Today we’ll look at two approaches to knowledge management, the process approach, and the practice approach.  I’m currently taking several classes in knowledge management, and I thought I’d share quotes from one of the textbooks. (I know, these quotes are a little wordy…but it is great infoJ )

 

“The process approach to knowledge management attempts to codify organizational knowledge through formalized controls, processes, and technologies…In contrast to the process approach, the practice approach to knowledge management assumes that a great deal of organizational knowledge is tacit in nature [i.e. in people’s heads] and those formal controls, processes, and technologies are not suitable for transmitting this type of understanding.  Rather than build formal systems to manage knowledge, the focus of this approach is to build the social environments or communities of practice necessary to facilitate the sharing of tacit understanding…These communities are informal social groups that meet regularly to share ideas, insights, and best practices” (Turban, 2007. P. 490-492).

 

Below is a chart that shows the differences between the two methods:

 

	Process Approach	Practice Approach
Type of knowledge supported	Explicit knowledge – codified in rules, tools, and processes	Mostly tacit knowledge – unarticulated knowledge not easily captured or codified
Means of transmission	Formal controls, procedures, and standard operating procedures, with heavy emphasis on information technologies to support knowledge creation, codification, and transfer of knowledge	Informal social groups that engage in storytelling and improvisation
Benefits	Provides structure to harness generated ideas and knowledge. Achieves scale in knowledge reuse. Provides spark for fresh ideas and responsiveness to changing environment.	Provides an environment to generate and transfer high-value tacit knowledge.
Disadvantages	Fails to tap into tacit knowledge. May limit innovations and forces participants into fixed patterns of thinking.	Can result in inefficiency. Abundance of ideas with no structure to implement them.
Role of information technology (IT)	Requires heavy investment in IT to connect people with reusable codified knowledge	Requires moderate investment in IT to facilitate conversations and transfer of tacit knowledge.

Source: The Process and Practice Approaches to Knowledge Management (Turban, 2007. Pg 491)

 

OK, so the big challenge is to determine if your knowledge is primarily tacit or explicit.  At this point you may be tempted to think that your knowledge is tacit and can’t be codified.  I encourage you to avoid drawing that conclusion for now.  More knowledge can be codified than you may think, and I’ll give you the tools to do it.

 

On Monday we’ll answer the question “Is your organizational culture sabotaging your knowledge management strategy?” 

 

Enjoy The Weekend!

 

Dan

 

Source: (Turban, 2007) Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems.

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