Knowledge management - Essay Example

? Knowledge Management In understanding what knowledge management is we first have to understand the basic meaning of the word “knowledge”, many people are often fond of confusing “knowledge” and “information”. Whereas knowledge refers to basic raw facts or data, information is data in its contextual form (Binney, 2001, p. 33). It can also be said that information is knowledge that has been processed to give out a particular meaning. Bolloju, Khalifa and Turban (2002, p. 163) asserts that knowledge management is the full utilization of the intellectual possessions and available information in order to transform it into durable value. The aim of knowledge management is to create a connection between people’s knowledge and actions they need in particular situations. According to Binney (2001, p. 34) knowledge management entails making known to you what you know, what you have no idea of and at the same time striving to create sense of what you know. In organizations people are exposed to different trainings where they learn new ideas and skills. Consequently the question is, “How does one apply this learnt knowledge appropriately in order to realize best results?” This is where knowledge management comes into play, by ensuring that all learnt knowledge has been turned into useful knowledge in the decision making processes (Damodaran and Olphert, 2000, p. 405). The main aspect of knowledge management is “sense making”. Sense making has four major steps: gathering information, classifying, evaluating and digesting the information, sharing and finally reusing the information. A variety of explanations have been put forth to explain the sense making aspect of knowledge management. For instance there is the “Weick’s concept” which identifies three stages involved in sense making (Bolloju, Khalifa and Turban, 2002, p. 165). The first step according to Weick is enactment which involves putting information in its environmental context. It is then followed by selection in which one attaches selectively meanings to the information. Retention finally follows where one is faced with the obligation of storing the resulting sense, hence adding to the existing knowledge. Bolloju, Khalifa and Turban (2002, P. 165) explains that the stored information is therefore made available when needed in the decision making process. Dervin also tries to give an explanation to the sense making process. According to her sense making is a thing of our everyday live as we try to give meanings to what we come across (Feng, Chen and Liou, 2004, p. 92). She says sense making is goal oriented and has three main aspects: situations, gaps and uses. Situations refers to the context in which we want to make sense, gaps is what triggers us to look for new knowledge and uses the goals of trying to make sense. From her explanations we can say that people do not start searching for knowledge aimlessly, but rather they have something that initiates the search and a purpose of doing it (Feng, Chen and Liou, 2004, p. 93). Damodaran and Olphert (2000, p. 407) says from the above explanations, one will then be wondering what the meaning of effective utilization of existing knowledge in its sense making and practical use is. Hence it is important to understand that we have different types of knowledge that need to be sorted out in order for them to give out sensible meaning. Binney, (2001, p. 35) concur that one need to do an epistemology study so as to come up with a valuable understanding of what knowledge is. Epistemology studies knowledge from its different perspectives. It helps an individual to understand the different types of knowledge and the various views that are attached to them. Organizations have different types of knowledge that need to be utilized appropriately in order attain its goals. Such typologies include: encoded, embrained, encultured, embodied and embedded (Binney, 2001, p. 35). Knowledge is not a process but rather is a static thing whose impacts can only be felt by the outcomes it generates (Binney, 2001, p. 36). Knowledge can be transferred however; it cannot be fully passed out from one person to another. This is to say that as much as knowledge can be shared there are some things which cannot be transferred. Feng, Chen and Liou (2004, p. 95) experts know so much that they cannot effectively share out but those learning from them can only learn the context of that knowledge. Hence since knowledge has been said to be a static thing, then it means that knowing is a process which is active. By active it means that what has already been known has to be put into practice to yield expected results. Following the above explanations, knowledge has to be put into practice in order to give meaning. Knowledge without actions is sterile knowledge because it will not be of any use. Practice is considered to connect what a person knows to what that person intends to do (Bolloju, Khalifa and Turban, 2002, p. 167). It gives knowledge meaning and gives ideas on what the courses of actions will be. Practice is a goal oriented human activity that is driven by the knowledge that someone possess on doing that activity. Damodaran and Olphert (2000, p. 408) concurs that from the above understanding of knowledge, the following can be said about knowledge: it has a socio-cultural construction, it is found in people, it can be contested and it generates outcomes. Looking critically to knowledge management, it means that individuals and organizations need to practice knowledge management in order to attain their objectives (Bolloju, Khalifa and Turban, 2002, p. 168). The success of a business entails understanding the current context of that business and coming up with innovative techniques geared towards the attainment of that business’ goals. Knowledge management entails constant change and modification of the existing structures in order to keep up with market dynamics (Feng, Chen and Liou, 2004, p. 96). It focuses on the re-use of already existing techniques to march the current market demands. Knowledge management focuses on the competence aspect rather than the success aspect of an organization. It emphasizes that an organization should shift from relying absolutely on its past experiences to focusing on its competences (Binney, 2001, p. 37). By so saying it does not mean that past experiences are useless and should be ignored, but they are also valuable if they have a future perspective. Contrary, focusing on competence will enable the organization to come up with appropriate strategies in curbing the unforeseen change forces. In trying to discover your organization’s competences, you should not look at your product success since product success is within the limits of whirlpool (Feng, Chen and Liou, 2004, p. 97). An organization’s competencies live outside the limits of whirlpool. Knowledge management in practice entails what is referred to as knowledge chain. Knowledge chain has interconnected links that are critical in the determination of the uniqueness and identity of an organization (Binney, 2001, p. 38). The links include: internal and external awareness and internal and external responsiveness. These links constitute an interactional series that breeds organizational innovations. In this scenario the role of information management is to allow permeability between the links thus speeding innovation. According to Bolloju, Khalifa and Turban, (2002, p. 171) allowing permeability between the links means that information known in one link can be made available in other links for comparison. This is done through the sharing of the already known information- this is knowledge management in practice. Taking a closer look at the four links, we can say that internal awareness is when an organization takes a critical look of itself (Binney, 2001, p. 38). Through this it will analyze its products, services and their overall competencies. On the other hand, internal responsiveness is the ability to exploit extensively internal awareness. After an organization has a clear understanding of itself, it will be expected to formulate strategies in order to achieve its goals. Furthermore, external responsiveness means effectively using the set strategies in order to meet market demands. Lastly, external awareness is for the organization to understand: the perception the outside world has about their products and services, the legal environment, their customers, their competitors and market trends (Bolloju, Khalifa and Turban, 2002, p. 174). Knowledge management emphasizes the necessity of measurement. In business measurement is done by assessing what you have already done, what you intend to do and how far you are from achieving it (Feng, Chen & Liou, 2004. P98). Measurement is usually done through analyzing the financial performance however there is more to it than just financial performance. An organization needs to know whether it is solvent and also assess if it is making a profit or not. Moreover, it needs to understand its effectiveness, efficiency and productivity. A company needs to put into considerations its tangible and intangible assets when doing measurement (Damodaran & Olphert, 2000. P409). The major problem encountered here is how to come up with best estimates considering that the true value is only what the buyer is willing to pay. According to Binney (2001, p. 39) there have been a variety of implications of effectively employing knowledge management in organizations such as setting of appropriate strategies. To start with knowledge management calls for business measurement that needs one to carry out an extensive measurement on his/her business. By so doing it means that one will be able to know the current position of his/ her business, know what he she needs so as to attain their goal. It is very important for one to know what he/she is doing instead of doing things blind-folded which may deviate a person from the set objectives (Feng, Chen & Liou, 2004. P100). It has been found that regular measurement in businesses leaves one with a clear direction of where he/she is coming from and where he/she is headed. In addition, through knowledge management, a clear picture of the outside world is attained (Damodaran & Olphert, 2000. P410). It enables the business to be aware of the legal framework, competitors, customers and market demands. By understanding the outside world you will be able to identify the limits of the business operations. Also it will enable one to identify the customer expectations and try to meet them as expected. Being aware of competitors, their competencies and products, one will be able to be innovative enough in order to make their products attractive enough (Bolloju, Khalifa, & Turban, 2002. P174). Understanding market demands is also equally important since market trends are the determinants of what needs to be done in an organization. Knowledge management has been found to have very good implications on the business performance. It helps a business to come up with effective strategies that will gear it to the attainment of its goals (Feng, Chen and Liou, 2004, p. 102). A business will be able to eliminate its challenges at very low costs as it will only focus only on what matters the most. Since the market trends are well known to the business, focus will be based on the market demands which will in turn yield improved sales. Binney (2001, p. 40) explains that all these activities give way to good results as the business will be in a position to know precisely what to do and settle for the best way of doing it. Innovativeness is also another important implication of effective knowledge management. Innovation is the process of coming up with new ideas and incorporating them into business hoping for a better performance (Bolloju, Khalifa and Turban, 2002, p. 175). Innovation is critical for the development of business as it entails an introduction of something new into the business. In the sense making aspect of knowledge management, we have already seen that knowledge can have different typologies. As a result taking new knowledge and putting it correctly in its context will mean a new strategy into the business and thus business development (Damodaran & Olphert, 2000. P412). People who succeed currently in business are those people who come up with new ideas and apply them appropriately. Sharing as an aspect of knowledge management has lead to interdependence in businesses (Feng, Chen & Liou, 2004, p. 103). Knowledge chain entails sharing what one knows to those who don’t know so as they can also exploit that knowledge. Business owners have always opted to organize trainings for their employees for them to add up to what they already know. Those who attend these trainings are then urged to share their experiences to the rest of the employees. However, sharing has been said to have a disadvantage since not all knowledge can be passed across to the next party (Feng, Chen and Liou, 2004, p. 104). On the other hand, interdependence is good in business as it has lead to the growth of the human resource. Finally knowledge management has greatly influenced growth of businesses in which it is effectively applied (Damodaran and Olphert, 2000, p. 413). In business there is no time when knowledge acquired is enough however, one needs to be in constant understanding of the current situations regarding his/her business. Discovery in business is the key to growth and can only be attained through effective knowledge management. Binney (2001, p. 42) concludes that knowledge management allows one to be diverse in his/her reasoning so as to attack available problems from different perspectives. Diversification in many cases leads to discovery of new ideas in production, branding or even marketing. Consequently the end product of all this is business growth. References Binney, D. (2001). The Knowledge Management Spectrum – Understanding the KM Landscape, Journal of Knowledge Management; 5 (1): 33–42. Bolloju, N., Khalifa, M. & Turban, E. (2002). Integrating knowledge management into enterprise environments for the next generation decision support, Decision Support Systems; Vol. 32 (2): 163-176. Damodaran, L and Olphert, W. (2000). Barriers and facilitators to the use of knowledge management systems, Behaviour & Information Technology; Vol. 19 (6): 405-13. Feng, K., Chen, T and Liou, W. 2004, Implementation of knowledge management systems and firm performance: an empirical investigation, The Journal of Computer Information Systems, Vol. 45 (2) 92-104. Read More