Supporting post-Fordist work practices A knowledge management framework for supporting knowledge work Frada Burstein and Henry Linger Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Keywords Knowledge management, Knowledge organizations, Decision support systems Abstract This paper examines the role of knowledge management and knowledge management systems for supporting knowledge work. In a work environment, knowledge is always situated in a specific context, so an organization benefits from a knowledge management system when such a system is focused on a specific task. Providing support for knowledge work at the task level complements the work practices of actors performing the task. The paper suggests that knowledge management systems can be implemented as intelligent decision support that establishes a joint cognitive process between the system and the actor performing the task. The proposed approach has been derived from our application of a knowledge management framework to a number of field studies. These applications come from various domains and highlight different aspects of the proposed framework. The focus on task performance, as a driving force for knowledge management, unifies these field studies. The paper identifies the issues that emerge from these studies and describes their contribution to the development of the framework. The paper concludes that by privileging knowledge work, task-based knowledge management can be an effective knowledge management strategy. Introduction Modern organizations make knowledge management (KM) an explicit part of their strategy in order to utilize the knowledge and experiences of individuals within the organization. The underlying assumption for KM in an enterprise context is that the enterprise’s productive function consists of work that in some way transforms organizational knowledge into outcomes that add value to the organization (Davenport and Prusak, 1998; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Senge, 1990; Sveiby, 1999; Skyrme, 1999). From this perspective, KM is part of the organization’s value chain and as such is presumed to have a positive impact on the organization. However, the actual work that is required to achieve the stated organizational outcomes is not explicitly addressed in this view. We view KM as a broad concept that addresses the full range of The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0959-3845.htm The authors would like to thank anonymous reviewers and editors of this special issue for their thorough comments, which helped us improve the quality of the paper.This research was partly funded by the Australian Research Council and Monash University grants. The authors would also like to thank industry collaborators who have given us access to field studies described in this paper. They have actively facilitated our research and have ensured that the results of the projects have been incorporated into their operational developments. Supporting post-Fordist work practices 289 Information Technology & People Vol. 16 No. 3, 2003 pp. 289-305 q MCB UP Limited 0959-3845 DOI 10.1108/09593840310489395