Explicit knowledge may be indirectly communicated between people in the form of text, video, sound, software, and so on (Giannetto & Wheeler, 2000). KM can manage explicit knowledge and information. Tacit knowledge cannot be managed, but a strategy (KM) can be put in place so that people can get together and share the knowledge that they have (Emery, 1999).
Technology and KM.
KM is a practice, not a technology (Reynolds, 1998). While technology can support KM, it's not sufficient enabler of KM. Current information management technology is knowledge-enabling and playing a strong role in managing explicit knowledge. The primary purpose of technology's ability to capture and manage explicit knowledge is to assist transfer of knowledge from person to person. " companies are investing in technology thinking that they will create knowledge - that's wrong. What you can have is an information management system that enables knowledge creation in various parts of an organization. A KM system is actually the whole organization" (Sveiby, as qtd in, Emery, 1999).
Why need Knowledge Management?.
In today's information-driven economy, companies uncover the most opportunities from intellectual rather than physical assets. The competitive edge is gained where new knowledge is quickly disseminated and shared across the business. As companies become global and geographically dispersed, there is an increasing need for adding context to information and the ability to connect information seekers to experts. The most important trends driving KM include technology improvements; an exponentially increasing amount of information in the workplace; constant change the growing number of knowledge workers; and the declining utility of cost-cutting measures (Emery, 1999). .
As organizations recognize the need to be more flexible, innovative and quick acting, harnessing and sharing knowledge is seen as a way of gaining most benefit from existing human resources in order to gain a competitive edge (Giannetto & Wheeler, 2000).