The Importance Of Knowledge Management

Within the last decade, the Army has adopted knowledge management (KM) as a way to facilitate the transfer knowledge. According to FM 6-01.1, “Knowledge management (KM) is the process of enabling knowledge flow to enhance shared understanding, learning, and decision making (p. 1-1).” KM consists of four major areas People, Processes, Tools, and Organization. People are a key element to the success of KM. Whether they are internal and external to your organization, they are the creator, organizers, and appliers of knowledge. Processes are use to influence KM and they are composed of the following steps assessing, designing, developing, piloting, and implementing. Tools are used to facilitate the sharing of information. Tools can be made up of information systems and software. Last but know least, an organization is “the matrix in which people-processes-tools function to integrate individual learning and organizational learning strategies (p. 1-5).” As a part of this paper, I was tasked with identifying the systems, tools, and resources that are used in my organization’s current KM Program.
Recently, I conducted a survey to gather information on the Virginia Army National Guard’s KM program. I first interviewed the Knowledge Management Officer (KMO) to gain insight into the KM Tools, KM Processes, and other resources used to facilitate KM, communication, and the transfer of information and data within the Virginia Army National Guard. From this interview, I learned that of the two fundamental KM strategies (systematize and personalize) we use more of the systematize approach in KM. In the systematize approach, the focus is on information systems and databases to facilitate KM, communication, and the transfer of information and data...

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...this interview process, I was able to ascertain that the current system’s benefits were its’ ability to improve teamwork, re-use of internal knowledge, increased productivity, and reduced redundancies. Some of the shortcomings/limitations of the current system included its’ inability to serve traditional soldiers and outside agencies such as local law enforce and rescue. There future plans to extend the service to those outside agencies. On a rating scale of 1 to 5, (1 = Unsatisfactory, 2 = Satisfactory, 3 = Effective, 4 = Highly Effective, and 5 = Exceptional) I rate the system as 3 = Effective. Effective means that the system in place meets the goals of the current KM program.
In conclusion, KM is the future of the Army. The main object of KM is to get the right information to the right people at the right time to improve situational awareness and decision making.