PharmaKnowledge

 

Home
Up
What's New?
PharmaKnowledge Cycle
Who We Are
Newsletter Registration

Other links:
What is KM?
General Links
Pharma Links
KM Books
Feedback

 

 

 

 

There are lots of definitions of knowledge management, but the one I like best is something like this:

"Knowledge Management is leveraging the intellectual assets of the company to meet defined business objectives"

There are various facets of this definition that may be expanded on....

bullet

leverage - defined as producing a strategic advantage; the power to act effectively.  Basically, using what you have to make improvements or to move forward with a magnitude greater than the sum of the individual parts

bullet

intellectual assets - the intangible assets (valuable qualities and actions) produced by the experience, intuition, and abilities of the people within a company.

bulletspecific business objectives - knowledge management must be matched directly to the short, intermediate, and long-range goals of the company. These can range from the specific and tangible (increased profits, added shareholder value) to the general and intangible (e.g., to produce an environment where people enjoy their work and continue to improve their personal and professional skills).

In other words, knowledge management requires a company, organization, or team to define what business objectives they want to fulfill, then devise ways to continually improve, enhance, and make use of the various abilities of their people to meet these objectives.

How's this done in a practical sense?

Generally, knowledge management programs seek to perform some of the following tasks for an organization:

bulletenable an environment within the organization where people are compelled, rewarded, and given incentive to share their knowledge with others, as opposed to hoarding it (the old "knowledge is power" mantra should become "knowledge sharing is power")
bulletlink people together so that they can efficiently share information and experiences with one another.  This ranges from simply helping someone find the qualified and knowledgeable person to talk with about a particular issue to high-tech solutions for electronic, remote collaboration such as email, discussion groups, videoconferencing, etc.
bulletprovide a means for capturing information (knowledge) about processes, procedures, and experiences within the business that may be useful in similar future endeavors (or, in vastly different circumstances in the future),
bulletprovide a means for eliciting knowledge from other divisions and organizations and using this information to improve processes, procedures, etc.

Note that much of knowledge management revolves around culture and interpersonal interactions, not simply technology.  In fact, without the right culture and the willing, committed people, all the technology in the world won't solve any knowledge management problems. By carefully managing the culture and using technology as enablers, companies in many fields have shown monumental improvement and outstanding results. 

Background on KM

bulletKarl-Erik Sveiby Beginner's Info on KM
bulletBuckman Laboratories Starter Kit for Knowledge Management

Articles and White Papers

Book Reviews

Acknowledgement for many of these resources to the following:

bulletKnowledge Management Consortium (www.km.org)
bullet@Brint.com (www.brint.com)
bulletSveiby Knowledge Management (www.sveiby.com.au)
bulletBuckman Laboratories Knowledge Nurture (www.knowledge-nurture.com)
bulletGrapeVINE Technologies (www.grapevine.com)

Background on KM

Karl-Erik Sveiby Beginner's Info on KM

Are you new
to the concept of Knowledge
Management?
Then read
the articles and do the exercises
(in order 1-11):
1. What is Knowledge Management? ca 20K
2. Intellectual Capital and Knowledge Management - ca 10K
3. The Invisible Balance Sheet- ca 35K
4. Create your own invisible balance sheet - an exercise
5. The Knowledge Organization - an Introduction ca 5K
6. A vision for  the Knowledge Organization in the Knowledge Era. - ca 20K
7. Knowledge Organizations in USA - ca 12K
8. Test your Tacit Knowledge - an exercise
9. How to Measure Intangible Assets ca 15K
10. Frequently asked Questions - ca 7 K
11. Beyond Knowledge Management: Lessons from Japan -ca 40K.

Books and articles above are ©Karl-Erik Sveiby unless stated otherwise. The texts may be downloaded for research purposes and for your own personal perusal.

 

Buckman Laboratories Starter Kit for Knowledge Management

Books
bulletIntellectual Capital by Thomas Stewart. In an interview in Knowledge Inc. Tom Stewart discusses the book. Tom also has a website.
bulletThe New Organizational Wealth: Managing & Measuring Knowledge-Based Assets. By Karl-Erik Sveiby. Bill Godfrey has reviewed and summarized this book.
bulletWorking Knowledge: How Organizations Know What They Know. By Thomas Davenport and Laurence Prusak.
bulletIf We Only Knew What We Know: The Transfer of Internal Knowledge and Best Practice by Carla O'Dell and Jack Grayson, Jr. with Nilly Essaides

On-line articles and references
bulletWhat Is Knowledge Management? By Rebecca Barclay and Philip Murray.
bulletThe Value of Knowledge Management By Carla O'Dell.
bulletKnowledge Management By Verna Allee.
bulletWhat is Knowledge Management? By Karl-Erik Sveiby

Articles and White Papers

Culture and Knowledge Management

bullet

KM Red Flags: Spotting and Overcoming Cultural Barriers to Effective Knowledge Management

The Concepts of Knowledge and Information

bulletTakeuchi 1998: Beyond Knowledge Management: Lessons from Japan. Article by the co-author of "The Knowledge Creating Company" - ca 40K.
bullet Tacit Knowledge - an Introduction to Michael Polanyi - ca 40K
bullet Test your Tacit Knowledge an exercise - ca 5K
bullet Perils of Informatized Markets - ca 25K
bullet What is Information? - ca 50K
bullet What is Knowledge Management? - ca 20K
bullet Intellectual Capital and Knowledge Management - ca 10K

Managing Knowledge Organizations

bulletA vision for  the Knowledge Organisation in the Knowledge Era. - article ca 20 K
bulletBontis & Girardi (1999): Intellectual Capital Lessons: An Empirical Examination of the Tango Simulation. ca 100K
bullet The Knowledge Organization - an Introduction ca 5K
bullet The "Discovery" of the Knowledge Organization - ca 5K
bullet Knowledge Organizations in USA ca 12K
bullet Knowledge Organizations in Australia ca 12K
bullet Proteams - solving the Dilemma of Organized Creativity in Production ca 16K
bullet Towards a Knowledge Perspective on Organization (Ph.D. dissertation 1994 in HTML format)
bulletSveiby&Lloyd (1987): Managing KnowHow (digest in PDF format). Download area.

Measuring Intangible Assets

bullet Intangible Assets Monitor examples from my practice. ca 10K.
bullet Download Intangible Assets Monitor software. Registration required. 
bullet Measuring Intangible Assets and Intellectual Capital - An Emerging Standard ca 90K
bullet Intangible Revenues - Identifying and measuring flows of knowledge from customers 10K
bullet Measure Intangible Revenues - A template ca 10K 
bullet Measuring the Wellspring of Knowledge  ca 10K
bullet The Invisible Balance Sheet with links to an interactive exercise ca 35K
bullet The Intangible Assets Monitor ca 20K
bullet Market Value of Intangible Assets ca 15K
bullet The Swedish Community of Practice ca 10K
bullet How to Measure Intangible Assets ca 15K 
bullet The Invisible Balance Sheet. Book in PDF format. Published in Swedish in 1989. 

Marketing and Selling Knowledge

bulletFourteen Ways to Charge for Knowledge - ca 10K.
bulletNicou & al 1994: Sell Your Knowledge - ca 10K. Digest.
bulletEvaluate Your Customer - ca 10K.

Publications

bulletKnowledge Management Magazine
bulletTeleos -- Journal of Knowledge Management
bulletIntelligent Enterprise
bulletIntellectual Property magazine
bulletCalifornia Management Review -- IC issue
bulletThe McKinsey Quarterly
bulletStrategy and Business
bulletCIO and Webmaster Magazines
bulletTraining Magazine
bulletFast Company
bulletForbes magazine
bulletConsultants News

 


Home ] Up ] KM Books ]

Send mail to webmaster@pharmaknowledge.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 1999-2003 PharmaKnowledge All Rights Reserved