Michael McMaster offers a really valuable operational definition of the
word 'knowledge'. I think that it is useful to think of the sequence of
the terms we use.
For me:
INFORMATION' is raw data which may be accessed abstractly or
experientially, and by the application of
LEARNING, transformed, into
KNOWLEDGE - Michael's definition. If one also has
SKILL, one actually applies the knowledge in order to do desired things,
which may be observed and measured as
PERFORMANCE.
But there is one problem with that last step. We need to be very careful
how we define desired performance. If we value INNOVATION,
(a) the skill we value most is KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT such that existing
knowledge is continuously being placed into new configurations - many of
which will prove to be fruitless, so:
(b) observed performance will often go through cycles of uneven troughs
and peaks in a truly innovative environment. Indeed - the more innovative
the setting, the more unstable will be day to day performance.
It is this last paradox which, unresolved, is the undoing of many learning
organisations,
-- Phillip Capper Centre for Research on Work, Education and Business Wellington New Zealand