On July 15, I will be presenting at the Knowledge Worker Meetup, in Toronto. Here is the abstract:

Knowledge Management and the Tribunal of Experience
Benoit Hardy-Vallee, PhD

our statements about the external world face the tribunal of sense experience not individually but only as a corporate body.
- W.V.O. Quine

“Knowledge” is an elusive, abstract concept, yet we use it everyday. I would like first to take the time to discuss this concept, highlight its key dimensions and suggest how knowledge management should be sensitive to a proper theory of knowledge. To do so, I will briefly revisit (at a high level, it’s Wednesday night for Pete’s sake!) the main tenets of contemporary epistemology, i.e., the theory of knowledge. The goal is to make the case for a conception of knowledge that properly differentiates knowledge from information. One of the key differentiators is that knowledge has to be justified, and ultimately it must face what Quine called the “Tribunal of Experience”: empirical evidence.

Having put that in place, I will argue that the framework known as “Evidence-Based Management” (Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management, by Sutton & Pfeffer, 2006, HBS) is the surest bet as to how we should manage knowledge and even that Evidence-Based Management is Evidence-based Knowledge Management. A commitment to fact and evidence, I will suggest, should make us sensitive not only to facts about organizations but also to important facts about the Knowledge Worker: our own cognitive biases are the worst threat to knowledge, hence to its optimal management.

Speaker. Benoit Hardy-Vallee, Phd.

Benoit Hardy-Vallee is a consultant in the Operations Support Services (Utilities & IT practice) of SBR Global. Born in Quebec, he studied Philosophy of science and cognitive science in Montreal, Paris, Waterloo and Toronto. He worked as a project manager, web developer, event organizer, researcher and lecturer before entering management consulting at SBR Global, where he helps organizations reach their goals. His blog, Management Epistemology (http://www.hardyvallee.net), discusses organizational behavior, consulting and the energy industry. His interest for Knowledge Management started during his academic years. It continues to spark his intellectual and professional interest. Benoit also practices karate regularly. Currently at the brown-belt level, he hopes to get his black belt next year.

Additionally, Benoit has been a member of this Meetup group since its inception in January 2009

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