KNOWLEDGE NETWORK

Organizational Knowledge Network



Organizational Knowledge Network

Introduction

The changing business world means new opportunities for librarians to be "future ready." Knowledge Management is a systematic process by which are created, stored, distributed and applied the basic elements of intellectual capital necessary for the success of the organization, strategy, transforming all types of intellectual assets in higher productivity, efficiency, and new value. As librarians redefine themselves as KM managers and become more closely aligned with the language and values of the organization, they are better positioned to support the knowledge workers of tomorrow and to leverage the organization's knowledge to meet its business objectives. Successful KM managers are seen as integral to the organization, and their value is undisputed.

Organizational Knowledge Networks

For at least the past 10 years, accounting firms have been talking about knowledge management; most have done a poor job of capturing the tacit knowledge and a few have been able to capture the core knowledge through their document management systems. Even for those that have captured knowledge, it has often been difficult for others to locate and utilize it (Walker et al, 1997, pp. 109). Why is it important to capture knowledge, especially tacit knowledge? Here are a few of the more important reasons:

The workforce is aging and valuable knowledge will soon walk out the door.

New client services generally come from those with tacit knowledge (within or outside of the firm).

Your firm's future success will be determined by its access to intellectual capital.

If the firm knows what its employees know, it will be much more successful. Knowledge is the asset (intellectual capital) that walks out the door every night.

Selling time conflicts with the knowledge management approach. There is never any time to coach people on the importance of learning and sharing knowledge in firms that are only focused on selling time (Uzzi et al, 2007, pp. 77).

Knowledge management is not a new technology that can simply be installed, but there are systems like Microsoft's SharePoint and CCH's Knowledge Connect that provide structure and help capture, store and distribute the knowledge in a just-in-time fashion. Knowledge management is a firm project and not an IT project. If you place the responsibility on the IT department, at best you will have a document management system and not a knowledge management system. If knowledge management is cultural, how can firms enhance or change their cultures successfully? I believe it starts at the top and has much to do with attitude. Lifelong learners tend to share, with the attitude that by doing so, they will continue to grow. If your firm and its employees are protective of their knowledge, a system will not fix the problem. On the other hand, if the firm is willing to share internally and externally, the culture is already in place and can be nurtured successfully, with technology as the accelerator (Tsoukas, 1996, pp. 11).

Knowledge management is a popular topic and generally discussed in relation to an information technology ...