10.3 Knowledge Management Activities

It is important for information to be organized and accessible, especially in large corporations. Historically, there have been problems with locating information. An example of this is when employees leave a company and it becomes difficult to locate certain information that the employee created or edited. Knowledge management systems are used to organize information. Most of these systems serve one or more of the following purposes:

• to make knowledge visible through the use of maps, hypertext, and yellow pages.


• to develop a knowledge intensive culture


• build a knowledge infrastructure

Knowledge Creation

According to the textbook, "knowledge creation is the generation of new insights, ideas, or routines and it can be viewed as the interplay between tacit and explicit knowledge."

The four modes of knowledge creation are:

• Socialization mode is when new knowledge is created through social interaction, such as conversing with another member in the organization. The sharing of tacit knowledge.


• Combination mode is when new knowledge is created by merging, categorizing, reclassifying, and/or synthesizing explicit information


• Externalization mode, one creates new knowledge by transferring tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. Example, documenting a process that was used for a client.


• Internalization mode, one creates tacit knowledge from explicit knowledge. Example, gaining an understanding of something through reading a written document.

Knowledge Sharing

Knowledge sharing involves volunteering information including ideas, solutions, and experiences to someone else. This can be done through a middleman, computer, or directly. Due to interoffice competition, some people are reluctant to share their knowledge with others. Some conditions that may encourage the sharing of knowledge include trust, interest, common language. and easy accessibility to experienced employees.

Knowledge seeking or sourcing is when a person intentionally tries to locate and use internal organizational knowledge.

The main purpose of knowledge management is to encourage and facilitate the sharing of information between various individuals and departments within an organization.

Source:
Turban, Leidner, McLean, Wetherbe. Information Technology for Management Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy. 6th ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2008. p. 396-398.