Knowledge Management in

Theory and Practice

Chapter 1: Introduction

1
 Course Information
 Textbook: Knowledge Management in Theory and Practice. Third
Edition. MIT Press

 General format of the course

 Refer to course outlines
 Assignment (Project)
 Each lecture corresponds to a chapter in the text (e.g. lecture 1 – chapter 1)

 To contact me: email

 Generally available ….days and times

2
 Before we begin…

Write down your definition of knowledge management-

this will not be collected but you will refer back to your
definition in later classes

3
 Knowledge

 Knowledge is
 information that is contextual, relevant, and
actionable
 understanding, awareness, or familiarity acquired
through education or experience
 anything that has been learned, perceived,
discovered, inferred, or understood.

4
 Data Relevant and
Knowledge
Processed Information Actionable

DEPLOYMENT CHART

Database DEPT 1
PHASE 1 PHASE 2 PHASE 3 PHASE 4 PHASE 5

DEPT 2

Wisdom
DEPT 3

DEPT 4

4 5
2 3
1

Relevant and actionable processed-data

5
 Data, Information, and
Knowledge
How is knowledge different from
information?
and how is information different from
data?

6
 Data

 Data is Unorganized and unprocessed facts; it can be considered as

the basic or the raw material for creating information ,it is a set of
discrete facts about events.

 Data is a number, word or letter without any context. For example,

numbers like 5 or 100, without any context, are mere data. these
numbers or data are meaningless points. It is called “out of
context”.

 For example, movie listings; giving the times and locations of all
movies being shown today.

7
 Information

 In contrast to data information ; refers to a context, and

considered as messages or news created by the
interpretation of data, this information can be understood
and has meaning by the receiver .

 It can defined as aggregation of data that makes decision

making easier

 ex. most of the film movie listings are drama films .

8
Relating Data, Information, and
Knowledge to Events
Knowledge

Knowledge

Knowledge
Data
Data Information
processing

Use of
information

Decision

Event
s

9
DATA, INFORMATION &
KNOWLEDGE

10
 Introduction to Knowledge
Management (KM)
 Key KM concepts and their definitions
 Tacit and explicit knowledge
 Knowledge in action
 Knowledge to create value

11
 More KM Definitions
 It is the attempt to recognize what is essentially a human asset buried in the
minds of individuals, and leverage it into an organizational asset that can be
accessed and used by a broader set of individuals on whose decisions the
firm depends. —Larry Prusak

 KM applies systematic approaches to find, understand and use knowledge to

create value (O’Dell)

 KM is the explicit control and management of knowledge within an

organization aimed at achieving the company’s objectives (van der Spek)

 KM is the formalization of and access to experience, knowledge, and

expertise that create new capabilities, enable superior performance,
encourage innovation and enhance customer value (Beckman)

12
Interdisciplinary Nature of KM

13
 Today’s Working Environment
Multi-lingual
Multi-site Multi-cultural
More More &
Global Faster

KM

PC

More More
Mobile Connected Internet
PC PC

14
 Increasing Complexity

 Today’s work environment is more complex due to

an increase in the number of subjective knowledge
items we need to attend to everyday
 Filtering over 200 emails, faxes, voicemail messages on a
daily basis – how to prioritize?
 Having to “think on our feet” as expected response time
has greatly decreased as well
 KM is a response to the challenge of trying to manage this
complexity amidst information overload
 A “science of complexity”
 Knowledge and entropy production have an inverse relationship

15
 The importance of CONTEXT

 Data – records …objective, measurable

 E.g. it is -9 C outside today
 Information – meaningful but only within context
 E.g. it can get cold in winter in Montreal
 Unless it is an El Nino year and you can BBQ on Dec. 25th
(2015) when it was 17 C
 Knowledge is subjective, prescriptive,
contradictory… I feel cold today

16
 Ancient ways of coding
knowledge

Article link in myCourses

The ancient Inca of Peru used knotted strings called

"khipu" to keep track of their business 17
 Preservation without context
means …
 Knowledge is lost
 It is absolutely essential to record as much
context as possible when managing
knowledge
 Historical context
 Technological context
 Legal context …

18
 Hiring Scenario

 You have been asked to hire an assistant

 What sorts of things would you require from
human resources?
 What questions would you ask HR?
 What would you require from all applicants?

19
 Applicant Information

 Curriculum vitae (resume)

 References
 Test results (e.g. language, aptitude)
 …..

20
 Hiring Scenario Continued

 You have selected 3 of the applicants to go

to the next stage – the interview.
 Write down 3-4 questions that you would ask
of the candidate during the interview.

21
 Applicant Information

 Previous experience
 Reason why they are applying
 Role-playing or decision simulation
 Request they demonstrate bilingualism
 ……

22
23
Explicit vs. Tacit Knowledge

Tacit Knowledge

Explicit Knowledge

files

80-85% 15-20%
active passive 24
 Explicit Knowledge
 Explicit (leaky) knowledge
Knowledge that deals with objective, rational, and technical material
(data, policies, procedures, software, documents, etc.)
 Easily documented, transferred, taught and learned
 Refers to knowledge that is transmittable in formal, systematic
language, which can be captured and shared through information
technology so, it is easy to transfer within and between people

25
 Explicit Knowledge

 Any organization supposes to obtain three types of explicit knowledge;

 Cognitive knowledge ; the basic discipline that professionals achieve
through extensive training and certification
 Advanced skills ; the ability to apply rules of a discipline to complex
real- world problem.
 System understanding ; the deep understanding of the web of cause –
and effect relationships underlying a discipline

26
 Tacit Knowlege

 Tacit (embedded) knowledge

Knowledge that is usually in the domain of
subjective, cognitive, and experiential learning
 It is highly personal and hard to formalize
 Hard to document, transfer, teach and learn
 Involves a lot of human interpretation
 It is hidden and refers to; intuitions and insights

27
 Basic distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge

Tacit Knowledge Explicit Knowledge

Tacit knowledge is hidden and refers to Explicit knowledge can be articulated and
.intuitions experiences and insights codified items

Tacit knowledge dissemination is difficult and Explicit knowledge dissemination is easy and
only happens through people can happen through information technology

Tacit knowledge is personal, and can be easily Explicit knowledge is impersonal, so it can be
lost if the key people of organizations leave them stacked through the organizational memories.

Tacit knowledge can be found in the form of Explicit knowledge can be found in the form of
values, ideas, beliefs, insight and innovation rules, policies, procedures, researches and
manuals

Tacit knowledge has more significance as a Explicit knowledge has less significance as a
potential source for innovation and competitive source for innovation and competitive
advantage advantages

0-28