1. Executive summary
This report analyses the importance of knowledge management in the organisational context for maintaining competitive edge in the market. It conducts an analysis of the key areas in knowledge management with effective implementation of the different strategies for efficient knowledge management and knowledge transfer within the different levels of management in an organisation, these have been elaborated.
Furthermore the report discusses the methods and strategies adopted by organisations and the key role and functions played by HR in the present workplace, with the help of a case study on the organisation Accenture.
The report has made an in-depth analysis of the current issues related to knowledge management,
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Apart from the usual definitions, the most important definition of knowledge management is dependent on a comprehensive idea about the Knowledge management systems. According to Jennex (2008), the Knowledge Management systems (KMS) consists of the different components of IT/ICT, users, repositories, processes for using and generation of knowledge, culture for proper utilisation of knowledge, and the initiatives for the goals and measures related to the Knowledge management. The success of KM depends largely upon the success of KMS, as KMS has been regarded as the personification of KM (p.37).
4. Key issues in Knowledge management
Knowledge management has gained substantial importance in the past few years due to the realisation of numerous advantages associated with efficient knowledge management. An improved decision-making process, considerable increased in productivity and quality, sharing of best practices, less circumstance for reinvention process, and increased development of the skills and talent of the workforce are some of the benefits associated with the knowledge management within the organisations. (Jennex, 2008, p.275). Efficient combination of previously unrelated elements and exchange of tacit knowledge helps in the creation of knowledge that correspondingly leads to appropriate transfer of the gained knowledge transfer (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998). The implementation of knowledge management strategies depends a great deal
Knowledge is considered as one of the most important and competitive resource for sustenance of the organisation (Zack, 1999). It can be compared to the strategic resource that can be used and applied in various frames of the organisation. Experienced managers in the organisations believe that company can receive strategic advantage through knowledge and not the strategies or actions implemented by competitors. Knowledge can be regarded as a strong approach that opens numerous ways of success. It is that weapon that help organisation to evaluate solutions in financial and other professional difficulties.
This chapter describes what is knowledge management in details as well as what is the factors of implementing knowledge management which are implementing best practices, network expansion, systematic information system infrastructure, good organizational culture, senior management leadership and commitment and trustworthiness of teamwork.
The superior capabilities of knowledge management systems provide an opportunity for the business to engage the most effective components and recognize the importance of communication to make informed, accurate decisions (McGrath, 2001). This system can organize the company’s knowledge resources, knowledge obtaining, organizing, and applying to make a sound routine the will enforce effectiveness (Niu, 2008). The dynamic function of knowledge management to create, capture, and apply knowledge to achieve an organization’s objective will allow them to be more profitable and successful (Zucker, 1986). In addition to increasing profits, the system can be also used to reduce costs and enhance research and development (DeTienne & Jackson, 2001). With all of these advantages, it would be wasteful for a company to not employ knowledge management. As seen in the Discovery Communications, Inc. example, the company can attribute their new productivity levels and increase in ease of securing documents to the knowledge management system that put into place by Carefree Technology. Like Discovery Communications, Inc., knowledge management is so popular today because companies can collect, process and share knowledge to ignite employees ' creativity which in turn will make the business grow. Wenhong and Jianhua (2009) explained the core of knowledge management is to convert company’s knowledge resources into an increased company
In today 's high competitive business world, success is dependent on how efficiently and effectively an organization can develop and utilize its information and knowledge resources(Carlsson etc, 2002). Therefore, there are many dispute on information and knowledge management. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the relationship between Information management(IM) and knowledge management(KM), then argument about whether KM is important for an organization. In order to make sure essay have a clear structure, this essay main divided into four parts (from Part 2 to Part5 ): Part 2 will introduce what is IM and KM, the benefits of IM and KM, the relationships amongst data, information and knowledge, and then this paper will introduce the relationship between IM and KM; Part 3 will analysis case study of good knowledge management in Xerox company; Part 4 will analysis case study of bad knowledge management in NASA; Part 5, this essay will give an argument result to you in conclusion.
Knowledge Management Systems were designed for the purpose. A Knowledge Management System is an IT system which supports and helps in enhancing the process of knowledge management and its practices - Create, Store, share, retrieve and apply the knowledge through the use of KM systems.
"Knowledge management is the set of practices aimed at discovering and harnessing an organization 's intellectual resources. It 's about finding, unlocking, sharing, and altogether capitalizing on the most precious resources of an organization: people 's expertise, skills, wisdom, and relationships. Knowledge managers find these human assets, help people collaborate and learn, help people generate new ideas, and harness those ideas into successful innovations" (Bateman, 2004, p.8-9). One of the most important factors of change in management is the growing need for good, new ideas. Knowledge management is an approach that allows people to produce change. It 's bringing people together and collecting ideas from
Knowledge management assists in renewing, developing, transferring, and sharing knowledge. This is based on produce value, economic wealth, and organizational performance. (Becerra-Fernandez & Sabherwal, 2010) This process creates value from its intellectual and knowledge based assets. Knowledge management leverges knowledge within an organization to provide a competititive edge. The fuctions within knowledge management acheives the goals of an organization to acquire additional knowledge within its operations to
Knowledge Management (KM) is described as a systematic process of sharing, reusing and managing the knowledge only when it is made available and recorded (Jashapara, 2005). This helps an organization to gain insight and understanding for own experience (Remus, 2012). Most of the KM activities
It has been argued that within the short space of time between defining knowledge management and it becoming a common phrase, many organisations stated one of their main aims as ‘leveraging organisational knowledge’ (Ruggles, 1998). It is with this in mind that organisations must be aware of their knowledge workers, the information they hold and any potential knowledge based changes that may need to be implemented to help their success, or even, survival.
Knowledge management is critical to organizations. According to Gregory R. Wenig, knowledge management is consists of activities 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. In my point of view, I think that knowledge management is performed by organization to appropriately handle, distribute, and transfer assets of knowledge, experience, and ideas from individual
On the other hand it is said that knowledge management system is more than just a piece of application. It also involves change in organizational culture in the way their employees can have relevant environment to develop the knowledge.it is organization culture, which holds the key to success. It also requires full cooperation of management. These are few ethical challenges every organization must face but every organization have their own sets of objectives to bring knowledge management system into their organization.
Like many emerging business processes rooted in technology, knowledge management is defined somewhat differently by different organizations, and by different individuals within those organizations. Some organizations see knowledge management as
Knowledge management is defined as the productive handling of information and resources within a firm for best decision-making process (Jashapara 2010). The main objective of knowledge management within an organisation is to enhance performance by empowering personnel to obtain, share and employ their collective information in order for them to make the right decisions when required (Sokhanvar, et al., 2014). Knowledge management entails more than technologies used for tracking or sharing information, it is also about creation of practice, developing trusted content and forming networks within and outside the organisation. In order to understand about an organisation’s knowledge management practice, one needs to understand the organisational structure in which it is found. Some organisation’s culture dictate the manner in which people interact and collaborate as regards to information is handled for the success of the organisation. Such organisations indoctrinate their employees on the value of knowledge and the significance of collaborating with each other. In addition, such organisations have support structures that facilitate this process such as mentorship programs. On the contrary, that do not act on their resources and information because they do not have mechanisms that support networking, collaboration and sharing of information. This consequently leads to a situation of negligence by the employees and to the detriment of the organisation. The paper
Alavi, M. and Leidner, D.E., (2001). Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues. MIS Quarterly, 25(1), pp. 107-136.
Many large companies have resources dedicated to Knowledge Management, often as a part of 'Information Technology ' or 'Human Resource Management ' departments. Knowledge Management is a multi-billion dollar world wide market.