Introduction



Introduction to Knowledge Management

T here are a number of 'drivers', or motivations, that lead organizations to consider a knowledge management program. Perhaps first among these, is to gain the competitive advantage that comes with improved or faster learning and new knowledge creation. Knowledge management programs can lead to greater innovation, better customer experiences, consistency in good practices and knowledge access across a global organization, as well as many other benefits.

W hat do you think the CEO of Hewlett Packard meant by 'know what it knows' and how could that increase profit?

 We thought about it and concluded that the CEO believed that HP was not able to efficiently access all of its knowledge and manage it effectively so that it could be utilized to its optimum benefit.

Do you think that it might be a common issue for other businesses? If you are not in business, you may not have experience to call on, so to get a better grasp on it, try considering it on a personal level. Ask yourself, if you knew what you know, or could organize all the information available to you, rapidly access it when you needed it and optimally apply it, could your own productivity, GPA or business profits increase?

If you answered "yes", then you are understanding the concept, and considering some of the potential benefits of Knowledge Management (KM).

Ron Young, CEO of Knowledge Associates International defines KM this way: **"Knowledge Management is the discipline of enabling individuals, teams and entire organizations to collectively and systematically create, share and apply knowledge, to better achieve their objectives."**

Do you have an idea of how knowledge management might be accomplished? Is it a technique, method, algorithm or a discipline as Ron Young stated above? Is there a 'one size fits all' solution?

We will get to a discussion of that, but first, let's go on to the Instructional Unit objectives.

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