Our Services : Consulting

As noted above, we also offer consulting services in knowledge and innovation management, especially in connection with the use of our own methodology (the PSM method). In general, our consulting services fall into the following major areas: .  - Knowledge Processing Assessments: A good starting point in any attempt to improve the rate or quality of learning and innovation in a firm is to baseline its current knowledge processing environment. This generally takes the form of characterizing its current organizational learning behaviors, as well as the policies and programs that lie behind them. Evaluations can then made in which current performance is measured against potential performance -- using our own reference models as a benchmark -- along with identification of the kinds of interventions required to get there from here.  - Knowledge Management Assessments: Whereas knowledge processing assessments focus on organizational learning and knowledge production and integration issues, knowledge management assessments focus, instead, on the KM function as a management discipline within the organization. Organizations interested in improving their internal KM function can take advantage of this offering by subjecting their KM groups to our analysis. Here, we rely on our 'KM Framework,' which provides a blueprint for KM in terms of its relationship to enhancing knowledge processing, and the kinds of interventions and tools available to practitioners.  - Knowledge Strategies: We also offer assistance in the development of strategic plans for knowledge processing and KM. Here, we rely on the use of our own methodology (the PSM method). For clients who are not interested in licensing our method, but who believe in its value, this is a good alternative to adopting the method for independent, internal use. It is also an effective way to experiment with, and test the value of, the Macroinnovation Method without actually going through the formal licensing process.  - Targeted Interventions: On the implementation side of our work, we offer assistance to clients interested in taking transformative steps towards achieving high-performance knowledge processing, or Enterprise-wide Innovation in several areas. Specific interventions of this sort can be classified in terms of the eight dimensions of our methodology: .   Ethodiversity: Interventions here are aimed at managing the diversity of values or worldviews held collectively by an organization. This typically involves working with the HR function on recruiting, hiring, and retention issues, as well as the use of specialized tools to measure the degree of ethodiversity in a firm.   Connectedness: Interventions here are aimed at improving the flow of information in a firm, usually through technology or social systems. Here, our goal has less to do with forcing the flow of information than it does with ensuring that the technological and social means to do so are adequately in place. Infrastructures, technological and social ones, as well as the presence of opportunities for employees to use them, are of primary interest to us in this area.   Community Formation: Interventions here are aimed at launching policies and programs that serve to invite and support the formation of communities of practice, interest, learning, etc. This may be carried out in connection with the development of a broader strategy for communities of practice.   Individual Learning: Interventions here are aimed at determining the extent to which individuals are free to engage in learning agendas of their own choosing. This typically involves the development of related policies and supporting programs, often in conjunction with the HR function.   Group Learning: Similar to interventions aimed at individual learning, this area focuses on groups and communities as venues for learning, along with the development of related policies and programs.   Knowledge Production: This is a complex and enormously important area. Here, interventions are aimed at defining the organizational processes according to which management knowledge is formulated, evaluated, and adopted for practice. Of particular interest is definition of the roles that individuals and groups will play in the process, while preserving management's sole authority to make decisions. Outcomes in this area have a significant impact on the degree of openness in a firm, sometimes also referred to as 'transparency.' Knowledge Sharing: Interventions here are aimed at the manner in which knowledge is disseminated by managers to a work force following the Knowledge Production process. In addition, practices related to distributed knowledge sharing between individuals and groups, as well as between all of them and management, are also of interest in this area. The key issue here is Knowledge Integration, and the policies and programs that make it possible and effective. .....A new and exciting practice of interest in this area is the emergence of what we call 'Free Employee Presses,' or FEPs. FEPs are employee-owned and managed publications that provide outlets for employees' perspectives on management decisions and strategies in ways that make the employee point of view open and accessible to all who wish to have it. In sum, we can assist with the development and implementation of FEPs. Knowledge Entitlement: Interventions here are aimed at developing new and progressive means of sharing the credit and economic rewards of innovations with employees, particularly with respect to patents, or business innovations of any other kind. In most firms, intellectual property (IP) is held exclusively by the employer, but this need not always be the case. Sharing entitlements to IP with employees can be a significant motivator for innovation, the results of which can easily outweigh tradeoffs in the value of IP held exclusively by the employer. .