Knowledge Unplugged: The McKinsey Global Survey of Knowledge Management (2001)

Knowledge Unplugged announces the results of a major survey on knowledge management practice within the most influential companies in the world, by the most influential management consultancy group in the world. The McKinsey Knowledge Management team interviewed top executives and also investigated how far their plans were implemented in practise, in 40 companies in the US, Europe and Japan. In many companies they discovered a significant gap between the vision at the top and the reality on the shop floor. Knowledge Unplugged draws together their findings and presents a practical guide to improving knowledge building and sharing at all levels within an organisation, vividly illustrated with case studies of best practice and common pitfalls. It also goes further and challenges companies to abandon convention and to liberate Knowledge Management from the hands of the IT department! They argue that Knowledge management is much more than simply installing a new database and can only be successful when it is at the heart of everyday personal exchanges, personal incentives and personal responsibilities at every level of the firm.