Knowledge Management

Knowledge management (KM) is the process of capturing, developing, sharing & effectively using organizational knowledge. It refers to a multi-disciplined approach to achieving or organizational objectives by making the best use of knowledge. Many large companies & nonprofit organization have resources dedicated to internal KM efforts, often as a part of their business strategy, information technology or human resource management departments. 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.

Knowledge management efforts have a long history, to include on the job discussions, formal apprenticeship, corporate libraries, professional training & monitoring programs. In 1999, the term personal knowledge management was introduced; it refers to the management at the individual level. The concept of knowledge management has evolved toward a vision more based on people participation and emergence. This line of evolution is termed enterprise. However, there is an ongoing debate and discussions as to -2- whether enterprise is a fad that does not bring anything new or useful or whether it is, indeed, the future of knowledge management.

KM emerged as a scientific discipline in the earlier 1990s .Hubert Saint-Onge (formely of CIBC, Canada) , started investigating KM before that . In 2001, Thomas A.Stewart , former editor at Fortune magazine & subsequently the editor of Harvard Business Review , published a cover story high – lighting the inportance of intellectual capital in organisations . Since its establishment, the KM discipline has been gradually moving towards academic maturity. A broad range of thoughts on the KM discipline exist; approaches vary by author and school. As the discipline matures, academic debates have increased regarding both the theory and practice of KM , to include the following perspective ;

• Techno-centric

• Organizational

• Ecological

Regardless of the school of thought, core components of KM include people, processes, technology culture, technology. Different KM schools of thoughts include lenses through which KM can be viewed & explained, to include:

• Community of practice

• Social network of analysis

• Intellectual capital

• Information theory …..3……-3-

• Complexity science

• Constructivism

DIMENSIONS

Different frameworks for distinguishing between different types of knowledge exist. One proposed framework for categorizing the dimensions of knowledge distinguishes between tacit knowledge & explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge represents internalized knowledge that an individual may not be consciously aware of, such as how he or she accomplishes particular tasks. At the opposite, explicit knowledge represents knowledge that the individual holds consciously in mental focus, in a form that can easily be communicated to others. The content perspective suggest that knowledge is easily stored because it may be codified, while the relational perspective recognizes the contextual & ralational aspects of knowledge which can make knowledge difficult to store outside of the specific location where the knowledge is developed. Early research individuals to internalize and make personally meaningful any codified knowledge retrieved from the KM effort .

Knowledge may be accessed at three stages: before, during, or after KM- related activities. One strategy to KM involves actively managing knowledge. In such an instance, individuals strive to explicity encode their 4. -4- knowledge into a shared knowledge repository , such as database , as well as retrieving knowledge they need that other individuals have provided to the repository . This is commonly known as the Codification approach to KM.

There are a number of claims as to the motivations leading organizations to undertake a KM effort. Typical considerations daring KM effort includes.

• Making available increased knowledge content in the development and provision of products and services.

• Achieving shorter new product development cycles.

• Facilitating and managing innovations and organizational learning

• Leveraging the expertise of people across the Organisation.

• Increasing network connectivity between internal and external individuals.

• Solving intractable or wicked problems.

TECHNOLOGIES

Early KM technologies included online corporate yellow pages are expertise locators and document management systems. Subsequent knowledge Management ( KM ) efforts leveraged technologies for search and retrieval and the development of e-learning tools for communities of practice . Knowledge management can thus be categorized as falling into one or more of the following groups: Groupware, document management systems , semantic networks, …5… -5- relational and object oriented databases, simulation tools and artifical intelligence. Software tools in knowledge management are a collection of technologies and are not necessarily acquired as a single software solution. Furthermore, these knowledge management software tools have the resources and make significant investments in the latest technology, systems and infrastructure to support knowledge management. It is imperative that these investments are validated properly, made wisely and that the most appropriate technologies and software tools are selected or combined to facilitate knowledge management. Knowledge management has become a cornerstone in emerging business strategies such as Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) with companies increasingly turning to software vendors to enhance their efficiency in industries including, but not limited to the aviation industry.

• Langton Robbins, N.S.(2006). Organizational Behaviour (Fourth Canadian Edition). Toronto, Ontario: Pearson Prentice Hall.

• Maier, R. (2007). Knowledge Management Systems: Information And Communication Technologies for knowledge Management (3rd edition). Berlin: Springer. -6-

• Morey, Daryl; Maybury, Mark; Thuraisingham, Bhavani (2002). Knowledge Management: Classic and Contemporary works. MIT Press .p. 451. ISBN 0-262-13384-9.

• Wyssusek, Boris. “Knowledge Management – A Sociopragmatic Approach (2001) ’’. Ferguson, J. (2005). “Bridging the gap between research and practice. ’’

• Knowledge Management for Development Journal.

• Sensky, Tom (2002). “Knowledge Management.’’ Advances in Psychiatric Treatment.

 Teacher Bridge: Knowledge Management in Communities of Practice.