Knowledge management in organizations ; a prototype

Abstract

Knowledge is an asset to any organization. Knowledge is described as information provided in context to produce an actionable understanding; it is what makes an organization take action or provides the ability to take action. Knowledge is classified as either tacit or explicit. Explicit knowledge is the documented information; presented in the form of books, documents, white papers, policy manuals, patents, processes and databases among others. Tactic knowledge is found in the minds of employees, experience of customers and memories of past vendors. While tacit knowledge is normally hard to code, explicit knowledge is easier to codify. Research has noted that capturing, storing and utilizing both tacit and explicit knowledge is critical to an organization‟s success in the fast changing market place. If knowledge is not managed, vast amounts of productivity will be lost recreating the wheel when personnel change or new projects are initiated. A knowledge management system prototype for managing explicit and tacit knowledge is presented in this research project. Supporting information was collected from books, magazine articles, Internet sites and my own experience. The results of this research can provide a guide to planning knowledge management initiatives.