Introduction to knowledge management
Unfortunately, there is no widely accepted definition of knowledge management at present, just as there was no consensus on what knowledge is made of at the beginning. Therefore, we'd better understand knowledge management in a broad sense. In short, knowledge management is the process of creating value by using organizational wisdom or knowledge assets. The most common thing is to create and * * * enjoy knowledge value in the process of employees, departments and even cooperating with other companies to design the best solution. It is worth noting that technology is not mentioned in this definition. Although knowledge management often needs the help of IT technology, knowledge management itself is not a technology.
Golf caddies can be regarded as a simple example of knowledge workers. A good caddy should not only pick up the ball with a bat. When the golfer consults, a good caddy will give him some advice, such as "The ninth hole is longer than the actual one because of the wind 15 yards". At the end of the day, accurate advice may make caddies get more tips. On the other hand, golfers who benefit from caddy's advice are more likely to play here next time. If a good caddy is willing to share his knowledge with other caddies, they will eventually get more tips. How does knowledge management achieve this? Caddy owners may decide to give them credit for popular goods as a reward for sharing their tips. Once the best suggestions are collected, the manager of the stadium will collect the information in a notebook and send it to all caddies. A well-designed knowledge management plan will eventually win everyone. In this example, caddies get more tips and can buy more goods; Golfers will play better because they gain skills from the collective experience of caddies; And the owner of the stadium also benefits, because better grades bring more repeat customers.
Second, the composition of intelligence or intellectual assets.
Not all information is valuable. Therefore, it is up to the company to decide what kind of information is intellectual and knowledge assets. Generally speaking, however, intelligence and knowledge assets can be divided into two categories: explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. Such as patents, trademarks, business plans, market research and customer lists are all explicit knowledge. According to practical experience, explicit knowledge can be sorted, archived and stored by computer. What is more difficult to understand is the concept of tacit knowledge, which is stored in people's brains. The inherent challenge of tacit knowledge lies in how to identify, generate, share and manage tacit knowledge. Some IT technologies, such as e-mail, software packages, instant messaging and related technologies, can help spread tacit knowledge, but identifying tacit knowledge is the main obstacle for most companies.
Third, the benefits of knowledge management to the company
Some benefits of knowledge management are directly related to the knowledge owned by the company, while others are more difficult to quantify. In today's information-driven economic era, enterprises seize the most favorable opportunities and finally get the greatest benefits from knowledge assets instead of tangible assets. In order to make the company get the maximum benefit from knowledge assets, knowledge management practitioners believe that knowledge must be shared and used as the basis of cooperation. However, better cooperation itself has not been completed. Without a good business environment, knowledge management is meaningless at best, and worse, it may be harmful. Therefore, an effective knowledge management plan should help companies do one or more of the following:
Encourage freedom of thought and cultivate innovative spirit.
Improve customer service level by shortening reaction time.
Provide revenue by providing products and services to the market quickly.
By recognizing the value of employees' knowledge and giving corresponding rewards, the retention rate of employees can be improved.
Adopt assembly line operation to reduce costs by reducing redundant or unnecessary links.
These are the most common examples. In any practical business operation, creative knowledge management can improve efficiency and productivity and increase income.
Fourth, the challenge of knowledge management.
1, so that employees can keep pace with the times.
Some problems in knowledge management usually arise because companies ignore humanities and culture. In an environment where personal knowledge is valued and paid, it is very important to establish a culture that can identify tacit knowledge and encourage employees to enjoy it. The company needs to make the concept of knowledge management deeply rooted in the hearts of employees, which should not be underestimated. After all, employees are often required to contribute their knowledge and experience, which makes their personal value reflected.
The company encourages employees to participate in knowledge management by establishing an incentive mechanism. However, there is a dangerous situation here, that is, employees only care about participating in knowledge management in order to obtain benefits, regardless of the quality and relevance of the information they contribute. The best knowledge management should be as transparent as possible to employees. Ideally, employees voluntarily join knowledge management based on their own interests. If knowledge management can't improve the living standard of employees, then this kind of knowledge management is a failure.
2. Technology dominates knowledge management.
Knowledge management is not a technical concept. Don't be fooled by software vendors, who often claim that their software includes all knowledge management solutions. Companies that want to use centralized database system, electronic information version, network or other auxiliary tools to establish knowledge management plans are usually wasting their time and money. Although technology can support knowledge management, it is not the starting point of knowledge management plan. The knowledge management scheme is based on who (people), what (knowledge) and why (business objectives), and the method (technology) comes last.
3. There is no specific business goal.
Knowledge management plans should not be divorced from business objectives. Although it is a commendable idea to enjoy the best plan, there must be a potential reason for them to do so. Without a fixed business case, knowledge management is an ineffective practice.
4. Knowledge management is not static.
Like many tangible assets, the value of knowledge will depreciate over time. With the rapid obsolescence of knowledge, the contents in the knowledge management scheme should be updated, modified and deleted at any time. More importantly, whenever the relevant knowledge changes, the skills of employees will also change. It can be said that the knowledge management scheme has no end. Like product development, marketing and research and development, knowledge management is an ever-developing business plan.
5. Not all information is knowledge.
Some companies spare no effort to search for too much information. Quantity is not equal to quality, and knowledge management is no exception. In fact, the key point of a knowledge management scheme is how to identify and spread the essence of knowledge from the information ocean.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) is the promoter of knowledge management.
Because knowledge management is not a technical concept but a business plan, enterprise knowledge management should not be led by the information director (the information director is suitable for leading the knowledge management of IT departments). Some companies let knowledge directors or other senior presidents lead knowledge management. Other companies put some functional department sponsors who use knowledge management in charge.
Technical support for knowledge management of intransitive verbs
Knowledge management tools range from standard and ready-made e-mail packages to some precise auxiliary tools specially designed to support community building and certification. Generally speaking, these tools are nothing more than the following: knowledge base, professional knowledge tools, internet learning tools, discussion and communication technologies, synchronous interactive tools and information search tools.