Knowledge Management

CT024-3-M

Data, Information and

Knowledge I

Dr Alan Eardley
 Learning Outcome

• Explain the KM terms and concepts

• Describe Organisational learning concepts
• Describe the advantages of and reasons for
KM
• Examine the various ways of using
knowledge in organisations

Knowledge Management Introduction

 Data, Information and Knowledge

From KM Knowledge The ‘New Big Thing’???

systems Knowledge
Management
Mid-1990s - Date
From MIS Information
‘Era 2’
focus
1980s

From DP ‘Era 1’
Data
systems focus
1970s

Knowledge Management Introduction

 Data, Information and knowledge

Wisdom
Understanding Understanding
principles behind patterns
Knowledge

Understanding
patterns of relationships
Information
What do the higher levels
enable us to do?
Understanding
relationships between things
Context
Data

Knowledge Management Introduction

 Relation between Data, Information,
Knowledge and Wisdom (Liebowitz 2003)

Knowledge Management Introduction

 Definitions of KM

Capturing, storing & sharing knowledge

and experience of individuals & groups in
an organisation & making this knowledge
available to others, to their advantage…

Knowledge Management Introduction

 Definitions of KM

The process of systematically & actively

managing & leveraging the stores of
knowledge in an organisation…the process
of transforming information & intellectual
assets into enduring value…

Knowledge Management Introduction

 Definitions of KM

• ‘The process of lowering the transaction

costs associated with the creating, sharing
& applying knowledge and developing
improved strategies to support these
activities’
Prusak and Matson (2006)

Knowledge Management Introduction

 Knowledge in this context includes

• The experience & understanding of the people in

the organization
– ‘Intellectual capital’, or Tacit knowledge
– How does this relate to ‘human capital?’
• Information artefacts (e.g. documents & reports)
available inside & outside the organization
– Explicit knowledge, in ‘Knowledge resources’

Knowledge Management Introduction

 Advantages of applying KM

• Make better judgments, better decisions and

are more effective
• Some organisations learned the value of
knowledge the hard way when they lost access
to it through bad reorganisation or
‘downsizing’
• Other organisations have become more
innovative and adaptable through applying
their knowledge & innovating

(Eardley and Uden 2011)

Knowledge Management Introduction
 Innovative organisations…

• Strike a balance between knowledge stored or

embedded in documents, records etc., (explicit)
& knowledge held by staff (tacit)
– know where their knowledge is held
– How to access and share it
• Treat technology as an enabler to assist
humans in delivering optimum business
performance
– People often need encouragement to share
knowledge
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 Reasons for Knowledge Management

‘In the emerging economy, a firm's only

advantage is its ability to leverage and utilize its
knowledge’.
Larry Prusak, Executive Director of the IBM
Institute for Knowledge-Based Organizations (IKO)

‘Knowledge management is …a strategy

supported by technology that can show a
quantifiable, and sometimes substantial, return
on investment.’
Greg MacSweeney, The Knowledge Management Payback

Knowledge Management Introduction

 Reasons for Knowledge Management

‘The best single lesson I ever learned was to

maximize the intellect of the company. You need
to gather the knowledge of individuals, share
those ideas and celebrate the sharing. That, in
the end, is how a company becomes great.’
Jack Welch, (former Chairman & CEO of General Electric)

Knowledge Management Introduction

 Tacit Knowledge

• ‘What the knower knows…’

• Derived from experience = expertise
• Embodies beliefs and values
• Quickly actionable knowledge, and therefore
the most valuable (?)
• The most important basis for the generation
of new knowledge?
• ‘The key to knowledge creation lies in the
mobilization and conversion of tacit
knowledge’ (Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995)

Knowledge Management Introduction

 Explicit Knowledge

• Represented by some artefact

– A document, database item or video
– Typically created with the goal of
communicating with another person
• Provides information in context
• Needs to be accessed in a systematic way
• Both tacit & explicit of knowledge are important
for organizational effectiveness
= Organisational Learning (Senge 2007)

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 Knowledge conversion and learning

How does this apply to students’ learning process?

• Socialisation ………………………………
………………………………
• Externalisation ………………………………
………………………………
• Combination ………………………………
………………………………
• Internalisation ………………………………

Knowledge Management Introduction

 References

• Davenport T. H. and Prusak L. (1998) Working Knowledge: How

Organizations Manage What They Know, Harvard Business School
Press, Boston
• Eardley, W. A. and Uden, L. (2011) Innovative Knowledge
Management: Concepts for Organizational Creativity and
Collaborative Design. IGI Publishing, Hershey, Pennsylvania.
• Nonaka I. and Takeuchi H. (1995). The Knowledge Creating
Company, Oxford University Press, Oxford
• Senge P. (2007) The Fifth Discipline. (3rd Ed.) Doubleday. New York
• Liebowitz (2003), Basic Knowledge Concepts- Data, Information,
Knowledge and Wisdom, Accessed on 7th March, 2010. Available at
http://www.trainmor-knowmore.eu/FBC5DDB3.en.aspx
• Prusak and Matson (2006), Knowledge Management and
Organization Learning, Oxford University Press

Knowledge Management Introduction