The New Economy is fundamentally based on the fact that the central factor in the process of wealth creation becomes knowledge and the other intangible assets (contacts, creativity, innovation, positioning, etc.) much more than capital, capital goods or other physical assets.
Knowledge Management has become a popular term in academic and executive fields since it emerged, but what is it really? There are many interpretations, many models, and even software manufacturers also use the expression for their products.
In 1997 recognized authors published a study where they presented the following definition of Knowledge Management:
"… is the process of continuously managing knowledge of all kinds to meet current and future needs, to identify and exploit existing and acquired knowledge resources, and to develop new opportunities."
Ann Macintosh proposes the following definition:
"Knowledge Management involves the identification and analysis of both available and required knowledge, the planning and control of actions to develop knowledge assets in order to achieve organizational objectives."
The two previous definitions recognize two important aspects of knowledge:
- That Knowledge Management is a process, which is part of the daily activities of an organization. That it is an important resource that must be acquired, classified, preserved and exploited to achieve the objectives of the organization and find competitive advantages.
Knowledge Management process generating competitive advantages
According to Macintosh, the current competitive environment has criticized the quality of knowledge that companies apply to their key business processes. In any company, the supply chain depends on the knowledge you have about raw materials, planning, manufacturing, distribution, etc. Likewise, the development of new products requires knowledge about the needs of consumers, new scientific discoveries, new technology, marketing, etc.
Applying knowledge management in a company to create competitive advantages is made even more essential due to:
- The market is increasingly competitive, which demands more product innovation, as knowledge must be developed and assimilated more quickly. There is a need to replace the informal way in which knowledge is managed in administrative functions by formal methods within customer-oriented business processes. Companies are focusing their efforts on creating greater "added value" for their customers, this requires the ability to capture, interpret and disseminate the needs and wants of customers in the organization beyond the traditional way. It takes time to acquire knowledge and gain experience from it. Employees have less and less time to do this.The pressure of competition is reducing the size of the groups of employees that have the knowledge of the company. The tendency is growing among employees to retire earlier in their working life or to increase their mobility between companies, which causes knowledge to be lost. There is a need to handle increasing complexity in small companies and with transnational operations. Changes in the strategic direction of the company may cause loss of knowledge in a specific area. A subsequent decision that retakes the previous orientation may require that knowledge, but the employee who owns it may no longer be in the company, therefore, knowledge management is the process that supports all the processes of an organization and the effect that is achieved in this,results in chain results in the other processes.
Scope of the Knowledge Management process
Based on the definition of knowledge management as a process that must support the company in the search for a competitive position and new opportunities, Quintas, propose a series of objectives and activities that must be met within the knowledge management of a business:
Goals:
- Formulate an organizational scope strategy for the development, acquisition and application of knowledge. Implement knowledge-oriented strategies seeking the support of the influential levels of the company. Promote the continuous improvement of business processes, emphasizing the generation and use of knowledge. Monitor and evaluate the achievements obtained through the application of knowledge.
Activities:
- Dissemination of knowledge (eg lessons learned, best practices, etc.) so that all members of the organization can use knowledge in the context of their daily activities. Make sure that knowledge is available where it is most useful for decision-making Ensure that knowledge is available where business processes need it Facilitate the effective and efficient generation of new knowledge (for example, Research and development activities, learning from historical cases etc.) Support acquisition of knowledge from external sources and develop the ability to assimilate and use it.Make sure that new knowledge is available to those in the organization who carry out activities based on that new knowledge (for example,distribution of lessons learned) Make sure that everyone in the organization knows where knowledge is available in the company.
