Knowledge management

Knowledge management refers to the way in which organisations gather, manage, and use the knowledge that they acquire. The term also refers to a rapprochement to improve organisational results through the introduction of a range of processes and specific practices intended to identify and attract knowledge, “know-how”, experience, and other intellectual capital and to make the advantages of this knowledge available to be transferred and reused within the organisation. Knowledge management programs are typically attached to specific organisational objectives and are aimed at reaching particular planned goals, like improved performance, competitive advantage or greater levels of innovation. As the transfer of knowledge (an aspect of the AC) has always existed in one form or another, for example, through the discussions in the working with colleagues; formally during the learning, professional training and mentoring programmes and from the century twenty - technologically through the foundations of knowledge, expert systems and other sources of knowledge, AC programmes seek to consciously evaluate the management of the process of accumulation and application of intellectual capital. The AC has coupled, therefore, to different currents of thought and practice regarding a: Intellectual Capital, knowledge worker and the knowledge economy. The idea of a learning organization. Various permissive organisational practices, such as communities of practice and corporate Yellow Pages directories to access key and experienced staff. And several permissive technological practices such as knowledge bases of expert systems, services, assistance, intranets and corporate extranets, content management, wikis and document management. As closely linked as the Knowledge Management programs are to Organisational Learning initiatives, Knowledge Management can differentiate itself from Organisational Learning through its greater focus on the advantages of specific knowledge. The growth of KM has seen a growing understanding of the importance of the distinction between tacit and implicit knowledge, sophisticated perspectives on administration, evaluation, the use of intellectual capital and the surge of new roles, organisations and responsibilities like the position of Official Knowledge Manager (OKM). A key distinction made by those who make use of the AC is between tacit and explicit knowledge. The first is often unconscious and internalized and individuals may or not be aware of what they know and how you achieve specific results. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the explicit knowledge - this refers to the knowledge that individuals remain form explicitly and consciously in mental concentration, and can communicate to others, and in particular that knowledge when it encodes writing or other permanent form.