Knowledge Management - In 5 minutes or less
Summary
TLDRKnowledge management (KM) is pivotal for organizations to leverage collective expertise and data. It involves identifying, sharing, and creating knowledge to achieve strategic goals. KM focuses on both explicit knowledge, stored in documents and databases, and tacit knowledge, which resides in employees' minds. Effective KM requires a supportive culture, processes for knowledge detection and sharing, and the right technological infrastructure. It's distinct from information management, aiming to foster an environment where new knowledge can be generated through collaboration and experimentation.
Takeaways
- 🧠 Knowledge management (KM) is crucial for organizations as it deals with the understanding, sharing, and creation of knowledge within the company.
- 📚 An organization's knowledge base is a combination of what its employees know and what is stored in various repositories like documents and emails.
- 🔍 Organizations often struggle with making their collective knowledge accessible to all members who need it, due to issues like lack of awareness, access, or willingness to share.
- 🎯 For competitiveness, a firm must identify valuable knowledge, align it with strategic objectives, and ensure it's accessible to those who require it.
- 🤔 The most valuable knowledge can be difficult to share because it is often tacit, deeply rooted in the experience and context of experts.
- 👥 Tacit knowledge is best transferred through collaborative methods like master-apprentice relationships and shared work projects.
- 🌱 Firms should foster environments that encourage the creation of new knowledge, where experimentation and learning from failure are valued.
- 🤝 KM involves creating a corporate culture that promotes sharing, collaboration, socialization, and learning among employees.
- 🛠️ The right technological infrastructure is essential for conveying codified knowledge and supporting the transfer of tacit knowledge within an organization.
- 🔄 KM is not just about transferring and protecting existing knowledge but also about generating an environment conducive to innovation and new knowledge creation.
Q & A
What is the primary focus of knowledge management in organizations?
-Knowledge management focuses on understanding what an organization knows and needs to know to achieve its strategic objectives, identifying and sharing the most valuable knowledge, and creating environments conducive to the generation of new knowledge.
Why is it challenging for organizations to leverage the knowledge they possess?
-Organizations often struggle to leverage their knowledge because it may not be easily accessible, known to those who need it, or shared due to lack of awareness, access, or willingness to share, especially when the knowledge is tacit and deeply embedded in the experience of experts.
What is the difference between explicit and tacit knowledge as described in the script?
-Explicit knowledge is easily codified and shared, often found in documents, emails, and procedures. Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, is deeply personal, context-specific, and difficult to articulate, typically residing in the minds of experts and best transferred through collaboration and socialization.
How does knowledge management relate to an organization's competitive strategy?
-Knowledge management is tied to an organization's competitive strategy by ensuring that the right knowledge is available to the right people at the right time, preventing knowledge loss, and fostering an environment where new, relevant knowledge can be created to support the organization's goals.
What role does technology play in knowledge management?
-Technology in knowledge management serves as a tool to convey codified knowledge and support processes and environments for the transfer of tacit knowledge. When properly aligned with organizational processes and culture, it can facilitate the sharing and transfer of knowledge effectively.
Why is it important for organizations to have the right organizational culture for knowledge management?
-A supportive organizational culture encourages sharing, collaboration, socialization, and learning, which are essential for the effective transfer and creation of knowledge. It is crucial for fostering an environment where knowledge is not only protected but also actively developed.
What are some methods mentioned for transferring tacit knowledge in the script?
-Methods for transferring tacit knowledge include master-apprentice relationships, common work projects, and other forms of collaboration and socialization, which allow for the sharing of deep, personal, and context-specific knowledge.
How does knowledge management differ from information management?
-Knowledge management differs from information management in that it deals with the understanding, sharing, and creation of knowledge, including both explicit and tacit knowledge, while information management primarily deals with the transfer of easily codified facts and figures.
What are some examples of processes and environments that can support knowledge sharing and collaboration?
-Examples include cross-functional project teams, employee rotation across departments, common wiki documentation requirements, and master-apprentice relationships, which facilitate the sharing and development of knowledge within an organization.
Why is it crucial for organizations to ensure that valuable knowledge is not lost?
-Valuable knowledge loss can occur when key employees leave or retire, taking their expertise with them. Ensuring that this knowledge is captured and shared within the organization is crucial for maintaining continuity, efficiency, and innovation.
What does the script suggest about the creation of new knowledge within organizations?
-New knowledge is best created in an unstructured context where people are free to experiment, interact, and learn from failure. It is fostered when diverse knowledge and people possessing it combine, socialize, and build on their know-how.
Outlines
📚 Understanding Knowledge Management
This paragraph introduces the concept of knowledge management (KM) within organizations. It emphasizes the importance of everyday people using, generating, and possessing knowledge. The knowledge of an organization is not just the sum of its parts but also includes what is stored in various repositories such as documents and emails. The challenge lies in making this knowledge accessible to those who need it, often hindered by factors like unawareness of its existence, inaccessibility, or unwillingness to share. KM is crucial for competitiveness as it involves understanding what an organization knows and needs to know to achieve strategic objectives. It requires identifying valuable knowledge, often tacit and deeply rooted in experience, and facilitating its transfer through collaboration and socialization. KM also focuses on creating environments conducive to new knowledge creation, where experimentation and learning from failure are encouraged. The paragraph distinguishes KM from information management, highlighting the need for an organizational culture that supports knowledge sharing and the right technological infrastructure to support both codified and tacit knowledge transfer.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Knowledge Management (KM)
💡Tacit Knowledge
💡Explicit Knowledge
💡Organizational Culture
💡Collaboration
💡Knowledge Repositories
💡Strategic Objectives
💡Knowledge Transfer
💡Innovation
💡Technological Infrastructure
Highlights
Knowledge management is crucial for organizations as it deals with the sum of an organization's knowledge, which includes what its employees know and what is stored in various repositories.
Organizations often underperform because knowledge is not available to everyone when needed, due to unawareness of its existence or accessibility issues.
For competitiveness, firms must understand and manage their knowledge to achieve strategic objectives, identifying and sharing the most valuable knowledge.
Valuable knowledge is often tacit, deeply rooted in the minds of experts, and not easily shared or transferred.
Tacit knowledge is best transferred through collaboration, socialization, and master-apprentice relationships.
Firms need to create environments that foster the creation of new knowledge, where experimentation and learning from failure are encouraged.
Knowledge management is distinct from information management, focusing on the transfer of both codified and tacit knowledge.
The role of technology in knowledge management is debated, but when aligned with firm processes, it can support the transfer and sharing of knowledge.
Organizational culture plays a significant role in knowledge management, encouraging sharing, collaboration, and learning.
Processes for detection and categorization of knowledge are essential for effective knowledge management.
Cross-functional teams and employee rotation can facilitate the sharing and creation of new knowledge.
Common documentation requirements and wikis are examples of technological infrastructure that support knowledge sharing.
Knowledge management aims to ensure the right knowledge reaches the right people at the right time, preventing loss due to employee turnover.
The importance of an organizational culture that supports knowledge sharing and innovation in knowledge management.
Knowledge management involves understanding the firm's knowledge needs and possessing knowledge to remain competitive.
The necessity of creating an environment where new, relevant knowledge can be generated through interaction and collaboration.
Knowledge management ensures that an organization has the right technological infrastructure to convey codified knowledge effectively.
The KMT website offers an in-depth discussion on the role of technology in knowledge management.
Transcripts
so what does knowledge management do
everyday people in organizations need
use and generate knowledge the total sum
of an organization's knowledge basically
consists of what its employees know and
what is stored in the different
repositories of knowledge such as
documents emails procedures or so on the
most often an organization is much less
than the sum of its parts in other words
the knowledge that it possesses is not
available to everyone when they need it
this could be because they do not know
where it is or even that it exists or
because they cannot access it or even
because the person holding the knowledge
is unwilling to share in order to be
competitive a firm needs to understand
what it knows and what it needs to know
in order to achieve its strategic
objectives it needs to identify the most
valuable knowledge and to transfer or
share it with whomever needs it in the
organization often however the most
valuable knowledge is not easy to
identify or share because it is deep
within the minds of experts here to
paraphrase that important Prusak it
exists as a fluid mix of frames
experience values contextual information
and expert insight to understand why the
most valuable knowledge is so tied to
experience know-how in context ask
yourself why University can never
produce an experience manager there is
no way to extract the knowledge of an
expert and place it in a document so
that upon reading it a beginner becomes
an expert this kind of knowledge is
called tacit knowledge and it is best
transferred through master apprentice
relationships common work projects and
other forms of collaboration and
socialization beyond transferring and
protecting existing knowledge firms also
need to generate environments where new
knowledge can be created knowledge is
best created in an unstructured context
where people are free to experiment and
where failure is seen as part of the
learning process
it is best created when different kinds
of knowledge and the people possessing
it interact combined socialize and build
on their know-how and no one
this is where knowledge management comes
in and this is why it has never be
confused with information management
which deals with a transfer easily
codify both facts and figures although
people argue about the scope of KM all
the time
generally cam involves understanding
what knowledge that firm needs in order
to be competitive in the short and long
term this very much ties it in with
corporate strategy an understanding of
what knowledge the firm actually
possesses and where this knowledge is
found getting the right knowledge to the
right people at the right time making
sure that valuable knowledge is not lost
for example if key employees leave or
retire and creating an environment where
new relevant knowledge can be created to
achieve this kam needs to ensure that an
organization has the right
organizational culture where people want
to share collaborate socialize and learn
has the right processes for detection
and categorization of knowledge has the
right processes and environments where
people can share collaborate learn and
innovate these could include
cross-functional project teams employee
rotation across departments common wiki
documentation requirements
master-apprentice relationships and so
on and so on and finally that it has the
right technological infrastructure that
conveys codified knowledge to whomever
needs it at the right time while
supporting the processes environment and
culture for the transfer of tacit
knowledge the exact role of Technology
in this context is a hotly debated issue
and it is something that we will return
to later you can also find an in-depth
discussion of this on the KMT website
suffice it to say that if technology is
properly designed and aligned to the
processes in the firm thereby
implemented in a way that does not
disrupt existing culture and processes
but supports them then it can be a very
valuable tool
in the transfer and sharing of knowledge
so to recap Cain is about establishing
the right organizational processes
environment culture and technological
infrastructure to help you understand
what you know relative to what you need
to know and then share protect and
further develop key knowledge and
knowledge assets thank you for watching
to learn more go to Canty where you can
find everything you need to know about
km from A to Z
Ver Más Videos Relacionados
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND INNOVATION | Dr Kondal Reddy Kandadi | TEDxUniversityofBolton
Knowledge Management - Explained in 10 Minutes
How to use SharePoint Online for Knowledge Management - Microsoft 365
Knowledge Management Basics - Learn and Gain | A quick Overview
Definisi Knowledge Management dan Siklusnya
Knowledge Management in 87 Seconds
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)