Inside Knowledge: Rediscovering the Source of Performance Improvement weaves a suspenseful tale of how several employees working in the fictional Grand Bay company discover how to leverage their knowledge to radically improve performance. Knowledge is often the most reliable sources of sustainable competitive advantage for companies, yet, until now, it has been very difficult to translate employee knowledge into performance improvements. Inside knowledge and pragmatic knowledge are the missing links that make the connection between employee experience and a firm’s ability to gain a competitive edge. Pragmatic knowledge results from continuous experimentation to enables employees to discover new ways to view their work and to improve performance, and is the result of the collaboration of both types of operational employees – workers and managers. Their interactions focus on discovering what works best in practice, and this refines the knowledge that drives performance improvement.
This is not simply a theoretical approach, since successful companies such as Toyota have demonstrated that inside knowledge is a vital component to driving organizational innovations. Inside Knowledge offers seven pragmatic principles that allow any person working in any kind of organization to create and continuously improve knowledge for improving performance.
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Preface
Chapter 1 The Bricoleur
Chapter 2 Lewis at the Window
Chapter 3 A Happy Day
Chapter 4 It Begins
Chapter 5 I’ll Call You Before 4pm
Chapter 6 Bailey and Returning to Grand Bay
Chapter 7 We Have a Partner
Chapter 8 What Have I Gotten Myself Into?
Chapter 9 Waiting It Out
Chapter 10 Discovering Operational Innovation
Chapter 11 Cold Feet
Chapter 12 Pragmatic Knowledge Principle #1
Chapter 13 Reflecting
Chapter 14 “Butt Out”
Chapter 15 Discomforting
Chapter 16 Pragmatic Knowledge Principle #2
Chapter 17 Valerie Golden
Chapter 18 Pragmatic Knowledge Principle #3
Chapter 19 Lewis Will Look Into It
Chapter 20 Starting to Notice More
Chapter 21 Bill
Chapter 22 Locked Out
Chapter 23 Belinda
Chapter 24 Pragmatic Knowledge Principle #4
Chapter 25 Min’s Problem
Chapter 26 Lewis Coaches
Chapter 27 Toni Blake
Chapter 28 Dana and Bill
Chapter 29 A Huddle with Lewis
Chapter 30 Lewis and Vernon
Chapter 31 Pragmatic Knowledge Principle #5
Chapter 32 Baffled
Chapter 33 Pragmatic Knowledge Principle #6
Chapter 34 A Game of High Stakes Poker .
Chapter 35 Nikki Returns Home
Chapter 36 A Call From HR
Chapter 37 Pragmatic Knowledge Principle #7
Chapter 38 Artis Mougalian
Chapter 39 Langley Richards, CEO
Chapter 40 Ace in the Hole
Chapter 41 A Splendid Night at the Splendid
Chapter 42 Bailey
Chapter 43 The Present
Chapter 44 Meeting Bailey
Chapter 45 Becoming a Pragmatic Company
Chapter 46 Recapitulation
References
Index
