Knowledge management practices

Knowledge Management Practices in organisations is an extended reach evaluating the best practices between people, initiatives and chosen technologies. The process can be categorised into knowledge creation, validation, & presentation.

Organisations will have to capitalise on immense pool of knowledge to maintain an innate equilibrium. Organisational culture, technology and techniques matter a great deal. By only focusing on people and the key derivatives an organisation may not be able to manage knowledge initiatives with rising competition.

Consistent dialogue between the key verticals is important to manage knowledge effectively. Creating platforms and learning initiatives for its key stakeholders both internal and external, an organisation can sustain in the competitive market by nurturing the employees.

Knowledge management is a unique methodology where sharing knowledge and experience of employees within an organization is carried. The main goal is to improve an organization's efficiency and save knowledge within the company. With knowledge creation, an organisation holds a unique place in the development of sustainable competitive advantage.

Knowledge management is a set of processes which addresses an organisational's needs. Retention, mapping, best practices, and ideation are key essentials. The components of knowledge management are people, process, and strategy. Irrespective of industry or size, an organisation looks for people to lead & support sharing of knowledge. Process to manage and measure knowledge flows are a pre-requisite.

A multidisciplinary field with a number of verticals, with a deliberate and consistent effort, improvement in the creation of knowledge in organizations is mandatory. A solid strategy provides direction to an organization to manage information for the benefit of the organization and it's stakeholders.

Benefits of Knowledge Management

♦ Building people & efficient workplaces

♦ Better decision making

♦ Collaboration & Tie-ups

♦ Building organizational knowledge

♦ Increased employee happiness

♦ Employee Retention

♦ Importance to training & best practices

♦ Innovation

Knowledge management process helps in managing the knowledge and information of an organisation. It creates and values tactical & strategic approaches; consisting of initiatives, and systems that sustain and enhance the assessment and creation of knowledge assets.

Businesses not practicing knowledge management don't meet or adhere to the standards of knowledge management. Sustaining in the long run by applying knowledge is a value add. Quality is key to the value of knowledge and every organisation should focus on this key ingredient. Changing organisational culture and business procedures to make sharing of information possible by improving organisational performance.

The first step in measuring knowledge is to set quality criteria. Knowledge has to focus on these crucial components. It has to be:

♦ Accessible

♦ Available

♦ Fast

♦ Integrated

♦ Accurate

♦ Credible

♦ Reliable

♦ Flawless

Organisations may be commercial but capitalising on intellectual strengths, information and knowledge are considered more important. In a closely networked age, information is more easily accessible through connecting networks. Smart people and ideation add immense value to an organisation's growth story.

The concept though not new depends on age old wisdom, and exchange of ideas.

Strategic planning depends on clients, the business, and the key constituents - people. With an understanding of strengths and weaknesses, better informed decisions can be made. Building networks of people is a key segment. Knowledge is shared at all levels and in different capacities.

A company's knowledge management strategy should reflect its competitive strategy: value creation for customers, economic model, and value add by people. The process of sharing deep knowledge is time consuming and expensive. In most companies, distinct knowledge management strategy was chosen for the benefit of the organization and it's stakeholders. By pursuing customized service offerings, or innovation strategy, main investment was on person-to-person knowledge sharing.

Competitive strategy must drive knowledge management initiatives. Customers' preferences of products or services must be evaluated. Does knowledge add value to customers, or a company add value to customers?.

People in companies seeking innovation need to share information. In the most effective companies, the knowledge management model stays the same even as new products and services mature. Adoping a competitive strategy benefits both the company and its customers benefit.

Knowledge management has to meet all measurable criteria so that an organisation stands tall amongst its key stakeholders. All information and knowledge disseminated across different verticals has to be in the best interests of all.

Competition is a hard fought contest; where one has to constantly strive to make a leap in the competitive cycle. Best practices that build a company's credentials, is the information contained and transmitted to all. This will have an impact on all key stakeholders who will measure the same hence care has to be taken to practice and adopt the rightful approaches for best results. Hence, knowledge management is an important tool of an organisation which can't be neglected but nurtured consistently for the best measurable results.