The premise of this “think piece” is a belief based on experience that the business workplace is seeing a gradual decrease in “real knowledge”. 

I define for the purpose of this essay “real knowledge” as that knowledge that provides a thorough understanding of the principles, theories and concepts behind the systemic practices one engages in an organizational setting. For example,  a lot of business entities spend enormous amount of money engaging in something called “change management”. This term is used in the vernacular as sought of a knowledge based principle. My contention is that it might be, but in order to practice or espouse these concepts one has to deeply study and understand the cultural, anthropological, psychological, financial and sociological dimensions of how change happens within organizations involving human interaction from both the macro and micro viewpoints. My contention also is that most people who claim to be experts in assisting organizations in implementing “change management” have rarely studied all the dimensions of the Subject stated  in the illustrative example.

“Real knowledge” in my opinion is distinguished from “nominal knowledge” in that “nominal knowledge” means cursory knowledge – a little knowledge that is enough to get by. I see most people at work today possessing more “nominal knowledge” than “real knowledge”. Also over the last forty years of my working life I have observed a downward sloping trend line in the “real knowledge”  while the “nominal knowledge” trend line has sloped upward.

There are many possible contributory causes to this phenomena. Let me propound on some of these causes. Of course, these are all opinion and conjecture on my part. But opinion and conjecture that is based on practical work experiences and supervision of employees over a span of almost twenty seven years.  

First , the introduction of the personal computer and following that the advent of the internet is a leading cause of the decrease in the “real knowledge”. Computers make things easy. Vast amount of nominal knowledge short cuts are available for people to exploit. One can know a little about a subject and sound real knowledgeable but not necessarily have an in depth understanding of the Subject Matter. Computers deprive individuals of the pleasures of real and deep devoted study and understanding. Computers are convenience based productivity tools and are not necessarily the means to achieve real in depth subject matter understanding. To achieve real understanding one has to read and study books, articles, engage in concept based dialogue and spend the necessary scholarship time to absorb the subject matter.

Today we live in times of first impressions, image, visual pleasures, deferred gratification, presentation skills, behavioral dimensions and all these success factors are antithesis to a deep study and understanding of any subject matter. Now it is not required to be an expert in any subject. If one knows how to play the game and say enough about a subject then one can get by quite successfully. These days it is more important to get along with others than to really know the subject. Because of these necessary key success factors individuals do not see the need for a deep understanding of any subject matter.

The wide increase of external subject matter expertise through the convenient access to high priced consultants has diminished the need to develop real internal expertise. Consultants, for their very survival, are reluctant to transfer the “real knowledge”. They horde the “real knowledge”.

During these recent years many authors and so called thought leaders have introduced concepts that are to say the least cursory. Here is a list of few of these recent terms that are loosely talked about in businesses – Emotional Intelligence, Change Management, Balanced Score Card, Behavioral  Indicators to name just a few. With the force of an effective marketing apparatus, the authors of these concepts have succeeded in capturing the imagination of  a “real knowledge” starved audience. This has greatly enhanced the knowledge scarcity environment we live in. Many people buy these books as mere tokens of success and do not spend the time and effort to deeply devour the understanding that these books intend to impart.

Another reason for the declining “real knowledge base” is the softening of the business workplace. Recent management practice has centered around form rather than substance. It is important to be so called “culturally” attuned  than to possess the “real knowledge”.   Getting along with people is more important than hard knowledge. Being politically correct is more important than hard knowledge based facts. What is now being valued is behavior rather than measurable results. No wonder we see a disaster scenario in corporate performance in many companies.  Gone are the days of cigar chomping bosses like Lee Iaccoca who demand rather than merely ask. (Those interested please read his most interesting book – “Where Have All The Leaders Gone”.) Now leaders have to be sensitive , empathetic  and emotionally intelligent. This certainly sounds like a softening of the workplace. This softening might have been caused by the  fairly recent readjustment of the global business social structure.

Finally, the extreme focus on short-term quick greed based gains in the corporate world has been greatly enhanced by the “nominal knowledge” environment. Why build a solid knowledge based foundation when the desired objective is make as much money as quickly as possible? Just witness the devastation caused by this “nominal knowledge” based work environment. Sad is it not,  to see sound corporate entities like General Motors, AIG, Citibank, Cryshler, Meryl Lynch  etc. all languishing  in the throes of extinction or even totally extinct. When I started working as a fresh graduate there were the BUNCH (Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data and Honeywell) versus IBM. Out of the BUNCH I do not think even one survived the vagaries of the computer industry.

So, based on the reasons I have postulated here I suggest there is a true scarcity of real knowledge. We now more so than ever we need to bring back the good old days of “real knowledge” We need to value and reward those within our organizations that provide solutions and ideas that are “real knowledge based” and we need to discredit those that obfuscate their way to corporate success.