To help insure the project starts off right and ends up right the first time, consider consulting a consultant, Stoll recommends. Research and interview potential candidates to insure a positive working relationship.
2. Equip organization/business board and/or management to "get on board." Present benefits; concerns; projected outcomes. Stress expected benefits such as:
Better knowledge sharing among staff and member/customers;
Improved records-management system for enhanced use of our knowledge;
System that uses member/customer knowledge to improve customer relationship management and provide better services to members/customers.
3. Consider funding costs of the project.
4. Identify and set goals and expectations, yet be flexible when change is needed.
Moving forward
The Encyclopedia of Knowledge Management which contains 940 definitions and 3,600 plus references discusses concepts/ideas from the past, enveloped in the present, and projects emerging directions of knowledge management. Key issues, concepts and terms are covered in this massive book marketed to libraries. "Libraries that purchase the print version receive access to the encyclopedia's electronic version for the life of the edition." ("Idea Group..." 2005) Complementing contemporary publications claiming to clarify knowledge management components, however, a barrage of not so easily explained innovations are regularly revealed. According to KM World, " QL2 Software and TEMIS have formed an alliance to deliver a mutually complementary system for creating industry-specific and application-oriented data analysis reports from what they call locked and hidden content." ("Deep Web diving" 2006) This hint of tomorrow's tools to be used in/for knowledge management is explained:
WebQL 3.0 platform Automates information extraction from Web and other amorphous data resources, reformatting it into structured; actionable formats.
WebQL gathers information in and outside of firewalls, as well as monitors that are password-protected (Web sites and Blogs; newswires; trade journals; stored e-mails) and then reveals relevant data.
QL2 claims that along with its ability to integrate data from virtually any source, its product has intact access to any type information to purportedly further extend business and competitive intelligence, and other business "solutions." (Ibid)
Online Miner 3.2, according to TEMIS, analyzes text and solutions to enhance the use of information.... And "plays a critical role in fields where information processing is complex due to the great volume of data, such as in competitive intelligence, customer relationship management, scientific intelligence and reputation management." (Ibid) Bellinger (2004) strives to simply concepts related to knowledge management as he notes an observation by Neil Fleming to be the basis for thoughts relating to his following diagram:
collection of data is not information.
A collection of information is not knowledge.
A collection of knowledge is not wisdom.
A collection of wisdom is not truth." (Ibid)
Data, according to Bellinger (Ibid), amounts to a meaningless point in space and time, without reference to either, stressing "out of context" to be the key context. Collection of data is not information, as although data portions may represent information, however this is determined on the comprehension/understanding of the one perceiving the data. Information, he insists is merely an.".. understanding of the relationships between pieces of data, or between pieces of data and other information." pattern has the potential to represent knowledge, Bellinger (Ibid) argues, when a pattern relation exists amid the data and information. It becomes knowledge only when an individual is able to recognize and comprehend patterns and implications. Patterns that represent, nevertheless, rather than being contextual dependent to the extend of information, tend to be more self-contextualizing, or to a great extent, construct its own context rather than being context dependent. The following associations, Bellinger (Ibid) insists can be rationally made:
Information relates to description, definition, or perspective (what, who, when, where).
Knowledge comprises strategy, practice, method, or approach (how).
Wisdom embodies principle, insight, moral, or archetype (why)." (Ibid)
On Demand Value Knowledge management, according to Bellinger (Ibid), "would be the capture, retention, and reuse of the foundation for imparting an understanding of how all these pieces fit together and how to convey them meaningfully to some other person." Knowledge's value, consequently, directly relates to how effectively the managed knowledge enables a the members of a business or to address and deal with current situations, while effectively envisioning and creating their futures. "Without on-demand access to managed knowledge," Bellinger (Ibid) contends, "every situation is addressed based on what the individual or group brings to the situation with them. With on-demand access to managed knowledge, every situation is addressed with the sum total of everything anyone in the organization...
New lessons or knowledge can be managed by e-mailing to staff members and details archived on intranet. Stoll (2004) stresses that hot washes provide "one of the simplest yet most effective knowledge-management practices to incorporate into operations, and they offer some of the largest rewards."
Conclusion
Could it be that "knowledge" is a term too freely used? Cilliers (2005) questions, citing the concept of "knowledge management" as an example. Cilliers argues that individuals cannot "know" something complex in all its intricacy but that they diminish the thing's complexity in order to comment on it within their finite understanding. As knowledge and data-reduction are entwined, knowledge is accessible because boundaries are created.
Issues enveloping knowledge - what can be assessed the world; how it can be deduced; the status of a person's experiences have all been focus for philosophical reflections throughout the ages. "Knowledge, Cillers, (2005) deduces, "cannot be symmetrical, pure, complete or ahistorical (sic). It is always bounded." Coincidental to Cillier's concepts, Kluge et al. (2001, p. 5) insist that even thought knowledge is recognized as crucial to ensuring growth and creating shareholder value in business realms, many individuals are still unclear what "knowledge management" actually is and how challenges it projects can best be tackled. More-successful firms usually have a basic grasp of knowledge management concepts, they state, and understand it requires.".. A holistic approach that goes beyond changes in infrastructure and touches every aspect of a business, transcending divisions, functions, and hierarchies." (Ibid) The need for active knowledge management in numerous companies is understood and accepted, Kluge et al. (Ibid) note, but often in practice this understanding is misconstrued to a false belief that sophisticated and expensive information technology (IT) suffices for good knowledge management. Today, as globalization forges even larger gaps between winners and losing business contenders, the stakes are much higher than in yesterday's world. Success, deemed as a firm's ability to generate sustainable growth and profits is determined not only by knowledge management but intricately linked to the humans who seek straight forward business solutions and constructively counter challenges. At times, these humans may utilize knowledge management. At other times, however, they may use wisdom gleaned from managing knowledge aright.
References www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=101282655
Amar, A.D. 2002, Managing Knowledge Workers: Unleashing Innovation and Productivity. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.
Bellinger, Gene. 2004, "Knowledge Management -- Emerging Perspectives." Retrieved 4 August 2006 at http://www.systems-thinking.org/intst/int.htm.
A www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5010910522
Cilliers, P. 2005, Knowledge, Limits and Boundaries. Futures, 37(7), 605+.
Cowper, William. 1996, The Columbia World of Quotations. New York: Columbia University Press. Retrieved 05 August 2006 at http://www.bartleby.com/66/23/15223.html.
Deep Web diving." 2 August 2006, KM World. Retrieved 5 August 2006 at http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/PrintArticle.aspx?ArticleID=17298.
A www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5008671845
Elrom, S. (2005, February). Is Intelligence in the Wrong Hands? Relying on Computers to Analyze Business Intelligence Is Tempting, but the Human Element Is Critical to Analysis. Security Management, 49, 124+.
Idea Group publishes Encyclopedia of Knowledge Management." 1 January 2005, Computers in Libraries. Information Today, Inc. Retrieved on 5 August 2006 at http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc3.asp?DOCID=1G1:137354918&ctrlInfo=Round20%3AProd%3ADOC%3AResult&ao=.
A www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=102571208
Kluge, J., Stein, W., Licht, T., Bendler, A., Elzenheimer, J., Hauschild, S., et al. 2001, Knowledge Unplugged: The Mckinsey & Company Global Survey on Knowledge Management / . New York: Palgrave.
A www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=103180027
Lesser, E. & Prusak, L. (Eds.). 2004, Creating Value with Knowledge: Insights from the IB
Institute for Business Value. New York: Oxford University Press.
A www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=108938955
Stone, D. & Maxwell, S. (Eds.). 2005, Global Knowledge Networks and International Development: Bridges across Boundaries. New York: Routledge.
Stoll, Christina. 01 April 2004, "A LIBRARY SYSTEM MANAGING ITS KNOWLEDGE?" Association Management. Retrieved 05 August 2006 at http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc3.asp?DOCID=1G1:115905324&num=5&ctrlInfo=Round20%3AProd%3ASR%3AResult&ao=&FreePremium=BOTH&tab=lib.
Knowledge Management
