Knowledge Management: Next Step to Competitive Advantage - Organizational Excellence

Program Manager, Sept-Oct, 2001 by Neal Pollock

Within the last few years, the corporate sector, government agencies, and organizations are demonstrating an increasing interest in the topic of Knowledge Management (KM). KM caters to the critical issues of organizational adaptation, survival, and competence in the face of continuous environmental change.

This article provides answers to the most frequently asked questions about KM, which combines the data and information processing capabilities of information technology (IT) as well as the innovative capacity of human beings.

Q

What is Knowledge Management?

A

The formal Navy definition of Knowledge Management is found in Department of Navy Chief Information Officer (DON CIO) Glossary of IM/IT & KM Terms, dated May 2001, which states, "Knowledge management can be viewed as a process for optimizing the effective application of intellectual capital to achieve organizational objectives." More simply KM is the application of management to knowledge. Management, in this case, refers to the processes involved in creating, generating, classifying, storing, distributing, communicating, tailoring, and reusing knowledge.

Knowledge can be differentiated from data and information as a higher level of abstraction. Data are the nuts and bolts or piece parts, similar, for example, to the components that constitute a kit for a chair that requires assembly.

Once the major assemblies are formed and recognizable (e.g., the seat, the back, the legs), they are comparable to information. The completed chair is likened to knowledge. Thus, information is an arrangement of a set of data in a meaningful form.

Knowledge is a set of processed information with appropriate context to be understandable and actionable. The main characteristic distinguishing knowledge from information is the user's ability to easily act upon the knowledge.

If a ship is under attack, giving the captain a pile of sensor data does no good; giving the captain a drawing of numerous intersecting lines, status reports of ship systems, or even the latitude and longitude of the attacker still doesn't (in and of itself) do any good. One must provide a succinct, appropriate level of abstraction -- actionable knowledge -- that pinpoints the direction and range of the target in terms that the ship's weapons system can interpret, and the "go" status of that system. Only then can the captain decide when or whether to shoot back. That decision depends upon the knowledge provided -- but is not constituted by it.

Knowledge is decision input. The decision, however, requires the captain's understanding and wisdom. Nevertheless, a knowledge base can provide some benchmarks of past actions taken by other captains under similar circumstances and the results from such actions. As David W. Aha explains in a 1992 conference paper on "Generalizing Case Studies: A Case Study," such tools as Case-Based Reasoning (an artificial intelligence application), for instance, can provide insight into the present based upon the past.

Q

What methods does Knowledge Management typically employ?

A

Two main viewpoints of KM exist: social and technical. Some claim that the former constitutes about two-thirds of KM, while others tend to emphasize the latter due to its familiarity and ease of implementation and measurement. Unfortunately, similar to business process reengineering, implementing technical solutions to KM problems or opportunities provides very limited return on investment (ROI). Similarly, implementing KM while only addressing social aspects can have marginal impact and is usually not measurable in a meaningful way -- at least not from a financial perspective.

The large potential gains come from marrying the two aspects by using technology to leverage social interventions or implementations. Thus, IT is well suited to enable the many potential gains of KM. It should be noted, however, that for most people. many KM activities are instinctive. People, by their very nature, share knowledge all the time. KM adds purpose, organization, consciousness, and organizational recognition to the process. Mere institutional acceptance of the organizational value of KM can go a long way in facilitating its effectiveness.

Q

What are the social innovations employed by KM?

A

Communities of Practice (CoP) can be formed to provide a "place" for people working in particular areas of interest to share methods or concerns and establish a history of cooperation and mutual support. This history can be made available to members. The DON CIO leads the KM CoP; however, this is a special case. (Note that this site is currently open to members only; however, other activities may request membership from the public DON CIO Web site at http://www.don-imit.navy.mil/quickplace/.)

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) has numerous CoPs. At a high level, the NAVFAC Technical Discipline Leaders (TDL) share their separate areas of expertise in a CoP that cuts across all of NAVFAC's building endeavors. Each TDL, however, has a CoP for his or her own specific Discipline. These CoPs are not collocated, but are spread throughout CONUS and certain foreign countries in which NAVFAC maintains facilities. Numerous CoPs exist throughout the U.S. Government as well as industry.