Knowledge Management
Success in today’s global, interconnected economy springs from the fast and efficient exchange of information. Sustainable competitive advantage is no longer rooted in physical assets and financial capital, but in effective channeling of intellectual capital. The market value of a commercial enterprise is derived not only from its physical and financial assets, but also from the intangible assets it creates through knowledge-based activities.
These intangible assets include intellectual property, such as patents and copyrights, as well as the more nebulous assets such as methodologies, practices and customer relationships. These intangible assets are often estimated to be worth many times the book value of a firm and are known as knowledge or intellectual assets. The management of these assets is referred to as knowledge management.
The major shift brought about by current perspectives on knowledge management is the shift in the value proposition between employer and employee. Yet, if knowledge is an asset, it has to be managed in the same way as financial and physical assets.
As companies grow, knowledge becomes more dispersed, and “islands of information” become more common. Research has shown that once an organization grows beyond about 200 or 300 employees, it loses grasp of its collective knowledge. Over time, a large quantum of knowledge resides with just a few people within the organization. Corporate knowledge management rests on an infrastructure of data repositories, groupware, and messaging software. If knowledge is omnipresent, then knowledge management is the discipline that helps put information in the right context and perspective. Preventing knowledge loss is a big factor in the knowledge management equation. Ideally, knowledge can be applied and reapplied– anywhere, any number of times–without reducing its usefulness.
Knowledge Management, the Generalist and the Specialist
Is knowledge management much to do about the dichotomy between the generalist and the specialist.
“The process of Knowledge Management or KM incorporates the desire to expand our range of inquiry with the need to simplify our decisions.” (Wikipedia).
Simplifying our decisions. We are to decide over more and more disciplines. That is a fact.
Take for example Internet. Below are sumerized six out of the twenty-four categories at EzineArticles dedicated to the subject:
Blogging-RSS
Affiliate-Revenue
Security
Podcasting
SEO
PPC-Advertising
So there are twenty-four categories and each category probably will have its expert. The main expert on the topic. Then you will have authors who will write more about all of the areas.
Now you are managing a company where ten out of the twenty-four expertises are needed in the daily operation. How much should you know as a manager or even as an entrepreneur? You will most certainly not start a business if you do not know the first thing about it. Internet in this case.
But the more you are dealing with growth and the more people you are to direct, the more you must KNOW how to manage – - the knowledge.
The knowledge management function as described here is allocated with the generalist. He or she should know just enough to manage the knowledge of the others in the process.
It is the challenge to concentrate on what you need to know, rather than first trying to know it yourself. (This happens a lot however, and that is not strange if you think about it; you want to KNOW where you are…)
For example. Each expert will not only know through (to a certain dept) a specific topic, he or she will also have a certain approach in gathering this knowledge. You can think of someone who needs to examine in dept a certain topic itself, where the same kind of expert would more easily trust on the hint of another guru in the area.