Thursday 6 March 2008

Collective Learning Statement on Knowledge Management (KM) Definitions

From the research conducted on the definition of Knowledge management as well as the related elements of ‘data’, ‘information’ and ‘knowledge’ I have learnt so many things. Firstly regarding the elements, it is clear that to say anything is data, information or knowledge, there must be a context including the relationship the between the person making an expression and the person who is expected to read it; and the domain area or subject matter. In essence what is data, information or knowledge to a person in a particular situation, could be any other one of the 3 to another person in the same or different situation, or to the same person in a different scenario.

Regarding the definition of Knowledge management, the outcome of the research conducted by the facilitators of BIS 4410 (Aboubakr and Mark) throws a lot of light on what KM means, including the key elements of Knowledge creation, dissemination and utilisation. At the seminar there was a heated discussion on the role of knowledge storage which was not explicitly mentioned in the conceptual map developed by Aboubakr et al although the word ‘Capturing’ was mentioned. My take on this is that to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge, and ensure its utilisation, there must be one form of storage or the other. In addition, the role of communication was also highlighted as this is the most important means of disseminating knowledge within an organisation. Another point worthy of note is the role of information technology in KM strategies and it was highlighted that Information systems are critical to KM as they provide an easy platform for knowledge sharing especially systems like decision support systems, expert systems, and the internet.


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