Knowledge work is still a relatively new and dynamic area of research that has emerged as a direct response to the changing organizing processes that pervade many organizations. Due to the emphasis on communication and information in knowledge work, information technology (IT) has been closely associated with the development of knowledge management initiatives (Zuboff, 1996; Hayes, 2001). Indeed, Easterby-Smith et al. (2000) estimate that seventy percent of publications on knowledge management have focused on the design of information technologies (ITs). In the commercial arena, most knowledge management initiatives have a strong IT focus, where knowledge is seen as being capable of being leveraged through the development of shared databases and knowledge warehouses (Sambamurthy and Subramani, 2005).
The objective of this chapter is to examine some of the challenges and opportunities that surround the use of IT in intra-organizational knowledge management initiatives. The chapter is structured as follows. Following this introduction, I will review some of the key issues that have been reported in the literature to date. Informed by the literature review, section three outlines a conceptual framework for understanding knowledge working through IT. I then draw on this framework to critically review some of the key challenges that arose in a knowledge management initiative undertaken by a UK pharmaceuticals company when making use of a leading groupware technology to support their knowledge management initiative. Based on the literature review, framework, and the case study, section five briefly discusses Enterprise 2.0 technologies (E2.0), a current category of technology that some claim offers new opportunities for knowledge working. Section six outlines some practical implications primarily with regard to long established knowledge management technologies such as groupware and intranets, but also provides some discussion of E2.0 technologies. The final section presents some brief conclusions.