A body of understanding and skills that is constructed by people. Knowledge is increased through interaction with information and world-views (typically from other people)

Information becomes knowledge when it is viewed through the "lens" of the person or organisation.

• Explicit knowledge:
  Knowledge that has been recorded as information in a document, image, film clip or other medium
• Tacit knowledge:
  Knowledge that resides in a person’s mind and may include aspects of culture or ‘ways of doing things’.

Within the organisations we talk around the following explicit hierarchy:

• Data
• Information
• Knowledge

Nature of Knowledge

This has been debated over throughout history it can take many forms. It can be argued that knowledge is transient and elusive, or practical and able to be captured.

Knowledge is transformed from [[information]] with the application of human cognition.

Knowledge can be exchanged as an object or considered as a flow. Knowledge objects are those resources that are constructed and distributed to improve the outputs of a group. Knowledge as a flow takes a more systems-based and social construction views that emphasis the links between knowledge management and learning.

Knowledge Management (KM) is about applying the knowledge assets available to your organisation to create competitive advantage

Attributes of knowledge

• Can be used without being consumed
• Can have multiple, simultaneous ‘owners’
• Can be in more than one place at one time
• Heavily front-loaded cost structure: Producing the first ‘copy’ is disproportionately higher than that of subsequent copies
• Knowledge rarely has economies of scale
• Knowledge is unpredictable
• Cannot be valued until it is possessed
• Knowledge blurs the distinction between services and products

Whilst we may know the value of our “assets” can we put a dollar value on to the knowledge held within an organisation?.

SECI circle

Source: http://www.12manage.com/methods_nonaka_seci.html

'''S'''ocialisation / '''E'''xternalisation / '''C'''ombination / '''I'''nternalisation



The creation of knowledge is a continuous process of dynamic interactions between [[tacit knowledge|tacit]] and [[explicit knowledge]]. The four modes of knowledge conversion interact in the spiral of knowledge creation. The spiral becomes larger in scale as it moves up through organisational levels, and can trigger new spirals of knowledge creation.

• Socialisation. Sharing tacit knowledge through face-to-face communication or shared experience. An example is an apprenticeship.
• Externalisation. Developing concepts, which embed the combined tacit knowledge. And which enable its communication.
• Combination. Combination of various elements of explicit knowledge: building a prototype is an example.
• Internalisation. Closely linked to learning by doing, the explicit knowledge becomes part of the individual's knowledge base (e.g. mental model) and becomes an asset for the organisation.

Johari human “self-awareness”

Knowledge also fits the Johari human “self-awareness” diagrams

http://www.augsburg.edu/education/edc210/johari.html

http://www.businessballs.com/johariwindowmodel.htm

Knowledge as “flow” and/or “item”

Source: http://www.planetey.com/en/topics/km/index.shtml

Knowledge as a product

The product approach implies that knowledge is a thing that can be located and manipulated as an independent object.

Adopting the "knowledge as a product" approach means treating knowledge as an entity rather separate from the people who create and use it. The typical goal is to take documents with explicit knowledge embedded in them - memos, reports, presentations, articles, etc. - and store them in a repository where they can be easily retrieved.

Examples of companies that aim at a continual enhancement of their knowledge base - the collection of best practices, methods and reusable work products - include General Motors, Glaxo Wellcome and DaimlerChrysler.

Knowledge as a process/flow

The "process" approach puts emphasis on ways to promote, motivate, encourage, nurture or guide the process of knowing, and abolishes the idea of trying to capture and distribute knowledge. Treating "knowledge as a process" usually considers enabling the development and flourishing of communities as a key solution for knowledge leverage.

Firms adopting this approach, focus on the creation of communities of interest or practice (self-organised groups which 'naturally' communicate with one another because they share common work practices, interests, or aims), to address knowledge generation and sharing. The emphasis in this case is on providing access to knowledge or facilitating its transfer among individuals.


For example, companies like British Petroleum, Skandia, Buckman Laboratories and Matsushita strive to create corporate environments that nurture knowledge communities, in order to facilitate the exchange of ideas and collaboration across the organisation.

Examples

• The number '3' is data.
• Having the context of it being a dollar value and part of a customers bill means it is now information.
• Knowing that the organisation has a current policy of ensuring all overpayments are paid back to the "needy" changes the information into knowledge which can be acted upon.

See also

• Collaboration
• Archetypes