What is KM?

Before attending this class, I was unaware of the existence of Knowledge Management. After our first class i had a better understanding about it. I define it as: methods in which information and/or knowledge is stored or transferred and reused. Before we moved on to talk about how we transferred the knowledge, we discussed the different types of knowledge: tacit and explicit.

Tacit: Knowledge which is subconsciously understoof and applied. It's difficult to express and document and as a result is shared through face to face encounters or by means of tutorial sessions. 

Explicit: Knowledge that is relatively easy to capture and store in databases and documents in order for others to access and learn from.

We talked a little bit in class about how to transfer such knowledge from one person to the next and how transfering even explicit knowledge is at times difficult. I went through something along those lines at work both over the summer and last semester. Most employees do not understand its value and ofcourse since they are such busy people with a lot to do to meet project deadlines, prioritize the documentation of their experience and knowledge to the bottom of their to-do-list. I'm guilty of this act myself as well!

A lot of the time we think that the way we do things cannot necessarily be repeated because of "personal opinions" or "personal input" that cannot be verbalized nor formularized. This is untrue. I think the reason we make ourself beleive that is due to fear. Fear that our knowledge wealth is stripped away and can now be used by virtually anyone to complete your current job. Yes techinically this is true - however, this is definitely not in the company's best interest.

"Man without motivation will do nothing"

Therefore in order to make this knowledge documenting and sharing work, the employees need to be assured that they will not loose their jobs as a result or perhaps providing them with some sort of reward. The more knowledge you share, it increases your bonus or you get a day or weekend off. This will result in a win-win situation for both ends!