What is KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT?

Knowledge management enables individuals, teams

and entire organisations to collectively and
systematically create, share and apply knowledge to
achieve their strategic and operational objectives.
Knowledge management contributes to increasing
the efficiency and effectiveness of operations on the
one hand and to innovate and change the quality of
competition on the other. The aim of knowledge-
oriented management is to generate knowledge
from information and convert this knowledge into a
sustainable competitive advantage that can be
measured as success in the business. Source : Knowledge Management
Author: Klaus North & Kuma Gita
In view of this, knowledge management is
comprised of the following tasks and
purposes:
*Acquiring knowledge: Ensuring that the
information and knowledge necessary for
business development and business processes
is available.
* Creating knowledge: Ensuring that the
knowledge is developed in the most suitable
place inside or outside the company and that it
leads to innovation.
*Sharing and using knowledge: Ensuring
dissemination, learning and optimum use of
knowledge.
*Learning: Ensuring that the organisation and
each of its employees is able to learn and to
reflect as well as apply what is learned.
*Protecting knowledge: Knowledge is an asset
and its value needs to be protected by keeping
it updated through contributions from people.
What does «knowledge of an organization» actually
mean?
Knowledge can be classified as explicit and tacit.
Explicit knowledge is formal and structured and can be
codified to be shared, while tacit knowledge is
experiential, consisting of lessons learned while executing
tasks/projects and insights gained from continuous
problem resolution.
Among other things, knowledge is comprised of patents,
processes, technologies, abilities, skills and experiences
of employees, and information about customers, markets
and suppliers.
Knowledge is developed in a specific context and
cannot be considered in an isolated form. It is people
specific and its availability or existence is unknown in
many cases. For example, even if a painter precisely
explains to us how he has made a certain painting,
we are unable to reproduce the same painting. The
result of this complexity of knowledge is that it
cannot be completely stored and transferred
detached from people. Knowledge is not «frozen
food» that can be randomly stored, broken down and
transferred. It is like preparing fresh food and
learning from it every time; knowledge is the process
of knowing .
How should a company introduce knowledge management?
Experience has shown that a combined change process from top
to bottom (top down) and from bottom to top (bottom up)
supported by appropriate information technology is promising.
It is possible to adopt different ways of introducing knowledge
management.
The following arrangements should be made:
* Knowledge, learning and innovation are integral parts of the
overall organisational strategy. The leaders of the organisation
should be fully committed to actively managing knowledge
resources: «Knowledge creation and transfer is very important
for ensuring prolonged competitiveness of our company. The
performance of the management and the employees is
measured based on this».
Management and reward systems should be reformed so that
learning and competence development oriented at the overall
goals of the organisation are honoured. Collaboration is a defining
principle across the organisation. Managers and leaders recognise
and reinforce the link between knowledge, learning and
performance.
Relevant knowledge is made available and enriched in processes,
work flow and projects. Competence networks and «Communities
of Practice» transfer knowledge within and outside the company
(e.g. to suppliers).
The information and communication systems ensure that
information is easy to access and retrieve. Selected information is
sent to potential users in a systematic and coherent manner.
How to create a «knowledge ecology» that promotes
knowledge flows and learning across the organisation?
A knowledge-promoting environment – also known as a
knowledge ecology – contains a value system that is
characterised by terms like trust, cooperation and openness
to continuous change. Today, the goals and incentive
systems in many of the companies are based on business
units or profit centres. Individual performance is honoured
more than teamwork. However, under knowledge
management, companies begin to consider measurable
contributions to the creation and transfer of knowledge in
their appraisal systems. While rewarding knowledge
workers, the success of the entire organisation is heavily
weighted (e.g. using equity options) in order to encourage
transfer of knowledge and teamwork across firms.
How can we organise processes and structures to
support a knowledge market in an organisation?
Establishing a knowledge market facilitates
knowledge supply and demand, brings knowledge
sellers and knowledge buyers in contact,
facilitates exchange of knowledge and determines
the exchange conditions. What does this actually
mean? Firstly, it is necessary to achieve
transparency in terms of «who knows what in the
organisation». Once the knowledge supply is
presented transparently, the sellers and the
buyers should be brought into contact with each
other.
Formal and informal networks (e.g. communities
of practice) are increasingly gaining importance for
this purpose. Contact fairs, approaches via the
internet, debates, exchange of experiences,
mentoring, etc., are other options to bring
knowledge sellers and knowledge buyers in
contact with each other. The common interest of
the seller and the buyer is crucial for the success of
the subsequent exchange of knowledge or the
collective development of knowledge. Exchange
and development of knowledge can take place
through competence networks, cooperative
projects, personnel rotation and exchange of
manuals as well as process and customer
information.
Principles of Knowledge Management
(Davenport and Prusak,1998)

1.Knowledge originated and resides in people’s minds

2.Knowledge sharing requires trust
3.Knowledge sharing must be encouraged and
rewarded
4.Management support and resources are essential
5.Knowledge is creative and should be encouraged to
develop in unexpected ways.
6.Technology enables new knowledge behaviors
 Importance of Knowledge Management in Public Administration
Knowledge Management (KM) plays important roles in Public
Administration(PA). Each role serves specific constituencies and purposes and
is implemented differently. Jointly, they build society’s intellectual capital (IC)
to improve the effectiveness of public private decision making and situation
handling.
Intellectual Capital is the value of a company's employee knowledge,
skills, business training, or any proprietary information that may provide the
company with a competitive advantage.

Intellectual Capital is considered an asset, and can broadly be defined as the

collection of all informational resources a company has at its disposal that can
be used to drive profits, gain new customers, create new products, or otherwise
improve the business. It is the sum of employee expertise, organizational
processes, and other intangibles that contribute to a company's bottom line. (
www.investopedia.com)
 Proprietary information is information that a company wishes to keep
secret. This type of information can include everything from a recipe, to a
specific formula, or a design plan that is used to make a company’s
products. It can also extend to a company’s salary structure, employment
contracts, and marketing plans. An example of proprietary information, in
some cases, might be any information an employee learns while on the
job.( legal.dictionary.net)

Competitive advantage refers to factors that allow a company to produce

goods or services better or more cheaply than its rivals. These factors allow
the productive entity to generate more sales or superior margins compared
to its market rivals. Competitive advantages are attributed to a variety of
factors including cost structure, branding, the quality of product offerings,
the distribution network, intellectual property, and customer service.
(www.Investopedia.com)
 Four Knowledge Management (KM) areas are
considered in PA:

1.Enhance decision making within public services;

2.Aid the public to participate effectively in public
decision making.
3.Build competitive societal Intellectual Capital (IC)
capabilities;
4.Develop knowledge competitive work force.
Knowledge Management in Philippine Setting
“Knowledge management is a discipline that promotes an
integrated approach to identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving,
and sharing all of an enterprise’s information assets. These assets
may include databases, documents, policies, procedures, and
previously un-captured expertise and experience…” (Duhon, 1998).
The Public-Private Partnership Center offers a comprehensive
technical assistance package in assisting project proponent
agencies/Implementing Agencies (IAs) to develop and monitor PPP
projects efficiently. Part of the crucial technical assistance is
Knowledge Management and documentation.
As a knowledge organization, the role of the Knowledge Management
at the PPP Center is critical in harnessing past lessons and
supporting the current work of the Center as well as its Government
stakeholders. As such, Knowledge Management is a key strategy to
manage information, processes, people and technology more
efficiently especially in a multi-stakeholder environment.
With a great demand for transparency and accountability from the
government, the PPP Center took into arms the creation of the
Knowledge Management Division (KMD) that acts as the lead unit in
helping to promote the country’s PPP agenda and in strengthening
technical assistance for Implementing Agencies’ communication
plans, implementation and their PPP activities.
Part of KMD’s strategy is to mainstream Knowledge Management in
the PPP program through providing support for knowledge needs of
decision-makers/policy makers in governance and policy, providing
new platforms, tools and knowledge products to promote learning
and innovation for capacity development, promoting knowledge
support during project facilitations, promoting knowledge support
during project monitoring and evaluation and promoting access and
utilization of the PPP knowledge base.
Aside from technical assistance, the KMD is also the communication
arm of the PPP Center. One of its main functions is to amplify the
presence of the Center and the PPP program to the public and its
stakeholders and uphold the image of the Center.
From available PPP project data, KMD gathers and produces up-to-date
information on the PPP program and projects and disseminates them to
different media platforms like print (brochures, flyers, information kits) for local
and international event promotions, broadcast media (TV and radio guestings)
and online content (website, social media, infographics). The latter, being
supported by the Management Information System (MIS) Division in managing
the content of the website – timely update of the project pipeline, bid bulletins,
events, media releases and infographics that are vital content for its
stakeholders.
KMD also takes into social media readily accessible information initiated by the
Center and actively does live updates about PPP events and projects.
And also as part of the communication’s mandate is to
establish and sustain relationships with media practitioners
and key opinion makers in broadcast, print and online
media through press briefings and event coordination.
With the vision of being a knowledge organization, the PPP
Center also created the PPP Knowledge Hub whereby KMD
is in charge of establishing, maintaining and promoting PPP
knowledge products and PPP related materials such as
project finance, risk management and economic reports. It
is an essential component of the PPP program to which it
acts as the central repository for PPP information
Source: www.ppp.gov.ph/knowledge-management