Knowledge management is the systematic management of an organization’s knowledge assets for the purpose of creating value and meeting tactical & strategic requirements; it consists of the initiatives, processes, strategies, and systems that sustain and enhance the storage, assessment, sharing, refinement, and creation of knowledge.
There are two kind of knowledge, tacit and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is personal. It is stored in the heads of people. It is accumulated through study and experience. It is developed through the process of interaction with other people. This kind of knowledge grows through the practice of trial and error and the experience of success and failure. Tacit knowledge can be share and communicated through various activities and mechanisms, such as conversation, workshop, on-the -job-training.
On the other hand, this knowledge is codified. A kind of knowledge were the documents, databases, websites, emails are being stored. It is also a knowledge that can be transmitted and share in the form of systematic and formal languages. This is called an explicit knowledge. These include knowledge assets such as reports, memos, business plans, drawings, patents, trademarks, customer lists, methodologies, and the like. In many organizations these knowledge assets are stored with the help of computers and information technology.
Knowledge management is important in our daily lives since people now and then are engaging in this kind of two knowledge. In different organization it can be used as decision-making strategy. It also helps to solve problem and promote the organizational learning. Tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge are the two main types of knowledge covered within the definition of knowledge management. Increased employee happiness and retention, due to the valuing of knowledge, training, and innovation. Both two knowledge are important in our daily lives.
DEFINING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
There are two aspect of knowledge management namely, information management and people management. Viewed from this perspective, knowledge management is about information, on one hand, and people. The first one is information management; this management is related to objects that are identified and handled by information systems. As a consequence of the growth in the practice of information management, the concepts of “information analysis” and “information planning” developed, thus providing additional tools for practitioners. With the use of these techniques, the organization are able to implement “knowledge analysis” and “knowledge planning”. In fact, it has been shown again and again that when knowledge is managed well, there is significant reduction in the time needed to complete tasks and unnecessary duplication is greatly minimized, if not avoided.
The second aspect of knowledge management is people management. It involves the management of tacit knowledge that resides inside of the people’s head. In actual practice it entails managing the knowledge that exists alongside organizational processes involving a complex set of dynamic skills, know-how and other knowledge-related capabilities. In order to effectively manage the people that possess the desired tacit knowledge, it is essential to take into consideration their cultural and social values, attitudes and aspirations, and likes and dislikes. If this can be done successfully, it can lead to the creation of new knowledge that otherwise cannot be accomplished by information management alone. Both aspects of knowledge management embody two immediate concerns: (a) to make organizational knowledge more productive; and (b) to produce benefits that are significantly greater than those envisioned. Knowledge management offers an excellent opportunity to adopt previously impossible business strategies.
In order to more fully define and understand knowledge management, it is useful to consider knowledge management as having four pillars. These pillars are: (a) management and organization; (b) infrastructure; (c) people and culture; and (d) content management systems.
Knowledge can be seen as a key source of advantage (Paul Quintas, et.at 1997). Knowledge management is a process were people can share ideas, and information to ensure that this is available in the right time to enable informed decisions. Peter Drucker define knowledge as the ‘’only meaningful economic resources’’. And it also follows the rules of organization in which people can shared and communicate. Knowledge management also support the decision making of the organization in every aspect. Gather, analyze, store, share, use and maintain knowledge, information and data throughout the service provider organization, plays an important role for the development of organizations in a sustainable way.
History of Knowledge Management
Knowledge management is a relatively new discipline and therefore has a short history. As a conscious discipline, it developed from the various published work of academics and pioneers such as Peter Drucker in the 1970s, Karl-Erik Sveiby in the late 1980s, and Nonaka and Takeuchi in the 1990s. It began when the concept of a “knowledge company” was introduced in published literature.
Generations of Knowledge Management
Base on the knowledge management history we can say that KM is evolving in different aspect.
Knowledge management plays a vital role in the organization and people where they can create, build and share information. By defining knowledge management, we can say it is one of the pressing challenges in economic development related to the world of industry, studies in services and information. So, this adoption and implementation of KM practices would lead to breakthrough factor for companies willing to integrate in the knowledge-based economy. In the study it shows that organization and companies are paying increasingly greater attention to knowledge management systems for ensuring their possession, exchange and use of productive knowledge in order to improve the training level and increase productivity. However, literature does not provide any universal definition of “knowledge management” (Margilaj, Bello, 2015). In short knowledge management is an important key in the development of society.
Elements of Knowledge Management
In the concept of knowledge management there are four elements involving in this topic. These are knowledge creation and capture, knowledge sharing and enrichment, information storage and retrieval and knowledge dissemination. With this element knowledge is continually being created in any group, corporation or organization since people interaction are being generated, it is known as knowledge creation and capture. New creation of knowledge will not be possible without creativity and innovation. Creativity and innovation are important traits needed to make the organization more productive and competitive. Brain storming as a common methodology to bring out creativity and innovation from individuals. The second element is knowledge sharing and enrichment. Probably this element is the most curial among the four. During this process sharing the knowledge is usually refined and enriched. Knowledge can be shared in different ways such as “shared by the organization with its employees” through the memos and instructions. Through the process if dissemination, debate and discussion the organization knowledge on cleaner production technologies is enriched. We can say that knowledge sharing can be enhanced through implementation of appropriate used of technologies, operations and systems that stimulate collaboration, facilitate the process of sharing and reward those individuals that share the most knowledge as well as the individuals actually utilize knowledge that have been shared. The third element is information storage and retrieval. From the word information storage, we can say that the data is being keep in a hard drive or server that usually contains a database where it can be easy to accesses. Organization should ensure that acquired or shared knowledge is readily accessible to others. It can be done by storing information in a centralized location with sufficient provisions for easy retrieval. The documents and information in databases could be retrieved through the Internet or the organization’s internet websites. There are four main options for storing the information that are captured and shared. These are file system storage (local and network directories and folders), databases, e-mail, and websites (intranet and external). Knowledge management can be effective it must provide a search engine that can deal with such unstructured information. In order to facilitate retrieval, there are two steps process has to be implemented. The first one is information should be divided into manageable units and second is each unit should be categorized. After the repository of information is created and populated, the next step will be to provide various means for the users to access the information needed. It involves the designing and providing information retrieval. There is another form of information retrieval called “push” technology. In this case the information is being initiated by the system rather than by a user. The last element is knowledge dissemination. For this to be effective it must be requiring the transformation of highly individualized tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge. Management must take a lead in creating an environment of understanding, cooperation and learning. It also encourages knowledge sharing, even though the positive results of doing so are not readily apparent. In short, the dissemination of knowledge must be shared in a proper ways base upon on the facts.
Knowledge is like glue that sticks information as well as learning together. When we have prior knowledge about a topic, we understand it better. It plays an important role in students’ life especially in the school. If they don’t have related knowledge, they face difficulties in understanding the text. It helps children in developing their knowledge about what is happening in the world. Its main advantage is that they can relate background knowledge with the contextual one. It is essential for understanding a normal language. The meaning of a word in the mind depends on the knowledge and the background of the reader. Reading is a good source of knowledge. It not only increases the meaning of words but also makes the comprehension easier to read as already said, reading is the best source for knowledge. It is also a key to develop vocabulary skills of students. The more they read, the more they learn different words and how & where to use them. Importance of prior knowledge in education can be understood. Background knowledge enables the readers to have more options between multiple meanings of words. Prior background knowledge about a subject can also be taken by the means of conceptual understanding. Giving hands-on experiences is a great source for understanding concepts while reading. In other words, it takes students away from the classroom and brings them closer to the outside world. Discussions and envisagement are also helpful in developing conceptual knowledge of students. Parents play a vital role in providing prior knowledge to their children. It is due to the fact that a child’s education starts at home and their parents are their first teachers. After parents, teachers play an important role in the learning process of a child. It is essential for them to understand, evaluate and analyze what the students already know about a topic. Teachers can engage students in different activities which will help to understand their prior knowledge. This will also generate curiosity in them to learn and connect with the subject. With background knowledge, it becomes easier to create learning sessions for students which textbooks can’t do.
Knowledge Management Tools
There are five factors that can motivate an organization to established a format and systematic management of knowledge.
a) get a better insight on how organization works;
b) reduce the time and effort is searching for information and documents;
c) avoid repetition of errors and unnecessary duplication of work;
d) reduce the response time to questions that are asked frequently; and
e) improve the quality and speed of making important decisions.
There are a great variety of knowledge management tools available in the market comprising many different features that are suitable for a number of different applications. Some of the typical tools that are used in knowledge management solutions will be discussed here. These include: (a) document management system; (b) enterprise portal; (c) knowledge map and skills management; (d) information database and lessons learned system; (e) collaboration tool; and (f ) communities of practice.
Documents are the most common repository of information and knowledge in any organization. Documents are produced for almost everything: a project proposal, a contract or agreement, a technical report, a scientific paper, and others. Because of the great variety of the types and lengths of documents that an organization can produce, the systematic and organized management of these documents can save the organization considerable effort and money. And for many organizations such an effort to systematize and organize document management is the starting point of knowledge management. However, knowledge management actually involves much more.
Portals can be defined as single points of access that provide easy and timely access to knowledge. Portals are important tools for knowledge management since they make it easier to share knowledge in an organization. In essence, knowledge portals serve as the central point for sharing knowledge. Through this portal, users can contribute information to the corporate pool of knowledge, access information, and collaborate with other experts and their peers. Since one of the goals of portals is to enhance corporate performance, it is essential to populate the portal with information of the highest quality in order to ensure its successful use in a knowledge management system.
Knowledge management tools deal not only with documents but, also, with information about living experts who provide advice and share their expertise with colleagues. The system is an efficient way of making the “localization of experts” easy and quick.
In each organization people learn every day and improve their work constantly based on the experiences gained. Apart from the fact that this is positive for the employee (who is incrementing his knowledge and skills) it is also beneficial for the company as a whole in the sense that individuals perform better, and thus the organization as a whole. However, the organization can also learn on itself by capturing relevant experiences and distributing them through the organization. This ensures that the appropriate persons consult the right knowledge at the right time. The Lessons Learned knowledge base forms the memory of the company. At the same time the Lessons Learned system supports the process of capturing and diffusing the knowledge. Lessons Learned systems are very important in organizations where mistakes can be very costly and avoiding them in the future provides significant savings. These systems are also extremely useful in organizations where best practices need to be repeated and disseminated as much as possible. This is true, for example, among technology consultancy companies that are project-based or among development banks that provide funds for projects since during the execution of the projects many lessons are learned. Apart from a supporting system, the processes that define what knowledge has to be captured and when knowledge has to be diffused are critical factors for the success of a Lessons Learned system. Experience has shown that a properly functioning Lessons Learned system can provide many of the required functionalities to turn a company into a learning organization.
Along with document management, collaboration is one of the most important aspects of knowledge management tools. Collaboration resembles a large meeting room in which colleagues work together, even over long distances or at different times of day. They share opinions, calendars and projects. A collaborative environment enables people to work in secure.
Communities of practice are described extensively in the previous chapter as an excellent means to share knowledge among people who have common interest. Here they will be described again briefly from the perspective of being used as a tool in the implementation of a knowledge management system within an organization. The fact that communities of practice can be viewed as an important enabler for the sharing and enrichment of knowledge as well as a useful tool for the implementation of a knowledge management system lends credence to the claim of many knowledge management practitioners regarding its great importance.
Knowledge management is important because it boosts the efficiency of an organization's decision-making ability. In making sure that all employees have access to the overall expertise held within the organization, a smarter workforce is built who are more able to make quick, informed decisions that benefit the company. The best four components of knowledge management are people, process, content/IT, and strategy. Regardless of the industry, size, or knowledge needs of your organization, you always need people to lead, sponsor, and support knowledge sharing. You need defined processes to manage and measure knowledge flows. You need knowledge content and IT tools that connect the right people to the right content at the right time. And finally, you need a clear and documented strategy for using KM to meet the most important and urgent needs of the business. The impact of KM on key business results might well be the greatest through its potential for improving the performance of business processes. This suggests that the design or redesign of business processes should factor in an understanding of where and how knowledge plays a role in the performance of the process. In turn, this is accomplished by identifying the knowledge needed to make the decisions or take the actions that make up the process, as well as addressing considerations related to the knowledge generated by those decisions and actions (e.g., capture and distribution to name but two). One reason organization exist is because collective human endeavor greatly increases the scale of operations and the scope of processes that can be carried out by organizations. In short, organizations can accomplish more than individuals acting alone. Organization also yields greater complexity. Consider the typical "order fulfillment" process. This process is often defined as bounded on one end by the receipt of an order from a customer and, on the other end, by receipt of payment from the customer.
Implementation of Knowledge Management
Knowledge management is based on the fundamental concept that one of the most valuable assets of an organization is the experience and expertise that reside in the heads of its officers, managers and employees.
The first stage in the development of a knowledge management system comprises the following elements: (a) introducing knowledge management; (b) identifying the KM team and focal points; (c) learning about the experiences of other organizations; (d) identifying advocates of knowledge management; and (e) promoting wide-ranging support to the KM initiative.
During the second stage of the knowledge management roadmap, there are four activities that should be implemented. These are: (a) identify and characterize the knowledge assets of the organization; (b) develop an overall KM framework with clear goals and objectives; (c) conceptualize and prepare preliminary design of some strategic KM pilot projects; and (d) prepare an indicative budget and find the resources to support the selected KM pilot projects. 3: Design and Launch KM Initiatives
As in the first stage of implementation, there are some indicators that could help decide if the initiative is ready or not to proceed to the next stage. For example, if several or all of the following conditions exist, then the organization is ready to proceed to the second stage of knowledge management implementation:
• The organization has established a KM exploratory group or steering committee for KM and it has successfully met a few times;
• An executive sponsor or champion, high enough in the hierarchy of the organization, supports further exploration of KM;
• A group, a section or a division within the organization is looking for successful, internal grassroots efforts related to KM that are already underway;
• The IT section or division of the organization is interested in actively supporting the KM initiatives;
• There are stories or records of how knowledge sharing has helped the organization in the past; Some pilots have been identified allowing the demonstration of how KM will benefit the organization; and
• Ownership of the proposed pilots has been identified and their possible funding has been secured.
At this point of project implementation, the task forces have been formed, pilot projects have been identified and designed, and manpower and financial resources have been allocated. The project is now entering the third stage, which involves the successful launching of pilots and gathering of initial results. With the KM pilot projects provided with adequate funding for full implementation, it is necessary, at this stage, to develop methodologies that can be replicated and implement measures to capture and share the lessons learned. As in the earlier stages, it is important to take note of the presence of certain indicators. If one or more of the following elements or activities are present or underway, then the organization is ready to proceed to the third stage of KM implementation:
• The pilot projects have been fully conceptualized and designed, including the detailed implementation strategies and procedures.
• Communities of practice have been organized and launched or an interactive KM intranet site or other KM-related initiative is operational.
• The task force team leaders have been enlisted and pilot facilitators and implementers have been trained.
• Pilot measures and indicators have been established and a system for tracking and reporting results has been developed.
• Policies and strategies for learning from the KM initiatives have been created and disseminated to all relevant players. • Strategies and procedures for expanding the pilot initiatives have been mapped out and desired outcomes from the pilots have been clearly described.
At this third stage the benefits of capturing, sharing, and using information and knowledge have begun to take definite form.
By the time the fourth stage is reached, which could take a few years, the organization would have gained quite a bit of expertise on managing knowledge. At this point, the pilots would have been launched and results gathered, some important lessons would have been learned and captured, and the further continuation of the KM journey would have been already decided. Stage 4 will involve expanding and supporting the KM initiatives throughout the organization. Again it will be necessary to examine the presence of indicators. If some of the following elements are present, then the organization can proceed to launch stage 4 of the KM implementation:
• Other departments in the organization are expressing a desire to actively participate in the KM system as a result of successful pilots.
• The promotion and marketing of KM throughout the entire organization has started to show positive results.
• The entire organization has been made aware of the existence of the KM initiative and the results of the pilot activities.
• An expansion strategy for the KM initiatives is in place, supported by a number of top executives in the organization.
• Adequate resources have been identified for expanding the KM efforts and the finance and budget departments are supportive of these efforts.
The final stage involves making knowledge management an integral part of the organizational processes. At this stage, the organization has to redefine its strategies, review its organizational structure, and revisit its performance assessments. Once again, it will be necessary to look for indicators. If one or more of the following conditions exist in the organization, then it is ready to embark on the fifth and final stage of KM implementation:
• The KM system is now directly linked to the business model.
• A number of KM initiatives are widely deployed throughout the organization.
• All executives, managers and employees are trained to use KM tools and technologies.
• The KM strategy is methodically assessed, gaps are being identified, and methods to close the gaps are available.
• A formal support structure is in place to maintain the operation of the KM system.
• An employee compensation and rewards program is in place and aligned with the KM strategy.
• Sharing knowledge is now the norm in the organization and communities of practice are actively operating.
At this final stage of KM implementation, the organization is already aware that KM is a business strategy and not just an elaborate database. It is already convinced that KM must be an integral part of the business model and that it is a necessary organizational competency with unlimited potential to benefit every unit in the organization. In order to fully institutionalize knowledge management, the following actions will need to be undertaken.
Knowledge management has emerged as one of the most important area in management practices and is established as a basic resource for profit and also non-profit firms and economies. Any organization that wishes to acquire sustainable competitive advantages must make the most of all the knowledge it possesses and put it to good use. In public administration institutions must ensure the fulfillment of one of their goals, and that is the timely provision of the right information, at the right time and the right place. Increasing pressure from citizens on the quality and quantity of information creates a positive assumption, the need for the introduction of knowledge management in public administration. Knowledge Management is fundamental for greater assertiveness in the decision-making actions performed within the public sector; helping the community participate effectively in the decision-making process; building competitive capacities in the development of the intellectual capital of society; and developing a Knowledge Management workforce in the public sector. Thus, Knowledge Management becomes a new responsibility to ensure the effectiveness of the public service in improving society which served by such administration. it is related to the management of human, structural and relationship assets, with a view to renewing, organizing, evaluating, protecting and increasing the availability of the assets that represent the knowledge present in the organizational scope.
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