Mountain Quest Institute

Knowledge Management (KM)

KM is the systematic nurturing of an organization to enable it to make maximum use of knowledge in achieving its purpose. The goal is for an organization to become aware of its knowledge, individually and collectively, and to shape itself to make the most effective and efficient use of the knowledge it has or can obtain. The relatively new field of KM has demonstrated its value to many firms as they work to understand and respond to threats and opportunities rising from a turbulent environment, and holds even larger potential for the future.

One of the resources provided by MQI for use in the Technology Management Institutes emerging across India is an article titled "Exploring Concepts, Interpretations and Meaning: Knowledge and Knowledge Management” that was published in July 2008, Effective Executive XI(07), pp. 10-26.  Icfai University Press has provided the PDFs for the three magazines including these articles so you may print them in that format.  Note the copyright for these three articles:  “… In the spirit of collaborative advantage, with attribution, any part of this paper may be copied and distributed freely.”  Building on original research, we take a closer look at these concepts and what they may mean to the future.  Includes diverse definitions of knowledge and KM, and exploration of the KM field through the 14 learning objectives developed by the KM Working Group of the U.S. Federal sector.  The idea of the field of KM as a complex adaptive system is explored. [See results of the original research.] This article is available to download here.

Recall that knowledge is considered the capacity (potential or actual) to take effective action in varied and uncertain situations (Bennet & Bennet, 2004).  Knowledge is situation-dependent and context-sensitive.  See CONTEXT: The Shared Knowledge Enigma (PDF, 12 pages) and related graphics (PDF, 2 slides). See also the Institute's work on Knowledge Mobilization. 

Characterizing the Field of Knowledge Management focuses on building an understanding about the field.  It does not purport to present the direction of the many hundreds of authors writing in the field, but tries to capture some of the early authors who have continued as thought leaders as the field emerged, and the general areas of their ideas.  This breadth is further explored through the 14 KM learning objectives developed by the U.S. Federal KM Working Group to help develop an understanding of those tings considered part of the field of KM. Much of the information included in these pages is based on the 2005 research study available below.  However, the material is focused and organized for ease of accessibility, and combined with material beyond the scope of the research study.  Specifically, this material provides the baseline for a discussion of meaning in terms of knowledge and knowledge management, challenges and opportunities, and a discussion of the life cycle of the field.  Segments of this material (specific papers included herein) are available as appropriate in other parts of this website.  See Exploring Concepts, Interpretations and Meaning: Knowledge and Knowledge Management (PDF, 17 pages) and story, The Field of KM as a Complex Adaptive System (PDF, 8 pages).

Major Research Study entitled Exploring Aspects of Knowledge Management that Contribute to the Passion Expressed by Knowledge Management Thought Leaders, dissertation submitted to Fielding Graduate University, copyright 2005 by Alex Bennet. This study explores the aspects of knowledge management that contribute to the passion expressed by knowledge management thought leaders. Further, it looks at the nature of that passion, and the relationship of thought leaders to those aspects. Crossing four continents, almost all of the 34 thought leaders interviewed (MSWord, 1 page)--working in and with industry, academia and government--consider themselves both practitioners and thought leaders (see Demographics (single PowerPoint slide) of Thought Leaders). Passion is made up of desires, behaviors, and thoughts that suggest urges with considerable force and is used as a determinant or indicator of what is of higher interest or great.

A framework was developed to consider thought leader responses in terms of their relationship to elements contributing to passion. The tremendous diversity and multidimensionality among the aspects surfaced in the thought leader responses span the entire spectrum of the framework, including external and internal inducers, externally observed and internally felt elements, and correlates to the larger aspects of self. External stimuli (single PowerPoint slide) include the field itself, the breadth of the field (multidimensionality of experience), the changing nature of the field, the excitement of new thinking, challenges and opportunities, value and results (including transfer and reuse of knowledge), and a sense of knowing. Throughout the responses weave the themes of learning, sharing knowledge, and a shift that is underway.

Thought leaders link their passion to a higher order and consider passion itself a reward. Thought leader values are closely connected with the field, and, in the words of one thought leader, "somehow I've matched up people's value systems with a process." The field of knowledge management appears to have a magnetic attraction. One interpretation of these intense connections is the resonance of the field with our fundamental nature as human beings, those things identified in the framework that contain the seeds of passion itself.

The interviews also led to new insights into the nature of the KM field itself. For example, the field of KM is self-referential, complex adaptive, has no dominant leader and its nature supports autotelic work. Another discovery was the spiritual nature of the field. Chapter 5, Discussion, provides a good overview of the results. The Discussion of Results from the Dissertation is available for reading and download.

DATA collected from 70 knowledge professionals ...

... at the eGov Community Meeting (Washington, D.C.) on April 20, 2005, showed that this group of knowledge professionals are living and working in a challenging and difficult environment, perhaps more so than some other workers because of the need and recognition that when the environment becomes difficult knowledge becomes critical. Additionally, as the overall data indicates, this community of knowledge professionals possesses characteristics that serve them well in a CUCA environment.

Other Resources

            The Growth of Knowledge and Sharing (single PowerPoint slide)

            Passion Framework (single PowerPoint slide)

            Representative Aspects that Foster Passion (single PowerPoint slide) Research response inserted in Passion Framework graphic above.     

            KM Life Cycle (single PowerPoint slide)

            Thought Bite: KM and People (single PowerPoint slide) Participant quotes focused around the individual.

            Thought Bite: KM and Organizations (single PowerPoint slide) Participant quotes focused around organizations. 

            Thought Bite: KM and the World (single PowerPoint slide) Participant quotes focused around the world.

            The Capture of Tacit Knowledge: A Systems Issue (single PowerPoint slide)

           See Papers for a collection of articles and presentations developed around knowledge and knowledge management. Selected Department of Navy slides are available in this section.

            Short articles in support of the Water Utility Industry:  What is Knowledge Management?, Frequently Asked Questions, The Business Case for Knowledge Management, the Current State of Knowledge Management, Regulatory Perspectives for the Water Utilities.  See www.waterknowledge.info

Key Definitions

Knowledge is the human capacity (both potential and actual) to take effective action in varied and uncertain situations.

Knowledge Management is a process for optimizing the effective application of intellectual capital to achieve objectives. In an organizational setting, this would mean a systematic approach to getting an organization to make the best possible use of knowledge in implementing its mission, broadly viewed as either sustainable competitive advantage or long-term high performance. From the individual viewpoint, this can be extrapolated to mean optimizing the effective application of the individual's knowledge (their potential and actual capacity to take effective action in varied and uncertain situations) to achieve the individual's professional and personal goals.

Context is the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular situation, the totality of features having relevance to the causation, meaning, or effect of an event or situation.

References:

Bennet, A. and D. Bennet (2004). Organizational Survival in the New World: The Intelligent Complex Adaptive System.  Boston, MA: Elsevier.

This Web Site copyright 2008 by Alex and David Bennet. For educational and knowledge sharing purposes and in the context of knowledge mobilization, permission is given to copy and distribute materials on this web site with attribution.

Send mail to adean@mountainquestinstitute.com with questions or comments about this web site.

Send mail to dereklowe@mountainquestinstitute.com with problems or technical difficulties with this web site.

Last modified: 07/08/09