The KM "harvest, refine & distribute model" is foolishly sincere, counterproductive and, well, ridiculous. Recalls the great propaganda posters of Soviet-era collective agriculture. KM is about connection not collection. The ‘harvest’ notion does more harm, a LOT more, than good. Like the farce of collective agriculture, the KM "harvest, refine & distribute model" just doesn’t achieve anything. 

Not to mention the failed ‘harvest’ metaphor. It is as if that's all the farmer ever does. Please. It is typical of the dubious 'process' KM people and mindset. They would have your believe "harvest, refine & distribute model" is all that’s needed.

For the sake of this silly KM metaphor, how about these questions. What about finding arable land? What about preparing the earth? Rotation? Plowing? What about planting seed? How about cultivation? Don't forget about weather, weeds and pests. Oh, what's the financing until we can sell the crop? No, the specious 'harvest' model is very harmful to KM.

Knowledge Networks

On the contrary, systems thinking and tools are rqr'd for KM.

Today, for example, it is fashionable to talk about hierarchy and heterarchy - a system of organization with overlapping, multiplicity, mixed ascendancy, and/or divergent-but-coexistent patterns of relation. That’s nice, but it is not effective or comprehensive KM.

Rather, KM is a holoarchy.

To paraphrase and adapt D. Spangler, In a hierarchy and heterarchy, participants (and their knowledge) can be compared and evaluated on the basis of position, rank, relative power, seniority. However, in a holoarchy each person’s knowledge value comes from his or her individuality, uniqueness and network capacity.

The knowledge holoarchy is a value network that engages and interacts with others in the broad knowledge marketplace. The holoarchy makes individuated and collective knowledge available to all.

One fast growing and very efficient way companies do that is collective intelligence, prediction markets, value networks and knowledge markets. See:

http://www.pmcluster.com/