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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
ABSTRACT
On a global basis, organizations are recognizing the importance of knowledge as a means to gain or sustain competitive advantage. Researchers have concluded that the only thing that is sustainable, for successful businesses, in the New Millennium – is what it knows, how it uses what it knows, and how fast it can know something new.
In the past, the dilemma was finding enough information, but now the problem has shifted to identifying and managing the nuggets of mission-critical knowledge amongst the mountains of meaningless noise.
Many organizations are primarily knowledge-focused. They obtain data and information and produce either a product or service. In this production process they use their own, and other's,knowledge and information. Much of the knowledge in an enterprise is grounded in the minds of employees. Past experience and internal learning create processes, insights, methodologies, know-how and understanding that represent what the business is and how it adds value. Since knowledge is the most basic of all competencies, its recognition, creation, application, and management should be a critical success factor for attainment of a competitive advantage.
Since information builds on data and knowledge builds on both data and information, knowledge management includes all three elements. It does not focus on databases or information technology, although it may use both. Its concern is with managing its knowledge assets: creating, storing, and protecting, disseminating and using mission-critical knowledge. When people need knowledge, is it the right knowledge and is it timely and easy to locate and access? Is this precious commodity updated as learning occurs and better ways of doing things are discovered?
The awareness of the value of knowledge to a business, coupled with its management, acts as an integrator that improves cross-functional communication and cooperation. Shared knowledge not only makes for a more effective, efficient and agile organization, but creates a common perspective and culture that produces a natural consistency of successful decisions and actions.
INTRODUCTION
Knowledge is increasingly being recognized as the new strategic imperative of organizations. The most established paradigm is that knowledge is power. Therefore, one has to hoard it, keep it to oneself to maintain an advantage. The common attitude of most people is to hold on to one’s knowledge since it is what makes him or her an asset to the organization. Today, knowledge is still considered power – an enormous power in fact – but the understanding has changed considerably, particularly from the perspective of organizations. The new paradigm is that within the organization knowledge must be shared in order for it to grow. It has been shown that the organization that shares knowledge among its management and staff grows stronger and becomes more competitive. This is the core of knowledge management – the sharing of knowledge.
UNDERSTANDING KNOWLEDGE
In order to comprehend knowledge management, it is necessary to first understand the concept of knowledge. What is knowledge? How is it different from information? And how is information different from mere data?
We begin with data. What is data? Data is a number or word or letter without any context. For example, numbers like 5 or 100, without any context, are mere data. Without reference to either space or time, these numbers or data are meaningless points in space and time. The key phrase here is “out of context”. And since it is out of context then it has no meaningful relation to anything else.
A mere collection of data is not information. This means that if there is no relation between the pieces of data, then it is not information. What makes a collection of data information is the understanding of the relationships between the pieces of data or between the collection of data and other information. In other words, what is essential in making data or a collection of data information is the context, that is, the relation between the pieces of data.
Let us take an example. If we are given numbers like 1 and 7, they do not mean much. We may relate to the number 1 as being less than 2 and greater than 0, while 7 is a number greater than 6 but less than 8. At this level of understanding, these numbers are mere data. However, if we associate 7 with the number of days in a week, then we create context. With context, these data become information. And the information given by that context is that there are 7 days in 1 week. We have established a relationship between the two pieces of data 1 and 7. We have associated the number 1 with week and the number 7 with days. We have placed the data within a context thus producing information
We see from this example that information entails an understanding of the relations between data (e.g. the relation between the number 1 and number 7 in the context of the number of days in a week). In general, information remains relatively static in time and linear in nature (Figure 1.1). Since information merely provides the relationship between data, it therefore does not provide a foundation for why the data is what it is and does not indicate as to how the data is likely to change over time. In short, information is a relationship between data that is dependent on context for its meaning and with little implication for the future.
WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE?
Knowledge is a level higher than information. Knowledge resides in the minds of knower’s. It is a fluid mix of contextual structured and unstructured raw material that is transferred into valuable knowledge assets that can be renewed, grown, and acted upon. Knowledge is an inherently human state of affairs, while information is what resides in mindless computers.
Many agree with the definition that “knowledge” is not only personal, it is also an evolutionary mental process – we formulate and structure what we know. Knowledge also includes intuitiveand spontaneous responses to the environment in which we find ourselves.
TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE
There are two types of knowledge. One is explicit knowledge, which is expressed in words and numbers and shared in the form of data, scientific formulae, product specifications, manuals, universal principles, etc. This knowledge type can be readily transmitted across individuals formally and systematically. The second type of knowledge is referred to as tacit, something not easily visible and expressible.
Tacit knowledge is highly personal and hard to formalize, making it difficult to communicate or share with colleagues. Subjective insights, intuitions and hunches fall into this category of knowledge. Additionally, tacit knowledge is deeply rooted in an individual's action and experience, as well as in the ideals, values or emotions he or she embraces.
WHERE DOES KNOWLEDGE RESIDE?
Knowledge resides in many forms within an organization, but the primary areas include structured and unstructured information, and employee expertise.
• STRUCTURED INFORMATION – Transaction-based data managed and maintained within information systems. Transaction data is often locked away from users because it is difficult to retrieve or synthesize.
• UNSTRUCTURED INFORMATION – Associated with documents. It includes PC, paper, video, and audio formats that are not easily accessed and shared.
• EXPERTISE – Experience base or innate understanding of employees. Because this type of knowledge is broadly dispersed and continually changing, it is rarely codified and moves through the organization unwittingly.