KNOWLEDGE AND POWER

Knowledge and Power



Knowledge and Power

Introduction

Knowledge is power. This is true, whether the power which knowledge gives be used for good or evil. The world is in the of knowledge abundance (Rigby 2007). People need new management strategies to deal with so much communication and so much knowledge. It is said that knowledge is power, but if that were the case, scholars rule the world. The knowledge itself is not power the power lies rather in the application of knowledge.

Philosophical concept

Knowledge is something that many organizations increasingly produce, sell and buy. Businesses solve complex problems that cause to develop advanced knowledge and leverage them (Bair, 2007). Although the exact cash equivalent value of knowledge in the organization cannot be calculated, there are some criteria for measuring their economic value. The difference between the market value of the company and the value of its tangible assets is one indicator of the value of intangible assets, most of which represent one form of organizational knowledge. There is evidence that only 6 to 30% of the company have the assets referred to in the traditional balance sheets, and the rest - intangible assets (Prusak 2001).

Knowledge management has two main objectives. One - it is efficiency, the use of knowledge for productivity growth by increasing speed or reducing costs. Other - innovation, creating new products and services, new businesses and new business processes. In this way, we can link with the concepts developed by the Theory of Resources and Capabilities. This theory appears in the eighties in the academic field, and can be considered the forerunner of Knowledge Management, as it focuses on analyzing the resources and capabilities of organizations as a basis for the formulation of its strategy (Darling 2006). The resource-based theory falls within the so-called strategic analysis, and produces a shift from outside to inside the organization at the time to analyse its strategic location. The fundamentals of the theory of Resources and Capabilities include:

The organizations are different from each other in terms of resources and capabilities they have at any given time. These resources and capabilities are not available for all companies under the same conditions. This explains their differences in profitability (Bontis, 2006).

The resources and capabilities are becoming a more important role in the strategy. The question to be answered is: what I can satisfy needs, not what I want to meet needs (Bair, 2007).

The benefit of a company is based on the characteristics of the environment and resources and capabilities available.

Invisible domain is the intellectual assets that can generate and bringing companies to actual dividends. We are talking about patents and copyright, knowledge and competencies of staff, trademarks, client base, a network of loyal suppliers and partners to implement the culture of innovation, corporate memory, and databases, as business processes, etc.

It is important to strive to build a knowledge management approach, which relates, balances and integrates the institutional, human and technological components of knowledge. The relationship of knowledge, learning and the key competence of the organization, where ...