Answer to Question #216225 in Management for Prabhdeep

Question

SUBJECT : KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT 

How would you forge a bridge between the largely tacit cultural knowledge of an organization and largely explicit organizational memory system that should serve to preserve the knowledge?

Answer 1

Knowledge management(KM) is basically about making the right knowledge or the right knowledge roots (including people) accessible to the right people at the right time. Therefore knowledge sharing is the  most important aspect of the knowledge management process,

To make knowledge sharing easier, Knowledge Management(KM) must understand the demands of the users, as well as the complexities and possible problems with managing knowledge and knowledge sources. Very broadly speaking, management must therefore execute the right processes, frameworks, and systems that allow knowledge sharing. They must also foster a knowledge-sharing culture that assures that these investments are fully used.

Explicit Knowledge is standardized and codified, therefore easy to identify, store, and retrieve. Tacit Knowledge refers to intuitive, hard to define knowledge that is largely based on experience. Because of this, tacit knowledge is often situational and personal in nature.  Tacit knowledge is considered as being the most valuable source of knowledge, and the most likely to guide to breakthroughs in the organization.

For explicit knowledge, certain matters have been accepted that KM must consider, these are articulation, awareness, access, guidance, completeness. IT has been identified as an important aspect of this type of knowledge sharing. Tacit knowledge sharing is based on socialization and practice. KM must offer the means for this to take place by providing the right forums (primarily physical, but also virtual), aiding networks and communities, and receiving unstructured work environments. Knowledge managers should be used to obtain an understanding of the spots of knowledge sources and to bridge the gaps between communities and networks.

In order to aid the transfer of tacit knowledge, KM must aid the socialization functions, while at the same time not imposing strict managerial practices, routines, hierarchies, etc. One of its roles is as an expert finder, and it can also assist in the direct shift of tacit knowledge through the support of rich and diverse methods of communication, which preferably incorporate informal communication channels.

Embedded knowledge sharing is a procedure whereby embedded knowledge is shifted on from one process to another. Several tools have been reported that can help management understand the results of embedded knowledge and help in its transfer which includes scenario planning, after-action reviews, and management training.