Nonsense of knowledge Management

“it is quite easy to distinguish between ‘knowledge’ and ‘information’ in such a way as to remove ambiguity and, at the same time, demonstrate the fundamental nonsense of ‘knowledge management’.”

The main question here is “Can knowledge me managed?”  I have asked that question from lecturers and my colleague and everyone seems to give me different answers. Meanwhile the definition of Knowledge Management according to business It experts has gone beyond the process of gathering, capturing, distributing and effectively using knowledge but rather a discipline that promotes and integrated approach to identifying, capturing and shearing all of an enterprise information assets. Assets such as databases, documents, policies, procedures and individual experiences.

So does that mean that  organisation or individual that doesn’t reflect or show his/her experience or assets has no knowledge?

Professor T.D. Wilson of Sheffield University UK, talked about his own view about knowledge management. He believed that ‘knowledge Management’ is just an umbrella term for a verity of organisational activities, so none of which are concerned with the management of knowledge. He argued that those activities that are not concerned with the management of work practices, in the expectation that changes in such areas as communication practice will enable information shearing.  He further distinguish the difference between knowledge and information in such a way as to remove ambiguity and at the same time demonstrate the fundamental nonsense of knowledge management.

I was fortunate to get the contact of this white paper (Professor Wilson) from my lecture via email. I asked him to shed more lights on his own opinion about knowledge management. he said-

“If getting promotion, or holding your job, or finding a new one is based on the knowledge you possess – what incentive is there to reveal that knowledge and share it?’

This is not to say that allowing people to contribute effectively to the management of organisations is impossible and that sharing knowledge and enabling people to use their creativity in innovative ways in organizations is impossible – simply that it is very difficult, and that it does not reduce to some simplistic concept of ‘knowledge management’! It demands a change in business culture, from the macho Harvard Business School model, to something more thoughtful and understanding of what motivates human beings.

In conclusion, although professor Wilson has his own points but I think the use of implementing adequate knowledge management especially in information system management are very important and research shows that it helped organisations that are already falling apart. Adequate training of staffs, seminars and some other means of acquiring knowledge and experience will definitely help to improve organisational output. A good example of organisation that helped other businesses when it comes to knowledge management is Intoto Knowledge. See the video bellow-

Reference

Intro Knowldge: Knowledge Management in 87 Seconds [Video Link] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUZxaHj0FEI. Accessed: 06/03/2015

Micehal E.D Kenig (2014) Knowledge Management World: what is KM? KNowledge Management Explained. Source: http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/Editorial/What-Is-…/What-is-KM-Knowledge-Management-Explained-82405.aspx. Accessed: 06/03/2015.

Wilson, T.D. (2002) “The nonsense of ‘knowledge management'”Information Research, 8(1), paper no. 144 Source: http://InformationR.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html. Accessed: 26/02/2015.