Value of Knowledge Management

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Is Knowledge management valuable to the organization? Of course it is.

“When you know better, you do better”. How can an organization succeed in the corporate world without good knowledge management? To actually succeed in the corporate world and put your business on top, one needs to possess the good management knowledge to ensure sustainable strategic competitive advantage.

Over the past decades, knowledge management has become crucial part of every organization and has received considerable attention. Knowledge management is a good practice to put in place in order to improve organizational effectiveness. There is a saying that “Knowledge is power” This can also apply to organization as well, meaning that the management knowledge has power to make the business succeed.

What is knowledge management?

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Knowledge management is basically the planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling of people, processes and systems in the organization to make sure that organization performs effectively (Kings, 2009). On the same view, (Ibrahim and Reid, (2009) explain knowledge management as fundamental idea which includes organizing, sharing and using knowledge in order to create value and competitive advantage for an organization. From the above definitions, it can thus, be concluded that management of knowledge is promoted as an important and necessity factor for organizational survival and maintenance of competitive strength (Omotayo, 2015).

A successful organization understands why they must manage knowledge, and they also develop plans to accomplish the objective. It is therefore of major importance to manage and utilize knowledge effectively in the organization for better performance.

Here are four key dimensions of knowledge management

The organizations that strive for knowledge management pay attention to four components: Knowledge, people, processes, and lastly technology. Their knowledge and people were added as important components after realization that processes and technology alone cannot drive organization towards its desired goal, Thus introduction of human force which is employees of the organization to ensure success. In addition to this, knowledge management strives to connect people, processes and technology for the purpose of leveraging knowledge.

• Knowledge

Without having knowledge to manage, how can knowledge management exist? Knowledge is a collection of information. It takes various forms such as theories, ideas, opinions, analyses, processes and systems. It is the insights, understanding and practical know-how that people possess and a fundamental resource that allows people in the organization to function intelligently.

• People

Where can knowledge come from except from people?People are actually the sources of knowledge. The ability of individuals to think creatively and uniquely require a lot of effort, thus they are valuable sources of knowledge. It is therefore of major importance to consider people in knowledge management strategy and implementation.

• Processes

This refers to mechanical and logical artifacts that guide work conducted in the organization. Processes might be made of, and executed by humans, machines, or combination of both. A critical requirement of knowledge management is to be able to understand work processes and how to map them.

• Technology

The last component of knowledge management is technology. This is a critical part of knowledge management pan. With the advances in information and communication technologies, Knowledge management can be attained through technological solutions. Technology does not make organization share knowledge, but if people want to share it, technology can increase the reach and scope of such exchanges.

The importance of Knowledge management has been discussed. It has been brought but that processes and technology alone are not enough to drive organization, but its people and knowledge that ride in them.

Keep in mind, in order for an organization to be successful, attention must be paid also on the workforce.

Referenses

Ibrahim, F & Reid, V. 2009. What is the Value of Knowledge Management Practices? Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management .Volume 7 Issue 5 (pp567-574), Available online at www.ejkm.com

Ibrahim, F & Reid, V.2009. What is Value of Knowledge management Practices? Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management Volume 7 issue 5(pp567-574), available online at www.ejkm.com.

King, WR. 2009. Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning, Annals of Information Systems

Olubunmi,FK. 2015. Knowledge Management as an Important Tool in Organizational Management: A review of Literature. Library philosophy and Practice (E journal). Paper 1238

Omotayo, FO. 2015. Knowledge Management as an important Tool in Organizational Management: A Review of Literature. Library Philosophy and Practice. (e-journal) paper 1238