What Is Knowledge Management?

What is Knowledge Management?

Knowledge Management is the collection of processes that govern the creation, dissemination, and utilization of knowledge. These processes exist whether we acknowledge them or not and they have a profound effect on the decisions we make and the actions we take, both of which are enabled by knowledge of some type. If we accept the premise that knowledge management is concerned with the entire process of discovery and creation of knowledge, dissemination of knowledge, and the utilization of knowledge then we are strongly driven to accept that knowledge management is much more than a "technology thing" and that elements of it exist in each of our jobs.

Knowledge Management process cycle

• Identify, extract knowledge from primary sources

• Edit, refine haw knowledge into processed knowledge

• Organize processed knowledge and making it accessible

• Packaging, publishing , disseminating knowledge

• Manage the whole cycle, design the information architecture

Following are five steps that are crucial to the success of a KM initiative:

1. Understand key business drivers. To be worth the investment, a KM initiative must improve the bottom line by either increasing revenue or reducing cost. If the value of the initiative can't be defined before it is implemented, what chance is there that it will be adopted by your organization's people and deliver value once it has started?

2. Get executive sponsorship. One of the goals of a KM initiative is that employees will collaborate with each other more willingly and effectively, sharing their knowledge and skills. This can amount to a momentous change of organizational culture, and it is never easy. Strong executive sponsorship can be the difference between success and failure.

3. Analyze knowledge. A common pitfall with KM is to attempt to collect and distribute all knowledge in the organization. The cost of collecting and categorizing the enormous amount of data is likely to be excessive. A careful analysis of your organization's knowledge is crucial.

4. Provide rewards and recognition. Some individuals perceive that it is in their interest to hoard knowledge because then they come to be recognized as experts and indispensable resources. To make KM successful, such behavior must be changed. Incentives do not need to be in the form of direct financial compensation: Visible recognition across an organization as an expert who contributes his or her knowledge may be incentive enough.

5. Implement in phases. Breaking the initiative down into manageable phases is. Phased implementation also has another benefit: It makes it possible to measure user adoption and identify best practices for your organization.

British Petroleum and Knowledge Management

British Petroleum has a worldwide reputation for commitment to knowledge management. The Company’s management realized that the speed and success of future developments depended on effectively sharing those lessons learned with all of its asset teams. BP's knowledge management approach is encompassed by a simple framework, which describes a learning cycle – before, during and after any event – which is supported by simple process tools.

Xerox and Knowledge Management

At Xerox, knowledge