Articles and Books

"Sharing Knowledge: Problems, Root Causes, and Solutions," Knowledge Management in Practice: Connections and  Context, Medford, NJ: American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2008.  For a pre-publication version for clients: Click here.

"Creating a Successful Knowledge Management System," PRISM, Second Quarter 1998, pp. 83-92; Journal of Business Strategy, March/April 1999, pp. 23-26; Knowledge Connections, The Newsletter of the Institute for Knowledge Management, December 1999, pp. 4-6.  Click here.

"Reengineering Revisited: Achieving Seamlessness," with Anthony J. Lynch, PRISM, Second Quarter 1994, pp. 23-29 (also appeared in The Best of Prism, Volume II [Cambridge, MA: Arthur D. Little, 1996], pp. 35ff.).  Click here.

Managing the Learning Processes of the Corporation, Contributing Author, Frankfurt, Germany: Gabler-Verlag, 1994.

"Process Thinking: Today's Path to Improved Performance," with Robert M. Curtice and Anthony J. Lynch, PRISM, First Quarter 1992, pp. 31-45. Click here.

Information Technology—Achieving the Potential, Atlanta, GA: LOMA, 1990.

Human Resources—Today and in the Future, with Homer J. Hagedorn, Atlanta, GA: LOMA, 1989.

Information Technology—Its Impact on the Insurance Industry, with Diane Smigel, Atlanta, GA: LOMA, 1986.

Newsletter - Sample 2

In this issue:
1.  The Brain Drain
2.  Change Ensurance™ - - or, "Insert Step One Here"
3.  Content Management

1. The Brain Drain
In several recent talks, Larry's topic has been "Plugging the Brain Drain - - Keeping Intellectual Capital When the Human Capital Departs."  With workers spending less than four years in a company, and with the use of contract employees rapidly increasing, the traditional problem of holding on to intellectual capital as people come and go is turning into a crisis. To stop what will otherwise be a constant drain on the IC of the firm, traditional efforts to manage knowledge must be strengthened and intensified. And if done well, these efforts can deliver even more—they can leverage intellectual assets to improve the overall ROI on human capital.

Larry left the audience with five questions to help assess their organizations' Brain Drain:
1.  Can you think of one or two people in your organization who have critical knowledge—people whose loss would really hurt?
2.  Do people join your organization, only to leave much sooner than you would like?
3.  Does your organization regularly reinvent the wheel because it does not capture lessons learned, or identify who knows what?
4.  Does your organization suffer because its flow of knowledge is regularly blocked or impeded?
5.  Do the culture and behaviors in your organization support effective knowledge sharing?

Take the test yourself.  Then, if you would like to get a copy of the slide presentation from Larry's talk, schedule a session on the Brain Drain for your organization, or get help with your own initiatives to retain and leverage intellectual capital, contact us at


2. Change Ensurance™
Almost unanimously, managers agree with our evaluation:  It doesn't matter if you are a department manager, division manager , or CEO - - the odds are against you.  75% of major change programs fail to achieve their objectives, and over 40% don't even get to the final stretch before their plugs are pulled.

Even so, managers are "gun shy" about addressing change-readiness proactively - - and with good reason.  No matter how hard one assures workers that there is "nothing to worry about," the simple act of questioning people about their experiences with and predispositions toward change can have major negative consequences.

Given those concerns, we have engineered our product to insert Change Ensurance™ as a new, "first step" in change programs.  We are working on a "do-it-yourself," web-based tool, as well as a much more robust version that will be customized to a specific organization and its anticipated change.  This version will involve on-site interviews and data gathering, initial feedback to management, a tailored questionnaire, thorough analysis of results, and integration of corrective actions into the planned change effort.

Especially in today's environment, where there is so little leeway for error, you simply cannot afford the risk of change-program failure!  If you would like to participate in our beta program (or if you know of other organizations that would be good candidates), please drop us a line at


3. Content Management
Recently, Larry Chait gave a session on "The 'Soft' Keys to Success in Content Management" at the Portals Conference in Boston.

Highlighting today's high failure rates in technology-related projects, he shared research on the top three contributors to project failure:  little or no user involvement; lack of sufficient executive support; and unclear objectives.  While content management success certainly involves 'hard' factors, such as software and servers, even more important is a major emphasis on 'soft' factors, including culture, behavior, processes, and the content itself.

Larry gave the attendees a roadmap for success, providing examples of practical tools, including:
* Knowledge audit
* Behavior profiling
* Unwritten Rules
* Process management
* Role definition and assignment

To request the complete slide presentation from Larry's talk, schedule a session on Success in Content Management for your organization, or get help with your own initiative in content management, contact us at:


Copyright © Chait and Associates, Inc.  All rights reserved.

Newsletter - Sample 1

In this issue:
1.  Collaboration
2.  Change Ensurance™ Project
3.  A Knowledge Management Epiphany

1.  Collaboration
From a well-received workshop Larry recently gave at CollaborateEast in Boston, here are the Eight Critical Success Factors for Collaboration Initiatives:
a. Adopting new patterns of collaboration must be a business and personal imperative for each individual.
b. New patterns of collaboration need to be mission-critical to the team.
c. The team manager – and his/her upper management – must consistently exhibit an unwavering commitment.
d. Teams need a committed and well-trained moderator with the time available to do the job.
e. New patterns of collaboration and supporting tools must be embedded into work processes.
f. Significant change in the nature of collaboration will inevitably require changes in culture and behavior.
g. A high level of infrastructure support for the program and for each team is required.
h. New patterns of collaboration often require improved technology support.

To request the complete slide presentation from Larry's talk, schedule a session on Collaboration for your organization, or get help with your own initiatives around enhanced collaboration and/or communities of practice, contact us at


2. Change Ensurance™ Project
We have been working closely with two former Arthur D. Little colleagues, Joan Lancourt and Bob Curtice, to develop a new set of tools to help ensure the success of change projects in organizations.

As we all know only too well, the great majority of organizational change initiatives – both large and small – fail to achieve their objectives.  Our combined 100+ years of experience has convinced us that managers can identify and root out the seeds of failure well in advance of their germination.  The analytical framework we are developing will predict potential problem areas and indicate remedial actions long before the problems surface.

We gave our first presentation in to The Roundtable, a group of Chief Technology Officers of major asset management firms in Boston.  We received positive feedback and lots of ideas for ongoing development of the concept and the project.

We are now polishing our diagnostic, which will identify the primary and most likely points of failure in organizational change initiatives and indicate appropriate interventions designed to enhance the likelihood of success.

If you would like to participate in our beta program (or if you know of other organizations that would be good candidates), please drop us a line at:


3. A Knowledge Management Epiphany

Over the past few months, we've had several assignments and activities in the KM space.  We have worked with a global consulting company embarking on KM and integrating a significant acquisition.  We've been supporting a KM vendor that is developing reference sites for its products.. And Larry has been involved in several KM events as part of his responsibilities as President of the Boston KM Forum.

It is now obvious:  KM as we knew it is dead.  Grandiose projects and highly public enterprise-level efforts are few and far between.  Total-KM-Solution products are equally scarce.

The world has embarked on a new, much more important and beneficial phase in the development of KM.  Today, real, local business needs are the focus – and the solution is tools and approaches that are carefully chosen and targeted to those specific needs.  It may be collaboration with a supplier or within an internal design team, or support of communities of practice, or changing behaviors and culture around sharing. But what it isn't – is solving the problems of the world through KM.

The implications of this change are broad, and we'll be covering them in this space in future issues.  For now, we are identifying the requirements for success in this new environment, and we are starting to work with groups like the IBM/Dave Snowden Cynefin Centre to develop new insights and tools for the emerging New KM.

Copyright © Chait and Associates, Inc.  All rights reserved.