What is Knowledge

 Knowledge is justified true belief. Ayer,

A.J. (1956). The Problem of Knowledge.

 Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed

experience, values, contextual
information and expert insight that
provides a framework for evaluating
and incorporating new experience
and information.
 KM is the process of capturing and
making use of a firm’s collective
enterprise anywhere in the business-
on paper, in document, in databases
(called explicit knowledge) or in
people’s heads (called tacit
knowledge).
A Community College’s
Definition
“A discipline and framework designed
to help our organization acquire,
package and share “what we know”
to enable decision-making, creativity,
innovation and communication.”
(Cuyahoga Community College)
 It originates and is applied in the minds
of knower.
 In organizations it often becomes

embedded not only in documents or

repositories but also in organizational
processes, practices and norms. Davenport,
T.H. & Prusak, L (1998). Working Knowledge.

 Knowledge is information in action. O’Dell

C. & Grayson Jr., C.J. (1998). If only we knew what we know.
What is Knowledge
Management?
 Defined in a variety of ways.
 KM in education: a strategy to enable people to
develop a set of practices to create, capture,
share & use knowledge to advance.
 KM focuses on:
 people who create and use knowledge.
 processes and technologies by which knowledge is created,
maintained and accessed.
 artifacts in which knowledge is stored (manuals, databases,
intranets, books, heads).
 KM is here to stay

 KNOWLEDGE IS LIKE LIGHT. Weightless

and intangible, it can easily travel the world,
enlightening the lives of people everywhere.
Yet billions of people still live in poverty
unnecessarily.
 Knowledge is defined (
Oxford English Dictionary) variously as
 (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person
through experience or education; the
theoretical or practical understanding of a
subject,
 (ii) what is known in a particular field or in
total; facts and information or
 (iii) awareness or familiarity gained by
experience of a fact or situation.
 Philosophical debates in general start with
Plato's formulation of knowledge as "justified
true belief".
 There is however no single agreed definition
of knowledge presently, nor any prospect of
one, and there remain numerous competing
theories.
 Knowledge acquisition involves
complex cognitive processes:
perception, learning, communication,
association and reasoning. The term
knowledge is also used to mean the
confident understanding of a subject
with the ability to use it for a specific
purpose.
What is Knowledge
Management?
 “Knowledge management is a

discipline that promotes an

integrated approach to
identifying, managing and
sharing all of an enterprise’s
information needs.
 Knowledge management is a conscious
strategy of getting the right knowledge to the
right people at the right time and helping
people share and organise information into
action in ways to improve organisational
performance.
 It is a complex process that must be
supported by a strong foundation of enablers,
such as strategy, leadership, culture,
measurement and technology.
Knowledge Management is creating a
culture of learning, innovating,
sharing and achieving - and most
effectively implemented as part of
Change Management.
 “Knowledge is power.”

“But mere knowledge is not

power; it is only possibility. Action
is power; and its highest
manifestation is when it is directed
by knowledge.” Francis
Bacon
 The value of knowledge is derived from the
value of the decisions with which it is
associated.

 The measurement of KM success is therefore

related to improved decision making and the
achievement of objectives.
Knowledge Management is making better
decisions by understanding the knowledge
ingredients for decision making.
 These information assets may include
databases, documents, policies and
procedures as well as previously
unarticulated expertise and experience
resident in individual workers.”
 Where does KM come from?
 Technology
 Infrastructure, Database, Web, Interface
 Globalization
 World wide markets, North American integration
 Demographics
 Aging population, workforce mobility, diversity
 Economics
 Knowledge economy
 Customer relations
 Quality
 Increase in information
 Specialization, Volume, Order
 Today’s knowledge organisation has a
renewed responsibility to hire knowledgeable
employees and specialists to manage
knowledge as an intangible asset in the same
way that one calls on an investor to manage
a financial portfolio.
 Data, Information & Knowledge

  DATA INFORMATION KNOWLEDGE

Definitio Raw facts, figures Data placed into a Information in

n and records
contained in a
system.
Reason Processing
form that is context to make it
accessible, timely and insightful and
accurate. relevant for human
Storing / Accessing. action. innovation,
Insight,
improvement.
 Two types of
knowledge
Know-how & learning
Documented embedded within the minds
information that can people.
facilitate action.
Explicit knowledge Implicit (Tacit) knowledge
 Formal or codified
 Informal and un codified
 Documents: reports,  Values, perspectives &
policy manuals, white culture
papers, standard
procedures
 Knowledge in heads
 Databases  Memories of staff, suppliers
 Books, magazines, and vendors
journals (library)

Knowledge informs decisions and actions.

 Need for KM

1. Knowledge is rapidly displacing capital

2. Unstable markets necessitate, reshaping of
product & project lines
3. Ability to exploit its own intellectual resources.
4. Only the knowledgeable will survive.
5. Knowledge is the key driver for decision support
and decision making and enables effective
decision by making knowledge about past projects
6.KM requires a strong culture of sharing
7. knowledge, skills, competencies and insight
that the employee possessed at all levels of
the organization.
8.Global market and increasing knowledge
requirements
 KM is the set of professional practices which
improves the capabilities of the organizations
HR and enhances their ability to share what
they know
 What is a
Learning Organization?
A Learning Organization

Any organization “in which you cannot not learn

because learning is so insinuated into the fabric of life”
Peter M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline:
The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization

The Bottom Line: Any organization that has a

culture and structure that promotes learning
at all levels to enhance its capabilities to produce,
adapt and shape its future.
 Systems
Thinking

Personal Mental
Mastery The Models
Learning
Organization
Focus

Team
Shared
Learning
Vision
 In the Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge describes
learning organizations as places
 "where people continually expand their
capacity to create the results they truly
desire, where new and expansive patterns of
thinking are nurtured, where collective
aspiration is set free, and where people are
continually learning to see the whole (reality)
together".
 The five disciplines of the learning
organization discussed in the book are:
 1) Personal Mastery
 2) Mental models
 3) Shared Vision
 4) Team learning
 5) Systems thinking- The Fifth Discipline that
integrates the other 4
Why a Learning
Organization?
 A company that performs badly is easily
recognizable. Can you spot the signs?
 Do your employees seem unmotivated or
uninterested in their work?
 Does your workforce lack the skill and knowledge
to adjust to new jobs?
 Do you seem to be the only one to come up with all
the ideas?
 And does your workforce simply follow orders?
 Do your teams argue constantly and lack real
productivity?
 Or lack communication between each other?
 And when the "guru" is off do things get put on
hold?
 Are you always the last to hear about problems?
 Or worst still the first to hear about customer
complaints?
 And do the same problems occur over and over?
 If any of these points sound familiar the answer for
you could be a Learning Organization.
 A Learning Organization:
Key Disciplines
SYSTEMS THINKING: Integrating all the functions in an organization
into a cohesive structure.
PERSONAL MASTERY: Personal and professional development that
is in sync with the organization’s goals.
MENTAL MODELS: Internalized frameworks and generalizations of
how an organization works and responds to its environment.
SHARED VISION: Developing commitment using “shared pictures of
the future”; Everyone working for a common, agreed upon future.
TEAM LEARNING: People working as teams and therefore learning
as teams.
 A mental model is a kind of internal symbol or representation of
external reality, hypothesized to play a major role in cognition
and decision-making. Once formed, mental models may replace
carefully considered analysis as a means of conserving time and
energy.
 A simple example is the mental model of a wild animal as
dangerous: upon encountering a snake, one who holds this
model will likely retreat from the animal as if by reflex. Retreat is
the result of the application of the mental model, and would
probably not be the immediate reaction of one whose mental
model of wild animals was formed solely from experience with
similar stuffed toy animals, or who had not yet formed any mental
models about wild snakes.
The role of the learning professional as change 
agent encompasses at least the following skills 
and competencies: 
• Visioning
• Strategizing
• Planning
• Consulting
• Researching: probing and surveying the organization
• Communicating
• Influencing
• Facilitating
Strategies
 • Give individuals the time to learn.
 • See the distribution of work from the lens of
development and learning. Do not ask simply,
Who can get the job done? Ask Who can get
the job done and learn along the way?
 • Assess performance with a view to learning
and development too – Ask both What has
the individual done? and What has the
individual learned? Give weight to both in any
formal or informal assessment.
 • Select and develop for competencies that support
a learning organization – active listening, mentoring,
coaching, etc, and focus management and
leadership development accordingly.
 • Give managers the time to function as learning
coaches.
 • Create incentives and rewards for individual
learning.
 • Create incentives and rewards for managers as
learning coaches.
Three broad questions
 What is Learning

 What is Organization

 What is Learning Organization

What is systems thinking

• What is a system?
• What is thinking?
• What is systems thinking?
We need to learn about

Organization People

Learning

Knowledge Technology
Learning
organization
Personal Mental
Mastery Models

Learning
Organization
Systems Shared
Thinking Vision

Team
Learning
Learning Organization

Mental Models Problem

Shared Vision change

Systems Thinking Leads to

Team Learning culture

Personal Mastery High economic growth

System is a

Whole
always
System of tap water: who is
deciding : you or water level ?
Personal mastery
creative tension in rubber band

Aspirations

Reality
Personal mastery
beliefs, reality, vision
Conscious and unconscious mind
it is like iceberg
Mental Models: you
and around you

attitudes + perception attitudes + perception

you those around you

Shared visions Shared Vision
evolves

Personal 1

Personal 2
Personal 3
Shared Vision: fully aligned
Vision by all
Knowledge of systems’ thinking
is power

Wisdom

Knowledge

Information

Data
The Learning Organization Goal

Make Learning Part of the

Every Day Office Environment
The Learning Organization

 Encourages Continuous Learning

 Promotes Access to Learning
 Maximizes Information Sharing
 Increases Flexible Access to Training
 Works Efficiently Using Interactive
Relationships
 Sees the Big Picture
 Shares a Common Vision
 "The only sustainable advantage a firm has
comes from what it collectively knows, how
efficiently it uses what it knows, and how
readily it acquires and uses new knowledge."
Nagar Lai 2006