Knowledge Management

What is Knowledge Management ?

Knowledge Management is the systematic management of

vital knowledge and its associated processes of creation,
organization, diffusion, use and exploitation.

- David Skyrme

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Stages from Data to Knowledge
wisdom

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Knowledge is Different

Wisdom Individual, judgmental

Contextual, tacit
Knowledge

Information Codifiable, explicit

Easily transferable
Data
 What does KM entail

Identify Acquire Manage Disseminate

 Ensure right knowledge to right persons at right time and

in right format
 Leverage existing Knowledge and potential of IT
 Make knowledge sharing a dominant culture
 Gain Competitive Advantage

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 Twin Thrusts of KM

1. Sharing existing knowledge

“Knowing what you know”

KM

2. Knowledge for Innovation

“Creating and Converting”
 Why KM ?

 Not to reinvent the wheel : solution exists/

known somewhere in the organization
 Learn from past mistakes – ours or others
 Knowledge resource depletion, Reduction,
migration & brain-drain
 Innovate & lead change in the business

Wise men learn from their own mistakes;

the wiser learn from others’ mistakes too
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 Knowledge Gap

Knowledge Gap
g e
Change

a n
C h
o f
a te
R n i ng
ar
o f Le
Rate

Time
The efficiency of a firm depends on how fast it bridges the
gap between what it knows and what it needs to know
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 Role of IT in KM
 KM is not a new concept, but
 Integration of KM with rapidly advancing
information technologies is new.
 Facilitator of information storage and
sharing
 Support mechanism to the people in the
organisation

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 An Effective KM System…

 Creates business value

 Focuses on both knowledge creation and
knowledge application
 Does not aim to de-personalize knowledge
 Is a High-tech (IT), High-touch (HR) system

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Knowledge Management Processes
and Frameworks
 Types of Knowledge
 Tacit Knowledge
What a person knows, but
has not been documented or
formally captured
 Explicit Knowledge

Written, codified, or
imbedded knowledge that has
been transferred to
workgroups or to the
organization.
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Overlapping Factors of KM

PEOPLE

ORGANIZATIONAL
PROCESSES

TECHNOLOGY

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Elements of a Knowledge Management
Strategy
 People

 Why people don’t want to share knowledge?

 The two big factors : culture and behaviour
 How do we make the changes?

 Processes

 Organisational processes and infrastructure – and

whether they currently help or hinder KM.
 KM processes and infrastructure – the ‘process’
element of what needs to be put in place to make
knowledge management happen

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Elements of a KM Strategy

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 KM – KEY FACILITATING FACTORS

1. Conducting regular internal surveys and audits

2. Robust MIS
3. Mature and multi-layered internal communication
system
4. Seamless interface with suppliers and customers
5. Benchmarking processes and systems within and
outside the industry
6. Leveraging on IT
7. Informal meetings and contacts are regular
feature of the organizational life
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Thank You