An article in the Acad. Mgt. Exec., May 2005 at 15, devoted much attention to a reward system Siemens put in place to build usage and content of its knowledge management (KM) system. Siemens awarded “shares” to valuable contributions, those who relied on the system, and added value in other ways. Somewhat oddly to me, they were most generous with people who asked questions – “entered knowledge bids.” The rationale, I suppose, is that a question asked reflects a genuine need whereas content contributions might never help anyone. “Contributors gain shares for entering knowledge bids into the library, for reusing knowledge, for responding to urgent requests, and for appraising one another’s contributions.” The number of shares awarded depended on what the person did.

No corporate legal department has nearly enough members to sustain such an elaborate incentive system, but perhaps a consortium of legal departments could muster sufficient numbers (See my post of June 10, 2009: joint collaborations by legal departments with 18 references.).

An article in the Acad. Mgt. Exec., May 2005 at 15, devoted much attention to a reward system Siemens put in place to build usage and content of its knowledge management (KM) system. Siemens awarded “shares” to valuable contributions, those who relied on the system, and added value in other ways. Somewhat oddly to me, they were most generous with people who asked questions – “entered knowledge bids.” The rationale, I suppose, is that a question asked reflects a genuine need whereas content contributions might never help anyone. “Contributors gain shares for entering knowledge bids into the library, for reusing knowledge, for responding to urgent requests, and for appraising one another’s contributions.” The number of shares awarded depended on what the person did.

No corporate legal department has nearly enough members to sustain such an elaborate incentive system, but perhaps a consortium of legal departments could muster sufficient numbers (See my post of June 10, 2009: joint collaborations by legal departments with 18 references.).