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Introduction to Knowledge Management 25

KM for Individuals, Communities, and Organizations
Knowledge management provides benefi ts to individual employees, to communities
of practice, and to the organization itself. This three-tiered view of KM helps empha-
size why KM is important today (see fi gure 1.6 ).
For the individual, KM:
• Helps people do their jobs and save time through better decision making and
problem solving
• Builds a sense of community bonds within the organization
• Helps people to keep up to date
• Provides challenges and opportunities to contribute
For the community of practice, KM:
• Develops professional skills
• Promotes peer-to-peer mentoring
• Facilitates more effective networking and collaboration
• Develops a professional code of ethics that members can adhere to
• Develops a common language

For the organization, KM:
• Helps drive strategy
• Solves problems quickly
• Diffuses best practices
• Improves knowledge embedded in products and services
• Cross-fertilizes ideas and increases opportunities for innovation
• Enables organizations to better stay ahead of the competition
• Builds organizational memory

Containers Communities

Content

Figure 1.6
Summary of the three major components of KM