These days, the need to pay more attention is often spoken and written about the need to pay more attention to the organization's intangible assets, especially those capable of bringing economic value to the company.
In this context, knowledge has become one of the most important assets for organizations, because its management creates wealth or added values, which facilitate reaching an advantageous position in the market (Nieves, 2001).
In recent years, in the field of the so-called knowledge economy, knowledge management has become one of the main research topics and, in the management paradigm par excellence, in the field of organization and management of business institutions. (Rodriguez, 2006).
All healthy organizations generate and use knowledge. As organizations interact with their environments, they absorb information, convert it into knowledge, and take action based on the combination of that knowledge and their experiences, values, and internal norms. They feel and respond. Without knowledge, an organization could not organize itself (Davenport & Prusak, Working knowledge: How organizations manage, 1998).
The emergence and growing importance of knowledge as a new factor of production makes the development of technologies, methodologies and strategies for its measurement, creation and dissemination become one of the main priorities of organizations in the knowledge society.
However, we can also consider that it has been precisely the development of these technologies and methodologies for the measurement and dissemination of knowledge that have made knowledge an indispensable element for economic and social development (Rodriguez, 2006).
The different disciplines focused on the study of organizations have been addressing for decades, and with different perspectives, the critical aspects of their management, adaptation to changes and their competitiveness.
In a global environment - in which markets, products, technologies, competitors, laws and societies as a whole are changing rapidly - continuous innovation and the knowledge that makes such innovation possible have become important sources survival and sustainable competitive advantage for a company, region or society.
In this context, it is reaffirmed that knowledge, the ability to create and use it, constitute the main source of competitive advantage for organizations, regions or societies.
Furthermore, the recognition of the importance of knowledge as a strategic resource and a factor of sustainable competitive advantage represents a change in the way of conceiving the management of organizations (CIDEC, 2016).
D efinition
- Action and effect of managing (RAE, 2016). Management is assumed as the set of processes and actions that are executed on one or more resources for the fulfillment of the strategy of an organization, through a systemic and continuous cycle, determined for the basic functions of planning, organization, direction or command and control. These functions and their relevance in the optimization of organizational results, which is the supreme purpose of management, are discussed in greater detail below. (Management, 2016) Management is the process by which a variety of essential resources are managed with in order to achieve the objectives of the organization (UPV, 2016). It is the action of managing and administering a professional activity aimed at establishing the objectives and means for its realization,to specify the organization of systems, in order to elaborate the development strategy and to execute the personnel management. Likewise, action is very important in management, because it is the expression of interest capable of influencing a given situation (Vilcarromero, 2016).
Knowledge
D efinition
- Knowing as the process of finding out through the exercise of intellectual faculties the nature, qualities and relationships of things (RAE, 2016). Knowledge is a flow in which experience, important values, contextual information and points of view are mixed of experts, who provide an analysis framework for the evaluation and incorporation of new experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the minds of connoisseurs. In organizations, it is often found not only in documents, but also in organizational routines, processes, practices, and norms (Davenport & Prusak, 2005). Process by which reality is reflected and reproduced in human thought;This process is conditioned by the laws of social becoming and is inextricably linked to practical activity. The purpose of knowledge is to achieve objective truth. In the process of knowledge, man acquires knowledge, assimilates concepts about real phenomena, understands the surrounding world. This knowledge is used in practical activity to transform the world, to subordinate nature to the needs of the human being (EcuRed, 2016).
Knowledge Management
D efinition
After analyzing the concepts of management and knowledge, a series of definitions of “Knowledge Management” are presented below:
Knowledge management is outlined as the process of acquiring, locating, organizing, storing and exploiting the information and data created in an organization. This includes individual information or tacit knowledge and general and known information or explicit knowledge. This activity is carried out through electronic access and storage of information and knowledge, especially the Intranet. Knowledge management is the newest expression of the scope and value of information (Prytherch, 2000).
Knowledge Management Objective
The main objective lies in the design of strategies, processes, structures and systems that allow the organization to make use of what it knows; that is, from the knowledge that its members possess. This with a view to creating value in the management of customers and society (Fernández, 2005).
Importance of Knowledge Management
Some of the facts that justify the importance of knowledge management in the business sector are:
Key Success Factors in Knowledge Management
(Davenport & Prusak, 1998) They identify nine key and interrelated factors as possible determining factors for success in a knowledge management project:
a) Knowledge-oriented culture
The existence of a favorable and GC compatible culture is essential if the project is to be successful. Three components are identified in this culture: a positive orientation towards knowledge, the absence of factors that inhibit knowledge in culture and that the type of knowledge management project coincides with the culture.
b) Technical and institutional infrastructure
The implementation of a knowledge management system is easier and smoother if there is an adequate (uniform, complex, functional) technological infrastructure and the staff has developed the necessary skills to make use of it. Developing an institutional infrastructure for knowledge management involves establishing a set of institutional functions and frameworks, and developing capacities from which individual projects can benefit.
c) Support from management personnel
As in any other project that is started and that affects the entire organization, the support of the direct team is essential if there is to be any chance of success. Some useful support actions were identified: 1. Communicate to the organization the importance of knowledge management and institutional learning, 2. Facilitate and finance the process, 3. Clarify the type of knowledge that is most important to the organization.
d) Link with economic value or market value
Knowledge management processes can be very expensive, therefore, it is necessary that they translate into some type of benefits for the organization (economic, competitiveness, user satisfaction, etc.).
e) Orientation of the process
It is advisable to carry out a good diagnostic evaluation to guide the development of the process. The knowledge project manager should have a good idea of his client, customer satisfaction, and the productivity and quality of the service offered.
f) Clarity of purpose and language
As in any other process that we start, it is essential to clarify what we want to achieve, that is, the objectives that we intend to achieve with the development of said process. In the same sense, the breadth of interpretations attributable to the concepts used in this field (for example: knowledge, information, learning, etc.), can hinder the QA process if we do not first delimit them.
g) Motivational practices
Knowledge is personal or, as they would say in English, sticky, therefore, it is essential to motivate and incentivize members of the organization to share it, use it and create it regularly.
h) Knowledge structure
The creation of a flexible knowledge structure (for example: expert network, thematic dictionary, etc.) is essential, although we have said on several occasions that knowledge is personal and dynamic, since, if not, it will hardly be useful. Knowledge will generally resist engineering. However, if a knowledge repository has no structure, it will not be able to meet its objective.
i) Multiple channels for knowledge transfer
In the same way that in education we consider it essential to take into account a multivariate resource and methodological strategies to respond to different learning styles, in KM we must provide different channels and situations that facilitate the transfer of knowledge. Therefore, if our QA system is fundamentally based on the network, we must, from time to time, conduct face-to-face sessions that promote interrelationships, cohesion, trust, etc. among the participants.
How to Carry out Knowledge Management in the Company
(Powell, 2004) Mentions that knowledge management is carried out through the following tasks:
- Document management.
Organization, location and availability of documents throughout the organization.
- Creation and maintenance of a file of experts.
That allows to inventory, classify and locate the experts throughout the organization.
- Databases.
Create databases with procedures and effective solutions to common problems.
- Software development.
They analyze trends and at the same time allow the creation of work networks.
- Intellectual property management.
Based on the cataloging of trademarks, patents and copyright.
Conclusions
After analyzing the terms that make up "Knowledge Management", the concept as such, its main objective and impact on organizations, it can be concluded that:
Knowledge management has gained strength in the professional and academic fields.
In the current environment of high competitiveness, globalization, technological development, reduced product life and a global crisis, knowledge management is key to achieving the company's sustainable success. In this context, it is really critical to develop the company's skills to acquire information, transform it into knowledge, incorporate it into the company as learning, quickly share it and put it into practice.
This is very important since there is a correlation between knowledge management and business success, between knowledge management and the company's adaptability to the changing and challenging environment, where threats can be turned into opportunities.
Thanks to knowledge, companies manage innovation, the creation of more efficient organizational routines, business growth, sustainability, adaptive capacities to the environment, etc. All this provides more successful products, establishment of more efficient distribution channels, access to sources of financing, support from stockholders, the best human team, the best customers and suppliers, etc. (Arriaga, 2011).
A Acknowledgments
I thank the Orizaba Technological Institute for providing the tools and human capital to develop professionally and the MAE Fernando Aguirre y Hernández professor of the Fundamentals of Administrative Engineering subject for promoting learning through practice among their students, thus encouraging proactivity and genuine learning.
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