KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management

Introduction

The changing business world means new opportunities for librarians to be "future ready." As librarians redefine themselves as KM managers and become more closely aligned with the language and values of the organization, they are better positioned to support the knowledge workers of tomorrow and to leverage the organization's knowledge to meet its business objectives. Successful KM managers are seen as integral to the organization, and their value is undisputed (Leif and Michael, 2006).

Defining Knowledge Management (KM)

Knowledge management is a popular topic and generally discussed in relation to an information technology initiative. My belief is that the success of knowledge management has more to do with culture than it does with technology.

First, let's define knowledge, and then we will get into why knowledge management is so important. There are basically two types of knowledge: explicit or open (core) knowledge, which is static, and tacit or unspoken knowledge, which tends to be dynamic. Core knowledge is much easier to capture and store due to its static nature, and here is where technology can play a significant role in capturing and sharing that knowledge. On the other hand, tacit knowledge tends to come from the edge and is continually changing (Katz and Rudy, 2007).

For at least the past 10 years, firms have been talking about knowledge management; most have done a poor job of capturing the tacit knowledge and a few have been able to capture the core knowledge through their document management systems. Even for those that have captured knowledge, it has often been difficult for others to locate and utilize it.

Why is it important to capture knowledge, especially tacit knowledge? Here are a few of the more important reasons:

1. The workforce is aging and valuable knowledge will soon walk out the door.

2. New client services generally come from those with tacit knowledge (within or outside of the firm).

3. Your firm's future success will be determined by its access to intellectual capital.

4. If the firm knows what its employees know, it will be much more successful. Knowledge is the asset (intellectual capital) that walks out the door every night.

5. Selling time conflicts with the knowledge management approach. There is never any time to coach people on the importance of learning and sharing knowledge in firms that are only focused on selling time.

Knowledge management is not a new technology that can simply be installed, but there are systems like Microsoft's SharePoint and CCH's Knowledge Connect that provide structure and help capture, store and distribute the knowledge in a just-in-time fashion. Knowledge management is a firm project and not an IT project. If you place the responsibility on the IT department, at best you will have a document management system and not a knowledge management system (Frances, 2005).

If knowledge management is cultural, how can firms enhance or change their cultures successfully? I believe it starts at the top and has much to do with ...