Knowledge Management: Embedding knowledge sharing culture
1. What is Knowledge Management?
Knowledge Management (KM) has made its name since early 1990’s and until today KM still turn out to be one of the burning topic in management world as it have the potential to influence many spheres of an organisation. Lots of organisations acknowledge that knowledge is a crucial asset for them in order to success and subsist in an increasingly competitive market (Benjamin et al., 1998). Therefore it has become one of the main reason for the exponential growth of KM in the past decade.
If we ask what is KM, one would simply explain KM is about how the organisation manage their organisation’s knowledge. This is the most simple and straight forward answer. Actually it is fair enough because we can simply describe the answer from the word “knowledge” and “management” itself. Even though the answer is acceptable but it is not describing the whole picture of KM. KM does not have a specific definition because the definition can be varies in different perspectives (i.e. business, process and technology). Following is one of the widely accepted KM definition for its simplicity and broad context:
“Knowledge Management is a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing all of an enterprise's information assets. These assets may include databases, documents, policies, procedures, and previously un-captured expertise and experience in individual workers” (Duhon, 1998).
In this definition, Duhon manage to succinctly capture the broad scope of KM. Obviously having all the knowledge assets neatly organised would provide a great value to an organisation.
2. What is knowledge?
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... As a result, it can lead the team members to produce new ideas and make a better decision making. Knowledge Café is an easy and low cost programme and it can encourage knowledge sharing and the creation of a knowledge sharing culture
Works Cited
1. Arun Hariharan (2002), “Knowledge Management: A Strategic Tool”, Journal of Knowledge Management Practice, Vol. 3 No.3, pp.50-59.
2. Duhon, B. (1998). “It's all in our heads”, Inform 12(8), pp. 8-13.
3. Davenport, T.H. (1994), “Saving IT’s soul: human-centered information management”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 72 No. 2, pp. 119-131.
4. Davenport, T.H. and Prusak, L. (1998), Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
5. Benjamins, R., Fensel, D., & Gómez-Pérez, A. (1998), “Knowledge management through ontologies”, CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS. org).
Organizations can be very successful on many different levels. The quality of a product can help build the reputation of a company. Customer service is also important for any company. The knowledge of employees of the products being sold is also important. Different decision support system become an asset to a company and can define the performance of the company. A knowledge management system can be defined as a tool that is used to manage the knowledge for a given business that obtains information. Most employees’ have a skill set of knowledge that can be used to help train others. The knowledge management system can capture the knowledge of its employees with that knowledge. Using artificial intelligence, such as a knowledge management system can help an organization become a success if it used correctly.
T.D. Wilson (2002) makes a point of identifying several sources of articles, references and course syllabi with varying takes on knowledge management within organizations. Wilson is convinced that organizations misuse the terminology “knowledge management” and that their activities are more concerned with managing information than with the management of knowledge (Wilson, 2002). Wilson defines knowledge as involving “the mental processes of comprehension” or, as “what we know” and information as the expression of what we know and can convey through messages (Wilson, 2002). By researching the use of the “knowledge management” Wilson conveys that the terms knowledge and information are used interchangeably, which results in an inaccurate application
KNOWLEDGEBOARD. 2002. Case Study: The Siemens ICN Knowledge Management Challenge: ICN/ICM ShareNet [Online]. Available: http://www.providersedge.com/docs/km_articles/Siemens_ICN_KM_Challenge.pdf [Accessed 01/04/2011 2011].
In times of economic change it is important for companies to remain flexible and adapt in order to be sustainable. New theories of management have developed to tap into a company’s core competencies and give it the ability to shift its product offerings and stay competitive. One theory that has gained popularity is Knowledge Management. A 1997 survey of 200 large US firms found that 80% of corporations had initiated knowledge programs of management. Both corporations and non-profit entities have adopted knowledge management practices - Monsanto, Hewlett-Packard and BP as well as the Army, Navy and the World Bank. As Peter Drucker, who coined the term “Knowledge Worker”, wrote in his Managing in a Time of Great Change, “Knowledge has become the key economic resource and the dominant – and perhaps the only – source of competitive advantage.”
The organizations should invest in knowledge management platform that can help their employees, customers and other stakeholders to quickly find the relevant information, where knowledge keeps expanding itself through collaboration, co-creation and insights. This will enhance the overall customer experience because CUSTOMER IS THE KING.
Three basic functions of knowledge creation, knowledge storage/ retrieval, knowledge transfer and knowledge application are mostly discussed in present literature (Holzner & Marx 1979; Pentland, 1995). However, very few studies are found providing all three functions in a single ground to facilitate knowledge management outcomes and optimal performance within given context. Thus, knowledge management framework is built on two critical dimensions: knowledge management outcomes (knowledge creation, retention and transfer) and properties of knowledge management context (properties of units- an individual, a group and an organization, properties of the relationships between units and properties of knowledge) (Linda Argote et al., 2003). According to their view, all knowledge management outcomes are related to each other and occur within any knowledge management contexts. The contribution of this framework is to take count on all basic knowledge management functions in all possible contextual aspects to integrate the literature, where most of the theory in knowledge management is designed to discuss only one outcome and/or one context at a point of investigation. It entails that the property of units, property of relationship between units and property of knowledge in knowledge management context determine the effectiveness of knowledge management outcomes. Ability, motivation and opportunity are three
The influential paper, “Managing Codified Knowledge” by Zack (1999) is reviewed here. The definition of knowledge and knowledge management, the benefits of knowledge management, the author’s rhetoric on the architecture of knowledge management and its importance in modern business organizations are discussed here. This paper also attempts to analyze two case studies presented by the author, and a brief summarization of the author’s key findings is also intended.
Pasher, E., & Ronen, T. (2011). The complete guide to knowledge management: A strategic plan to leverage your company 's intellectual capital. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.
Committing to a knowledge management program, Xerox had several items to consider. The company evaluated the needs and interests of its consumers and its market interests to determine the consequences it may have on the company outcomes. Xerox created 10 domains, which came from studies performed at other businesses. The domains they formed are: “sharing best practices and knowledge, instilling responsibility for knowledge sharing, capturing and reusing past experiences, embedding knowledge in products, services, and processes, producing knowledge as a product, driving knowledge gener...
...bjectives and realize growth. Knowledge Management Knowledge management plays a key role in ensuring that the different functions and activities of a company are synchronized. In Google’s case, the purchase of Motorola (which has turned out not to have been the best business decision) probably could have been avoided if the knowledge within the company was managed and used better. Knowledge enables a company to create, recognize and distribute opportunities. When every employee of a company contributes his or her part of knowledge into the knowledge pool, it is very beneficial as it contributes to the overall success of the company. Proper application of the available knowledge in a company can offer several competitive benefits to both the company and the employees. Application of accurate knowledge at the correct situation helps a company to make good decisions.
Hansen M., Nohria N., and Tierney T. (1999), “What’s your Strategy for Managing Knowledge?,” Harvard Business Review (March 1999), 106–16.
Knowledge Management majorly can be seen as an approach whereby an enterprise or organization can influence the ‘tacit’ and ‘explicit’ Knowledge of its employees, trading partners, and outside experts for the benefit of the organization (Ackerman et al., 2002, Bellaver and Lusa, 2001). Knowledge Management leads to driving Knowledge till an extent of being a vital asset of an organization and alongside develops processes and activities to manage it efficiently & effectively (Moffet & McAdam, 2003). This essay throws light on two approaches to knowledge management and how they differ in context to the their respective techniques of Knowledge Management. The next section gives a broader view of Nonaka’s Theory and approach to knowledge management and his basis of considering individual knowledge articulation and Knowledge Sharing, a facilitator to organizational knowledge creation. Further, this essay explains how the implications of Knowledge Management, Individual and Organizational; link to management and strategy and how adapting proper techniques and processes of knowledge management provide organizations with a competitive advantage over its contenders.
In most organizations, effective utilization of knowledge increases productivity, creates competitive advantage and, ultimately, improves profits.
(106) 'Knowledge management means using the ideas and experience of employees, customers and suppliers to improve the organisation’s performance. ' (5) Knowledge management (KM) is best when 'it is in alignment with organizational culture, structure and strategy ' (5). For this reason, the aim of this briefing document is to advise Santander on solutions to potential KM barriers employees may face by discussing three key barriers- culture, technology and leadership.
In order to understand the role of ICT in knowledge management and these two core perspectives, it is first important to understand what is meant by knowledge and knowledge management. The most popular answer to what knowledge is, is given by the work of Nonaka (1994) who highlights the difference between Tacit and Explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge represents knowledge that an individual has which isn’t easily expressed and incorporates both cognitive framework and physical skills (Hislop, 2011). Explicit knowledge is by contrast codified knowledge, which individuals can learn without experience (Hislop, 2011). The key difference between the two is the ease with which knowledge can be shared (Walsham, 2001)....