Journal of Knowledge Management Practice, January, 2000

BOOK REVIEW

"The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action"

Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton

Harvard Business Press, Boston, 1999, 314 pp.


If it lives up to its subtitle: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action, then here's a book with obvious potential practical relevance for performance optimization, and in particular for knowledge management practice. The authors do not trivialize this task; they say candidly that there are no simple analyses or easy answers. What they give us in 314 pages is a whole lot of insight, through case studies, diagnoses, and thematic exploration. From this body of work the reader must make the relevant connections to his or her own reality. The paradox of this book is that knowing why individuals and communities don't turn knowledge into action nevertheless leaves that damn gap - you the reader must still translate this new-found knowledge into action.

Pfeffer and Sutton explain that they wrote this book because they wanted to understand " … why so many managers know so much about organizational performance, say so many smart things about how to achieve performance, and work so hard, yet are trapped in firms that do so many things they know will undermine performance". After four years of research involving more than 100 companies the authors claim that the key to success is for managers to " … engage more frequently in thoughtful action. Spend less time contemplating and talking about organizational problems. Taking action will generate experience from which you can learn". Didn't Professor Reg Revans (Revans, 1945) say as much more than fifty years ago when he originated action learning?

Will exhortation by these authors, however well founded, be any more likely to put an end to the Knowing - Doing Gap than did Reg's sermonizing? Probably not; managers still fall ready victims to the Titanic Syndrome (Smith & Saint Onge, 1997)- vulnerability rooted in their mindsets of invulnerability. However, the approach to linking action with knowing that Professor Revans pioneered is currently well supported organizationally on a global scale. Such action-based initiatives may yet carry the day, and provide wide spread demonstration that the Knowing - Doing Gap can be closed in the simple fashion that Pfeffer and Sutton envisage.

So, is this book a worthwhile investment of your money and time? Well, I certainly believe it is. The section on measuring the extent of a Knowing - Doing Gap has very practical application, and the section on how knowledge management contributes to the Knowing - Doing problem should be required reading for all knowledge management practitioners - not because we don't know this stuff, but because we aren't doing it!

The heart of the book is contained in the five sections where the authors identify and discuss the five sources that they found will stop effective action in its tracks; in these sections the authors explore cases relating to companies whose practices help them avoid these pitfalls. Based on this research, the authors contend that deficient practices, not people, are to blame for the disconnect between knowing and doing; no surprise this to Dr. Deming! However, it's good to have supporting data. The authors also provide eight guidelines that they claim will turn knowledge into action.

Although the authors do not mention action learning at all in the book, action learning practitioners will not be surprised with the outcomes of this research. However, they will likely welcome this substantial body of work in support of an approach that suffers from a rather insubstantial research base. Not only does action learning intimately connect knowing and doing but it also fosters the kind of culture that supports the people aspects necessary for effective and efficient knowledge management. If Pfeffer and Sutton have it right, and I for one think that they do, then action learning practitioners are clearly entitled to say "I told you so!"

References

Revans, R., Plans For Recruitment, Training And Education In The Mining Industry, Mining Association Of Great Britain, London, 1945

Smith, P.A.C. and Saint-Onge, H., The Evolutionary Organization: Avoiding A Titanic Fate, The Learning Organization, Vol. 3, No. 4, 1996; pp 4 - 21; ISSN 0969 - 6474

Review by: Peter Smith