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100 Chapter 4

of the ages. ” Knowledge that is not captured in this way becomes devalued and
eventually ignored. Knowledge is more than statements, declarations, and observa-
tions: it represents an intellectual currency that produces the most value when
circulated. It may have unrealized potential and value, but unless it is spent, its value
is not tested.
In today ’ s fast-paced economy, an organization ’ s knowledge base is quickly becom-
ing its only sustainable competitive advantage. As such, this resource must be pro-
tected, cultivated, and shared among organizational members. Until recently,
companies could succeed based upon the individual knowledge of a handful of stra-
tegically positioned individuals. Increasingly, however, competitive advantage is to be
gained by making individual knowledge available within the organization, which then
becomes organizational knowledge. Organizational knowledge complements individ-
ual knowledge and makes it stronger and broader. The full utilization of an organiza-
tion ’ s knowledge base, coupled with the potential of individual skills, competencies,
thoughts, innovations, and ideas, will enable a company to compete more effectively
in the future. Competitiveness is becoming increasingly dependent on an organiza-
tion ’ s agility or ability to respond to changes in a very timely manner. The major
component of agility lies in the skills and learning abilities of the knowledge workers
within that organization.
There is no doubt that knowledge capture may be diffi cult, particularly in the case
of tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge management is the process of capturing the
experience and expertise of the individual in an organization and making it available
to anyone who needs it. The capture of explicit knowledge is the systematic approach
of capturing, organizing, and refi ning information in a way that makes information
easy to fi nd, and facilitates learning and problem solving. Knowledge often remains
tacit until someone asks a direct question. At that point, tacit can become explicit,
but unless that information is captured for someone else to use again at a later date,
learning, productivity, and innovation are stifl ed.
Once knowledge is explicit, it should be organized in a structured document that
will enable multipurpose use. The best KM tools enable knowledge creation once and
then leverage it across multiple channels, including phone, e-mail, discussion forums,
Internet telephony, and any new channels that come online. There are a wide variety
of techniques used to capture and codify knowledge and many of these have their
origins in fi elds other than knowledge management (e.g., artifi cial intelligence, sociol-
ogy, instructional design), which are described here.