Notes

UNIT – I

Learning Objectives

After learning this unit, the students will understand the concepts of

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Knowledge management
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Knowledge society
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Types of knowledge
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Challenges of HRM in Knowledge based organizations.
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Characteristics of knowledge management
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Concept of knowledge management
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New roles in knowledge based organizations

Unit Structure

Lesson 1.1 Introduction to Knowledge Management

Lesson 1.2 An Introduction to Life in Organization
Lesson1.3 Concept and Characteristics of Knowledge Based
Organization
Lesson 1.4 Dimensions of Knowledge Management
Lesson 1.5 New Roles and Challenges for HRM in the KBOS

Lesson 1.1 - Introduction to Knowledge Management

In today’s current business scenario, knowledge is not a mere

product but a great capability. It is a multi faceted resource. The ability,
skills and commitment of the knowledge workers are the key for success
of any organization.

We are moving toward a post industrial or post bureaucratic

society where knowledge and information drive economic growth. This is

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Notes
where HRM should respond to the changes brought from the traditional
to knowledge based organization.

If it is not so, then the HRM might face crisis. This is believed by
most of HRM experts due to the radical developments in information and
knowledge based services in recent years.
Knowledge management is a discipline that treats intellectual
capital as a management asset. Unlike other assets it doesn’t require
specific procedures to utilize them. Knowledge is an idea created from
various sources and how those ideas can help to improve the organizational
effectiveness.

In other words knowledge management system aims to get right

information to the right people at the right time, thereby providing them
tools for analysis of information and respond to them at a faster rate.

By analyzing the information it gains insight to the information

and developing methods to achieve the goals of the organization effec-
tively.

The following are some of the reasons which led to the interest in
knowledge management:

1. The valuation of the companies is dependent on their fixed asset

rather than their management skills.
2. Most of the time in the past the investors invest in the organization
based upon what they perceive about the organization.
3. Meaner organizations.

Definitions of Knowledge Management

I) “The physical toil of manufacturing is being replaced by a world

where we work more with our brains than our hands”
- Sewell

ii) Knowledge management refers to identifying and leveraging the

collective knowledge in an organization to help the organization
to compete with their competitors.

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 Notes
iii) “Knowledge management (KM) is an effort to increase useful
knowledge within the organization. Ways to do this include
encouraging communication, offering opportunities to learn, and
promoting the sharing of appropriate knowledge artifacts”
- McInerney, C.
iv) “KM [Knowledge Management] involves blending a company’s
internal and external information and turning it into actionable
knowledge via a technology platform”
- Susan DiMattia and Norman Oder

Nature of Knowledge Management

Knowledge management draws upon a vast number of diverse

fields such as:

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Organizational science.
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Cognitive science.
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Linguistics and computational linguistics.
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Information technologies such as knowledge- based systems,
document and information management, electronic performance
support systems, and database technologies.
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Information and library science.
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Technical writing and journalism.
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Anthropology and sociology.
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Education and training.
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Storytelling and communication studies.
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Collaborative technologies such as computer supported
collaborative work and groupware, as well as intranets, extranets,
portals, and other web technologies.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it serves to show the ex-

tremely varied roots that gave life to KM and continues to be its basis
today. Figure illustrates some of the diverse disciplines that have contrib-
uted to KM.

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Notes
The multidisciplinary nature of KM represents a double- edged
sword. On the one hand, it is an advantage because almost anyone can
find a familiar foundation on which to base their understanding and even
practice of KM.

Someone with a background in journalism, for example, can

quickly adapt his or her skill set to the capture of knowledge from experts
and reformulate them as organizational stories to be stored in corporate
memory. Someone coming from a more technical database background
can easily extrapolate his or her skill set to design and implement knowl-
edge repositories that will serve as a the corporate memory for that or-
ganization.

Interdisciplinary Nature of Knowledge Management

Database
technologies Collaborative
Help Desk
technologies
Systems

Cognitive Organizational
science sciences

Electronic Performance
Technical Support Systems
Writing
Document and
Artificial Information management
Intelligence
Library and Decision
Web Information Support
Technologies Sciences Systems

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 Notes
Reasons for Developing Knowledge Management

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Nearly 60% of the job requirements need knowledge
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Knowledge works have high demand
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The knowledge workers can do the job effectively than traditional
workers
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The success factor in today economy is knowledge
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Knowledge is power and it is very scarce

Challenges Faced by the Organization

The key challenges faced by any organization are listed below:

1. How to attract customer and service them in the world of internet

and electronic commerce?
2. How to transfer the technology and use them according to the
customer wants and develop the organization?
3. How to re-engineer the mindsets of employees and motivate them
and develop the organization into a learning organization?

This is due to the fact that the application of knowledge and

practice of knowledge management will be able to create excellent results
in the organization.

In current business scenario of value addition, products to

customers and value creation to stake holders and technology capabilities
at various levels of organization can be effectively managed with the help
of knowledge management.

Knowledge Society

Earlier the term knowledge society was known as information

society or post industrial society. The term knowledge society was coined
by UNESCO towards the end of 90’s. The general sub director of UNESCO
Mr. Abdul Waheed Khan quoted as given below:

“Information society is the building block for knowledge societies.

Whereas I see the concept of information society as linked to the idea of