Knowledge Management Definition

Knowledge Management Definition

How much time do the people in our organizations spend looking for information?

Knowledge management can change this search time into highly effective work time. Knowledge management is one of those ephemeral terms that seem to mean nothing and everything simultaneously.

During the past couple of years, it has been variously identified with document management, business intelligence, collaborative computing, corporate portals, and any number of buzzwords.

But rather than a single product, knowledge management encompasses a business strategy aimed at taking advantage of a company's existing base of information, experience, and expertise.

In its October 1998 background document on knowledge management for the World Development Report, the World Bank recognized the strategic importance of this topic.

“Whatever the term employed to describe it, knowledge management is increasingly seen, not merely as the latest management fashion, but as signaling the development of a more organic and holistic way of understanding and exploiting the role of knowledge in the processes of managing and doing work, and an authentic guide for individuals and organizations in coping with the increasingly complex and shifting environment of the modern economy.”

The Need For A Definition

“Ambiguous terms can be an enormous obstacle to reaching a shared understanding.” Writing on the need for creating definitions for an emerging field, Mike Uschold continues to note that “disparate backgrounds, languages, tools and techniques are a major barrier to effective communication among people, organizations and systems”.

Knowledge management is both an ambiguous term and an emerging field. These two, simple words are too easy to (mis)understand. Knowledge management practitioners hail from diverse backgrounds, from information technology to organizational development to library science.

Coming from broad ranging professions, from business strategist to systems analyst to entrepreneur, all are intent on applying their expertise to a discipline that is both challenging in its complexities and significant in its potential.

A working definition is needed that will create the shared understanding upon which a successful knowledge management program can be built. Sometimes we can solve a problem, make a decision or perform some task because we know what is the correct solution, alternative or behavior; we have the information we need to act.

Sometimes we know how to solve that problem, make that decision or perform that task; we have the knowledge we need to be successful. Sometimes we know who can help us with the solution, decision or task; we can identify the expert and the expertise we need to get the right answers. Knowing what, how and who in support of the key processes and strategies of an enterprise is the knowledge of interest to knowledge management.

Types Of Knowledge

This “what, how and who” is sometimes fully documented, written down, communicated or recorded in some explicit format. Other times, it is just in our heads, an understanding that we possess in some tacit way, based on our experience or learning. In most organizations, about 20% of the knowledge required for the successful operation of that organization is explicit, the remaining 80% are tacit.

Knowledge management deals with these two types of knowledge, tacit and explicit. It often seeks to make the tacit knowledge of an individual or group explicit, so that it can be more readily shared with others.

As new knowledge is acquired, it becomes part of the tacit knowledge base of the learner who subsequently adapts it and applies it as needed to solve new problems, make new decisions or perform new tasks.

With experience and continued learning, the tacit knowledge matures and evolves into new knowledge, which remains tacit within the individual or group until they document it in some fashion, making it explicit.

The Management Of Knowledge

The management of this knowledge consists of the application of the normal management functions - planning, design, supervision and reporting - to the processes that identify, collect, adapt, organize, apply, share and create this knowledge.

The management of knowledge for an enterprise attends to these core knowledge management processes as well as to the organizational enablers of these processes, viz., the leadership, culture, technology and measurement required for support of these processes.

A Definition Of Knowledge Management

At its 4th Annual Conference on Knowledge Management held in Washington, D.C. in May 2002, the American Productivity and Quality Association (APQC) echoed the sentiments spoken by Mrs. Bush when it defined the goal of KM: Connecting people to the best practices, knowledge, and expertise they need to create value.

Similarly, the objective of KM as a value creating strategy is reflected in the definition of KM that we will adopt for use by USAID: Systematic approaches to help information and knowledge emerge and flow to the right people at the right time to create value.

Part 1 | Part 2

Credit: Joe Rabenstine Seminar

tags: knowledge management definition