Download What Is Knowledge?

9.613 Using Information Technology
Knowledge & Knowledge Management
Addendum to Class 4
Outline:
•What Is Knowledge?
•Types of Knowledge
•What is knowledge management
•Management Thrusts
•Human & Structural Capital
•Knowledge Management Technology
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What Is Knowledge?
Difficult to say, because knowledge is:
• Complex (more elaborate relationships between pieces than with
data and information; includes concept maps, procedures, proofs,
axioms, conclusions, etc.)
• Messy (goes beyond neatly polished theory to include experience,
rules of thumb, intuition)
• Contradictory (competing axioms and theories that indeed make
move knowledge development; contradictory data/info usually
considered inaccurate)
More
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What Is Knowledge?
Difficult to say, because knowledge is:
• Memory (we “know” something we can recall from our
memory) and generative capability (we “know” when we
can infer or deduce a conclusion, make a knowledgeable
decision)
• Enabler for action (knowing [planning, predicting] can
come before acting--a priori knowledge)
• A “thing” that can be taught – also we really know
something when we can teach others (so, hard to
differentiate from info)
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Types of Knowledge (Note: various classification criteria used)
• A priori (deductive, derived by reasoning beforehand)
• A posteriori (inductive, based on experience)
• Procedural (or “process”; how-to-do, set of steps; e.g., best practice)
• Semantic (about relationships between concepts, categorizing;
e.g., the way we usually study)
• Episodic (piece of history; e.g., war story, best practice, case)
• Explicit (can be verbalized or in some way codified)
vs. Tacit (cannot be verbalized easily, based on rich professional experience)
(Source: Davenport & Prusak, Working Knowledge, 1998)
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What is knowledge management 1/2
The management activities view
(life cycle view similar to “information management”):
Knowledge management includes activities of
•Capturing (from organizational members; e.g., expert
systems)
•Codifying (putting in a form that communicates to
others; indexing; providing maps and guides)
•Collecting (from outside sources; e.g., technical lit.)
•Creating (internally; e.g., R+D)
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What is knowledge management 2/2
•Storing (is systems, in organizational procedures etc.)
•Organizing (establishing relationships, classifying)
•Filtering (sorting out what’s not needed)
•Updating (work procedures, patents…)
•Transferring/Communicating (providing technology, incentives and
occasions; what can really be transferred?)
•Utilizing (putting at wok, drawing value)
•Discarding (increasingly important, especially IT-related
knowledge)
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Management Thrusts
• Bill Gates: Get information to the people who need it so that they
can act on it quickly (e.g.; at Microsoft, 90% questions from the
sales people must be answered by product managers within 48
hours); overlap between info & knowledge management
• Current management thrust: Knowledge management refers to
transferring human capital into structural capital.
 More
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Human & Structural Capital
• Human Capital: Knowledge stored in employees’ mind
• Structural Capital (“What’s left in organizations when people
go home”, knowledge stored/materialized in artifacts):
• Knowledge stored in repositories, documents, information
systems
• Knowledge embedded in organizational structure, technology,
practices, products
• techniques -- work procedures, management methods
• tools/machinery (software, hardware--any)
• patents, copyrighted products, brand making/maintaining
• Innovation Potential (e.g., educational functions & processes)
(Source: Edvinsson & Malone, Realizing Your Company’s True Value by Finding
Its Hidden Brainpower, 1997)
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Knowledge Management Technology
• Communication technology (transfer)
• Groupware (storing, transfer)
• Educational applications, now Web-based (transfer)
• Expert Systems (storage, transfer, creation)
• Case Based Systems (storage, transfer, creation)
• “Knowledge discovery” technology (creation)
- Older: data analysis tools
- Newer: data mining; artificial neural networks
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