The authors of this book advance the Appreciative Sharing of Knowledge (ASK), a unique approach by which organizations create a culture that facilitates the sharing of information. Using social constructionist approaches, historical data, and case studies, the authors demonstrate that appreciation - or affirmation - is the key ingredient for people to trust each other and overcome their inhibitions and concerns about sharing what they know. The hyper-competitive culture of many organizations has created a knowledge-hoarding climate that many firms struggle to change. The ASK process can reinvent, in a sustainable manner, how we think about organizing knowledge. By linking practices, artifacts, technologies and managerial skills, the ASK model offers a management framework for a wide range of enterprises. One of the basic tenets put forth is that if knowledge is shared appreciatively, managing knowledge will no longer be an issue. The authors expand on the concept of appreciation and illustrate how systems can be created to institutionalize knowledge sharing. In addition, they give examples of organizations that have planted the seeds for the exchange to happen. Academics and practitioners in the fields of knowledge management and organizational behavior and development will find this innovative study of great value. The findings will also be of great practical use for managers and executives in a variety of firms.

This volume is focused on sustainable value which has become a widespread aspiration in all walks of life. By taking a generative approach and by building on positive design principles inherent in the appreciative inquiry methodology, it proposes moving from sustainable development to sustainable value. Chapters focus on three thematic areas for sustainable value: positive design, appreciative intelligence and social innovation, and social entrepreneurship. Contributions respond to questions such as: How can the design approach help enhance the sustainable value over profit value? And what needs to happen to create a vibrant community of practice among design practitioners, scientists, business and political leaders? Case studies show that by reframing global problems with an appreciative lens, organizations of all sorts can indeed create social innovation and even establish a business case for sustainable value. It provides lessons learned from high impact social entrepreneurship and conceptualizes how this nascent movement with unbridled potential may contribute to the radical shift necessary for moving from sustainable development to sustainable value.

India has become a highly visible participant in the information communication technology (ICT) industry. Since the 1990s, it has been one of the fastest growing economies in the world, emerging as the most watched test of global capitalism. The contributors to this volume examine how the ICT-driven development of India appears to have skipped the middle stages of the traditional economic development models and leapfrogged directly to the final stage whereby growth is mostly technologically driven. Information Communication Technology and Economic Development reveals new insights regarding the complex process of globalization. It shows how the generation and circulation of intellectual capital in the US and India in ICT have led to greater productivity in the US while facilitating the economic development of India. Most industrialized nations now see the vast intellectual capital-based services that India provides at extremely competitive rates as key to their own national competitiveness in the global arena. The contributors' findings suggest that India's ICT-led growth will accelerate in the next ten years, launching India as a major global economic power next to the US and China. This provocative and timely volume will be a necessary read for students and scholars of international business, public policy, economic development, management and strategy as well as all those interested in the impact of globalization on national and regional economies.

True knowledge sharing in organizations occurs less regularly than most of us think. What can be done to help create a system in which people share the internal "know-how" unique to each organization? In this contribution to change management, Tojo Thatchenkery describes a brand new methodology called Appreciate Sharing of Knowledge ASK] and provides a step-by-step tool kit for anyone interested in knowledge management. Using the most recent research, Thatchenkery shows how "appreciation" is the missing link in facilitating knowledge sharing. By systematically and intentionally creating an appreciative climate in organizations, leaders and practitioners can deal with change with least resistance and leverage the "tacit knowledge" that is essential for competitive advantage. Written in lucid, jargon-free language, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in the most recent approaches to dealing with change and creating a robust knowledge management architecture in organizations.