Information and Communication Technologies for Knowledge Management - Literature review Example

Knowledge Management Systems Automated Collaborative and Expert Knowledge Management Systems According to Brent Hayward as outlinedby Jawadekar (2011), the knowledge management system of an enterprise gives an important feedback loop with customers and is important in establishing customer service metrics. It is based on creating and applying knowledge, and improving its status to intellectual capital. This paper will discuss the automated collaborative and expert knowledge management systems. It will also discuss the knowledge management system cycle and how it works. Knowledge management systems (KMS) can be viewed from different angles. These perspectives include: A focus on information communication technology support for the knowledge management life cycle and for certain organizational instruments which are implemented as part of a knowledge management initiative. The second perspective is a focus on the proposed analogy between human and organizational information processing, learning, and memory. The third perspective is a review of a set of functions that are part of knowledge management system as offered on the market. The fourth perspective is the extensions and the integration of existing software tools, such as intranet solutions, document management systems, workflow management systems, groupware, and communications systems (Maier 2007). According to Jawadekar (2011), knowledge management system is the process of managing knowledge in an organization in steps, starting with identification, validation, creation, acquisition, codification and transfer and measurement. It also involves the creation of intellectual capital and converting some into intellectual property in order to meet the set business strategies and implementation. The purpose of knowledge management system is to support decision-making personnel and stake holders in the organization with the online ready access to the organization’s knowledge resources. It has development and management phases (Jawadekar 2011).The knowledge management system design has two components: knowledge development and knowledge management. The system is dynamic because knowledge varies from time to time and improves with the application in business. The phases of change and improvement are known as cycles. The definition of knowledge management system extends further to include the integration of knowledge in business operations and decision-making systems. Integration is happens through business rules, and formulae that are involved the decision-making framework. The KM life cycles provide basis for the definition of application areas from which KMS are designed and includes a number of KM tasks such as creation, construction, identification, capturing, acquisition,selection,valuation,and organization.Linking,structuring,formalization,visualization,distribution,retention,maintenance,refinement,evolution,accessing,search and application knowledge are also some of the tasks. The KM life cycle describes the collective development, distribution and application of knowledge (Maier 2007).According to Maier 2007, a knowledge management system is an information communication technology (ICT) system in the sense of an application system or an ICT platform that combines and integrates functions for the conceptualized handling of knowledge, throughout the organization or that part of the organization that is targeted by a KM initiative. A KMS provides major services to involve KM instruments for participants’ networking; Active workers with sufficient knowledge, in high knowledge business processes along the entire knowledge life cycle. The aim of KMS is to support the factors of organizational learning and efficiency in the organization. The distinguishing features of the Knowledge management system are: It has a well- defined purpose to exist and grow. It has a place in the organization as a result of its justified business case. The system is needed for creating of knowledge, its organization and its application in coming up with solutions for businesses. The scope of knowledge management system involves the management of knowledge and its enabling Information Technology infrastructure. The scope is limited to the organization and its business needs of knowledge. The knowledge management system detail processes are; identification,creation,capturing,acquisition,selection,valuation,structuring,formalisation,and visualization.Transfer,distribution.retention,maintenance,refinement,revision,evolution,accessing,and retrieval are also part of the processes involved. The users of the knowledge management systems are knowledge workers with different origins and equipped in different areas in terms of experience. They perform their management duties play by involving as partakers in knowledge networks and communities. They not only use the system but they also contribute to the growth and development of knowledge. The system use is made by communities, organizations, and societies to extract and generate knowledge for business application. The knowledge management system is designed in a way that enables it to change with changing needs of the business. It is flexible and takes care of the needs and capabilities of the users of knowledge (Jawadekar 2011). According to Dalkir (2005), effective knowledge management needs an organization to identify, generate, acquire, diffuse, and capture the benefits of knowledge that provides a significant advantage to that organization. A knowledge information cycle is the way that is followed by information in order to get changed into a useful asset for the organization through a knowledge management cycle. One of the significant KM processes aims at identifying and locating knowledge and sources of knowledge within the organization. Important knowledge is the translated into explicit form, usually known as codification of knowledge, in order to facilitate more widespread dissemination.Networks,practices,and incentives are instituted to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to one person to another. It also facilitates person-knowledge content connections in order to get solutions to problems, decision-making, or act based on the possible knowledge foundation. Once this useful, field-tested knowledge and know-how are transferred to an organization knowledge repository, it becomes a corporate memory. Also called the ‘ground truth’. There are four major models of the knowledge management cycles, namely: the Zack, from Meyer and Zack (1996), the Bukowitz and Williams (2000), the McElroy (2003), and the Wiig (1993). As cited by Dalkir (2005), the Zack KM cycle is gotten from the works on the design and development of information products. A number of lessons learned from the cycle that physical products follow within an organization can be applied to the management of knowledge assets. The Zack cycle proposes that research and knowledge about the design of physical products can be extended into the world of intellectuals to serve as the basis for KM cycle. The Meyer and Zack KM cycle processes are made up of the technologies, facilities, and processes for manufacturing products and services. The authors propose that information products are best viewed as a repository that avails the building blocks for the resulting information products. The content is different for every type of business. For example, banks have content relating to personal and commercial account, and insurance companies hold information on policies and claims. According to Dalkir (2005) the Bukowitz and Williams KM cycle, describes a knowledge management process framework that shows how organizations generate, maintain, and deploy a strategically correct stock of knowledge to create value. Knowledge comprises of knowledge repositories, relationships, information technologies, communications infrastructure, functional skill sets, process know-how, environmental responsiveness, organizational intelligence, and external sources. The get, learn, and contribute phases are tactical in nature. They are triggered by market-driven opportunities or demands, and they often lead to everyday use of knowledge in response to the demands. The assess, build or sustain, or divest stages are more strategic, influenced by shifts in the macroenvironment.These stages focus on more long term processes of matching intellectual capital to strategic requirements. The McElroy KM cycle is a life cycle that consists of the processes of knowledge production and knowledge integration, with a series of feedback loops to organizational memory, beliefs, and claims and the business-processing environment. The cycle emphasizes that organizational knowledge is held both subjectively in the minds of individuals and groups and objectively in explicit forms. They comprise the distributed organizational knowledge base of the company. Knowledge use in the business processing environment causes a match or a fail in expectations. Matches reinforce existing knowledge, leading to its reuse, while mismatches cause changes in the business processing through single single-loop learning (Dalkir 2005). The Wiig KM cycle focuses on the three conditions that require being present for an organization to conduct its business successfully: It should have a business and customers; it must have resources, and it can act. The Wiig KM cycle emphasizes on the ability to act. Knowledge is the principal force that determines and drives the ability to act intelligently. With improved knowledge, we know well what to do and how to do it (Dalkir 2005). The knowledge management cycle is reiterated as users understand and decided to make use of content. The users will validate usefulness, and they will signal when it becomes out of date or when the knowledge is not applicable. Users will help validate the scope of the content or how generalizable the best practices and lessons learned can be. They also mostly, come up with new content, which they can contribute to the next cycle iteration (Dalkir 2005). The importance of knowledge for many enterprises, organizations and businesses are rarely questioned, and many studies have been made in its regards. The area of knowledge management has brought about insights, ideas, theories, metaphors, and approaches from many and wide areas of study (Maier 2011). References Dalkir, K. (2005).Knowledge management in practice.Oxford: Elsevier Inc. Maier, R. (2007).Knowledge management systems: Information and communication technologies for knowledge management. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Jawadekar, W.S (2011).Knowledge management: Text and cases. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited. Read More