Knowledge Management

Term Definition
Knowledge management (KM) may refer to the ways organizations gather, manage, and use the knowledge or business intelligence that they acquire. The term also specifies an approach to improving organizational outcomes and organizational learning by introducing a range of specific processes and practices for identifying and capturing knowledge, know-how, expertise and other intellectual capital, and for making such knowledge assets available for transfer and reuse across the organization.

Knowledge management continues to evolve. This is evident in the new organization role or responsibility of Knowledge Management Officers or Chief Knowledge Officers. The broad topics of knowledge management include strategy, process (how the knowledge is shared and the techniques in which knowledge is managed), measurement (assessing the impact of knowledge management interventions to determine their success), and technology (what technical solutions are available and should be pursued to solve a knowledge management issue).

The rise of knowledge management has seen an increasing understanding of the relevance of the distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge, sophisticated perspectives on the management, assessment and use of intellectual capital.

The goal of knowledge management is sustained individual and business performance through ongoing learning, unlearning, and adaptation. Knowledge management programs are typically tied to specific organizational objectives and are intended to lead to the achievement of specific targeted results such as improved performance, competitive advantage, or higher levels of innovation.

One aspect of knowledge management is knowledge transfer. Technology offers one solution for knowledge transfer. Knowledge bases, repositories and expert systems assist in the process of accumulating and applying intellectual capital. Tacit knowledge, or the know-how contained in people's heads is a greater challenge to transfer and is a much more difficult concept to grasp. In the United States, tacit knowledge has come to the forefront as baby boomers begin to retire, and with their retirement they will take the knowledge gained from years of experiences. The inherent challenge with tacit knowledge is figuring out how to recognize, generate, share and manage it.

Area of Application
Business Performance Management
Business Process Improvement