The Complete Guide to Knowledge Management

What does Knowledge Management Mean?

“Knowledge Management is the process of capturing, distributing, and effectively

using knowledge.” Tom Davenport (1994). Knowledge management (KM) includes
developing tools and systems that promote effective knowledge-sharing procedures. It
consists of three primary categories of knowledge:

Explicit Knowledge: This information is quickly recorded, shared, and understood by others.
Examples include HR rules, employee handbooks, and standard operating procedures.

Tacit Knowledge: Because it frequently lies in people's abilities and experiences, tacit
knowledge is more difficult to express and communicate. A few examples include design
skills and sales and customer service experience.

Implicit Knowledge: Consists of information embedded in organizational processes and

practices, often called tribal knowledge. (What Is Knowledge Management? | IBM, n.d.)

What is the importance of Knowledge management to a Business.

Organizations must use knowledge management (KM) to utilize the skills and insights
of their employees properly. It involves ensuring that knowledge is available to every team
member and not just a select group of people to avoid bottlenecks. Businesses can improve
their capacity to meet goals by fostering an environment that values lifelong learning and
allows information to flow freely. (Document360, 2024).

Good knowledge management helps workers save time and become more productive
by giving them access to essential resources and information. It speeds up decision-making,
helps teams break down silos, and prioritizes individual value addition. Knowledge
management implementation calls for precise goals, consistency, effective knowledge
sharing, and having the information up to date. (Rajamohan, 2024)

Essential Functions for Every KMS

Intermediation: This function aims to make sharing knowledge easier for people inside an
organization. It involves developing a connection between information seekers and suitable
knowledge providers to guarantee a seamless and effective exchange of information. As
matchmakers, intermediaries help teams and departments collaborate by pointing out the
best knowledge sources for specific needs.

Externalization: is the process of gathering knowledge from people and putting it into
databases or external sources. This procedure aims to facilitate knowledge sharing and
accessibility throughout the company. It involves tasks like compiling best practices, building
knowledge bases, and using business and competitive intelligence instruments.
Externalization ensures that essential knowledge and insights are available for group
learning and decision-making rather than being restricted to individual minds.

Internalization: This function takes valuable data from these databases and puts it in user-
friendly formats. Knowledge organization and classification, the development of user-
friendly interfaces, and instruction or direction on information access and interpretation are
some examples of internalization activities. Internalization encourages the broad adoption
and use of knowledge assets within the company by making knowledge easily accessible.
(Granneman, 2005)

Cognition: This function involves applying the knowledge and understanding gained from the
other three functions to guide practical, operational, and strategic choices. Cognition helps
organizations make educated decisions and boost performance by incorporating knowledge
into decision-making processes.

Measurement: The measuring function determines how well KM programmes and solutions
work. It involves considering several knowledge management-related factors, including
influence on organizational performance, sharing, generation, and utilization of information.
Surveys, usage metrics analysis, monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs), and
stakeholder input collection are a few examples of measurement activities. (Massachusetts
Institute of Technology,n.d.)

References
Document360. (2024, February 8). Knowledge Management Guide: types, use cases & more.

https://document360.com/knowledge-management/
Functions of knowledge management. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (n.d.).

https://web.mit.edu/ecom/www/Project98/G4/Sections/section1c.html

Granneman, S. (2005, November 14). 4 basic functions of knowledge management. GranneBlog.

https://blog.granneman.com/2005/11/14/4-basic-functions-of-knowledge-management/

Rajamohan, W. (2024, January 9). Unlocking Success: The importance of knowledge

management. Scribe. https://scribehow.com/library/importance-of-knowledge-

management

What is Knowledge Management? | IBM. (n.d.). https://www.ibm.com/topics/knowledge-

management