ABSTRACT
The Henley Forum exists to engage academics, managers, and leaders of large organizations in joint research and dialogue about two inter-related problems: generating knowledge and learning in organizational life and harnessing both for performance and change. Each project has joint leadership: two co-champions, one an organizational participant the other a business school academic. A project group comprises the co-champions, a project researcher and volunteers from Forum member organizations. In the first year of the Forum, six research projects were selected from member concerns and priorities. They tackled tactical questions around virtual collaboration, managing customer knowledge, winning commitment to knowledge sharing, and strategic questions around knowledge management strategy/organization fit. After a year, people reviewed the interactive research approach to evaluate the extent and quality of interaction within the first six projects. Project meeting reports and participant interviews provided the data. The experience becomes increasingly useful as funding bodies encourage more multi-disciplinary projects.
