Knowledge Management–the Second Generation: Creating Competencies with and Between Work Communities in the Compentence Laboratory

Abstract

Knowledge management is in transition. The first theories of knowledge management used the knowledge-carrying individual as the unit of analysis and defined knowledge in terms of discrete skills that can be codified and measured. The key idea of the second-generation theories is that knowledge is embedded in and becomes constructed in collective practices. The challenge is to support the generation of new knowledge and competencies. In this chapter, we will develop further the second-generation competencemanagement ideas by applying cultural historical activity theory. We will present a new method, the Competence Laboratory, and report the results of its pilot use in a telephone company. With this method, a team of technicians managed to create new forms of joint learning and expand its network of cooperation for learning.