A critical review of knowledge management as a management tool

Abstract

Over the past several years there have been intensive discussions about the importance of knowledge management within our society. The management of knowledge is promoted as an important and necessary factor for organisational survival and maintenance of competitive strength. To remain at the forefront organisations need a good capacity to retain, develop, organise, and utilise their employees' capabilities. Knowledge and the management of knowledge appear to be regarded as increasingly important features for organisational survival. Explores knowledge management with respect to its content, its definition and domain in theory and practice, its use and implications, and to point out some problems inherent in the concept. The main contribution of this paper is an extensive literature survey on knowledge management.

The Intranet Chaos Matrix: A conceptual framework for designing an effective knowledge management intranet

“…Knowledge is of no value until it has been put into use'. 6 The authors agree with Alee's belief that rules and systems cannot be imposed. Too much rigidity regarding knowledge leads to stultification of creativity.…”

Understanding knowledge management system usage antecedents: An integration of social cognitive theory and task technology fit

“…Explicit knowledge is easy to codify and observable [59]; whereas, tacit knowledge largely 'indwells' in the minds of people as perspectives on, or images of, reality [63]. Tacit knowledge is difficult to be formalized and communicated [60,70] but evolves from peoples' interactions, and requires skills and practices [55,68]. Therefore, KMSs constrained by information technology are not suitable for tacit knowledge transfer.…”

Knowledge in the business strategy context

“…Citing various authors, Martennson (2000) identifies some of the attributes of knowledge: -Knowledge cannot be easily stored; -Information has little value and will not become knowledge unless processed by the human mind; -Knowledge should be studied in context; -Knowledge depreciates in value if not used. Polanyi (1966) makes the distinction between tacit (personal) knowledge and explicit (codified) knowledge.…”