INS3705 notes

INS3705
notes

,Exam scope



Organisational knowledge

3.4 types of organisational knowledge

 KM refers to management of knowledge (though not all knowledge can be managed easily
e.g. tacit knowledge)
 Many ways of categorising knowledge main two are
o Tacit knowledge
o Explicit knowledge
 Tacit Knowledge
o Is personal and context independent
o Hard to formalise and difficult to communicate to others
o Difficult to articulate scientific principles underling this tacit knowledge
o Once contextualised difficult to codify or reduce it to a specific rule or prescription
o Polanyi = we know more than we can tell
o Deeply rooted in individuals behaviour and relationships to a specific context (e.g.
profession/specific market/group/team)
o Consists partly of technical skills (summed up as term know-how)
o Gladstone (2000: 62) definition
 Tacit knowledge is what an individual knows
 Its called tacit knowledge as it is personally held and it is sometimes not
recognised by the holder as knowledge
 Includes subjective know-how, insights and intuitions
 It is dynamic flow, ever-changing with experience of its processor
o Nonaka and Takeuchi define it
 Is a personal and difficult to formalise, making it difficult to communicate
and share with others
 It may be translated into explicit knowledge
 This involves transferring an abstract concept into a thing thus need
metaphors to facilitate the translation
 It is subdivided into 2 dimensions
 A technical dimension
o encompasses informal skills related to know-how of people
 Cognitive dimension
o Concerns implicit mental models, beliefs and perceptions
that determine how we perceive the world around us
o Tacit knowledge may be transferred or shared between colleagues in an
organisation.
o Tacit knowledge is rooted in individuals actions, experiences, values, norms and
emotions
 Explicit Knowledge
o More formal knowledge, systematic and tangible
o Easer to communicated and hare by colleagues in an organisation
o May be subject-based or subject to specific rules as necessary e.g.
 Products

,  Patents
 Computer databases, technical drawings
 Appliances
 Prototypes
 Photographs
 Formulae
 Codes
o May be codified in the form of
 Rules
 Routines
 Operational procedures
o May be referred to as intellectual assets of an organisation
o Intellectual assets any piece of knowledge described, formulated or keyed into a
computer
o Intellectual assets = source of innovation which can lead to use for financial
advantage
o Represented by an artefact e.g. Video/document
o Goal is to communicate it to another person
o Gladstone defines Explicit as
 Formally held knowledge
 in the form of reports, equations, formulae and specifications
 It is easily transmitted between individuals and groups
 Formal capture of explicit knowledge fixes it.
o Explicit knowledge (film/report) remains a snapshot of what tacit knowledge was a
the moment it was captured
o Elfving and Funk define explicit knowledge as
 Easily transmitted, processed and shared
 Can be exchanged during face-to-face communication in seminars and
gatherings
o Nickols (2000) states explicit knowledge
 Is knowledge that has been articulated and captured in the form of texts,
tables, diagrams, computer programmes, product specifications
 Examples include
 Formulate for finding area of a rectangle being Length X width
 Documented best practices
 Poetry
 Artefacts
 Formalised standards by which insurance claims are adjusted.

3.5 components of knowledge management

 KM is a conceptual framework which covers all activities and initiatives necessary to
organise the knowledge assets of an organisation
 It adds value to knowledge assets so they can be used by the organisation to attain goals and
objectives
 It is the practice by which information is identified, organised and processed so that
knowledge can be crated and disseminated and utilised more widely in and organisation
 It enables more/new knowledge to be created.

,  Components of Knowledge management consist of
o Content
 Knowledge itself and processes that go into manipulating it
 Flow of appropriate data and information
o Human Resources
 Creating, use and adding of value to information and knowledge requires
humans
o Technology
 Technological infrastructure makes is possible to take in and store
information and make it available again to all those who need it
 Technology only equips organisations to reach goals
 It is only an instrument in attainment of goals

3.6 drivers of knowledge management

 Managing information and knowledge = important in information and knowledge society
 Managing knowledge is vital to organisations survival
 4 environmental forces that drive knowledge management
o Global trends
 Creation and distribution of knowledge linked to
 Advances in digital, wireless and optical technologies
 New organisational forms
 New knowledge-based economy in which to grow
 Value and improving standard of living

o Shifting economy
 Society evolved over time and we are currently in the information and
knowledge economy
 Knowledge economy is different from predecessor
 Reliance of scarce resources in the industrial economy
 Knowledge itself is for sale
 Ideas are the main output/product of major economic institutions
 Knowledge economy stands on 3 pillars
 Knowledge has become what we buy, sell and do
 Knowledge assets have become more important to firms than
financial and physical assets
 We need new management techniques and new strategies to
proper
o Changing organisational forms
 Becoming knowledge intensive
o Knowledge work
 Knowledge work = production and reproduction of knowledge that has
economic value for the organisation
 Effective knowledge management is vital in improving knowledge work
 Reasons for adopting Knowledge Management
o Limited access to outside knowledge
o Poor links with customers, vendors and strategic alliances
o Poor understanding of changing business and industry dynamics