Knowledge Management

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1. Define Knowledge Management.

Knowledge management (KM) may refer to the ways organizations gather, manage, and use the knowledge that they acquire.

The term "knowledge management" has also served as an umbrella term by practitioners advocating a variety of organizational processes and practices for identifying and capturing knowledge, know-how, expertise and other intellectual capital, and for making such knowledge assets available for transfer and reuse across the organization.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_management

The Benefits of Knowledge Management
Whether to minimize loss and risk, improve organizational efficiency, or embrace innovation, Knowledge Management efforts and initiatives add great value to an organization. Knowledge Management:

Facilitates better, more informed decisions
Contributes to the intellectual capital of an organization
Encourages the free flow of ideas which leads to insight and innovation
Eliminates redundant processes, streamlines operations, and enhances employee retention rates
Improves customer service and efficiency
Can lead to greater productivity.

source: www.dod.mil/comptroller/icenter/learn/knowledgeman.htm

2. What types of knowledge do companies and employees consider valuable?

The challenge of Knowledge Management is to determine what information within an organization qualifies as "valuable." All information is not knowledge, and all knowledge is not valuable. The key is to find the worthwhile knowledge within a vast sea of information.

source: www.dod.mil/comptroller/icenter/learn/knowledgeman.htm

The types of knowledge which is considered by the companies and employees are the intellectual capital, such as internal proprietary reports, libraries, patents, copyrights, and licenses, that record the company history and help it plan for tomorrow. Apart from this, the valuable knowledge also consists of internal knowledge of employees regarding the information processes, external and internal experts, products, customers and competitors.

source: http://home.earthlink.net/~ddstuhlman/defin1.htm

3. What methods are companies using to inventory and disseminate KM?

In order to develop knowledge management in their organizations, companies must establish a culture in which knowledge sharing is rewarded rather than knowledge retention. The form of reward might be something as simple as public praise for sharing knowledge. It could be extended to include financial reward or promotion. The appraisal system could change its emphasis from pure performance appraisal to assessing how effectively a person has shared essential knowledge. A development of this could include ascertaining how much new knowledge a person has acquired or developed, or what gaps exist in a person's knowledge that need to be filled.

Management will need substantial knowledge of communication processes, and develop high skills in communication and in motivation. They will also need substantial knowledge of the culture and values of their organisation and how to work within them and use them to advantage.

Planning for ...