Information Outlook, Vol 6, no. 11, November 2002

Greetings, Everyone I have just spent much of the past week or so going over a lot of knowledge management­related reading, particularly material about KM as an organizational culture issue more than a technology or information issue. Some of the cultural concerns that can affect the success or failure of a KM system are also relevant to us in making the association an asset to as many members as possible.

There is nothing particularly new or startling about any of this. It is simply something that should be repeated from time to time so we don't lose sight of reality as we get involved with the details of keeping our chapters functioning, programming division activities for the next annual conference, and doing committee-related work.

One of the challenges of functioning in an association context like the one we have at SLA is that we all come from different organizational and social/personal cultures, which motivate us to do and say certain things. These cultures, in turn, interface with the association's culture, and from that base we try to keep things functioning. But what often results is a lot of confusion and miscommunication, because communication is very much culturally driven. So we go to the annual conference or local chapter events and read submissions on a chapter or division listserv and wonder how anyone could say something so absurd. Chances are we don't know the person very well, or at all, so we are responding with little or no knowledge of the organizational and social cultures that are motivating this person.

I think it is important for us to approach our involvement with SLA from one fundamental premise: Anyone who takes the time and makes the effort to get involved in any association-related activity, even as simple as posting a message to a listserv, is doing so out of a genuine interest and concern for the profession and the association. Another person may not express that interest the same way you or I would, but he or she is concerned nonetheless, and we all need to be attentive to that concern.

As an association, we will be addressing a number of critical issues over the next few months, primarily finding a new executive director and re-branding SLA. These are issues about which there is and will continue to be a wide range of opinion. As our colleagues express their opinions on these and other issues, we should thank them for their input and make an effort to understand how and why those opinions were formed. One way of looking at this situation, expressed by someone writing about motivation, is this: "We all judge ourselves by our motives, but we judge others by their actions." The best way for the association to move forward is in an environment that is accepting of open, honest, and nonjudgmental discussion. We all have the right to state our opinions, and we owe each other the respect of acknowledging all the views expressed.