What is knowledge management?

Knowledge management (KM) comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals or embedded in organizational processes or practice.

An established discipline since 1991 (see Nonaka 1991), KM includes courses taught in the fields of business administration, information systems, management, and library and information sciences (Alavi & Leidner 1999). More recently, other fields have started contributing to KM research; these include information and media, computer science, public health, and public policy.

Many large companies and non-profit organizations have resources dedicated to internal KM efforts, often as a part of their ‘business strategy’, ‘information technology’, or ‘human resource management’ departments (Addicott, McGivern & Ferlie 2006). Several consulting companies also exist that provide strategy and advice regarding KM to these organizations.

Knowledge management efforts typically focus on organizational objectives such as improved performance, competitive advantage, innovation, the sharing of lessons learned, integration and continuous improvement of the organization. KM efforts overlap with organizational learning, and may be distinguished from that by a greater focus on the management of knowledge as a strategic asset and a focus on encouraging the sharing of knowledge. KM efforts can help individuals and groups to share valuable organizational insights, to reduce redundant work, to avoid reinventing the wheel per se, to reduce training time for new employees, to retain intellectual capital as employees turnover in an organization, and to adapt to changing environments and markets (McAdam & McCreedy 2000) (Thompson & Walsham 2004).

From the introduction to; “An Open Discussion of Knowledge Management”, Brian (Bo)Newman, 1991.

Knowledge Management is the collection of processes that govern the creation, dissemination, and utilization of knowledge. In one form or another, knowledge management has been around for a very long time. Practitioners have included philosophers, priests, teachers, politicians, scribes, Liberians, etc.

So if Knowledge Management is such an ageless and broad topic what role does it serve in today’s Information Age? These processes exist whether we acknowledge them or not and they have a profound effect on the decisions we make and the actions we take, both of which are enabled by knowledge of some type. If this is the case, and we agree that many of our decisions and actions have profound and long lasting effects, it makes sense to recognize and understand the processes that effect or actions and decision and, where possible, take steps to improve the quality these processes and in turn improve the quality of those actions and decisions for which we are responsible?

Knowledge management is not a, “a technology thing” or a, “computer thing” If we accept the premise that knowledge management is concerned with the entire process of discovery and creation of knowledge, dissemination of knowledge , and the utilization of knowledge then we are strongly driven to accept that knowledge management is much more than a “technology thing” and that elements of it exist in each of our jobs.

Dr. Arthur J. Murray provides the following Knowledge Management Argot

• Argot: The vocabulary used by a particular group, usually an underworld group.
• Corporate Knowledge: The collective body of experience and understanding of an organization’s processes for managing both planned and unplanned situations.
• Corporate Knowledge Management: The process whereby knowledge seekers are linked with knowledge sources, and knowledge is transferred.
• Corporate Knowledge Server:
• Epistemology: The study of the nature and foundations of knowledge.
• Etymology: The study of the history of change of a linguistic expression.
• Knowledge: A set of models describing various properties and behaviors within a domain.
• Morphology: The study of patterns and structure of word formations in language.
• Ontology: The study of relationships that give rise to meaning of expressions.
• Taxonomy: A framework for the classification and arrangement of objects (used to build a classification hierarchy).

History

KM efforts have a long history, to include on-the-job discussions, formal apprenticeship, discussion forums, corporate libraries, professional training and mentoring programs. More recently, with increased use of computers in the second half of the 20th century, specific adaptations of technologies such as knowledge bases, expert systems, knowledge repositories, group decision support systems, intranets, and computer supported cooperative work have been introduced to further enhance such efforts.[1]

In 1999, the term personal knowledge management was introduced which refers to the management of knowledge at the individual level (Wright 2005).

In terms of the enterprise, early collections of case studies recognized the importance of knowledge management dimensions of strategy, process, and measurement (Morey, Maybury & Thuraisingham 2002). Key lessons learned included: people, and the cultures that influence their behaviors, are the single most critical resource for successful knowledge creation, dissemination, and application; cognitive, social, and organizational learning processes are essential to the success of a knowledge management strategy; and measurement, benchmarking, and incentives are essential to accelerate the learning process and to drive cultural change. In short, knowledge management programs can yield impressive benefits to individuals and organizations if they are purposeful, concrete, and action-oriented.

More recently with the advent of the Web 2.0, the concept of knowledge management has evolved towards a vision more based on people participation and emergence. This line of evolution is termed Enterprise 2.0 (McAfee 2006). However, there is an ongoing debate and discussions (Lakhani & McAfee 2007) as to whether Enterprise 2.0 is just a fad that does not bring anything new or useful or whether it is, indeed, the future of knowledge management (Davenport 2008).

Some source about Knowledge management

Unfortunately, there’s no universal definition of KM, just as there’s no agreement as to what constitutes knowledge in the first place. For this reason, it’s best to think of KM in the broadest context. Succinctly put, KM is the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets. Most often, generating value from such assets involves sharing them among employees, departments and even with other companies in an effort to devise best practices. It’s important to note that the definition says nothing about technology; while KM is often facilitated by IT, technology by itself is not KM.
Source: CIO Magazine

The act of making tacit knowledge explicit. Tacit knowledge is the knowledge we each carry in our heads about how to do things, who to call and the lessons learned through experience. Making it explicit is recording in some media that allows another person to use it. The media can be a complex computer database or a piece of paper tacked over the water cooler. There are as many definitions of knowledge management (KM) as there are ways to use it.
Source: http://www.moviemaven.com/technical/definitions/gloslist.htm
Knowledge management is concerned with organizing knowledge repositories (data bases etc.) so as to allow for easy retrieval and exchange of the information stored therein. Important concepts in knowledge management include domains, i. e. fields of related concepts and terms, and ontologies, i. e. structures (typically hierarchies or networks) of interrelated terms for things, concepts, relationships, etc. in a given domain.
Source: Felix Weigel

A relatively new concept in which an enterprise consciously gathers and shares its knowledge to further its goals. Some components of knowledge management include data mining and data warehousing (Data Mining: The analysis of data for relationships that have not previously been discovered. For example, the revenues for a particular entr閑 in a restaurant could, if related to other menu-item data, reveal a correlation between the purchase of a particular dessert with that menu-item. Data Warehouse: A centralized repository of operations and transaction information that is captured from diverse sources and is typically housed on a large-scale server).
Source: Hospitality Technology – Buyers’ Guide
Knowledge is a fluid mix of contextual information, values, experiences and r. For an organisation this resides within employees (human capital) and represents a source of creativity, innovation and adaptability to change. Knowledge management is an explicit system to use this capital.
Source: Article 13 Co.

Knowledge Management is the process of capturing value, knowledge and understanding of corporate information, using IT systems, in order to maintain, re-use and re-deploy that knowledge.
Source: OIC Document Management
A streamlined approach at improving knowledge sharing across the entire organization. Accessibility of information, documents, best practice methodologies, templates, libraries, and other pertinent information. Hierarchical views of the entire organization, knowledge repositories, company policies, corporate handbook and collaboration
Source: Tenrox PSA

Knowledge Management is the systematic process of finding, selecting, organizing, distilling and presenting information in a way that improves an employee’s comprehension in a specific area of interest.
Source: Knowledge Management Server
Knowledge Management – Information or data management with the additional practice of capturing the tacit experience of the individual to be shared, used and built upon by the organization leading to increased productivity (Tacit Knowledge – Innovation, creation of new knowledge often comes from collaboration and interaction with experts. These are some of the many ways to create a culture where there is greater collaboration, team work and sharing of ideas.).
Source: KMTool Community

Knowledge Map – Mapping the expertise of an organization is valuable for several reasons. Easy access to a map of expertise of the organization can connect people when they need guidance resulting in quicker response rates, reduction of re-invention of the wheel, increased employee satisfaction and more. Maps can be used then to pull people in to assist on current projects or for offering training to employees who have existing good basic skills to equip them with additional skills the organization will need for future projects. Considerations include: skills, expertise, experience, and location.
Source: KMTool Community

Knowledge Management in the New World of Business

The traditional paradigm of information systems is based on seeking a consensual interpretation of information based on socially dictated norms or the mandate of the company bosses. This has resulted in the confusion between ‘knowledge’ and ‘information’. However, knowledge and information are distinct entities!! While information generated by the computer systems is not a very rich carrier of human interpretation for potential action, ‘knowledge’ resides in the user’s subjective context of action based on that information. Hence, it may not be incorrect to state that knowledge resides in the user and not in the collection of information, a point made two decades ago by West Churchman, the leading thinker on information systems.

Karl Erik Sveiby, the author of The New Organizational Wealth: Managing and Measuring Knowledge-Based Assets, contends that the confusion between `knowledge’ and `information’ has caused managers to sink billions of dollars in technology ventures that have yielded marginal results. He asserts that the business managers need to realize that unlike information, knowledge is embedded in people… and knowledge creation occurs in the process of social interaction. On a similar note, Ikujiro Nonaka, the renowned Professor of Knowledge, has emphasized that only human beings can take the central role in knowledge creation. He argues that computers are merely tools, however great their information-processing capabilities may be. A very recent Harvard Business Review special issue on Knowledge Management seems to lend credence to this point of view. This issue highlighted the need for constructive conflict in organizations that aspire to be leaders in innovation and creation of new knowledge.

The ‘wicked environment’ of the new world of business imposes the need for variety and complexity of interpretations of information outputs generated by computer systems. Such variety is necessary for deciphering the multiple world views of the uncertain and unpredictable future. As underscored by the strategy guru Gary Hamel at the recent Academy of Management meeting address, non-linear change imposes upon organizations the need for devising non-linear strategies. Such strategies cannot be ‘predicted’ based on a static picture of information residing in the company’s databases. Rather, such strategies will depend upon developing interpretive flexibility by understanding multiple views of the future. In this perspective, the objective of business strategy is not to indulge in long-term planning of the future. Rather, the emphasis is on understanding the various world views of future using techniques such as scenario-planning. A similar process of strategic planning was pioneered by Arie de Geus, the strategy chief of the multinational Royal Dutch/Shell, as chronicled in his recent book The Living Company.