Knowledge Management.

You need to gather the knowledge of individuals, share those ideas & celebrate the sharing. That, in the end, is how a company becomes great. – JACK WELCH.

Don’t keep making the same bad decisions. . . . Every Nucor plant has its little storehouse of equipment that was bought, tried, & discarded. The knowledge we gather from our so-called failures may lead us to spectacular success.

Stacey noted that knowledge is in the process of constant development. Knowledge is continuously developed & reproduced for use through the interactions among individuals within the organization.

Knowledge Management “is taken as the tools, techniques, & strategies to retain, analyze, organize, improve & share business expertise” by Groff & Jones. Demarest defines Knowledge Management: information-based (e.g. codifying & archiving information) & people based (e.g. networking, connecting, or otherwise sharing knowledge). Thus, Knowledge Management is based on people of the organization using technology & other resources to address issues, making decisions & accomplish business objectives.

Knowledge is Important. It is considered to be the most important as it is the “grease” that enables work, & thus knowledge is what makes companies work. Consider that it is physically impossible for all the organizations to employ the best people all the time; leaders within organizations have to “make ordinary people do extraordinary things.” One way to do this is through human development because it is individual knowledge & ability to learn & develop that is an organization’s primary source of differentiation & advantage. Thus, organizations seeking advantage must seek to develop, leverage & manage individual knowledge.

Knowledge Management is not a program. It is neither a program nor an initiative, rather it serves to complement & moderate organizational initiatives such as total quality management & business process engineering. It is not the same as project management or business process engineering, but rather “smears” across organizational programs & becomes embedded as part of the culture & as such is organization specific.

Knowledge Management may be more about culture than knowledge. It is not really about managing knowledge, but rather managing & creating corporate culture. Creating such a culture requires organizational preparation, managing knowledge assets & leveraging knowledge. According to Burnett, Illingworth & Webster the use of Knowledge Management & methods “must reflect the culture & operations of the organization within which it is applied.” To have effective Knowledge Management, knowledge must be captured, leveraged & encouraged along natural line of communication.

Knowledge Management is about information flow, not hierarchy. Cohen & Prusak contended that “knowledge flows along existing pathways in organizations” & “if we want to understand how to improve the flow of knowledge, we need to understand those pathways.” Anklam, Cross, & Gulas noted that “A key current trend in Knowledge Management is the focus on the importance of relationships in effecting knowledge sharing.”

Knowledge Management Technology does not replace relationships. According to Anklam, Cross, & Gulas first generation of Knowledge Management focused on identifying, collecting, categorizing & making organizational knowledge accessible. This was done by codifying knowledge into artifacts. Knowledge Management is now third generation focusing not on artifacts but the interconnectedness & interdependencies of the world and the challenges faced for organizational efficiency, effectiveness, & survival. This interdependency is addressed & understood through the idea of social networking.

KM: How (do we get started)?

Knowledge Management’s success is determined by solving problems, not by creating solutions in search of problems. Success can be both organic & institutional & should begin with the creation of a knowledge baseline, which is accomplished via a knowledge audit.

Burnett, Illingworth, & Webster noted that “the knowledge audit & knowledge map have been seen as important processes in determining & illustrating the knowledge within an organization.” They concluded that it is a “critical stage” of introducing Knowledge Management into organizations. The knowledge audit describes what knowledge is within an organization, who has it, & how it flows. This audit can be used as a tool to determine what changes are required to improve business results & build competitive advantages. One practitioner at the retreat concluded that the audit can help serve as a road map towards organizational improvement & cautioned that “the knowledge audit is only the starting point.”

IN TODAY’S CORPORATE CULTURE, KM IS MORE THAN ARTIFACTS, PROGRAMS, & INITIATIVES; IT IS THE “GREASE” THAT LUBRICATES THE INNER WORKINGS OF HIGHLY NETWORKED CORPORATIONS. THESE NETWORKS CONNECT HUMAN ASSETS; FOR MANY ORGANIZATIONS, ASSETS AROUND THE WORLD. The corporations that understand & can leverage this networked human capital will be able to maintain a competitive advantage.

The ability to create & maintain the knowledge infrastructure, develop knowledge workers & enhance their productivity through creation, & nuturing & exploitation of new knowledge will be the key factors in a national becoming a knowledge super power.- APJ ABDUL KALAM.