learning, cooperation and
and networks that can also enhance personal high competition existing in micro-regions;
returns.
1 Malone, T. W. & Laubacher, R.J., All change for the e-lance
economy, FP Mastering, National Post, July 10, 2001
2 Tapscott, D; Ticoll, D & Lowy, A. Digital Capital: harnessing the

power of business webs, HBS Press, 2000

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Gestão do Conhecimento Sharing knowledge as a source of personal power

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2. Anna Lee Saxenian’s Regional All of the above references suggest that
Advantage, which linked the development companies that belong to competitive clusters
of the Silicon Valley with the informal flows work, in general, synergistically and/or may
and networks of collaboration and hold various common interests. Among the
knowledge among enterprises, universities most typical common interests the following
and government3; may be mentioned: satisfaction of final
customers, technological development,
3. Studies of Japanese kairetsus that support sectoral or local regulation, work force training,
high level of cooperation and exchange of development of infrastructure, exports,
information among companies in the relations with the government, academia and
productive chain; other not-for-profit institutions, etc.
In this emerging scenario and with this new
4. Studies of European “syndicates of understanding, we believe that it is very hard
companies”. These are associations of for enterprises and institutions from developing
small and medium companies that do not countries to survive the challenges imposed by
compete against each other and are co- international competition, let alone succeed in
proprietors of “cooperatives” that assume making themselves competitive. The external
responsibility for activities in common , competition with companies from developed
such as: marketing, distribution, entry into countries require other forms of learning to be
foreign markets, licensing of technology, much more prominent and demand much more
etc4; modern strategies to speed up both the
creation and the flow of knowledge within and
5. Research on networks between small and among enterprises and other institutions, such
medium enterprises in Australia and Asia as research centers, universities, trade and
that showed that even when networked industrial associations, governments, etc. To
technologies were adopted to allow overcome the disadvantages in terms of
connectivity between companies, the resources and solid knowledge institutions,
potential for knowledge exchange was they must of necessity employ coordinated
highly dependent on the level of trust5; educational, managerial and business
strategies, proactively incorporated into the
6. Research on inter-organizational environment.
communities of practices that reinforced There is a synergistic and innovative
the idea that collaboration is “a opportunity to strengthen certain economic
cooperative, inter-organizational clusters, regions and value chains. Important
relationship that relies on neither market regional development and/or productive chain
nor hierarchical mechanisms of control but strategies are beginning to appear, which take
is instead negotiated in an ongoing into account, at the same time, the concepts of
communicative process”6. Cluster Economics and Knowledge
Management and which leverage corporate
3 Saxenian, A., Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in
portals technologies.
Silicon Valley and Route 128, Harvard University Press, 1996
4 The Economist, Will the corporation survive? November 1st, The ideas discussed in this section formed the
2001 foundation that led to the implementation of the
5 Braun, P., Digital knowledge networks: Linking communities of

practice with innovation. Journal of Business Strategies, 2002.
project presented below.
19(1): p. 43-54., in: Inter-Organizational Communities of Practice
by C. van Winkelen
6 Lawrence, T., N. Philips, and C. Hardy, Watching whale

watching. Exploring the discursive foundations of collaborative 35(4): p. 479-502. in: Inter-Organizational Communities of
relationships. Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 1999. Practice by C. van Winkelen




Project Background 1. From small (300 researchers) to large
Brazil has made huge strides in terms of its organizations (3000 researchers);
overall industrial and technological outputs in
the last three decades. During this period, the 2. From very sector focused (e.g. agriculture,
Brazilian Government financed and built a wide oil, nuclear) to very diversified research
university and public research institute system. institutes;
As a result Brazil’s contribution to science,
measured by the Science Citation Index of the 3. From private foundations to government-
Institute for Scientific Information improved owned (States and Federal entities);
significantly from 2,000 articles per year in
1980, to over 12,000 articles in 2000. 4. From the very south to the very north of
Despite this success, it is clear that Brazil’s Brazil (see Figure 1 below).
current Innovation System will have to be Currently (mid-2004), in phase 3 of the project,
redrawn in face of the need to foster new there are approximately 30 institutions that
levels of collaboration and to leverage scarce have representatives participating in the
research resources. In the fairly recent past, it project with the numbers of participating
was possible for some research institutes in members and the flow of valuable information
Brazil to provide adequate services and and knowledge growing weekly.
produce locally-relevant research based on
their own physical and intellectual resources.
This has changed dramatically due to the fact
that the web has made geographical distances
a lot less relevant and that knowledge seekers
find it much easier to find relevant providers,
vendors and institutions located almost
anywhere. Distance:
It was in this context that we were invited by Approximately
ABIPTI to help them in their efforts to 2,500 miles
disseminate knowledge management (KM)
practices. In phase 1 of our work, which started
in late 2002, we offered training about KM to Location of
close to 200 people in various regions of participating

Brazil. During the next phase (as of mid-2003) organizations

we helped to actually put KM into practice by
way of developing Communities of Practices
involving people from the leading member Figure 1: Location of initial 15 participating
organizations belonging to ABIPTI. institutes
For these first two phases of our work, fifteen
research institutes were selected - the best The initial focus was on developing
managed & top performing. These included a Communities of Practice that extended across
broad range of organizations: all 15 organizations and aimed at rapidly
achieving tangible results that would in turn
foster the development of KM initiatives within
each of the fifteen research institutes. To
initiate this project, four Communities of
Practice were selected by topic area:
Management & Commercialization of




Intellectual Property, Quality Management, 1. Knowledge Bases;
“Geological Risks” and Food Safety. These
topic areas were chosen for the following 2. Members’ Directories;
reasons:
3. Content and Document Management;
1. There was enough critical mass in terms
of available digital content, as well as 4. Advanced Search;
interested and qualified personnel;
5. Events Management;
2. They are well-defined topics;
6. Alert and Subscription Tools, Forums,
3. They are topics that can engage and Personalization, etc.
motivate wide participation; Throughout the design and development of
these CoPs, a number of face-to-face meetings
4. They are strategic topics with a wide gap were held. These meetings were critical not
between the top and bottom performers; only for defining key aspects of the tools and
the organization of documents (e.g. taxonomy),
5. A number of people interested in but also for building trust and understanding
promoting debates and knowledge among members of the research institutes.
exchanges were identified;
Knowledge-Sharing Cultures?
6. A few experts that could help with valuable Initially, the concepts of Cluster Economics,
initial content were also identified; Knowledge Management, Corporate Portals
and Communities of Practice were not very
7. These are topics that are directly related to clear among the executives and researchers of
the services provided to the clients of these organizations. Consequently, the first
these research institutes; phase of this project involved many training
sessions and events. These training sessions
8. These communities can rapidly expand to had two key objectives: (1) explaining the
include people from other types of concepts and tools of Knowledge
organizations (industry, government and Management; (2) changing the mindset of the
universities, etc). employees and researchers of these
A Knowledge Portal was built with key institutions from a local, isolated perspective to
functionalities to support the development of a broad, networked perspective – a knowledge
these CoPs. Examples of key functionalities sharing perspective.
included: We knew from the start that people and
organizations will not voluntarily share what
they know if they do not trust the other parties
or see specific gains. The degree of trust,
however, is rooted in history, myths and a set
of prevailing values while people tend to have
less trust in individuals of another race, country
or culture7. Trust develops over time and does

7 Interesting research and publications on “trust” include:
- Alesina, A. & La Ferrara, E., Who trusts others?,
Journal of Public Economics, 2001




not readily increase. Given the enormous 4. setting-up offline and online support
distances in Brazil and its many sub-cultures, systems to increase knowledge sharing;
this alone was an important challenge for the
project. 5. hiring people whose key mission is to
It is also well-known that some individuals, facilitate knowledge sharing;
organizations and cultures can be a lot more
innovative, knowledge-sharing or process- 6. measuring exchanges of valuable
oriented than others. Cultures, however, are information, etc.
very slow to change. We accepted that it would
be impossible to move the project ahead 7. People who share their knowledge gain
based on the idea that the specific cultures of visibility and notoriety
so many organizations would need to be In an age where power sources are fleeting,
changed and decided to help individuals to unstable and increasingly grounded on
learn some benefits from sharing their valued intangibles, individuals that aim to build a
knowledge. The motivation was not grounded thriving career and professional life are
in trying to change people’s intrinsic values, increasingly dependent on their level of
but by helping the individuals from these visibility and notoriety. This has always been
institutions to learn how personal knowledge true. Nowadays, however, as allegiance to a
and power are created in the Networked and specific organization diminishes dramatically,
Knowledge Era. an individual’s visibility and notoriety becomes
Thus, sixteen reasons to share personal a key personal asset.
knowledge were discussed in depth:
8. People who share their knowledge are
1. Organizations are increasingly valuing acknowledged and appreciated
people who share their knowledge Similar to reason number two, but more
The plain truth is that most managerial systems focused on the intrinsic rewards, it is important
were not designed to explicitly acknowledge or to discuss the fact that sharing in itself can
reward people who share their knowledge. deliver tremendous value to individuals. As the
This, however, is changing. Leading philosopher and psychologist William James
organizations are making “knowledge-sharing” once said: “The deepest principle in human
a formal and stated core value. There are nature is the craving to be appreciated”.
many examples of organizations that are:
9. Knowledge-sharing is required in order to
2. including knowledge sharing in their core belong to networks that help filter
values; information
One of the hottest drivers of knowledge
3. organizing internal events to celebrate management is information overload. Articles,
knowledge sharing; books and technologies address this fast
growing challenge for many individuals working
in the fast lane of the Knowledge Era. This is
indeed one of “the” challenges of the 21st
Century. At the current rate of increase in the
- Clark, K. & Serfon, M., The Sequential Prisoner’s
volume of information being created and
Dilemma: Evidence on Reciprocation, Economic
Journal, January, 2000 distributed worldwide, it will likely get much
- Fukuyama, F., Trust: The Social Virtues and the worse before an important breakthrough in
Creation of Prosperity, Penguin Books, 1995 handling information (besides current
- Glaeser, E. et al., Measuring Trust, Quarterly Journal of
Economics, August 2000 personalization technology) makes the




situation better. In this fascinating scenario, the develop relationships with people that they do
answer may lie in personal networks that help not see face-to-face on a regular basis.
individuals scan and filter information.
13. Knowledge codification may reduce
10. Sharing is key to personal learning experts’ work
Any teacher, instructor or professor will tell you Some people that are currently sought after for
that teaching is a huge motivator to self- specific advice or information can reduce their
development and learning. Indeed people can workload by simply writing down some of their
learn in many ways as they teach. Teaching past experience and by sharing very specific
requires reflection, synthesis and the ability to information.
reconfigure one’s own knowledge and
experience to adapt to specific contexts. 14. Digital codification greatly amplifies reach
Knowledge-sharers also learn because other at a very low cost
people seek them out for advice, debate and Some people have learned to use the web as a
feedback. People who do not share do not great amplifier of their personal reach. In the
benefit as much from the input of others and past only a few individuals would be able to be
may miss out on opportunities to rethink their heard on a very large scale. That has changed
own assumptions and discover new insights dramatically. Individuals who learn how to
based on particular inputs and questions. publish on the web (or Intranets) on a regular
basis and understand this new medium's ways
11. Knowledge-sharing works as an important of propagating information, can greatly
currency increase their power to influence others with
As information, knowledge and expertise are their ideas. This can be done at a cost that was
increasingly valued, knowledge-sharers may completely unthinkable just a few years ago.
be granted access to other people’s knowledge
more easily. Knowledge has an asymmetric 15. It’s a way to move ahead to new
nature: it may cost nothing for the giver and be challenges
greatly valued by the receiver. Thus one can One of the most unnoticed benefits of sharing
say that knowledge-sharers may be entitled to information, especially through carefully written
a good cost/benefit through their knowledge reports, documents, books, etc. is the fact that
exchanges. by writing, people are not only sharing what
they know. They are also learning,
12. Personal networks are increasingly synthesizing and building knowledge.
important for one’s professional Individuals who do not write down their
advancement thoughts, ideas and experiences often may get
The importance of personal networks for entangled in unresolved reasoning and,
professional advancement has been proven by therefore, not move ahead to new challenges.
many studies and justified by simple intuition. Academia has learned that for a long time.
This is known as the power of “weak ties” or as PhD dissertations, Masters theses and articles
the value of social capital. If this was true in the have helped individuals not only to test their
past, today is even more so. First, as loyalties knowledge in front of their peers, but also to
between organizations and employees are gain experience in organizing their ideas,
reduced, the networks become more important preparing them for higher levels of
both for professional advancement and as achievements.
some kind of personal insurance against
unforeseen layoffs. Secondly, the web has
allowed individuals to maintain and even




16. Knowledge workers are now “carrying their 20. It is a way to legitimize leadership and
portfolio” foster similar behaviour
Architects, designers and craftsmen have been If one wants other people to start sharing
carrying and showing their portfolio for a long knowledge the most important thing is to set an
time. Knowledge workers are starting to do the example to others. People in positions of
same. In many leading organizations it is now leadership that understand the value of
possible to look at the portfolio of individuals’ knowledge-sharing in their organizations
internal publications very easily. The outputs of should, therefore, be the first ones to share
many individuals are also being displayed valuable knowledge as often and as efficiently
widely for anyone to consult on the web. Thus, as they can.
constantly sharing is also a way to build ones’
own portfolio. 21. Sharing creates substitutes that allow one
to move on
17. People need networks in order to solve As organizations go through reorganizations or
complex problems need to find candidates for new positions, they
Innovations are increasingly dependent on the will look to their talent pool and find out who
combination of different skills and different can move on to fill the vacancies. In these
fields of knowledge. Those who do not share situations it may happen that talented
frequently are also less likely to have access to individuals may not get promoted because they
networks that will help them solve complex do not have substitutes that can occupy their
problems. In a way, developing networks current positions. Knowledge sharing not only
through constant sharing is like an exercise to enhances one’s promotion prospects, it also
augment one’s intelligence. Smarter people allows an easier succession and a smoother
these days are people who rely not only on transition.
their own experience and knowledge, but that
can also easily tap into many different skills, Final Considerations
experiences and knowledge. These sixteen considerations may or may not
apply to specific individuals and contexts. They
18. People need to “belong” are, however, a long list of reasons for
Sharing helps people to bond with others in individuals to rationally consider why they
ways that help them to build their own identity. should share what they know for their own
Increasingly people are defining themselves by benefit. In the context of the ABIPTI project this
their knowledge associations. Knowledge list was the object of many discussions with
associations are developed though through individuals who were invited to participate in
constant exchange of information, feedback, the CoPs. In our experience this approach was
experiences and “war stories”. very useful and helped a few individuals to
rethink their own views in terms of the opening
19. Sharing improves self-image question presented here: “If knowledge is
It has long being held that as individuals move power, why should I share it?”
up the ladder of basic human necessities, self- Clearly some individuals have fully grasped the
image becomes the most important need to be arguments above, while others were
met. Thus, sharing knowledge can certainly completely unmoved. It is, therefore, hard to be
help individuals at this stage to feel more very assertive about the impact that the above
fulfilled. discussion has had on the development of the
CoPs thus far. It is our impression, however,
that dealing with the power issues of sharing




knowledge early on and as openly as we did that commit their time and energy. This is,
was a better approach than to try to change maybe, the key lesson of the project described
the cultures of the many organizations involved here.
in the project. Based on this experience and a
few other experiences in KM projects, there are The initiative described here is significant in its
a number of “rules of thumb” that are probably ambition. Its success may have a profound
worth to be shared. They are presented in the impact on how Brazil integrates the
table 1 below. considerable amount of knowledge that is
available in this very large country, but that is
Table1: KM projects - Cultural Challenges & Lines of Action
Typical Cultural Challenges Recommended Lines of Action
Lack of focus on the knowledge dimension; Have in-depth discussions about the
Need to establish long-term relationships growing need for collaboration from a
before sharing personal and organizational perspectives
High importance of personal contacts Find leaders and work with them
“Me too” attitude Help people understand how sharing
“What’s in it for me?” knowledge can benefit them
Fear of digital tools for collaboration Try to understand what motivates people
Local view of the world Use face-to-face meetings to discuss “real”
Short-term perspective issues that are relevant for the community
Find topics that galvanize the community
Help well-respected experts to participate –
provide special attention.
Use “fun” stories & pictures, etc.

The major lesson, however, is that currently very much dispersed. Geographical
implementing a portal, community or KM isolation is no longer a viable option for any
projects in general can be compared with large organization or even country. Individuals and
social change. It is never easy. KM is, in a big organizations now seek information and
way, about changing attitudes, habits and knowledge regardless of their location.
perceptions of value. Thus, it requires people This project is not yet a success in a traditional
in the backstage that are really supportive and sense. Maybe, it will never be. The key metrics
people in the front stage who are very are not about number of hits, contributions,
attentive, sensitive to people’s ambitions, fears articles, etc. Although these items are being
and motivations. The important role of measured, the leadership behind this project is
moderators has been by many practitioners also very much interested in provoking a major
and authors. We will not dispute its importance. change of attitude in terms of world view: from
Good moderators can indeed play an important isolation to broad collaboration. The near
role by bringing people together, enticing future will involve continuing support the
people to speak, making sure questions do not development of the CoP and gathering of good
go unanswered, etc. The toughest part, knowledge-sharing stories. The project will be
however has to do with helping most people evaluated based on traditional signs of
develop a new “world view” about the key role valuable practices that were shared and
that collaboration can play in their personal reused, projects that emerged through the
and professional life, as well as for the future of CoPs and also about the personal value that
their organizations. This on-going exercise is individuals are getting from participation. It is
critical and takes engaged and true leaders very clear, however, that it has already




changed the attitudes, perceptions and habits perceptions about the value of sharing
of a significant number of individuals. knowledge seems to be one of the pillars for
These kinds of initiatives are of particular success in this kind of initiative.
importance to developing countries. Such
countries do not have the resources of ***
multinationals who are developing their own José Cláudio C. Terra é presidente da
internal knowledge portals and leveraging TerraForum Consultores. Atua como consultor
knowledge from all over the world. The route e palestrante no Canadá, nos Estados Unidos,
for inter-organizational collaboration through em Portugal, na França e no Brasil. Também é
knowledge portals is not an easy route, but professor de vários programas de pós-
one that is very promising. Indeed, it is graduação e MBA e autor de vários livros
probably a prerequisite for competing in the sobre o tema.
Knowledge Era. Our experience in this project
has shown that dealing with people’s




Gestão do Conhecimento - O Grande Desafio
A EMPRESA Empresarial

A TerraForum Consultores é uma empresa Gestão do Conhecimento em pequenas e
de consultoria e treinamento em Gestão do médias empresas
Conhecimento (GC) e Tecnologia da
Informação. Os clientes da empresa são, em Realizing the Promise of Corporate Portals:
sua maioria, grandes e médias organizações Leveraging Knowledge for Business Success
dos setores público, privado e terceiro setor.
A empresa atua em todo o Brasil e também Gestão de Empresas na Era do
no exterior, tendo escritórios em São Paulo, Conhecimento
Brasília e Ottawa no Canadá. É dirigida pelo
Dr. José Cláudio Terra, pioneiro e maior
referência em Gestão do Conhecimento no
país. Além disso, conta com uma equipe
especializada e internacional de consultores.

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