Knowledge Management Theories - Literature review Example

The paper "Knowledge Management Theories" is a good example of a literature review on management. The term knowledge management is used to refer to the process of development as well as maintenance and sharing and utilization of knowledge (Willett 2002 cited in Morey, Maybury, Thuraisingham 2002: 250). In other words, knowledge management entails the acquisition of new knowledge, practices conducted in order to ensure that knowledge is retained as well as the development and promotion of a culture that promotes sharing and utilizing the knowledge that has been acquired. There are various activities that managers need to perform in order to manage knowledge. According to Tsoukas knowledge can be managed and he states that one single individual within an organization does not control or own the entire knowledge resource of an organization (Tsoukas 1996). He states that knowledge resource is distributed and the characteristics of this distribution include expectations of the actions that individuals need to perform, nature that is developed due to prior socialization practices and local conditions that are related to the setting and the time. Tsoukas states that it is easier for managers to have control over behaviors but it is very difficult for them to know how and when individuals working in the organization use knowledge. The problem with managing knowledge is that there are different kinds of knowledge, According to Snowden; there are two kinds of knowledge which includes tacit and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is that knowledge that an individual develops through experience and is difficult to share and communicate. Explicit knowledge is that knowledge can easily be transferred and communicated (Snowden 2002).