Comments on: Objection #3: Control of Information

By: Chuck Sigmund

Chuck Sigmund — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:09:31 +0000

I don’t mean to push back too mush Rahul, but I am not certain I agree with your definition. By the mere fact that this group of 19-24 year old workers was hired, you are saying that they are subject matter experts at least to some degree in some areas. They have some level of content knowledge and an ability to offer something of value in a discussion about their work area (or maybe even others). I work in an organization of 1100 staff and I would dare say that many of the most competent and knowledgable staff I have are those that have been here the least amount of time. While tenure is certainly useful, it does not necessarily equate to expertise.

By: Rahul Banerji

Rahul Banerji — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:19:50 +0000

I buy your thought – but let me be myopic for a moment and focus on the organisation I work for. The employee base is over 30000 – with about 23000 – 24000 being in the 19 – 24 age group.

In this case I would define a SME as someone who is tenured within the organisation, has risen from the ranks making them knowledgable of the process.

I visualised it as a group of such people getting together and starting a blog on a topic and facilitating discussion on the group intranet site. Don’t know if it will work – just a thought.

By: Kevin Jones

Kevin Jones — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:09:02 +0000

Good thought. Now define “SME” – not the acronym, but the definition. In some right I believe that just about everyone is a SME in some way. Everyone knows a system, process, industry, technology or other better than others in their organization. That would make them a SME.

So where would you draw the line? Or would you allow everyone to start a blog?

By: Rahul Banerji

Rahul Banerji — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:08:00 +0000

Hi, I am into Learning & Development. I believe a way of solving this might well be posting blogs from within the environment by people who are SMEs of a particular function or process and having employees respond to this on the company intranet. This facilitates healthy discussion – i.e. learning and also takes care of the fact that the information can be corrected if it is not appropriate.

In the larger world this is another matter altogether with people using their discretion and experience to sift through the plethora of information and deciphering for themselves what authentic information would be.