IN the name of Allah

CONCEPT OF KM
OUT COME
Definition of knowledge
Concept of knowledge
-Data
-Information
-Knowledge
-Various knowledge concepts
-Types of knowledge
Why do we have to manage knowledge?
What is km?
Definition of km
History of km
Out come cont.
KM process
Categorization of KM
Perspective of KM
Generation of KM
Application of KM
Benefit of KM
-Individual benefit
-organizational benefit
Example for benefit of km
conclusion
 Definition of knowledge
“Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed
experience, values, contextual
information, and expert insight that
provides a framework for evaluation and
incorporating new experiences and
information.” [Davenport & Prusak,1998]

“Knowledge is information within people’s

minds; without a knowing, self-aware
person there is no knowledge” [Davenport,
1999]
 Concept of Knowledge
Knowledge is increasingly being recognized as the
new strategic imperative of organizations.
The most established paradigm is that knowledge is
power. Therefore, one has to hoard it, keep it to
oneself to maintain an advantage.

The new paradigm is that within the organization

knowledge must be shared in order for it to grow. It has
been shown that the organization that shares
knowledge among its management and staff grows
stronger and becomes more competitive.
This is the core of knowledge management – the
sharing of knowledge.
Various knowledge concepts:
from data to wisdom
Data:
refers to codes, signs and signals that do not necessarily
have any significance.

Information:
consists of data with a meaning or an interpretation.

Knowledge:
is the result of personal processing by a person(s) within a
particular context. To separate knowledge from context is
to reduce it to information. Information can only become
knowledge once it is processed and integrated into an
individual’s personal knowledge structure.
6
Various knowledge concepts:
from data to wisdom cont.
Understanding:
knowledge becomes understanding through
experience. This occurs when people can provide
various explanations why a particular issue is the
way it is, and how it relates to other issues.

Wisdom:
refers to metacognition which people use to create
new knowledge based on previous knowledge,
experience and understanding. Wisdom allows us
to choose for the good of life.
7
An example: data, information and
knowledge
This example uses a bank savings
account to show how data, information
and knowledge relate to the principal,
interest rate and interest.
Data.
The numbers 100 or 5%, completely out
of context, are just pieces of data.
Interest, principal, and interest rate, out
of context, are not much more than data
as each has multiple meanings
which are context dependent.
Information.
If I establish a bank savings account as the basis
for context, then interest, principal, and interest
rate become meaningful in that context with
specific interpretations. Principal is the amount
of money, $100, in the savings account. Interest
rate, 5%, is the factor used by the
bank to compute interest on the
principal.
 Knowledge.
If I put $100 in my savings account, and the bank pays 5%
interest yearly, then at the end of one year the bank will
compute the interest of $5 and add it to my principal and I
will have $105 in the bank.
This pattern represents knowledge, which, when I
understand it, allows me to understand how the pattern
will evolve over time and the results it will produce. In
understanding the pattern, I know and
what I know is knowledge.
If I deposit more money into my account,
I know that I will earn more interest,
while if I withdraw money from my account,
I know that I will earn less interest.
Two types of knowledge
It is important in knowledge management to
make a distinction between two different but
important types of knowledge.
These are known as explicit and tacit
knowledge and they require different
strategies to harvest them successfully.
In broad terms explicit knowledge is what
most people think of when they use the term
“knowledge”. It is precise and modifiable.
Tacit knowledge is more intangible and
personal
12
 Explicit knowledge
Explicit knowledge deals with objective,
rational, and technical knowledge

 Data
 Policies
 Procedures
 Software
 Documents
 Products
 Strategies
 Goals
 Mission
 Core competencies
Tacit knowledge
Tacit knowledge is the cumulative store of the :
 corporate experiences
 Mental maps
 Insights
 Acumen
 Expertise
 Know-how
 Trade secrets
 Skill sets
 Learning of an organization
 The organizational culture
Different types of Knowledge
Some knowledge is easy to access and cheap to
harness while other knowledge is embedded in
people’s minds and hard to access and use.
This becomes clear when key individuals leave

Critical knowledge is knowledge that forms the

essential capability of the organisation.

15
Different types of Knowledge
cont.
Embedded knowledge is knowledge that is
deeply embedded in an organisation. It is the
technical or intellectual core of the organisation
(eg. subject matter knowledge of educators)

However knowledge is not static and what was

once essential and embedded can quickly
become out-dated and obsolete. Thus creative
knowledge is the key to future success of an
organisation

16
Phases of knowledge

1. Create knowledge.
2. Capture knowledge.
3. Refine knowledge.
4. Store knowledge.
5. Manage knowledge.
6. Disseminate knowledge.
Why do we have to manage
knowledge?
• Marketplaces are increasingly competitive
and the rate of innovation is rising.
• Reductions in staffing create a need to
replace informal knowledge with formal
methods.
• Competitive pressures reduce the size of the
work force that holds valuable business
knowledge.
 Why do we have to manage
knowledge? Cont.
• Early retirements and increasing mobility of the
work force lead to loss of knowledge.
• There is a need to manage increasing complexity
as small operating companies are transnational
sourcing operations.
• Changes in strategic direction may result in the
loss of knowledge in a specific area.
•The amount of time available to experience
and acquire knowledge has diminished.
What is Knowledge Management?
Knowledge management may be
defined simply as doing what is needed
to get the most out of knowledge
resources.
KM focuses on organizing and making
available important knowledge,
wherever and whenever it is needed.
Related to the concept of
intellectual capital
(both human and structural).
What is Knowledge Management
cont.
The process of transforming information
and intellectual assets into enduring value.
It connects people with the knowledge that
they need to take action, when they need
it.
In the corporate sector, managing
knowledge is considered key to achieving
breakthrough competitive advantage.
What is Knowledge Management?
Cont.
“Knowledge management (KM) is an
effort to increase useful knowledge
within the organization.
Ways to do this include encouraging
communication, offering opportunities
to learn, and promoting the sharing of
appropriate knowledge artifacts.”
What is Knowledge Management?
Cont.
Their definition?
1. Using accessible knowledge from outside
sources
2. Embedding and storing knowledge
throughout the organisation
3. Representing the knowledge
4. Promoting knowledge growth
5. Transferring and sharing knowledge
6. Assessing the value of the knowledge
Definition of knowledge management
. Knowledge management is the collection of
processes that govern the creation, dissemination,
and utilization of knowledge. Brian Newman
. Knowledge management is the management of
the organization towards the continuous renewal
of the organizational knowledge base – this
means, for example, the creation of supportive
organizational structures, facilitation of
organizational members, putting IT-instruments
with emphasis on teamwork and diffusion of
knowledge (e.g., groupware) into place.
Thomas Bertels
Definition of knowledge management
cont.
. Knowledge management is an audit of
“intellectual assets” that highlights unique
sources, critical functions and potential
bottlenecks which hinder knowledge flows to the
point of use. – Denham Grey
. Knowledge management consists of activities
focused on the organization gaining knowledge
from its own experience and from the experience
of others, and on the judicious application of that
knowledge to fulfill the mission of the
organization. – Gregory Wenig
 Definition of knowledge management
cont.
. Knowledge management is a business
activity with two primary aspects:
(a) treating the knowledge component of
business activities as an explicit concern of
business reflected in strategy, policy, and
practice at all levels of the organization; and
(b) making a direct connection between an
organization’s intellectual assets – both
explicit (recorded) and tacit (personal know-
how) – and positive business results.
Rebecca O. Barclay and Philip
C. Murray
Definition of knowledge management
cont.
. Knowledge management is the process through
which organizations generate value from their
intellectual and knowledge-based assets. Megan
Santosus and Jon Surmacz

. Knowledge management is the systematic

process of finding, selecting, organizing,
distilling and presenting information in a way
that improves an employee’s comprehension in a
specific area of interest. University of
Texas
Definition of knowledge management

cont.
The following definition seems to represent
the general agreement of the researchers on
KM definition:
Knowledge management is concerned with the
exploitation and development of the knowledge
assets of an organization with a view to furthering
the organisation’s objectives. The knowledge to be
managed includes both explicit, documented
knowledge, and tacit, subjective knowledge. . .
(Davenport and Prusak, 1998).
 HISTORY OF KM
Knowledge began to be viewed as a competitive asset
in the 80s, around the same time that information
explosion started becoming an issue
The trend was fueled by the development of IT
systems which made it simple to store, display, and
archive classified, indexed information
The process received a fillip after Drucker (and
others) stressed the role of knowledge as an
organization resource, and Senge popularized
‘learning organizations’
Seeds of KM may also be found in business practices
like TQM and BPR to which KM is often compared
KM processes
Knowledge creation
 socialization,
externalization,
 combination and
 internalization

knowledge transfer
transmission
Absorption

Knowledge application (utilization)

KM processes con't
Categorization of KM projects
Identified four broad types of KM project
objectives: (based on dovenport-1998)

1. To create knowledge repositories, which

store both knowledge and information,
often in documentary form. Repositories
can fall into three categories:
Categorization of KM projects
cont.
A- Those which include external knowledge, such as competitive
intelligence;

B-Those that include structured internal knowledge, such as

research reports and product oriented marketing material as
techniques and methods;

C-Those that embrace informal,

internal or tacit knowledge,
such as discussion databases
that store ‘‘know how’’.
Categorization of KM projects
cont.

2. To improve knowledge access, or to

provide access to knowledge or to facilitate
its transfer among individuals; here the
emphasis is on connectivity, access and
transfer, and technologies such as video
conferencing systems, sharing tools and
telecommunications networks are central.
Categorization of KM projects
con’t

3. To enhance the knowledge environment,

so that the environment is conducive to
more effective knowledge creation, transfer
and use. This involves tackling
organizational norms and values as they
relate to knowledge.
Categorization of KM projects
cont.
4. To manage knowledge as an asset, and to
recognize the value of knowledge to an
organization. Assets, such as technologies
that are sold under license or have potential
value, customer databases and detailed
parts catalogues are typical of companies’
intangible assets to which value can be
assigned
Three perspectives of KM
Information-based perspective:
Technology-based perspective:
Culture-based perspective:
Three perspectives of KM
cont.
Information-based perspective:
characteristics of information
Readily-accessible information
Real-time information
Actionable information
Categorizing of data
Corporate yellow pages
Filtered information
People information archive
Three perspectives of KM
cont.
Technology-based perspective:
Data mining
Data warehouses
Intelligent systems
Intranet
Multimedia
Search engines
Smart systems
…
Three perspectives of KM
cont.

Culture-based perspective:
Collective learning
Continuous learning
Intellectual property cultivation
Learning organization
First and second generation
knowledge management
First
• Focus on knowledge management
(limited concept of knowledge lifecycle)
• Better and faster storage, indexing and
retrieving of content to help knowledge sharing
• Improving individual performance and learning
capability
• Origins in information retrieval, intranet and
internet
• Technology focus – sometimes obsessive
 Second generation knowledge
management
Second
• Focus is knowledge process management
(full use of knowledge lifecycle concept)
• Better and faster knowledge creation and innovation
plus the sharing of such knowledge
• Improving organizational performance and learning
• Origins in first generation knowledge management
plus organizational learning and systems thinking
(with ideas from complexity theory still to come)
• May or may not use technology
 KM Applications
Reduce overhead of applying KM
Seamless integration of KM application into
working environment
Exploit existing legacy data, e.g. databases

Avoid information overload

Context-dependent access and presentation
of knowledge
Reflect task at hand
Reflect used output device
Personalized access and presentation
Exploit user profile
Be able to “forget”
KM Applications:
Anywhere and Anytime
 Anywhere and anytime access to knowledge
 Intranet environment
 Internet environment
 Laptop/PDA/Mobile phone
 Wearable devices

 What you get presented

 is what you need
 is tailored to your profile
 is adapted to the output
device
what are the sorts of applications that
fall into KM?
The simplest capability is the storage and
retrieval of documents in a wide variety of
formats .
Other applications include:
• The creation of “agents” that can monitor
information sources for items that are of interest to
an individual or a group. These agents essentially
provide a customizable query that indicates what
type of documents should be retrieved as they pass
by.

• “Indexing” of people by the documents they create

and store, or by self-generated descriptions of their
interests. Such a capability allows an organization to
locate expertise on a particular topic rapidly.
Other applications include:
cont.
• Representation of situations or cases by the documents
and people that are associated with them. This type of
indexing admits the possibility of finding documents or
people that can help address a new situation that is similar
to one in the past.

• Tracking the information flow within an organization.

Observing where new information enters an organization
and how it moves may highlight individuals or departments
that provide important information to the rest of the
organization, or may illuminate other information-based
social structures for sharing knowledge.
Other applications include:
cont.
Automatic extraction of small pieces of
information from arriving data. This
application could include mining Web pages
for price information as part of competitive
analysis.
And any more…
Benefit of knwledge management
There are many benefits to be reaped
from KM.
In an organisational setting, benefits
can occur at two level:

- Individual
- Organisational
 -Individual benefit of KM
At the individual level, KM provides
employees opportunities to enhance skills
and experience by working together and
sharing other people’s knowledge and learn
from each other, thereby improving personal
performance, there by leading to better career
development.
-Organisational benefit of KM
At the organisational level, KM provides four major
benefits for an organisation:


1-Improving the organisation’s performance through increased
efficiency, productivity, quality, and innovation.


2-Organisations that manage knowledge claim higher rates of
productivity. By having greater access to their employees’ knowledge,
organisations make better decisions, streamline processes, reduce re-
work, increase innovation, have higher data integrity and greater
collaboration (CIO Council, 2001). In other words, for public sector,
managing knowledge could reduce the cost of operations and improves
customer service.
Organisational benefit of KM
cont.
3. Increasing the financial value of the
organisation by treating people’s knowledge as an
asset similar to traditional assets like inventory
and capital facilities
(U.S. Department of Navy 2001)
4. As knowledge transfer is increasingly
recognised as a source of value creation,
organisations have come to identify KM
initiatives as strategic facilitators of competitive
advantages.
 Development of Knowledge
Management at Microsoft
Microsoft circa 1997

• Multiple, disparate business systems

• Lack of worldwide revenue information
• Inability to track people and position
• 250,000 hard copy financial reports distributed worldwide,
available 14 days after end period
• Hundreds of paper forms for purchasing, benefits, pensions,
policies, etc.
• Excessive resources focused on transaction processing, not
adding business value
• Difficulty sharing knowledge, ideas and content effectively.
Microsoft today with knowledge
management:
• Single transaction system worldwide
• Consistent business policies and processes
• Key financial and operational metrics available real time
including:
(a) revenue and inventory by product, customer, location,
channel;
(b) organization headcount and possible detail worldwide; and
(c) transaction cost detail worldwide
• All financial reports distributed electronically 4 days following
month end
• Over 90% of all procurement processed electronically
• All employee services are web based
• Integrated platform for sharing knowledge and collaboration
Conclusion
There is a significant amount of divergence
regarding the concept of KM. In the rush to
stake ownership of the concept, different
disciplines and different interest groups have
created a lot of confusion.
Cont.
In this converging and interconnected world,
concepts are related to each other, but it is
very important to be precise about the core or
the spirit of terms and concepts or things
because it ultimately does more harm than
good to the very concept or term.
Cont.
This presentation is an attempt to put things
into perspective and clear the confusions and
complexities around the concept of KM.
In particular, information systems and human
resource Management are two important
pillars of KM but none of these per se can be
termed as KM, which is a much bigger and
comprehensive concept.
I never waste memory on things that can easily be stored and retrieved
from elsewhere.
A. Einstein
 Thanks For Your
Attention

Special thanks to ms . Aziera

Q&A