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Knowledge can be defined as a familiarity or understanding of someone or something, such as facts, information, descriptions, or skills, which is acquired through experience or education by perceiving, discovering or learning. Knowledge can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. 2
Broadly speaking, we can distinguish two types of knowledge, implicit and explicit. Put simply, implicit (or tacit) knowledge refers to knowing how, while explicit knowledge refers to knowing that. Implicit knowledge is knowledge about how to do something, and is usually gained from personal experience and observation rather than studying from texts. It can sometimes be difficult to put implicit knowledge into words. Our knowledge of the grammar of our mother tongue, for example, is implicit and comes from experience of using the language rather than from stated rules. Explicit knowledge can be expressed, stored and transmitted as words, numbers, codes, formulae, musical notation, etc. It is what we find in books, documents, databases, on the internet, and any other means of storage. Implicit knowledge may become explicit, and vice versa. Learning how to drive, or learning to play the piano are examples of how following explicit rules can become converted into implicit habits and actions. 3
Knowledge management is the process of capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using the knowledge that an organization has. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieving organizational objectives by making the best use of knowledge. 4
Knowledge management focuses on efficiently using the knowledge that a company has to reach business objectives such as gaining competitive advantage or improving performance and quality. This can be achieved by setting some specific objectives for the knowledge management system; for example: To create a database of all the knowledge in a company To establish procedures about how to use knowledge efficiently To capture the knowledge of employees so it is not lost when someone leaves the company To use the acquired knowledge to help make the best decisions To use the knowledge to improve the performance of processes and employees 5
Knowledge Management should be able to answer efficiently the 4 questions we always find when dealing with information: "What type" of information should be collected "Where" is the information located "Who" can provide the information "When" the information should be collected 6
There are several strategies that a company can follow on the way to achieving effective Knowledge Management First, the company can set up an incentives policy that rewards employees who capture knowledge for the company. The company could also make it mandatory for employees to make available to the company what they know or learn (during R & D for example). The Push strategy includes actively managing content. In this approach, also called the codification approach, individuals strive to explicitly encode their knowledge into a shared repository and retrieve the knowledge they need from the repository. In another strategy, called pull strategy, individuals make requests from external knowledge sources or experts on an ad hoc basis. Network communities, such as email lists, blogs or discussion forums can be used in order to share implicit knowledge within the company. Other strategies include things like knowledge fairs, appointing knowledge brokers or using best practice transfer systems. 7
Finally, here are some of the technologies used for knowledge management: Groupware technologies facilitate sharing and organization of information. They provide tools to share documents, manage discussions, etc.. Shared databases and repositories (such as network disks, for example) can be used to store and access gathered knowledge Workflow tools allow the representation of processes associated with the creation, use, and maintenance of organizational knowledge. Content/Document Management systems are systems designed to automate the process of creating online content and/or documents within an organization. Enterprise portals are web sites that aggregate information across a project group or the entire organization. They are an easy and effective way to share information and resources. The use of technologies such as blogs and wikis encourages greater interactivity and collaboration. E-learning technologies enable organizations to create customized training and education software. This can include lesson plans, monitoring progress against learning goals, online classes, etc. They enable organizations to significantly reduce the cost of training and educating their members. Teleconferencing tools facilitate the exchange of knowledge eliminating the need for travel to meet in person. 8
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