Knowledge Management: Insights in the digital context

International Journal of Research in Economics & Social Sciences, 2012

In the industry era, organizations improved their efficiency, effectiveness through automating manual labour and reducing redundancy. In this Information era, success depends critically on the quality and effective management of knowledge which becomes the life blood of an organization. Knowledge has been described as information combined with experience, context, interpretation and reflection. Given the importance of such an asset, it is not surprising that organizations everywhere are paying attention to knowledge exploring what it is and how to create, transfer and use it more effectively. Knowledge Management (KM) has blossomed into a strategically important area for most organizations to gain competitive advantage. The knowledge-based perspective of the firm (Cole,1998) postulate that knowledge assets produce long-term benefits such as competitive advantage and sustainability in the face of a fluctuating economic climate. According to Gartner report, from 2006 to 2010 organizations will continue to invest in KM as one of the critical competencies in high-performance workplace (HPW) initiatives. A survey by Reuters found that 90 per cent of companies that deploy a Knowledge Management (KM) solution benefit from better decision-making, while 81 per cent say they notice increased productivity. It is found that, while 26 per cent of knowledge in the average organization is stored on paper and 20 per cent digitally, an astonishing 42 per cent is stored in employees' heads.This paper discusses how to manage knowledge effectively. In its introduction part, it gives light on the difference between data, information and knowledge. The paper gives light on 4 C’s framework of knowledge management. It concludes with suggesting road map for managing the knowledge effectively by identifying key success factors for knowledge Management.

Series on Innovation and Knowledge Management, 2005

TULSSAA Journal, 2007

Knowledge management is a new concept in Library and Information science. Knowledge is considered as a rich asset these days. The dictionary defines knowledge as the facts, feelings or experiences known by a person or a group of people. Knowledge Management as a new branch of management for achieving breakthrough in business performance through the synergy of people, processes, and technology, its focus is on the management of change, uncertainty, and complexity. K. Navalani said "Knowledge Management caters to the critical issues of organizational adaptation, survival, and competence in face of increasingly discontinuous environmental change.... Essentially, it embodies organizational processes that seek synergistic combination of data and information processing capacity of information technologies, and the creative and innovative capacity of human beings." Information can be considered as a message. It typically has a sender and a receiver. Information is the sort of stuff that can, at least potentially, be saved onto a computer. Data is a type of information that is structured, but has not been interpreted. Knowledge might be described as information that has a use or purpose. Whereas information can be placed onto a computer, knowledge exists in the heads of people. Knowledge is information to which an intent has been attached. In the eighteenth century Dr.Samuel Johnson (1709-84) wrote 'Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it'. In the new millennium, however, it is apparent knowledge management is emerging as a dominant force in the overall strategy of organizational management. In July 1999 Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister said, "The knowledge economy is the economy of the future". In knowledge economies, knowledge, expertise and innovation rather than land and machinery are the primary assets of an organization. Such assets must be effectively managed. Knowledge Management caters to the critical issues of organizational adaptation, survival, and competence in face of increasingly discontinuous environmental change. Essentially, it embodies organizational processes that seek synergistic combination of data and information processing capacity of information technologies, and the creative and innovative capacity of human beings. Clearly the goal of knowledge management has sustained individual and business performance through ongoing learning, unlearning, and adaptation. Technologies of computing have inherent limitations. They have difficulty in generating meaningful insights from data as they can't question or re-interpret their programmed logic and assumptions. Given inherent limitations of the technologies of computing, human users of such systems have at least an equally important role in knowledge management. Knowledge management is a part of the continuous business improvement process. It relates to the way an organization works and develops. It recognizes corporate capability and enables skills, knowledge and processes of the organization to be used effectively and creatively to improve business performance. It is more useful to consider

Current Issues in Knowledge Management

This short chapter explores other motivations for organizations to implement KM. These motivations include obsolescence/innovation (these two go together as innovation leads to obsolescence), work process evolution, and persistence of knowledge. The goal of this discussion is to provide a basis for all organizations to justify KM initiatives that are not just event-based.

2017

Knowledge constitutes a wide and complex matter which has provided a definition for the epistemological dispute in the philosophy of the West since the times of the classical Greek era. Nonetheless, in the recent years, great interest has occurred in approaching knowledge as an important organizational resource. The increased interest in organizational knowledge and knowledge management originates from the conversion into the area of knowledge economy, in which it is perceived as the primary source of the creation of value and sustainable competitive advantage. Knowledge Management (KM) constitutes an integral part of the business world in contemporary times. This can be seen at a time of analyzing the modern literature of business, management, technology as well as organization. This worker views and interprets KM literature in enterprises. The main aim of the research is to summarize literature on the subject of Knowledge Management (KM) and to get the sense of the primary concept...

IEEE Intelligent Systems, 2008

2008

Over the last twelve months Knowledge Management (KM) has become the latest hot topic in the business world. There has been a phenomenal growth in interest and activity, as seen in many new publications, conferences, IT products, and job advertisements. Various professional groups, notably HR professionals, IT specialists, and librarians, are staking their claims, seeing KM as an opportunity to move centre stage. People often used to describe librarianship as the organization of recorded knowledge, so perhaps our time has come. KM does not seem to have been had much impact on the higher education sector so far, but there is some evidence of involvement of the Universities and Publishers undertaking research on KM initiatives; IGNOU, IIT's, IIM's, DRTC, CRRID and some other organizations are part of a Knowledge Management Consortium. Confusion arises over what KM is, and what it involves. Some people view it as just an up-market label for information management, and therefore something our profession should naturally embrace. Others see KM as a useful term to signal the more complex work involved in organizing access to networked information resources, and thus equate it with subject gateways. Cynics dismiss KM as the latest management fad-yet another effort by management consultants and IT vendors to sell their 'solutions' to desperate business people, who ought to know better. These are all fair comment up to a point, not least because there is still quite a gap between KM theory and KM practice. There are numerous definitions of KM-to be found at conferences, in print, and on the Web. The following are a representative sample, beginning with one of the most widely cited, "...a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying, managing and sharing all of an enterprise's information assets. These information assets may include databases, documents, policies and procedures, as well as previously unarticulated expertise and experience resident in individual workers." (Gartner Group Inc, October 1996) "Knowledge management is the explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge and its associated processes of creating, gathering, organizing, diffusion, use and exploitation. It requires turning personal knowledge into corporate knowledge that can be widely shared throughout an organization and appropriately applied." Davenport and Prusak distinguish 'knowledge' from 'information', and information from 'data', on the basis of value-adding processes which transform raw material (for example, transaction records) into

Australian Journal of Business and Management …, 2012

Knowledge management is a process that helps organizations to find important information, select, organize and publish them; and it's a proficiency that will be necessary for actions like solving problems, dynamic learning, decision making. Knowledge management can improve a wide range of organization performance properties by enabling company to more intelligent performance, but it's not enough alone; because knowledge management to be useful needs undertaking staff to organization and their job, that accept the knowledge management process with spirit and heart and perform it (Wiig, 1999:14).

Desidoc Journal of Library Information Technology, 2003

ABSTRACT Knowledge management describes the way in which organisations are attempting to capture, enhance, and use the knowledge necessary for their survival. In this paper, the author discusses about concept of knowledge management, contribution of ...

Although much has been written on knowledge management (KM), the learning organisation and intellectual capital (IC), little, if any has been written about the relationship and correlation between KM and intellectual capital management. The challenge seems to be to provide integrated guidelines on how organisations can use both KM and IC for the formulating of a comprehensive intellectual capital management approach (CICM). The exceptional growth of information in the knowledge economy focuses attention on the importance of managing knowledge in organisations. These organisations are referred to as the so-called learning organisations. These are organisations that recognise the value of knowledge within the organisations Although there is a general consensus that the knowledge society and the knowledge economy has arrived, and that knowledge is a key business asset, organisations are still in the early stages of understanding the implications of knowledge management and intellectual capital. The rise of the “new economy” that is principally driven by information and knowledge, can be attributed to the increased prominence of intellectual capital (IC) in organisations. Intellectual capital features prominently in recent economic, managerial, technological and sociological developments in a manner previously unknown and largely unforseen. Although there are many similarities between KM and intellectual capital (IC), these concepts are not the same. KM relates to the creation of value, the gathering of ideas, the measuring of employee brainpower, and the conversion of taught knowledge into explicit knowledge that the organisation can codify and transfer. IC relates to the maximization of value. This achieved through the licensing of knowhow, patents, trademarks, and the use of intellectual capital to gain a competitive advantage. Further uses are to enter new markets, establish strategic alliances, and generate revenue. The proponents of the KM and IC approaches identify the benefits of each of these management approaches, but fail to see the connection or the interaction between KM and IC. It is possible in some industries that one approach may seem more important than the other. Nonetheless, for any organisation to succeed in the knowledge economy, it is essential to adopt both KM and IC approaches to some extent, as each deals with complementary strategic needs. What some organisations fail to see is that KM and IC are essential components for the total management of an organisation’s intellectual asset management. The question can now be asked: What can be done to ensure a successful relationship and effective correlation between knowledge management and intellectual capital in the organisation? This question will be answered with this paper.

2003

Knowledge and Business Process Management, 2003