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Introduction to Knowledge Management 5

• Build up a toolkit of methods that can be used with individuals, with groups, and
with the organization to stem the potential loss of intellectual capital

What Is Knowledge Management?

An informal survey conducted by the author identifi ed over a hundred published
defi nitions of knowledge management and of these, at least seventy-two could be
considered to be very good! Carla O ’ Dell has gathered over sixty defi nitions and has
developed a preliminary classifi cation scheme for the defi nitions on her KM blog (see
http://blog.simslearningconnections.com/?p=279) and what this indicates is that KM
is a multidisciplinary fi eld of study that covers a lot of ground. This should not be
surprising as applying knowledge to work is integral to most business activities.
However, the fi eld of KM does suffer from the “ Three Blind Men and an Elephant ”
syndrome. In fact, there are likely more than three distinct perspectives on KM, and
each leads to a different extrapolation and a different defi nition.
Here are a few sample defi nitions of knowledge management from the business
perspective:
Strategies and processes designed to identify, capture, structure, value, leverage, and share an
organization’s intellectual assets to enhance its performance and competitiveness. It is based on
two critical activities: (1) capture and documentation of individual explicit and tacit knowledge,
and (2) its dissemination within the organization. ( The Business Dictionary , http://www.business-
dictionary.com/defi nition/knowledge-management.html)

Knowledge management is a collaborative and integrated approach to the creation, capture,
organization, access, and use of an enterprise ’ s intellectual assets. ( Grey 1996)
Knowledge management is the process by which we manage human centered assets . . . the
function of knowledge management is to guard and grow knowledge owned by individuals, and
where possible, transfer the asset into a form where it can be more readily shared by other
employees in the company. ( Brooking 1999 , 154)
Further defi nitions come from the intellectual or knowledge asset perspective:
Knowledge management consists of “ leveraging intellectual assets to enhance organizational
performance. ” ( Stankosky 2008 )
Knowledge management develops systems and processes to acquire and share intellectual assets.
It increases the generation of useful, actionable, and meaningful information, and seeks to
increase both individual and team learning. In addition, it can maximize the value of an orga-
nization ’ s intellectual base across diverse functions and disparate locations. Knowledge manage-
ment maintains that successful businesses are a collection not of products but of distinctive
knowledge bases. This intellectual capital is the key that will give the company a competitive