Knowledge-at-work

KM & competitive advantage

There are some well-recognized KM strategies which can be applied to gain or leverage competitive advantage. Which one you choose, depends on your firm's competencies, the market niche, competitors and finding an internal champion. Here are some examples:

1) Information transfer: The capture and distribution of explicit information via groupware, file sharing, intranets, or building a corporate repository. Have a process in place to validate and abstract the case histories, connect to people as well as content, provide feedback.

2) Custom knowledge focus: establish a single integrated profile and interface, capture contact information, combine staff insights, extend the enterprise boundaries to include direct customer interaction e.g. virtual product design labs.

3) Measure & market intellectual capital & knowledge assets: mine transaction data streams for patterns and useful business rules, establish a database to sequence and manage all forms of intellectual capital (patents, trademarks, copyright, brand value), allocate value to intangibles and monitor ROI.

4) Competitive intelligence: gather and increase awareness of markets, environment and competitors, establish single target profiles and encourage all staff to contribute, push items to individuals depending on activities & roles e.g. info on competitors new product launch.

5) Community learning: establish and support communities of practice, monitor practice networks for excessive knowledge leaks, start a program of intentional knowledge communities to help with learning and agility.

6) A total knowledge focus: extend best practices to customers and suppliers, use relationship audits to target possible alliances, search for knowledge related opportunities in products, services and supply chain, involve all stakeholders in your knowledge strategy.

Competitive advantage may come from or through faster learning, sustained innovation, reduced cycle times, improved sensitivity and co-evolution with markets or your unique blend of technology and practice. KM can play a central role in all these aspects. The key is having a shared understanding within the firm of exactly what aspects of knowledge are important, opening communications to take advantage of news and insights and having a culture that allows failure, learns from mistakes and appreciates the fundamental role of knowledge as a strategic driver in the current economy.

Hope this helps!

Source: Brint post

Defining knowledge

Defining knowledge is a difficult, important and never ending task. There are many definitions, each pointing to yet another quality, characteristic, context, property, behavior that may or may not apply to you or to your environment now.

Here are some issues to ponder:

1) Knowledge implies & requires social negotiation, otherwise it is personal 'knowing', a skill or competence.

2) An important quality of task knowledge is making fine distinctions & awareness this separates the experts from regular practicioners.

3) Experience becomes socialized into the rules, norms, mental models of the individuals & organization, this is a form of group tacit knowledge or collective culture

4) Only a small fraction of useful knowledge is explicit, 'cultural' knowledge can be found in war stories, folktales, implicit ontologies, company jokes, policies and routines. Look at the inferface between mind, organization, society and culture.

5) Knowledge emerges through interaction & dialog, we 'bring forth' knowledge when we validate claims, surface assumptions, negotiate joint meaning.

Defining knowledge as information in action or information in context and KM as the right content at the right time to make the right decision does not tell the entire story. Where is the learning, formation of distinctions, awareness, social mediation, engagement in practice?

Seems to come to 'know' and define knowledge, you will have to wrestle with what it means to you and your cohorts, in your context, at this particular time. Adoption of definitions seems to be missing the point! Rather regard defining knowledge as a journey without end, but make it a life's goal to stay in the conversation and learn from others distinctions.