[Type text]

SEMINAR ON
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

submitted to : MR EMRAN POYA

Submitted by : SAJJAD SEKANDARI

15 l 11l2019

1|Page
[Type text]

Preface
It is a pleasure to present these Proceedings of the third class Seminar on knowledge management
the Proceedings contain the knowledge management and also there is a comparison of ideas
among two different scientist , by doing this project I learned so many things from both the ideas
about the knowledge management and how to enhance our knowledge throw the methods of
knowledge management .

I have to give a special honor and thanks to my dear sir “ EMRAN POYA ” for giving me this
interesting and hearty seminar title.

My pleasure

Your kindness

2|Page
[Type text]

25th of March2019

3|Page
[Type text]

What is KM? Knowledge Management

The classic one-line definition of Knowledge Management was offered up by Tom Davenport

early on (Davenport, 1994): “Knowledge Management is the process of capturing, distributing,

and effectively using knowledge.” Probably no better or more succinct single-line definition has

appeared since. However, Knowledge Management can best and most quickly be explained by

recapping its origins. Later in this article, its stages of development will also be recapped.

The Origins of KM

The concept and the terminology of KM sprouted within the management consulting

community. When the Internet arose, those organizations quickly realized that an intranet, an

in-house subset of the Internet, was a wonderful tool with which to make information

accessible and to share it among the geographically dispersed units of their organizations. Not

surprisingly, they quickly realized that in building tools and techniques such as dashboards,

expertise locators, and best practice (lessons learned) databases, they had acquired an

expertise which was in effect a new product that they could market to other organizations,

particularly to organizations which were large, complex, and dispersed. However, a new

product needs a name, and the name that emerged was Knowledge Management. The term

apparently was first used in its current context at McKinsey in 1987 for an internal study on

their information handling and utilization (McInerney and Koenig, 2011). KM went public, as it

were, at a conference in Boston in 1993 organized by Ernst and Young (Prusak 1999). Note that

Davenport was at E&Y when he wrote the definition above. Those consulting organizations

quickly disseminated the principles and the techniques of KM to other organizations, to

4|Page
[Type text]

professional associations, and to disciplines. The timing was propitious, as the enthusiasm for

intellectual capital (see below) in the 1980s, had primed the pump for the recognition of

information and knowledge as essential assets for any organization.

What is KM trying to accomplish?

Rich, Deep, and Open Communication First, KM can very fruitfully be seen as the undertaking to

replicate, indeed to create, the information environment known to be conducive to successful

R&D—rich, deep, and open communication and information access—and to deploy it broadly

across the firm. It is almost trite now to observe that we are in the post-industrial information

age and that we are all information workers. Furthermore, the researcher is, after all, the

quintessential information worker.

Peter Drucker once commented that the product of the pharmaceutical industry wasn’t pills, it

was information. The research domain, and in particular the pharmaceutical industry, has been

studied in depth with a focus on identifying the organizational and cultural environmental

aspects that lead to successful research (Koenig, 1990, 1992). The salient aspect that emerges

with overwhelming importance is that of rich, deep, and open communications, not only within

the firm, but also with the outside world. The logical conclusion, then, is to attempt to apply

those same successful environmental aspects to knowledge workers at large, and that is

precisely what KM attempts to do.

Situational Awareness

5|Page
[Type text]

Second, Situational Awareness is a term only recently, beginning in 2015, used in the context of

KM. The term, however, long precedes KM. It first gained some prominence in the cold war era

when studies were commissioned by all of the major potential belligerents to try to identify

what characteristics made a good fighter pilot. The costs of training a fighter pilot were huge,

and if the appropriate characteristics leading to success could be identified, that training could

be directed to the most appropriate candidates, and of those trained the most appropriate

could be selected for front-line assignment. However, the only solid conclusion of those studies

was that the salient characteristic of a good fighter pilot was excellent “situational awareness.”

The problem was that no good predictive test for situational awareness could be developed.

The phrase then retreated into relative obscurity until it was resuscitated by Jeff Cooper, a

firearms guru, and others in the context of self-defense.

How do you defend and protect yourself?

The first step is to be alert and to establish good situational awareness. From there the phrase

entered the KM vocabulary. The role of KM is to create the capability for the organization to

establish excellent situational awareness and consequently to make the right decisions.

A new definition of KM

A few years after the Davenport definition, the Gartner Group created another definition of

KM, which has become the most frequently cited one (Duhon, 1998), and it is given below:

"Knowledge management is a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying,

capturing, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing all of an enterprise's information assets. These

6|Page
[Type text]

assets may include databases, documents, policies, procedures, and previously un-captured

expertise and experience in individual workers." The one real lacuna of this definition is that it,

too, is specifically limited to an organization’s own information and knowledge assets. KM as

conceived now, and this expansion arrived early on, includes relevant information assets from

wherever relevant. Note, however, the breadth implied for KM by calling it a “discipline.” Both

definitions share a very organizational and corporate orientation. KM, historically at least, was

primarily about managing the knowledge of and in organizations. Rather quickly, however, the

concept of KM became much broader than that.

Knowledge management Knowledge Management (KM)

Definitions

Defining knowledge management (KM) has always been a challenge. For many years I resisted

offering a definition because whenever I included a definition in a talk this would become the

main focus of attention. It seemed many people would zero in on a particular word or concept

and often ignore the larger message of the talk.After years of sidestepping the question, JoAnn

and I developed a general definition that we felt described the essence of KM. Recognizing that

a single, non-segment specific, definition might not serve everyone’s needs, we often

recommended “definition seekers” search the web.

To simplify this search process, we have gathered a collection of more than 100 KM definitions.

We have very deliberately provided a broad selection of KM definitions: some are from

academics, while others are from practitioners, some are from government, others from the for

7|Page
[Type text]

profit sector, and still others are from the not for profits. We also tried to include definitions

from a variety of counties.

Here is a paper from the Online Journal of Applied Knowledge Management in which we

present our research on the subject: Defining knowledge management: Toward an applied

compendium. Please use this citation for the research: Girard, J.P., & Girard, J.L. (2015).

Defining knowledge management: Toward an applied compendium, Online Journal of Applied

Knowledge Management. 3(1), 1-20 A frequency analysis of the 100 definitions determined the

most common words appearing in KM definitions were: knowledge, organization, process,

information, use, share, create and manage.

Based on this review, we propose the following definition: Knowledge Management is the

process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an

organization. Here is a word cloud that highlights the most common words: We developed an

exercise, which we call Defining KM through Team Conversations, that helps teams define or

refine their KM definition, see here. The exercise uses a deck of “KM Cards” that are available

here. Without a doubt, people will question some of the definitions … we welcome the debate

that will almost certainly follow.

All of the definitions are available on the web and we have also included links to the source.

Although we have done our best to correctly articulate the definition and attribute the original

author, there will likely be errors. Please email us about any errors you discover. Finally, please

do remember that the links are to external sites that we do not control, so proceed with

caution!

8|Page
[Type text]

Knowledge resources

• The term knowledge resources refers not only to the knowledge currently possessed by

the individual or the organization but also to the knowledge that can potentially be

obtained (at some cost if necessary) from other individuals or organizations

Knowledge management solutions

• Knowledge management solutions refer to the variety of ways in which KM can be

facilitated

• KM processes

• KM systems

• KM mechanisms and technologies

• KM infrastructure

Knowledge Discovery

• Knowledge discovery may be defined as the development of new tacit or explicit

knowledge from data and information or from the synthesis of prior knowledge

• Combination

• Socialization

9|Page
[Type text]

Knowledge Capture

• Knowledge capture is defined as the process of retrieving either explicit or tacit

knowledge that resides within people, artifacts, or organizational entities.

• Knowledge captured might reside outside the organizational boundaries, including

consultants, competitors, customers, suppliers, and prior employers of the

organization’s new employees

Externalization and Internalization

• Externalization involves converting tacit knowledge into explicit forms such as words,

concepts, visuals, or figurative language

• Internalization is the conversion of explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge. It

represents the traditional notion of “learning”

Knowledge Sharing

• Knowledge sharing is the process through which explicit or tacit knowledge is

communicated to other individuals

• Effective Transfer

• Knowledge is shared and not recommendations based on knowledge

• It may take place across individuals, groups, departments or organizations

Direction & Routines

10 | P a g e
[Type text]

• Direction refers to the process through which individuals possessing the knowledge

direct the action of another individual without transferring to that person the

knowledge underlying the direction

• Routines involve the utilization of knowledge embedded in procedures, rules, and

norms that guide future behavior

Knowledge Management Mechanisms

• KM mechanisms are organizational or structural means used to promote KM

• Examples of KM mechanisms include learning by doing, on-the-job training, learning by

observation, and face-to-face meetings

Knowledge Management Technologies

• Technologies that support KM include artificial intelligence (AI) technologies

encompassing those used for knowledge acquisition and case-based reasoning systems,

electronic discussion groups, computer-based simulations, databases, decision support

systems, enterprise resource planning systems, expert systems, management

information systems, expertise locator systems, videoconferencing, and information

repositories encompassing best practices databases and lessons learned systems

Knowledge Management Systems

• KM systems utilize a variety of KM mechanisms and technologies to support the KM

processes

11 | P a g e
[Type text]

• Knowledge Management Discovery Systems

• Knowledge Management Capture Systems

• Knowledge Management Sharing Systems

• Knowledge Application Systems

Knowledge Discovery Systems

• Knowledge discovery systems support the process of developing new tacit or explicit

knowledge from data and information or from the synthesis of prior knowledge

• Support two KM sub-processes

 combination, enabling the discovery of new explicit knowledge

 socialization, enabling the discovery of new tacit knowledge

Knowledge Capture Systems

• Knowledge capture systems support the process of retrieving either explicit or tacit

knowledge that resides within people, artifacts, or organizational entities

• Technologies can also support knowledge capture systems by facilitating externalization

and internalization

Knowledge Capture Systems

12 | P a g e
[Type text]

• Knowledge capture systems support the process of retrieving either explicit or tacit

knowledge that resides within people, artifacts, or organizational entities

• Technologies can also support knowledge capture systems by facilitating externalization

and internalization

Knowledge Sharing Systems

• Knowledge sharing systems support the process through which explicit or implicit

knowledge is communicated to other individuals

• Discussion groups or chat groups facilitate knowledge sharing by enabling individuals to

explain their knowledge to the rest of the group

Knowledge Application Systems

• Knowledge application systems support the process through which some individuals

utilize knowledge possessed by other individuals without actually acquiring, or learning,

that knowledge

• Mechanisms and technologies support knowledge application systems by facilitating

routines and direction.

Knowledge Management Mechanisms

• Mechanisms facilitating direction include traditional hierarchical relationships in

organizations, help desks, and support centers

13 | P a g e
[Type text]

• Mechanisms supporting routines include organizational policies, work practices, and

standards

Knowledge Management Technologies

• Technologies supporting direction include experts’ knowledge embedded in expert

systems and decision support systems, as well as troubleshooting systems based on the

use of technologies like case-based reasoning

• Technologies that facilitate routines are expert systems, enterprise resource planning

systems, and traditional management information systems

Organizational Culture

• Organizational culture reflects the norms and beliefs that guide the behavior of the

organization’s members

• Attributes of an enabling organizational culture include understanding of the value of

KM practices, management support for KM at all levels, incentives that reward

knowledge sharing, and encouragement of interaction for the creation and sharing of

knowledge

Organizational Structure

• Hierarchical structure of the organization affects the people with whom individuals

frequently interact, and to or from whom they are consequently likely to transfer

knowledge

14 | P a g e
[Type text]

• Organizational structures can facilitate KM through communities of practice

• Organization structures can facilitate KM through specialized structures and roles that

specifically support KM

Information Technology Infrastructure

• The IT infrastructure includes data processing, storage, and communication

technologies and systems

• One way of systematically viewing the IT infrastructure is to consider the capabilities it

provides in four important aspects:

 Reach

 Depth

 Richness

 Aggregation

Common Knowledge

• Common knowledge also refers to the organization’s cumulative experiences in

comprehending a category of knowledge and activities, and the organizing principles

that support communication and coordination

• Common knowledge helps enhance the value of an individual expert’s knowledge by

integrating it with the knowledge of others

15 | P a g e
[Type text]

Physical Environment

• Physical environment includes the design of buildings and the separation between

them; the location, size, and type of offices; the type, number, and nature of meeting

rooms

• A 1998 study found that most employees thought they gained most of their knowledge

related to work from informal conversations around water coolers or over meals instead

of formal training or manuals

Knowledge Management Cycle, Processes, Strategies, and Best Practices Get a Free Smartsheet

Demo Regardless of industry or product, all companies rely on the knowledge of their

employees to be successful. Organizations must treat knowledge as an asset, but it’s not

enough to simply hire skilled employees. Instead, successful companies should build in

processes to store, grow, and share knowledge to increase the knowledge base of the overall

workforce. This concept is known as knowledge management. In this article, you’ll find

everything you need to know about knowledge management: what it is, types of knowledge,

and the history and evolution of the field. Then, we’ll break down the benefits and challenges

of implementing knowledge management, and discuss multiple models of the knowledge

management life cycle. Finally, we’ll look at the rise of knowledge management systems, and

offer free, downloadable templates to get you started building a knowledge management plan.

In This Article What Is Knowledge Management?

16 | P a g e
[Type text]

Knowledge management (KM) is the process(es) used to handle and oversee all the knowledge

that exists within a company. Knowledge management relies on an understanding of

knowledge, which consists of discrete or intangible skills that a person possesses.

The field of knowledge management identifies two main types of knowledge. Explicit

knowledge is knowledge or skills that can be easily articulated and understood, and therefore

easily transferred to others (this is also called formal or codified knowledge). Anything that can

be written down in a manual - instructions, mathematical equations, etc. - qualify as explicit

knowledge. Tacit knowledge, by contrast, is knowledge that is difficult to neatly articulate,

package, and transfer to others. These are usually intuitive skillsets that are challenging to

teach, such as body language, aesthetic sense, or innovative thinking. (A third knowledge type

is implicit knowledge, which is information that has not yet been codified or transferred, but

that would be possible to teach. Implicit knowledge is different from tacit knowledge, which is

unlikely to be able to be codified. For this article, however, we will primarily discuss explicit and

tacit knowledge.)

You can break these knowledge types down further into four categories:

Factual Knowledge is measurable, observable, and

verifiable data.

Conceptual Knowledge relates to perspectives and systems.

17 | P a g e
[Type text]

Expectational Knowledge is knowledge rooted in expectations,

hypotheses, or judgments.

Methodological Knowledge deals with decision-making and

problem-solving.

Knowledge management enables organizational learning, a concept where companies are

invested not only in the reliable, expert production of a product or service, but in the

knowledge that underlies these production processes. Companies devoted to organizational

learning are interested in maintaining and building upon internal knowledge at an

organizational level - not just helping individuals accrue special skills, but ensuring that this

knowledge is available to and dispersed throughout the workforce.

As one Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) paper states, the core goal of knowledge

management is to connect “knowledge nodes” - those with knowledge and those seeking

knowledge - to ultimately increase the knowledge within an organization. Within that goal, the

authors identify four objectives of KM: to capture knowledge, to increase knowledge access, to

enhance the knowledge environment, and to manage knowledge as an asset.

Ultimately, knowledge management is an integrated system of accumulating, storing, and

sharing knowledge within a team or organization. KM consists of several components, as well as

strategies to implement it successfully - we’ll delve deeper into these later in the article.

Who Uses Knowledge Management?

18 | P a g e
[Type text]

Knowledge management can be implemented enterprise-wide across a number of industries.

However, the way you implement KM might change depending on factors such as industry and

company size.

KM is often used differently for small vs. large organizations, however. Small (and/or young)

companies must carve out a competitive market advantage early on, and therefore benefit

from KM by codifying and storing internal knowledge from the get-go. Large organizations -

even those with unwavering strength in their market - use KM to act quickly in the digital age,

where business changes constantly and often without warning. Without a reliable system to

store existing knowledge and accumulate new knowledge, it would be difficult to react to these

market changes. However, both large and small companies can benefit from KM because it

treats the knowledge that every individual brings as an asset, so employees feel respected for

their skills in the workplace.

For those looking to implement knowledge management in a specific department, you can also

tailor the practice to sub-fields. Other than enterprise KM, knowledge management is most

commonly implemented in IT/information systems and science, organizational management,

business administration, human resources management, content management, or for personal

use.

History of Knowledge Management

Efforts to formally manage knowledge have been in place for most of the past half century. In

the late 20th century, however, with the evolution of computers, organizations began

implementing more reliable storage systems. In the 1990s, the Swedish financial service
19 | P a g e
[Type text]

provider Skandia created the first Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) position, which paved the way

for other companies to treat knowledge management as an integral part of their structure.

In fact, several academics have formalized the topic, and knowledge management is now

regarded as a scientific discipline. In the mid-1990s, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi

published the first academic research on knowledge management, and coined the SECI model

(socialization, externalization, combination, internalization) as a path of knowledge transfer.

Since then, Nonaka and Takeuchi have studied several other aspects of knowledge within a

company, as have other academics. The knowledge management life cycle, which details how

to store and disseminate knowledge throughout an organization, was also set forth by business

academics in the l990s and early 2000s; the four most popular models are Wiig (1993), Zack

(1996), Bukowitz and Williams (2000), and McElroy (2003).

In general, knowledge management has evolved from a loose tendency to accumulate, store,

and teach (and therefore increase) knowledge within a team or organization into a prioritized

method of building a knowledgeable workforce - all with the goal of gaining a competitive

advantage. As we will discuss later on, there are several theories of how to best store

knowledge and stimulate knowledge transfer within an organization. Skeptics say that today’s

knowledge management is simply a “fad,” while others argue that its principles are here to

stay: its strategies, methods, and implementation systems will simply continue to evolve as

technology and business does, too.

What Is the Primary Benefit of Knowledge Management?

20 | P a g e
[Type text]

While it may not seem directly related to the tactics of knowledge management, the primary

goal is to increase company efficiency to improve business decision-making. The idea is that

building expertise into your organization - and dispersing it amongst employees - empowers

you to make more informed, faster, and ultimately more profitable decisions.

Of course, there are several secondary benefits.

Successful KM will enable you to:

Increase collaboration and idea generation

Optimize a culture of knowledge

sharing Protect intellectual capital

Treat human capital as an asset (which makes employees feel respected for their knowledge)

Capture and store knowledge for the future workforce

Kevin D. Murray, CPP, CISM is a technical surveillance countermeasures (TSCM) specialist with

an extensive career in information security and counterespionage consulting for business and

government. He breaks the benefits of KM into four value areas:

Control: Not knowing where your information is is the first step to losing it.

Security: ‘You gotta keep the bait in the bucket, not in the pond.’

Access: When you need your information, you will get it faster.

21 | P a g e
[Type text]

Responsibility: With all the eggs in one basket, one is forced to carry the basket more

carefully, meaning you provide better protection for your information.

RELATED: [Infographic] How Much Time Are You Wasting on Siloed Information

What Are the Challenges of Knowledge Management?

There are many challenges that businesses face when implementing knowledge management.

Here is a list of some of the most common ones:

Creating a culture of flexibility and collaboration:

This is one of the most significant and enduring challenges of KM. Companies already struggle

to implement new policies, because people naturally tend to resist change. However, KM can

be especially difficult because employees might want to protect their skills and knowledge, or

be reluctant to learn from their peers.

Security:

You have to design a knowledge transfer system that makes it easy for the appropriate people

to access information, while protecting sensitive or private intelligence from outsiders.

Measuring knowledge:

22 | P a g e
[Type text]

It can be difficult to define metrics to measure the knowledge within your organization,

especially for tacit knowledge that cannot be easily quantified. To overcome this, some experts

recommend focusing on the purpose of knowledge, rather than the efforts or results (which are

often also unquantifiable).

Identifying an expert:

There won’t always be a single “keeper” of every knowledge type, but you will still have to

identify who within the company possesses certain knowledge, and use them as the base level

of knowledge from which you want to build. This process is difficult tactically, but can also be

delicate among employees who might feel competitive about their skill levels.

Document storage and management:

While not all knowledge makes for straightforward documentation, it will have to be stored

and organized in some form. Document management is a challenge for many companies, but

organization is a vital aspect of KM - otherwise, it will be impossible to locate and use the

knowledge you have stored. Consider using a dedicated document management system to keep

everything organized.

Disseminating knowledge throughout an organization:

You’ll need to devise a process where, once you store the knowledge, other team members

can access it. This is complicated both theoretically and tactically, so many organizations opt for

23 | P a g e
[Type text]

a software system designed specifically for this purpose. We’ll take a closer look at KM systems

later on.

Continual improvement:

Like most process-driven strategies, you should continually improve upon the knowledge

management system you implement. Stage periodic reviews or, if possible, dedicate resources

to continually optimize your process. Determining where KM is housed: If KM serves your entire

organization, decide which department will “own” the strategy. Companies most commonly

house KM in HR or IT. Remember, this department is not only responsible for effectively

managing the knowledge itself, but also for maintaining the community of knowledge sharing

and organizational learning.

How Does Knowledge Management Work?

Basic Components and Strategies As we’ve discussed, the theory behind knowledge

management is that in order to make the best business decisions, the workforce must be as

educated and skillful as possible. One way to ensure an educated - and continually learning -

workforce is to stimulate organizational learning, which companies can do by implementing

knowledge management. This practice ensures not only that existing knowledge (both explicit

and tacit forms) is codified and stored, but that it can be dispersed among other employees so

that people can continue to amass skills. Another benefit is that KM evenly distributes

knowledge so no one is contributing in silos.

24 | P a g e
[Type text]

As Nonaka and Takeuchi first stated in their seminal academic papers, there are three main

ways that people approach knowledge management:

People-centric:

Centered on people, relationships, and how people form learning communities and other

informal ways of knowledge sharing. This idea is also known as ecological KM theory.

Tech-centric:

Focused on the technology that facilitates knowledge storage and transfer, and aims to create

technology systems that encourage knowledge sharing.

Process-centric:

Interested in how the organizational structure and processes accommodate and encourage

knowledge sharing and organizational learning. This concept includes the production processes,

the organizational hierarchy, and the cultural framework.

The approach you take will depend on how your company currently functions. Organizational

structure, politics, management style, and existing processes all create parameters around

what kind of KM implementation is workable. Regardless of the approach you choose, however,

implementing KM will inevitably affect your organization’s people, technology, and processes.

Therefore, it’s best to keep all three in mind when enacting a knowledge management strategy.

Theoretical approaches aside, there are some common tactical ways of handling knowledge.

The common strategies include:

Storing knowledge vs. sharing knowledge:

25 | P a g e
[Type text]

Storing knowledge involves accumulating, codifying, and maintaining knowledge in a reliable

storage system. This is a good first step, but successful knowledge management also requires a

system to disperse that stored knowledge.

Codification vs. personalization:

The difference between these strategies are similar to the previous example. Codification is

any activity where you are collecting knowledge (creating and maintaining databases, content

architecture, training to support software storage systems), and creating awareness of these

collection systems. Personalization, is connecting people to this codified knowledge by forming

learning communities, promoting active discussion and knowledge transfer, and facilitating

group interaction.

Push vs. pull:

These represent two opposing strategies. In a push strategy, individuals actively encode their

knowledge to make it available for others. In a pull strategy, team members seek out experts to

request knowledge sharing, so you only transfer knowledge on an as-needed basis.

SECI model:

This is the knowledge transfer and strategy model first proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi in

1996, and is considered the cornerstone of knowledge management theory.

It outlines the four different types of knowledge transfer:

Socialization: Tacit to tacit, where knowledge is transferred intuitively through observation,

guidance, and practice.

26 | P a g e
[Type text]

Externalization:

Tacit to explicit, which codifies intuitive, intangible knowledge in order to be taught. This type

of knowledge transfer is the most difficult because tacit knowledge is extremely difficult to

break down into digestible directives.

Combination:

Explicit to explicit, where codified knowledge is transferred or combined with other codified

knowledge.

This type of knowledge transfer is the simplest. Internalization:

Explicit to tacit, where an organization follows and practices codified knowledge so that it

becomes intuitive. Data mining is a process of discovering data patterns based on algorithms,

and is another common element of sophisticated knowledge management programs. Because

codifying all of your internal knowledge will result in a huge knowledge library, data mining can

help identify patterns and extract data. It still uses qualitative methods of data analysis, but

automated programs will likely rely on algorithmic work.

The Knowledge Management Life Cycle

As we’ve discussed, the process of knowledge management follows general steps. Today, this

progression has been formalized by several scholars, along with how knowledge should be

stored and disseminated throughout an organization. This how includes the processes, tools,

27 | P a g e
[Type text]

and technologies that make up the knowledge management life cycle. While each life cycle

differs in specific steps, this infographic shows the basic steps. There are multiple, semi-

competing theories of the knowledge management life cycle. However, despite the nuanced

theoretical and syntactical differences, the top four all follow a similar pattern. Here are the top

four KM life cycle models:

Wiig Model (1993): This model relies on the principle that in order for information to

be useful, it must be organized. Therefore, this model is primarily concerned with organizing all

data once it is codified, but also outlines how knowledge is built, stored, pooled (with other

stored knowledge), and then extended into the organization. The phases of the Wiig model are

creation, sourcing, compilation, transformation, and application.

Zack Model (1996): While the phases here are similar to the Wiig model, the Zack

model prioritizes a logical, standardized process when advancing to each new stage. The phases

of the Zack model are acquisition, refinement, storage/retrieval, distribution, and presentation.

Bukowitz and William Model (2000): This model builds upon the previous

two by expanding the definition of knowledge storage to include the infrastructure that

supports this learning community (such as communication, hierarchy, and working

relationships). Bukowitz and William also emphasize the need for not only maintaining your

knowledge repository, but also building it over time. The phases here are: get, use, learn,

contribute, and assess.

28 | P a g e
[Type text]

McElroy Model (2003): Building upon the process focus of the Bukowitz and

William model, McElroy is concerned with knowledge production and integration. It creates

ways for team members to submit “claims” when they fail to receive or understand knowledge,

all in an effort to improve group learning. The phases in the McElroy model are learning,

validation, acquisition, integration, and completion. Here’s how all the different phases of these

model relate to each other: The integrated knowledge management cycle, proposed by Kimiz

Dalkir, Ph.D., combines several of the concepts we’ve discussed into one general framework.

Dalkir identifies three key stages in her model: knowledge capture and/or creation, knowledge

sharing and dissemination, and knowledge acquisition and application. In this model, Dalkir

emphasizes the cycle aspect in order to ensure continual improvement - not only in the amount

and quality of knowledge stored, but of the underlying processes, as well How to Improve

Knowledge Management Even with an understanding of the KM life cycle, knowledge

management can be difficult to implement.

A Collaborative Knowledge Management System

With Smartsheet Implemented correctly, a knowledge management system will bring together

disparate teams and workers to share their knowledge, which boosts efficiency and improves

decision-making. Rather than simply storing and tracking the knowledge itself, consider a

knowledge management system that supports and stimulates communication among

employees. One such tool is Smartsheet, a collaborative work management platform that

enables enterprises and teams to work better. In Smartsheet, you can organize and manage the

knowledge management cycle and gain insight into personnel and work getting done across

29 | P a g e
[Type text]

your organization. Create individual sheets for specific projects, departments, or workflows and

track progress at every operational level. Information stored in Smartsheet is easy to locate and

edit - filter columns to search for specific entries, track cell history to see changes, and attach

documentation directly to the rows in your sheets. Smartsheet also supports in-app

collaboration with comments, and real-time editing, so there is always one record of the truth.

Plus, share your sheet with relevant stakeholders and adjust editing permissions so everyone

Conclusions

• Described the key aspects of knowledge management

• Provided a working definition of knowledge management

• Examined knowledge management solutions at four levels

 KM processes

 KM systems

 KM mechanisms and technologies

 KM infrastructure

30 | P a g e
[Type text]

Sources

 General knowledge management book

 Principles of knowledge management book

 www.google.com

 www.wikidpedia.com

 www.envistopedia.com

 From my personal knowledge

31 | P a g e
[Type text]

32 | P a g e