What is Knowledge Management?
“Knowledge Management” explores the processes that can lead an organisation to identify, capture and manage its knowledge capital. We need to differentiate between “Information Management” and “Knowledge Management”. This course has set the foundations for information management by introducing issues associated with the:
* Understanding of information needs
* Understanding of information resources
* Understanding of information access
Information versus Knowledge
* Information is usually recorded, stored and published
* Knowledge, while it can be recorded, also includes interpretation and understanding that resides with individuals
Benefits of Knowledge Management
* it directs decisions on where, how and when to build, create, accumulate and account for new knowledge;
* it allows organisations to account for key assets including education, training and off-the-job experience. These are often the largest costs in firms and this expenditure is seldom quantified or tracked, nor is there always accountability for it;
* knowledge management improves protection for intellectual property;
* knowledge management increases competitive advantage and allows for the identification of gaps in organisational knowledge and the formalisation of plans to fill them;
* knowledge management provides greater adaptability and flexibility, with the potential for innovative solutions and cross-functional operations;
* knowledge management provides a higher return on human capital investments;
* knowledge management retains and adds value to an organisation’s products and services.