Few questions

Defining Knowledge • What does “sharing knowledge” mean to you?

Management • As a student, in what ways do you think you are

“sharing knowledge?”
COMM 312 - Knowledge Management
• What topics of knowledge do you think are
worth sharing to your peers?

Prepared by Khareen B. Culajara | Department of Arts and Sciences

Comment… Define “knowledge”

• Knowledge is an important factor of • Using knowledge does not consume it.
competitiveness.
• Transferring knowledge does not result
in losing it.

• The advent of the Internet, the World

Define “knowledge” Wide Web, has made unlimited
sources of knowledge available to us
• Knowledge is abundant, but the ability all.
to use it is scarce.
• Much of an organization’s valuable
knowledge walks out the door at the
end of the day.
• The advent of the Internet, the World • A rm only gains sustainable advances from what it
collectively knows, how e ciently it uses what it
Wide Web, has made unlimited sources knows, and how quickly it acquires and uses new
of knowledge available to us all. knowledge (Davenport and Prusak 1998).

• All of these developments have created a strong need for a

deliberate and systematic approach to cultivating and
sharing a company’s knowledge base — one populated
with valid and valuable lessons learned and best practices.

Knowledge Management
• Process of applying a systematic
approach to the capture, structuring,
management, and dissemination of
knowledge throughout an
organization to work faster, reuse best
practices, and reduce costly rework
from project to project (Nonaka and Takeuchi,
1995; Pasternack and Viscio 1998; Pfe er and Sutton, 1999;
Ruggles and Holtshouse, 1999).
• A business rm that thrives over the next decade as
an organization knows how to do new things well
and quickly. (Davenport and Prusak 1998 , 13)
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 Knowledge Management Knowledge Management

• A good de nition of knowledge

management would incorporate both
the capturing and storing of knowledge • The basic aim of knowledge
perspective, together with the valuing management is to leverage knowledge
of intellectual assets. to the organization’s advantage. (Nickols,
2000)

Getting to Know the KM Objectives

• “When
employees walk • Imagine: your employee is about to
out the door, leave the organization in 1 month. That
they take person has valuable knowledge of the
valuable work and the organization. The decision
organizational to leave is already nal.
knowledge with
them.”(Lesser and Prusak
• What are you going to do?
2001)
• In relation to KM, what could be
possible insights?

Getting to Know the KM Objectives Getting to Know the KM Objectives

• Identify critical resources and critical areas of
knowledge so that the corporation knows what it
knows and does well — and why
• Build up a toolkit of methods that can be used with
individuals, with groups, and with the organization
to stem the potential loss of intellectual capital

• Facilitate a smooth transition from those

retiring to their successors who are recruited to
ll their positions
• Minimize loss of corporate memory due to
attrition and retirement
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 Interdisciplinary nature of KM Interdisciplinary nature of KM

• Strategies and processes designed to • Knowledge management is a

identify, capture, structure, value, leverage, collaborative and integrated approach
and share an organization’s intellectual to the creation, capture, organization,
assets to enhance its performance and access, and use of an enterprise’s
competitiveness. It is based on two critical
activities: (1) capture and documentation of intellectual assets. (Grey 1996)
individual explicit and tacit knowledge, and
(2) its dissemination within the organization.
(The Business Dictionary, http://www.business- dictionary.com/de nition/knowledge-
management.html)

Interdisciplinary nature of KM Interdisciplinary nature of KM

•
Knowledge—the insights, understandings, and •
KM is predominantly seen as
practical know-how that we all possess—is the information management by another
fundamental resource that allows us to function
intelligently. Over time, considerable knowledge name (semantic drift). (Davenport and
is also transformed to other manifestations— Cronin 2000, 1)
such as books, technology, practices, and
traditions—within organizations of all kinds and in • Knowledge management is one of those
society in general. These transformations result in concepts that librarians take time to
cumulated [sic] expertise and, when used assimilate, only to re ect ultimately “on
appropriately, increased e ectiveness.
Knowledge is one, if not THE, principal factor
why other communities try to colonize
that makes personal, organizational, and societal our domains.” (Hobohm 2004, 7)
intelligent behavior possible. (Wiig 1993)

Interdisciplinary nature of KM Interdisciplinary nature of KM

• KM “is understanding the organization’s • KM is the concept under which
information ows and implement- ing information is turned into actionable
organizational learning practices which knowledge and made available
make explicit key aspects of its e ortlessly in a usable form to the people
knowledge base. . . . It is about who can apply it. (Patel and Harty, 1998)
enhancing the use of organizational
knowledge through sound practices of
• Leveraging collective wisdom to
increase responsiveness and innovation.
informa- tion management and (Carl Frappaolo, Delphi Group, Boston,
organizational learning.” (Broadbent http://www.destinationkm.com/articles/
1997, 8–9) default.asp?ArticleID=949)
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Interdisciplinary nature of KM Interdisciplinary nature of KM
• A systematic approach to manage the use of • The tools, techniques, and strategies to retain,
information in order to provide a continuous ow analyze, organize, improve, and share business
of knowledge to the right people at the right time expertise. (Gro and Jones 2003, 2)
enabling e cient and e ective decision making • A capability to create, enhance, and share intellectual
in their everyday business. (Steve Ward, Northrop capital across the organization . . . a short- hand
Grumman, http://www.destinationkm.com/ covering all the things that must be put into place, for
articles/default.asp?ArticleID=949) example, processes, systems, culture, and roles to
build and enhance this capability. (Lank 1997)
• A knowledge management system is a virtual
repository for relevant information that is critical • The creation and subsequent management of an
to tasks performed daily by organizational environment that encourages knowledge to be
knowledge workers. (What is KM? http:// created, shared, learnt [sic], enhanced, organized and
utilized for the bene t of the organization and its
www .knowledgeshop.com) customers. (Abell and Oxbrow 2001)

What do we get from here? The Multidisciplinary KM

• Organizational science • Technical writing and
• Knowledge management is a surprising • Cognitive science
journalism
mix of strategies, tools, and techniques • Anthropology and sociology
— some of which are nothing new under • Linguistics and
computational linguistics • Education and training
the sun: storytelling, peer-to-peer • Storytelling and
• Information technologies
mentoring, and learning from mistakes, such as knowledge-based communication studies
for example, all have precedents in systems, document and
• Collaborative technologies
information management,
education, training, and arti cial electronic performance such as Computer-
intelligence practices. support systems, and Supported Collaborative
database technologies Work (CSCW) and
• • Information and library
groupware as well as
intranets, extranets, portals,
science and other web technologies
•

Assignment
• “When
employees walk
out the door, • Research about the two major types of
they take knowledge: (1) the tacit and (2) the
valuable explicit.
organizational
knowledge with
them.”(Lesser and Prusak
2001)
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