Knowledge management: a glossary
A
artificial intelligence: technology that attempts to make machines behave like humans. These technologies include case-based reasoning, expert systems and neural networks.
B
balanced scorecard1: set of performance measures that assess operational factors important to long-term corporate success - such as customer satisfaction, internal processes, and innovation and improvement activities - as well as financial indicators that measure past performance.
benchmarking: a systematic and continuous comparative performance exercise - in similar processes, for example - against primary competitors or organisations in different industries and sectors that perform generic activities. Large organisations may also apply the process to internal functions and departments that are successful in a particular field of activity.
best practices: superior performance within a function or department that contributes to outstanding performance.
C
case-based reasoning: branch of artificial intelligence that involves extracting knowledge from a series of narratives or case studies about a problem and codifying it for a computer.
chief knowledge officer: employee charged with harnessing corporate knowledge and ensuring it is used strategically.
communities of practice: groups of employees, usually self-organised, that come together to share a common expertise or interest.
competencies: personal characteristics that make an individual effective in a given role. Competencies include behavioural attributes, such as individual's ability as a decision maker or to be a reliable team member or their capacity for creative and innovative thought, and specific job-related skills, including knowledge, customer awareness and quality of output.
competitive advantage: activity, resource, product or process, for example, which gives one organisation the edge over its competitors.
corporate memory: an organisation's practices, which are embodied in the workforce and which guide behaviour.
core competence: concept developed by James Quinn, and C K Prahalad and Gary Hamel2 and others, which argues that organisations have "core" competencies which they should concentrate on developing and nurturing.
corporate culture: the formal or official way of doing things in a firm. See organisational culture.
cross-functional activities: operations which transcend one or more function.
cross-functional team: group of employees from various parts of an organisation who bring with them a wide variety of expertise, skills and knowledge. The groups are usually established for a specific purpose. They facilitate communication, promote mutual understanding and encourage knowledge sharing.
culture: corporate culture is the formal or official way of doing things, and organisational culture is the way things area actually done in an organisation. Typically, an organisational culture is informal. The terms are often used as though they are interchangeable, with no distinction between the two.
customer capital: the value of a firm's relationships with its customers, including intangible aspects such as loyalty.
customer satisfaction: measure of customer satisfaction against a pre-determined set of performance indicators. Customer satisfaction rates are generally measured using a balance of soft and hard indicators. Soft measures are based on customer opinions and perceptions, but if such indicators are to provide the basis of strategy they must be supported by hard evidence of what people do, such as customer retention rates.
D
data: specific, objective facts about an event, such as the daily record of financial transactions in a retail store.
data mining: an application that sorts, ranks and calculates data in a large database in order to reveal patterns which otherwise would not have become apparent.
data warehouse: a centralised repository for information.
declarative knowledge: psychological term for the knowledge people hold about all manner of objects and situations, facts and figures.
document management system: applications that support the management of documents, enabling them to be stored, archived, catalogued, categorised, searched and retrieved.
E
electronic collaboration: processes, such as e-mail, groupware and video conferencing, that support joint working among employees, often in different locations.
embedded knowledge: complex and initially tacit knowledge that becomes embedded in a product, service or process. Embedded knowledge is independent of its originator(s).
enabler: processes and practices that provide the means for superior performance. In knowledge management, information technologies are the key enablers.
enabling technologies: any software, hardware of technology that supports knowledge sharing.
expert system: branch of artificial intelligence that develops computer systems to mimic human decision making.
explicit knowledge: knowledge that can be codified and expressed in words and numbers. Examples include written procedures, manuals, patents and reports. See tacit knowledge.
extranet: an internet-type network joining different company intranets together in order to share information and speed or expand inter-company collaboration.
G
groupware: computer software that encourages the sharing of information and supports project management and knowledge sharing, among others. Groupware is a popular tool in the US. Examples of such software include Lotus Notes, Novell's Groupwise, ICL's TeamWare, Microsoft Exchange and Staffware.
H
human capital: the experience, knowledge, skills and competencies of employees in an organisation. It is that part of intellectual capital that can renewed.
I
informal networks: people who collaborate, communicate and share knowledge on an informal basis.
information: data that has been sorted, analysed and displayed, and which conveys a message altering the way the receiver perceives something.
intangible assets: corporate assets, such as employee competence (skills, education and seniority), customer relationships and internal structures, such as patents and systems that are largely invisible but which are the key to performance. Also sometimes referred to as intellectual capital.
intellectual property: corporate knowledge that is legally protected by copyright and patent laws, for example.
internet: global collection of computer networks that use a common addressing system.
intranet: internal network that is available only to employees and members of an organisation. Intranets can carry a variety of information ranging from the company phone book to technical project information. Some items can be encrypted so that a password is required for access. See also extranet and internet.
K
knowledge: information that it transformed by people through making comparisons and connections, identifying consequences and discussing it with others.
knowledge creation: a process defined by Ikujiro Nonaka3 as the interaction of explicit and tacit knowledge. It is through this process that ideas develop in the minds of individuals, although it depends crucially on interaction with others. Nonaka's model of this process consists of four stages: socialisation (tacit to tacit); externalisation (tacit to explicit); combination (explicit to explicit); and internalisation (explicit to tacit).
knowledge economy: term coined by James Quinn4 to describe a service-based economy in which the value of the work people do and the value of the products and services firms sell rests mainly on knowledge.
knowledge management: systematic and organised attempt to use knowledge within an organisation to improve individual and corporate performance.
knowledge map: inventory of a firm's information and knowledge sources.
knowledge market: concept developed by Thomas Davenport and Laurence Prusak5 which likens the exchange of knowledge in a firm to how traditional commodities markets operate. Reciprocity is the main price placed on knowledge, with knowledge "sellers" expecting to receive equally valuable knowledge in return.
knowledge repository: a collection of knowledge which is accessible by others through technologies such as groupware.
learning: the acquisition of knowledge that may change a person's behaviour or at least, their capacity to change.
learning organisation: term that refers to an organisational commitment to encourage employee development and to provide continuous learning opportunities to enable the business to adapt to continuing change and to meet future challenges.
M
mentoring: activity in which experienced employees help less knowledgeable or experienced members of staff. Mentoring is a good way of passing on tacit knowledge.
neural network: branch of artificial intelligence that can turn data into knowledge. It is a statistical tool to classify cases and place them into specific categories, predicting the likely outcome.
non-financial measures: indicators that do not relate to financial aspects of the business, but that may provide a measure of future performance. Non-financial measures include intangible assets, such as product and process innovation, customer satisfaction and employee competence.
O
organisational culture: the way things are actually done in a firm. Typically, an organisational culture is informal. See corporate culture.
P
procedural knowledge: psychological term for the knowledge people have about how to do things.
T
tacit knowledge: knowledge that resides in people's heads, including know-how, intuition, insight and experiences. Tacit knowledge informs people as to how they should handle the situations and objects they are faced with, such as how they should accomplish a task.
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT WEBSITES
Portal sites
Portals are sites that offer entry to a community of related sites. Two of the best knowledge management portal sites are the Knowledge Management Resource Centre, a service of the Atlanta-based IKM Corporation, and the BizTech Network's WWW Virtual Library for Knowledge Management.
The Knowledge Management Resource Centre can be located at http://www.kmresource.com . It is described as "your gateway to the world of knowledge management" and contains a comprehensive collection of resources. These are split into 16 "departments", including case studies, periodicals, links to articles and reports, as well as other knowledge management sites, and a book shop, cataloguing 131 titles with a direct ordering facility. The site is fully searchable.
http://www.brint.com/km is the home of the WWW Virtual Library for Knowledge Management, and is described as the "premier business and technology portal and global communication network for e-business, information, technology and knowledge management". The Wall Street Journal says @brint.com contains the "largest collection of knowledge management material" and InfoWorld claims it is the "best website on the topic". The site is compiled by Dr Yogesh Malhotra and it is a resource for knowledge management forums, conferences, articles, magazines, books, analyses and news, among others.
There are two other sites that provide links to a wide range of knowledge management resources, although these are not as extensive as either kmresource.com or brint.com/km.
The website of the Institute of Public Policy at George Mason University in Virginia contains a knowledge management section. It is called Knowledge Management Central and can be located at http://www.icasit.org/km . It has links to other knowledge management resources on the web, reviews and reference listings of books, selected articles and a glossary of terminology. The site includes a large number of case studies, many of which are by the renowned knowledge writer Tom Davenport. There are also links to the home pages of over 25 companies involved in knowledge management activities.
The University of St Gallen in Switzerland is home of the NetAcademy of Knowledge Media. Its site at www.knowledgemedia.org contains links to knowledge management and related resources. As well as lists of knowledge management articles and case studies, the site also includes links to experts in the field and an "Ekm forum" - a virtual community of knowledge management professionals.
Guru sites
Most of the knowledge management "gurus" operate their own websites. These sites generally provide access to articles they have written, although some also contain extensive links to other knowledge management resources.
The articles written by Karl Erik Sveiby, as well as his interactive learning tools, can be accessed at www.sveiby.com.au The library section also contains works by other leading knowledge writers, including Hirotaka Takeuchi, co-author of The knowledge-creating company, and Michael Polanyi. The site includes 11 articles on knowledge management by Sveiby that are designed for those new to the topic. There is also a comprehensive bibliography of knowledge management books compiled by Eric Tsui, and a review section by Bill Godfrey.
www.knowledgeresearch.com is the website of the Knowledge Research Institute run by Karl and Elisabeth Wiig. Karl, author of four books and more than 40 articles on knowledge management, has been at the forefront of its development.
The Teleos site at www.knowledgebusiness.com is run by Rory L Chase, another proponent of knowledge management. It contains a library of knowledge management news and publications, a diary of events and reviews other knowledge management websites. It also provides access to the Knowledge Network - described as a "group of leading knowledge organisations dedicated to the identification and exchange of best practice knowledge processes".
Buckman Laboratories, the US biotech company often featured as successful knowledge management case study, operates its own website offering advice and links to resources. It can be located at www.knowledge-nurture.com . Information about Buckman's knowledge management activities can be found in the "Buckman Room" section of the site, and a "starter kit", listing recommended reading for people new to the topic, is also available.
Others
Several research organisations and a number of consultancies have produced information on knowledge management, some of which can be downloaded directly from the web. The best include:
Ernst & Young - www.businessinnovation.ey.com/research/researchf.html
KPMG - www.kpmg.com
Conference Board - www.conference-board.org or www.conference-board.org/europe.htm
American Productivity & Quality Centre - www.apqc.org
Recommended reading
Working knowledge: how organisations manage what they know, Thomas Davenport and Laurence Prusak (1998), Harvard School Press, Boston, Massachusetts, ISBN 0 8758 4655 6.
Common knowledge: how companies thrive by sharing what they know, Nancy Dixon (2000), Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts, ISBN 0 8758 4904 0.
The knowledge-creating company, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi (1995), Oxford University Press, Oxford, ISBN 0 1950 9269 4.
The new organisational wealth: managing and measuring knowledge-based assets, Karl Erik Sveiby (1997), Berret-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco, ISBN 1 5767 5014 0.
Cultural change, IRS Management Review 4, January 1997, IRS/Eclipse, London, www.irseclipse.co.uk
Developing the knowledge creating culture, Christina Evans (2000), Roffey Park Institute, Horsham, www.roffeypark.com
Managing knowledge for business success, Don Cohen, David E Smith, Laurence Prusak and Richard Azzarello (1997), The Conference Board, report 1194-97-CH, ISBN 0 8237 0643 5.
Managing knowledge in the new economy, Don Cohen (1998), The Conference Board, report 1222-98-CH, ISBN 0 8237 0671 0.
Beyond knowledge management: new ways to work and learn, Brian Hackett (2000), The Conference Board, report 1262-00-RR, ISBN 0 8237 0711 3.
1 See The balanced scorecard: translating strategy into action, Robert Kaplan and David Norton (1996), Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts.
2 Intelligent enterprise: a knowledge and service based paradigm for industry, James Quinn (1992), Free Press, New York; "The core competence of the corporation", C K Prahalad and Gary Hamel (1990), Harvard Business Review, May-June.
3 The knowledge-creating company, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi (1995), Oxford University Press, Oxford.
4 Intelligent enterprise: a knowledge and service based paradigm for industry, James Quinn (1992), Free Press, New York.
5 Working knowledge: how organisations manage what they know, Thomas Davenport and Laurence Prusak (1998), Harvard School Press, Boston, Massachusetts.
