Knowledge Sharing in Corporate America

I'd like to talk about some of the issues Dr. Schwarz raised about knowledge sharing.  Is it inherently flawed? How do firms encourage it? And are there models to knowledge sharing that can work better than current models? 

Personally, I believe knowledge sharing as a concept has great uses, but ultimately its effectiveness depends on the culture of the firm.  What better ways to learn about dealing with difficult situations than through the eyes of experience.  Even before technology was advanced as it is today, many firms had mentorship programs in place, some formal and many informal.  New employees in a firm were encouraged to find mentors, people who were successful and had career paths that they wished to follow and learn from.  This is knowledge sharing in its most basic form.  If the two employees had compatible personalities, knowledge was effectively shared.  Young employees received 'free' training and coaching as far as the company is concerned and more knowledgeable/highly skilled employees create more value for the firm. 

I believe the skeptics view of knowledge sharing has some validity to it.  Of course a person who shares their knowledge has the potential to lose some leverage in 'what it is' that the person knows.  However, no one knows everything.  If a firm creates their culture around sharing the knowledge, sharing insights, and encouraging employees to learn from each other, the firm stands to benefit, and the employee stands to benefit as well when he/she opens up the opportunity to learn from others.  Most employees who keep to themselves and refuse to share, lose the opportunity to learn as much from other co-workers, and in this way a culture can provide the incentives for these types of employees to open up. 

To combine this into the types of things going on today.  I believe if firm applied the 'facebook' type of platform at work to encourage the mentor/mentee relationships with colleagues, it can increase the ability for employees to share knowledge when spread across large geographic regions.  Technology can be leveraged to amplify what's going on in this area, but it is up to executives at the top to set the culture and tone to encourage these types of realtionships to develop.