Knowledge Management 1 : Practically Defined

Knowledge management is a very personal activity that, if practiced widely, can improve organization’s ability to achieve development results. Knowledge management means taking responsibility for what you know, who you know—and what they know.

Knowledge management begins and ends as a personal activity. Without the human understanding, personal context and need for immediate utility which we bring to bear on knowledge, all we have is raw data.

Personally accessible, immediately useful and relatively inexpensive personal knowledge management tools can empower development workers to take ownership of their intellectual assets. Knowledge management starts with the individual and moves through an organization. Every individual uses knowledge management tools – including personal memory, date books, notebooks, file cabinets, email archives, calendars, post-it notes, bulletin boards, newsletters, journals, and restaurant napkins. Knowledge management begins when an organization enables individuals to link their personal knowledge management systems with organizational knowledge management systems.

Knowledge management tools only work when individuals see direct benefits in linking their personal knowledge management systems with organizational knowledge management systems. If development workers believe that the chores of contributing to an organizational knowledge management program benefit only their bosses, and not themselves or the communities with which they work, they may decide the best way to take advantage of the value of their individual knowledge is to use it for personal or local advantage. This results in serious knowledge deficits for the wider organization.

At the individual level, knowledge management involves a range of relatively simple and inexpensive techniques and tools that anyone can use to acquire, create and share knowledge, extend personal networks and collaborate with colleagues without having to rely on the technical or financial resources of the organization. Implemented from the bottom up by one development worker at a time, these techniques can increase productivity and enthusiasm and help to build momentum that can overcome the technological and social barriers to top-down, organization-wide knowledge management initiatives.