Shooting the Past: An Instructional Case for Knowledge Management

This case for teaching knowledge management uses an episode of Mobil (now ExxonMobil) Masterpiece Theatre, “Shooting the Past,” and specifically the relationships among characters and objects, as a metaphor for knowledge management. The paper provides a written excerpt for use without the video; however, one can excerpt the video, available from WGBH in Boston (http://www.wgbh.org), to make a more powerful presentation. Instructors have effectively adapted the case in both undergraduate and graduate accounting information systems courses as well as among practicing professionals. The paper also includes discussions of knowledge management and several of its prevalent theories, as well as teaching notes for the case.