KM 101

What is Knowledge Management?

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Dennis Pearce

December 2024

What is Knowledge?

“Knowledge is information that changes something or somebody--either by becoming grounds for actions, or by making an individual (or an institution) capable of different or more effective action.”

-- Peter Drucker

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“Knowledge encompasses know-what, know-how, know-where, know-who, and know-why. It is applied to current activities but guides future direction. It is derived from experiences, values, information, principles, practices, and procedures.”

-- Chuck Seeley

Warner Lambert

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“Knowledge is what’s left when the data and information are gone.”

-- Jackie Fenn

Gartner Group

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“Knowledge is reduction in uncertainty. Even with all the information in the world, firms still make bad decisions. But real knowledge about a subject reduces the likelihood of bad decision-making.

-- Davenport & Prusak

“Working Knowledge”

Data, Information, and Knowledge

• Data: a set of facts� “The fundraiser raised $2 million.”�
• Information: data in context� “That’s 30% more than last year.”�
• Knowledge: information in action� “It was a big success so we should do it again.”

What is knowledge?

• Philosophers have been arguing about this since before Plato, so we’re not going to solve it�
• In the early KM days (1990s):
• Data = Facts
• Information = Data in Context
• Knowledge = Actionable Information�

What is knowledge?

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Today, the whole thing is becoming one big blob:

�“The notion of knowledge as content as opposed to knowledge as a network is going to come under serious pressure. Knowledge is becoming a very old-fashioned term.”� - David Weinberger, KMWorld Magazine February 2012

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What is Knowledge Management?

• the process of capturing, distributing, and effectively using knowledge – Tom Davenport
• a conscious strategy of getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right time and helping people share and put information into action in ways that strive to improve organizational performance – Carla O’Dell
• a branch of management that seeks to improve performance in business by enhancing an organization’s capacity to learn, innovate, and solve problems – Joe Firestone
• the effective management of human intuition and experience augmented by the provision of information, processes and technology together with training and mentoring programmes – Dave Snowden
• the facilitation and support of processes for creating, sustaining, sharing, and renewing of organizational knowledge in order to generate economic wealth, create value, or improve performance – Verna Allee
• the collection of methods relating to creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization -- Wikipedia

What is Knowledge Management?

“Knowledge management has no single accepted definition and no global standards predate this management system standard. There are many well-known barriers to successful knowledge management which still need to be overcome, many confusions with other disciplines such as information management, and many common misconceptions about how to do knowledge management.”

-- ISO 30401: Knowledge Management Systems

Examples of KM Sub-Fields

• Analytics and Business Intelligence
• Artificial Intelligence
• Collaboration
• Communities
• Content Management
• Decision Making
• Innovation

• Knowledge Transfer
• Networks
• Organizational and Individual Learning
• Search and Findability
• Story and Narrative
• Taxonomy
• Technology

What is Knowledge Management?��Treating knowledge as an asset

• Computers as an asset => IT department
• People as an asset => HR department
• Real estate as an asset => Facilities department
• Equipment as an asset => Maintenance department
• Intellectual property as an asset => Legal department

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• Knowledge as an asset => KM department

What is knowledge management?

Think of knowledge as a substance flowing through the organization . . .

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Where are the dams?

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. . . the bottlenecks?

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. . . the leaks?

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Knowledge Transfer Considerations

Content

• Know-What
• Know-About
• Know-How
• Know-When
• Know-Who
• Know-Why

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Delivery Method

• Push
• Email
• Classroom
• Notification
• Meeting�
• Pull
• Navigation
• Taxonomy
• Search engine
• Tagging

Form

• Documents
• Web pages
• Videos
• Checklists
• Live training
• Charts and graphs
• FAQs

Retention

• Timeliness
• Relevance
• Historical Value

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Types of Knowledge

• Declarative vs. Procedural
• Process vs. Practice
• Tacit vs. Explicit

Declarative vs. Procedural

Process vs. Practice

Tacit vs. Explicit

Types of Knowledge

Transfer Tactics

Approaches to Knowledge Transfer

Why Don’t Employees Share Knowledge?

• There is no reward for sharing�
• The reward for ‘hoarding’ is bigger than the reward for sharing�
• It never occurs to them that their knowledge is valuable to others�
• Not worth the trouble -- methods for sharing are too difficult, cumbersome, or time-consuming�
• Lack of top-level management support

“The future arrived; it just wasn’t evenly distributed.”

- William Gibson

References

• “What is KM? Knowledge Management Explained” (KMWorld)
• “Knowledge management” (Wikipedia)
• “Reflections on the DIKW Pyramid” (Dennis Pearce blog post)
• “Knowing Me, Knowing You: Confucian Epistomology” (History of Philosophy in China podcast episode)
• Knowledge systems – Requirements (International Standard ISO 30401)
• “ACT-R: Adaptive Control of Thought” (The Decision Lab)

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