Knowledge Management
Ann Macintosh,
Wednesday 6 October 1999. 6.30pm
Apex Hotel, Grassmarket, Edinburgh
The management of knowledge within organisations has become a critical
activity because many of the activities of organisations today, and of
our economic and social life, are knowledge-driven.
By creating processes to capture and embed knowledge within an
organisation, organisations are unlocking their workforce potential
and achieving vast improvements in productivity, customer satisfaction
and new product development.
Knowledge management is "the identification and analysis of available
and required knowledge assets and knowledge asset related processes,
and the subsequent planning and control of actions to develop both the
assets and the processes so as to fulfil organisational objectives."
This implies that is necessary for organisations: to be able to
identify and represent their knowledge assets;
to share and re-use these knowledge assets for differing reasons and
by different users; which in turn implies making the knowledge
available where it is needed within the organisation.
It is critical to an organisation's future success to manage this
knowledge in a coherent manner, leading to the concept of knowledge
management.