What is Knowledge Management?

Summary

In this engaging video, the speaker highlights the importance of Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) through a personal anecdote about a colleague named Bob, whose impending retirement emphasized the need for better documentation of enterprise knowledge. The video explores the three types of knowledge: tacit, implicit, and explicit, and outlines the stages of knowledge management: creation, storage, and sharing. It discusses various tools like Content Management Systems and Document Management Systems that facilitate knowledge organization. The benefits of effective knowledge management include improved operational efficiency, enhanced data security, and the preservation of institutional knowledge, ensuring organizations remain productive and informed.

Takeaways

• 😀 Knowledge management is essential for retaining organizational wisdom, especially when key employees leave.
• 📚 There are three types of knowledge: tacit, implicit, and explicit.
• 🔍 Tacit knowledge is hard to document and is often gained through experience.
• 📝 Implicit knowledge is unrecorded know-how that can be captured with the right tools.
• 📖 Explicit knowledge is documented information, such as manuals and reports, that is easy to share.
• 🔄 The knowledge management process involves three stages: knowledge creation, storage, and sharing.
• 💻 Knowledge creation focuses on identifying and documenting valuable information within the organization.
• 🏢 Knowledge storage uses IT systems to host and format organizational knowledge for distribution.
• 🔗 Knowledge sharing ensures that processes are communicated across the organization for easy access.
• 🚀 Effective knowledge management can lead to improved operational efficiencies, skill gap identification, and better onboarding of new employees.

Q & A

What role did Bob play in the organization?

Bob was a key figure in the organization, known for his extensive knowledge about various systems and processes, acting as a go-to person for IT-related inquiries.

What triggered the need for a Knowledge Management System (KMS)?

Bob's retirement highlighted the lack of recorded enterprise knowledge, which posed a risk to the organization as his extensive knowledge was not documented.

What are the main types of knowledge identified in the script?

The script identifies three types of knowledge: tacit knowledge, implicit knowledge, and explicit knowledge.

How is tacit knowledge described?

Tacit knowledge is acquired through experience and is intuitively understood, making it difficult to codify or document.

What distinguishes implicit knowledge from tacit knowledge?

Implicit knowledge is 'know-how' that has not been recorded yet and can be captured with the right tools and processes, while tacit knowledge is more instinctual and harder to articulate.

What forms of documents contain explicit knowledge?

Explicit knowledge is documented in manuals, reports, guides, databases, white papers, and case studies.

What are the three main stages of knowledge management?

The three main stages are: 1) Knowledge creation, 2) Knowledge storage, and 3) Knowledge sharing.

What is a Content Management System (CMS)?

A CMS is an application that manages web content, allowing end users to edit and publish various forms of content, such as documents and media.

How does a Document Management System (DMS) differ from a CMS?

A DMS acts as a centralized storage system for digital documents, focusing on managing files like PDFs and images, while a CMS is primarily concerned with web content.

What are some benefits of implementing a knowledge management strategy?

Benefits include maintaining enterprise knowledge, identifying skill gaps, enhancing data security, improving operational efficiencies, and facilitating onboarding of new employees.