Doing Knowledge Management - Essay Example

Knowledge Management Student’s Name Institution Knowledge Management The concept of knowledge management entails the process of acquiring, distributing and using knowledge effectively. Knowledge management was developed in the 1990s to promote the effectiveness of workers through distribution and acquisition of information. The authors emphasise on the concept of knowledge management because of various reasons. The first reason is that the management confuses the immediate role of knowledge management in various aspects such as improvement of the effectiveness of the workers and the bottom line of the organisation (Allameh, 2011). The authors conduct the research to acquire and provide adequate and reliable information regarding the primary role of knowledge management in an organisation. The research examines the immediate purpose of knowledge management that involves enhancement of processing of knowledge among the workers. In this case, promotion of the concept of knowledge processing is vital for the development of quality solutions (Joseph, 2005). The process of creating quality solutions in an organisation promotes the effectiveness of the workers, which is crucial in enhancing individual contribution. There are various approaches to enhancing knowledge processing in the organisation such as intermediation, externalisation, internalisation, cognition and measurement (Yates, 2011). Intermediation involves the transfer of knowledge between an appropriate provider and seeker. The purpose of intermediation is to link a knowledge seeker with an appropriate source of knowledge in the organisation. Besides, the concept of externalisation entails the transfer of knowledge from its holders mind into an external respiratory through efficient criteria (Hislop, 2013). The role of the externalisation process is to promote the aspect of knowledge sharing in the organisation through business or competitive intelligence. The knowledge management tools enable the organisation to establish the adequate and reliable amount of data regarding the competition (Xu, 2010). The concept of internalisation encompasses knowledge extraction from the external respiratory as well as filtering it to give greater relevance to the seeker of knowledge. In this case, the knowledge is presented to the seeker in the most comprehensive form, which promotes understanding. This role of knowledge management is vital in providing reliable and relevant ideas regarding various aspects of the business to the workers. The internalisation approach to knowledge processing is vital to enhancing the quality of knowledge that the workers of an organisation possess. Cognition is the element of decision-making systems based on the available knowledge. It involves the use of knowledge that has been exchanged via intermediation, externalisation and internalisation. The other approach to knowledge processing involves measurement (Joseph, 2005). Measurement entails all the knowledge management activities that map, measure and quantify the knowledge of a corporation as the knowledge management solutions performance. The second reason for the emphasis on the concept of knowledge management is to establish whether the practitioners of knowledge management are practising or doing knowledge management in various organisations. The concept of knowledge management is essential in promoting the transfer of skills and information between different sections of an organisation. The aspect of helping techniques such as data warehousing, information systems, social network evaluation, data mining, human resources and quality management is vital in the determination of the approach of practitioners to knowledge management. The history of knowledge management entails different approaches to the use of the concept of enhancing the success of an organisation in different business contexts such as marketing, decision-making process, human resources management and sales. Knowledge is categorised as either tacit or explicit. The explicit information entails the ideas that are developed intangible while tacit knowledge entails the one that an individual has trouble developing in tangible form operationally. The authors emphasise on the concepts of utilisation of knowledge management in various organisation contexts based on the relevant form of knowledge for specific business contexts (Allameh, 2011). The research highlights various business processes and outcomes in the context of decision-making and learning aspects of an organisation such as Decision Execution Cycle and Double Loop Learning. The decision execution cycle highlights the procedure for executing decisions in the organisation. Decisions are encompassed in the cognitive operations of knowledge management in an organisation. The cycle for the execution of decisions involves various processes, which include monitoring, acting, planning and evaluation of behaviours. The execution of decisions in the organisation leads to actions, which are the activities that encompass social networks, social processes and organisational systems. The patterns of the cycle for decisions executions include acting, deciding to evaluate and monitoring various activities in an organisation (Hislop, 2013). The deciding phase of the cycle involves developing an intention to engage in a particular action are actions sequence. The process encompasses the selection of a specific decision among alternative options in a given organisational situation. Besides, the phase involves selecting a particular action based on the first decision-consequence criteria using the existing knowledge regarding the situation. The intentions of undertaking a particular action in an organisation are formed in the context of broader action plans. The concept of planning in the cycle for the execution of decisions is part of an activity for the development of knowledge. Planning involves the establishment of an appropriate and relevant framework for knowledge processing in the organisation. In this case, the aspect of planning facilitates the success of other initiatives in the decision making and execution context in an organisation (Hislop, 2013). The element of monitoring refers to the process of describing and tracking of activities as well as their outcomes retrospectively. The process of monitoring of knowledge management involves the collection of information and data as well as utilisation of previous knowledge to develop new impact-related, descriptive and predictive knowledge regarding the acting results. On the other hand, evaluation refers to the process of accessing outcomes and activities that were previously monitored as value network. The concept of evaluating involves utilising the outcomes of the monitoring phase along with the previous information to access the outcomes of acting and create knowledge regarding the descriptive gaps between the business tactical objectives and results (Allameh, 2011). In addition, the process involves the production of knowledge about the normative impact of the objectives and outcomes gas on the performance of the organisation. The DEC concepts are utilised in all business processes and the aspects of deciding, evaluating, monitoring and acting use the previous knowledge of a particular situation. The study highlights the process of learning in the organisation through the Double-Loop Learning context. The learning process in the organisation involves the transfer and acquisition of knowledge about various aspects of the organisational operation. The learning process objective is to promote the quality and rate of productivity in an organisation by enhancing the skills and abilities of the employees. The learning loops are essential tools that provide guidelines for conducting and evaluating the learning process in the organisation. The learning loop is, therefore, critical in enhancing the success of knowledge management in the corporate context (Yates, 2011). The research provides adequate information regarding knowledge management in the organisational context because of various reasons. First, the study highlights the general purposes of knowledge management in an organisation such as the promotion of the effectiveness of the workers and performance of the organisation. The description of the purpose of the knowledge management concept develops a reliable background of the study, which is essential to justifying the purpose of the study. The information provided in the research enables the management of various organisations to identify and embrace the immediate purpose of knowledge management in their respective organisations (Xu, 2010). The research of the authors addresses the issue of management of information by providing details regarding various approaches to knowledge management. Secondly, the authors address the concept of knowledge management by providing information regarding various aspects of knowledge and information processing in an organisation. In this case, the importance of knowledge management is described by describing the business processes that depend on the effective management of information. The authors identify processes such as decision-making, planning and implementation of the decisions, which are dependent on the criteria for managing knowledge (Allameh, 2011). The identification of knowledge-based business processes is vital in establishing the importance of knowledge management in promoting the success of the organisation as well as individual performance of the personnel (Hislop, 2013). Thirdly, the author addresses the importance of knowledge management by analysing the tools for knowledge management such as DEC and learning loops and their relationships to various aspects of business operations. For instance, the decision execution cycle (DEC) provides for the creation of new decision regarding a particular situation in the organisation based on previous information in the organisation (Joseph, 2005). The aspect of decision-making is crucial in identifying appropriate approaches to different situations in the organisation that promote the overall performance of the business. Finally, the authors using the case study of Partners Health Case address the importance of knowledge management in an organisation. The case avails information regarding various approaches for development and implementation of knowledge management concepts in an organisation (Hislop, 2013). The case study enables the authors to establish the importance of knowledge management based on a practical social context. The example is vital in enhancing understanding of the importance of managing knowledge effectively in the business context. Additionally, the case discusses the importance of decision-making process in the knowledge management such as the promotion of effectiveness of the workers and overall performance of the organisation. References Allameh, S. M., & Zare, S. M. (2011). Examining the impact of KM enablers on knowledge management processes. Procedia Computer Science, 3, 1211-1223. Hislop, D. (2013). Knowledge management in organisations: A critical introduction. Oxford University Press. Joseph, M. F. (2005). Doing knowledge management. The Learning Oragnization, 12 (2), 189 - 212. Xu, J., Houssin, R., Caillaud, E., & Gardoni, M. (2010). The macro process of knowledge management for continuous innovation. Journal of Knowledge Management, 14(4), 573-591. Yates, D., & Paquette, S. (2011). Emergency knowledge management and social media technologies: A case study of the 2010 Haitian earthquake. International Journal of Information Management, 31(1), 6-13. Read More