Knowledge Matters™

I’ve previously blogged about the need for discipline in knowledge management . I think discipline is an essential element, and I am surprised by its absence in the academic literature and general discussion. Equally I am surprised at the lack of discussion of the antithesis to discipline, which I call “learned helplessness and selective non-compliance”.

Selective non-compliance is the conscious act of selectively choosing the elements of the business plan, knowledge initiative, reporting regime, and so on, that one will comply with and ignoring the others. Learned helplessness is the act of assigning problems and their solutions to others, while claiming that one has no influence over the issue, when in fact the opposite is the case. Both learned helplessness and selective non-compliance are the hallmarks of a lack of discipline.

Perhaps I get around in the wrong circles, but it seems to me learned helplessness and selective non-compliance is alive and well among knowledge workers in public-sector organisations here in Australia. I’m also not sure whether learned helplessness is worse than selective non-compliance. I’m inclined to think selective non-compliance is the worst trait simply because it is a subversive tactic, and is often invisible to others.

I particularly dislike selective non-compliance in second-tier senior management, because it demonstrates disloyalty, lack of will, and frankly poor ethics. I dislike learned helplessness in the same group because it is overt and rapidly permeates the organisation to create a poisonous miasma. I often wonder when I see learned helplessness whether I am witnessing the Peter Principle in action – that is one is promoted to their level of incompetence.

So is learned helplessness and selective non-compliance a uniquely Australian public-sector phenomenon? Based on Patrick Lambe’s recent posts as the guest blogger at Cognitive Edge it seems not. It seems to me we need to explore the notion of discipline a bit more and openly talk about it in an organisational context.

All knowledge management journeys require people to exercise individual discipline to constantly look to the collective good. All journeys require group and cultural discipline to work to a common cause. All initiatives require process discipline to follow corporate requirements, and all initiatives require technology discipline to work with what you have and not constantly seek the technological silver bullet. All initiatives are plagued by learned helplessness and selective non-compliance, and it takes discipline to overcome the plague.

People matter, but if they won’t help themselves or are selectively non-compliant then management should not be afraid of “helping them out” – in every sense of the phrase.

Regards, Graham