Discipline and Knowledge Management

[Graham Durant-Law]

I think that a missing component in the corporate literature on knowledge management, and for that matter the management literature, is discipline. It seems that as a society we are afraid of discipline because it conjures up images of corporal punishment. Yet I would say to you that ‘discipline is not a dirty word’! Indeed, in 1918 one of Australia’s most famous generals and citizens – Lieutenant General Sir John Monash - captured the meaning of discipline very well. He said:


“Discipline is, after all, only a means to an end, and that end is the power to secure coordinated action among a large number of individuals for the achievement of a definite purpose”.


A subtle tweak provides a pretty good working description of the intent of knowledge management –


“Knowledge management is, after all, only a means to an end, and that end is the means to secure coordinated action among a large number of individuals for the achievement of a definite purpose”.

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