Definition of Knowledge Management

There are numerous definitions of knowledge management. The following definition is based on a synthesis of case material and interviews with Chief Knowledge Officers:

“the explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge and its associated processes of creating, gathering, organizing, diffusion, use and exploitation, in pursuit of organisational objectives.”

The underlined words are important:

• Explicit - unless something is made explicit it frequently does not get properly managed. Thus, although some management of knowledge is found in virtually every organisation, including small and medium-sized enterprises, its benefits are only consistently realized if it is explicitly managed.
• Systematic - this helps create consistency of methods and the diffusion of good practice. Systematization also lends itself to automation, leading to additional efficiencies in handling explicit knowledge.
• Vital - every conversation and every new document in an organisation adds to the organisation’s knowledge pool. Judgement must be applied as to which knowledge is critical, and therefore worth managing in a more formalized way.
• Processes - as well as being an important dimension of management and business processes, knowledge processes are important in their own right.

The main processes are knowledge sharing (of existing knowledge), knowledge creation and knowledge conversion (innovation).

Regards

-MZA-