Knowledge Management

In 1993, Knowledge Ability was established to assist clients with the creation, capture, mobilization and capitalization of knowledge.  We now introduce our 1998 Knowledge Management consulting practice.

This page introduces Knowledge Management in a simple and entertaining way.  That doesn't mean that we don't think that Knowledge Management isn't a serious business.  It is.  Knowledge Management is a vital capability for today's knowledge economy.  But aren't you rather tired of all the dense, dry descriptions?

As an antidote, we present our simple metaphor for Knowledge Management processes:  the Knowledge Line, uncannily similar to the London Underground map.

This map shows a typical Knowledge Management cycle.

• Knowledge is created at the west end of town.  Knowledge creation depends on nurturing people with knowledge:  either individually or in teams or in communities of practice.
• At the first station on the line, knowledge that has been created has to be captured. Here the challenge is capturing tacit knowledge as well as explicit knowledge.
• Next, knowledge is codified: that is, structured, and here decisions about value are made.  It's no use managing knowledge that's past it's use-by date.
• At the Classification station, similar types of knowledge are linked and catalogs are created.
• At Communication, knowledge is made accessible to the organization. (Communication is also an intersection with the Learning Line.)
• The final stop is Capitalization, where knowledge is re-used.  It's here that the money is made (where passengers buy tickets?).  The rest of the Knowledge Line is overhead.

This is only typical.  We've identified three other shorter Knowledge Management cycles.  These suit different business needs, and different stages of maturity of Knowledge Management initiatives.

Different types of people live in different districts.  In the fashionable west end of town are people concerned with the human processes of creating knowledge and capitalizing on existing knowledge.  At the east end of town are people who take an information perspective: IS and information / library scientists.  Business managers tend to live centrally, while Chief Knowledge Officers manage the Knowledge Line as a whole. (We hope you're staying with the metaphor.)

Trains can get stuck on the line, due to a failure of knowledge transfer called "stickiness".

Different technologies are involved at the different stations on the Knowledge Line.  The east end of town uses information modeling and mapping tools, relational and OO databases, and indexes.  Intranets and groupware are the technologies employed in the central and western districts.

OK .. enough of the metaphor.
 

What, you ask, is knowledge?

We offer a view here of data, information and knowledge, and the six characteristics of knowledge that are important for Knowledge Management.
 

What, then, is Knowledge Management?

We say that it is the process of placing knowledge under management remit.  Of course, knowledge has been around as long as humans.  What's new is its being subject to formal business processes, with the goal of realizing commercial benefit.
 

What's new about Knowledge Management isn't the knowledge, it's the management.

The value of an organization's knowledge is often described as its "Intellectual Capital".  Intellectual Capital is generally regarded as the difference between the organization's book price (how accountants value the organization) and its market value (how the market values the organization).
 

Why has Knowledge Management become such a hot topic?

• Emergence of a knowledge economy:  commodity products are increasingly non-differentiated; the rise of service businesses.
• Change:  the half-life of usable knowledge is dramatically reducing.
• Globalization:  global customers expect all the organization's expertise to be available to all the organization.
• Technology:  handling information and data is easier and cheaper; the Internet has created connections everywhere.
• People: increasing job mobility; need for re-skilling.
• Organizations: reengineering removed many unsung knowledge managers.

 

Moving ahead with Knowledge Management

Knowledge Ability has created a variety of Knowledge Management resources to support our consulting practice:

• The material on this page is adapted from our strategic briefing on Knowledge Management.  This extends the creative and easy-to-understand "Knowledge Line" metaphor shown above.
• Elsewhere on this site is our 1996 White Paper "Team Knowledge Management", which gives our perspective and experiences on creating and capturing team knowledge.
• Our book "Agile Networking: Competing Through the Internet and Intranets" places Knowledge Management in the context of a business strategy to ensure competitiveness in a turbulent business environment.

We can help you create awareness about Knowledge Management at all levels of your organization. We can help you build the appropriate organization-wide strategies, relevant to your business goals.  In the people and process areas, we can provide tested, in-depth implementation capability.  We are entirely independent of any systems vendors, but we can help you select any technologies you may need.

To discuss our Knowledge Management services, and how we can help you, please contact:

Dr John Gundry
Director, Knowledge Ability Ltd
125 - 131 High Street
MALMESBURY
Wiltshire UK     SN16 9AL
phone and fax:  +44 1666 824644
email:  gundry@knowab.co.uk
 

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These pages authored by John Gundry  Comments welcomed, but no hawkers or circulars, please.
This material copyright ©Knowledge Ability Limited, 1998. All rights reserved.
Version 1.2, Feb 1999