1. Understanding Knowledge Management
Introduction

2. Introduction
Decision. Action. Collaboration. Cooperation. Success. Failure. Enterprise. Strategy. These words and more are common vocabulary within an organization, and they all have something in common—the need for knowledge.
Every organization seeks out and improves its foundation in knowledge, whether it is in the form of training and education, research and development, projects, or subscription to relevant publications. The discipline of knowledge management is simply a means of focusing one’s effort in the right direction.

3. Defining Knowledge Management
Knowledge Management as a discipline in business began in the early 1990s and was built on previous efforts in information management, data management, and document management.
The problem is that knowledge management is still vaguely defined and often incorrectly construed as an offshoot of some other disciplines like those mentioned before or content management, business intelligence, or the like.
Additionally, many organizations seeking to exploit knowledge management will typically think in terms of technology, attempting to develop and implement the latest and greatest software package to capture and disseminate knowledge. However, knowledge management in its purest sense is not a function of the IT department or the Human Resources department. It is a cultural phenomenon of the entire enterprise.

4. Defining Knowledge Management
There are two definitions familiar to people working in knowledge management.
The first is the most quoted definition by Thomas Davenport (1994):
"Knowledge management is the process of capturing, distributing, and effectively using knowledge."
The second is the most cited definition by Bryant Duhon (1998)
"Knowledge management is a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing all of an enterprise's information assets. These assets may include databases, documents, policies, procedures, and previously un-captured expertise and experience in individual workers."
Looking at these definitions, one can see why early efforts in knowledge management focused on technology. And while there is some benefit to this approach, it does not fully resolve the needs of the business. The challenge is understanding what “knowledge” is and where it comes from.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

5. Understanding Knowledge
Knowledge is:
DECLARATIVE (What)
PROCEDURAL (How)
Defining knowledge has been a function of philosophical discussions for centuries, but for normal conversation when we speak about knowledge, we are usually implying that a person ‘knows’ stuff. The stuff can be composed of facts (the whats in life) and of activities (the hows in life). For instance, I know a lake is a lake and I know how to swim a lake; this is my personal knowledge.
In more formal language, knowledge is composed of the declarative and the procedural.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

6. Understanding Knowledge (Expression)
Knowledge can be expressed as:
EXPLICIT
IMPLICIT
TACIT
Most knowledge management solutions in the past were treated knowledge as tacit and explicit, with the primary goal being to turn tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge. As we have evolved, these definitions no longer serve as valid definitions for types of knowledge, but rather expressions of knowledge. In addition, implicit expressions of knowledge have become more recognized.
Explicit knowledge is information which can be found in a tangible form, such as documents and databases.
Implicit knowledge refers to any information which is not found in a tangible form but can be made explicit easily, such as ideas, thoughts, and opinions.
Tacit knowledge is information not found in tangible form and would be difficult to transform explicitly.
A good example of the differences between explicit and tacit knowledge is Do-It-Yourself guide. These guides provide steps for doing work in a field, but having this knowledge will not make you a master in the field; that requires sufficient experience and instinct to deal with any set of conditions. The guide is explicit knowledge, but the instincts are tacit knowledge.
Knowledge Management of explicit knowledge is a process of collecting knowledge, while knowledge management of tacit knowledge is a process of connecting sources of experience.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

7. Understanding Knowledge (Scope)
The scope of knowledge can be described as:
INDIVIDUAL
ORGANIZATIONAL
COLLECTIVE
Most knowledge management programs focus on increasing organizational knowledge, but the most successful programs understand that this can only be done by exploiting individual knowledge of its employees. The challenge in this is that individuals are just as conscience of the value of their knowledge in the workplace as the organization is of the value of its knowledge in the marketplace. As a result, many individuals are resistant to share their knowledge for fear that it will diminish its value.
The difference between individual and organizational knowledge is clear. Knowledge belonging to one person is individual while knowledge belonging to all people is organizational. Collective knowledge is a subset of organizational knowledge but may not be bound by the organization. For instance, any specialized group, like doctors or system administrators, may possess shared knowledge with persons outside of the workplaces they are employed especially if they belong to a certification body or professional organization. We will be talking more about collective knowledge when we discuss communities.
A goal of knowledge management should be to recognize the influence of expressed individual knowledge has on value of organizational knowledge and reward such contributes accordingly. The general perspective of individual knowledge is that it provides the person with a level of autonomy that can be lost if shared. To encourage the individual to share, they must be motivated to release their fears. Often, the transfer of individual knowledge to organizational knowledge will increase the level of autonomy available, rather than decrease it.
AUTONOMY
MOTIVATION
INDIVIDUAL
ORGANIZATIONAL
COLLECTIVE
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

8. Understanding Knowledge (Transfers)
There are two methods of transferring knowledge:
Technical – CODIFICATION
Relational - PERSONIFICATION
The purpose of knowledge management is ultimately to pass knowledge from one person to the next. Knowledge transfers are done in one of two ways: by talking or by reading. Many knowledge management solutions focus on the latter methods by creating technologies and applications which require employees to codify their knowledge. The benefits of these technical approaches are self-evident—the knowledge is preserved and can be transferred across time and space (just look at the value of books across the ages).
Unfortunately, most knowledge transfers are done within a relationship, where a person can experience the explicit, implicit, and tacit knowledge of another person. Measuring these relational transfers is extremely difficult and therefore often ignored. Comprehensive knowledge management programs will leverage both approaches to knowledge transfers.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

9. Knowledge and Learning
Knowledge Management and Organizational Knowledge or Organization Learning Learning Organization
KNOWLEDGE
LEARNING
Sometimes, terms used as buzzwords can become very confusing and, in the realm of Knowledge Management, this is true for several words. Two terms that are confusing are “knowledge” and “learning”.
The illustration on the left demonstrates the difference between knowledge and learning; it shows two levels of knowledge. Consider these levels as the state of an individual relative to the knowledge they have at two different points in time. At each snapshot, they possess a different amount of knowledge in a particular area. Learning is the process moving the individual from one state to the next state. The learning process can be active, such as taking a class, or passive, such as journaling or meditation.
The terms used on the right are common in business today and because the distinction between knowledge and learning is not always defined clearly, they are often confusing when used together, and sometimes they are used interchangeable. The truth is, each is distinguishable from each other. As we saw above, the distinction between knowledge and learning is the difference between content (what you know) and process (how you know).
The other spectrum is the distinction between theory and practice. Organizational knowledge and organizational learning describe the theoretical approaches to the subject and tend to be more philosophical. The practical approaches to knowledge and learning are found in the disciplines of knowledge management and learning organizations. While we are focused on knowledge management as a discipline, as potential knowledge workers, we cannot ignore the procedural impact of learning knowledge or the theoretical advancements in both knowledge and learning.
KNOWLEDGE
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

10. KM Capabilities HARVEST HARNESS HUNT HYPOTHESIZE CODIFICATION
(Organizational Knowledge)
PERSONIFICATION
(Individual Knowledge)
EXPLOITATION
(Directed Access to Knowledge)
HARVEST
HARNESS
EXPLORATION
(Browsing and Research)
HUNT
HYPOTHESIZE
The diagram above is utilized by knowledge consultants in IBM to recommend knowledge solutions for their clients. The diagram recognizes the need for technical and relational approaches in the knowledge management. The value of codified knowledge has greater value to the organization, while personified knowledge has greater value to the individual.
The diagram also distinguished two avenues of gaining knowledge within an organization. The first avenue is through exploitation, that is, the existing knowledge is relatively known and seekers of that knowledge can be directed to this existing knowledge. The second avenue is exploration and focuses on solutions which allow for open-ended searches for knowledge with no clear picture of the end result. Exploitation is a much easier mechanism to control for an organization, but inhibits the potential inventiveness, creativity, and autonomy often required to be innovative. In a loose comparison, exploitation is focused on the managing knowledge, while exploration is focused on managing learning.
The combination of these elements creates four significant capabilities for any organization to pursue: harvest, harness, hunt, and hypothesize. The following slides will describe each capability in greater detail.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

11. To harvest means to gather.
Harvesting Knowledge
To harvest means to gather.
In the previous diagram, harvesting knowledge is a process of directly accessing codified or explicit knowledge. The most common example of this is a centralized knowledge database or document repository.
This area of knowledge management is the most tangible aspect of the discipline. The knowledge content is explicit and the means of accessing the knowledge can be well-defined. As a result, the process of harvesting knowledge is the most controlled in business. Most disciplines surrounding Knowledge Management fall into this this area, such as:
Document Management
Content Management
Quality Control
Database Management
Service Asset and Configuration Management
Service Catalog Management
Most failures in knowledge management initiatives occur because organizations fail to move beyond the harvesting process and into the other areas.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

12. To harness means to trap.
Harnessing Knowledge
To harness means to trap.
Harnessing knowledge is a process of directly accessing personal or tacit/implicit knowledge. The most common example of this is training program or mentoring.
This area of knowledge management will typically focus on facilitating the learning capabilities of an organization by connecting people to several different knowledge sources, usually people. In this context, the following programs may be started:
Mentoring/Coaching
Computer-based or Direct Learning programs
Expertise locators (yellow pages)
Communities
Collaboration/Teaming
Most organization may have programs like these, but they are not formally associated with Knowledge Management. Often, these types of programs are managed through Human Resources, while Knowledge Management is managed by IT.
As with “harvesting” programs, initiatives designed to harness knowledge capabilities have direction incorporated in their design and are therefore controlled and measured. Mentors are assigned to persons; teams are formed; experts are identified: all activities which can be quantified and quality verified.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

13. Hunting Knowledge To hunt means to pursue.
Hunting knowledge is a process of chasing down codified or explicit knowledge. The most common example of this is the use of a search engine.
The term “hunting” is really a misnomer in the context of knowledge management because in reality, a person is more likely to stumble upon the knowledge needed rather than actually actively chasing it down. From the perspective of knowledge management systems, the only point of control in this sense is that the knowledge is explicit and made available. From the individual’s perspective, they have a sense of what they are looking for but they cannot be directed to it.
Hunting for knowledge is not efficient; it takes time, effort, and patience. However, the benefits can be insurmountable because exploration will sometimes lead to innovation. Returning back to the Edison example, the hunt was finding a means to capture the power of light and it took 1000 attempts to stumble upon the right set of conditions and a carbon fiber for it to happen. The result has greatly impacted the world permanently. Many companies look for ways to encourage innovation in its employees, but fail to understand the underlying requirements. Disciplines such as innovation management are simply extensions of knowledge management.
While exploitation can be supported using technical solutions, exploration is a purely cultural endeavor. To be successful, organizations must be willing to allow its members to explore new ideas and thoughts, providing structures which support the member and encourages the growth of value over time. The danger is such that exploration may not provide a clear Return on Investment or may take a longer time to create a return.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

14. An hypothesis is an assumption.
Knowledge Hypothesis
An hypothesis is an assumption.
Knowledge is the result of a process where personal or tacit knowledge is accessed to formulate or prove a hypothesis. The most common example of this is research and development.
Hypothesis is extremely diverse from harvesting, harnessing, or hunting knowledge because there is no defined approach or target in the process. Companies with experience in research and development understand the precarious nature of this area in knowledge management because the effort may not result into any tangible solution or the time and cost required to reach the solution is insufficient.
Because this area of knowledge management focuses on exploration, the potential for innovation is high; however, the existing information may not be explicitly expressed which prevents any true control or direction from a technical or automated solution. Often, the knowledge required to reach a conclusion resides entirely with other people, requiring a higher level of cooperation, collaboration, and diversification than the other areas of knowledge management.
The knowledge created in proving a hypothesis can often be formalized and used to harvest, harness, or hunt by others not directly involved in the process. This is often the case when researchers are allowed to publish their findings even when the end objective (if any) has not been reached. This area of knowledge management takes a significant amount of time, money, and skilled resources to reach an acceptable result.
Many of the technologies involved in this area serve to expand the relationships with other people or decrease the time and costs of the overall process, as well as capture information without disrupting the process. Typically, advancements in knowledge are the result of managing the learning process, rather than reaching a definitive conclusion to the hypothesis.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

15. Knowledge Assets and Processes
Knowledge Assets – Definable, often explicit, property in the form of knowledge which must be nurtured, protected, and used to the largest extent possible Knowledge Processes – The prescribed activities for creating, building, compiling, organizing, transforming, transferring, applying, and securing knowledge assets
To this point, we have covered several theoretical perspectives of knowledge and knowledge management. In a practical context, knowledge management is composed of knowledge assets and the knowledge processes applied to those assets.
To remain consistent with what we have learned previously, knowledge assets can consist of current knowledge, future knowledge, and even lost or hidden historical knowledge. Many processes which may be associated to knowledge may not be explicitly controlled by knowledge management. Big Data process is one area where data may be gathered, analyzed, and transformed resulting in potentially valuable knowledge for the organization. The configuration management database used in IT may be managed by the configuration management process but may contain knowledge which is useful to other service management processes.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

16. Knowledge Management—Policies
Knowledge management policies are required to guide all staff in the behaviors needed to make knowledge management effective. Policy statements will be very dependent on the culture of the organization, but typically might include the following:
Knowledge and information needed to support the services will be stored in a way that allows them to be accessed by all staff when and where they are needed.
All policies, plans, and processes must be reviewed at least once a year.
All knowledge and information should be created, reviewed, approved, maintained, controlled and disposed following a formal documented process.
Knowledge management is typically displayed within the Data-to-Information-to-Knowledge-to-Wisdom (DIKW) structure. The use of these terms is set out below.
Data is a set of discrete facts. Most organizations capture significant amounts of data in highly structured databases, such as service management and service asset and configuration management tools/systems and databases. The key knowledge management activities around data are the ability to:
Capture accurate data
Analyze, synthesize, and then transform the data into information
Identify relevant data and concentrate resources on its capture
Maintain integrity of the data
Archive and purge data to ensure optimal balance between availability of data and use of resources
An example of data is the date and time at which an incident was logged.
Information comes from providing context to data. Information is typically stored in semi-structured content such as documents, , and multimedia.
The key knowledge management activity around information is managing the content in a way that makes it easy to capture, query, find, reuse and learn from experiences so that mistakes are not repeated and work is not duplicated.
An example of information is the average time to close priority 2 incidents. This information is created by combining data from the start time, end time and priority of many incidents.
Knowledge is composed of the tacit experiences, ideas, insights, values and judgements of individuals. People gain knowledge both from their own and from their peers’ expertise, as well as from the analysis of information (and data). Through the synthesis of these elements, new knowledge is created.
Knowledge is dynamic and context-based. Knowledge management puts information into an ‘ease of use’ form, which can facilitate decision-making. In IT service transitions, this knowledge is not solely based on the transition in progress, but is gathered from experience of previous transitions, awareness of recent and anticipated changes and other areas, which experienced staff will have been unconsciously collecting for some time.
An example of knowledge is that the average time to close priority 2 incidents has increased by about 10% since a new version of the service was released.
Wisdom makes use of knowledge to create value through correct and well-informed decisions. Wisdom involves having the application and contextual awareness to provide strong common-sense judgment.
An example of wisdom is recognizing that the increase in time to close priority 2 incidents is due to poor-quality documentation for the new version of the service.
© Crown Copyright 20011Reproduced under license from OGC

17. Knowledge Management—SKMS
SKMS (Service Knowledge Management System)
CMS (Configuration Management System)
CMDB
(Configuration Management Database)
KEDB
(Known Error Database)
Decisions
Specifically within IT service management, knowledge management will be focused within the service knowledge management system (SKMS), which is concerned, as its name implies, with knowledge. Underpinning this knowledge will be a considerable quantity of data, which will also be held in the SKMS. One very important part of the SKMS is the configuration management system (CMS). The CMS describes the attributes and relationships of configuration items, many of which are themselves knowledge, information or data assets stored in the SKMS.
The SKMS will contain many different types of data, information and knowledge. Examples of items that should be stored in an SKMS include:
The service portfolio
The configuration management system (CMS)
The definitive media library (DML)
Service level agreements (SLAs), contracts and operation level agreements (OLAs)
The information security policy
The supplier and contract management information system (SCMIS), including suppliers’ and partners’ requirements, abilities and expectations
Budgets
Cost models
Business plans
CSI register
Service improvement plans
The capacity plan and capacity management information system (CMIS)
The availability plan and availability management information system (AMIS)
Service continuity invocation procedure
Service reports
A discussion forum where practitioners can ask questions, answer each other’s questions, and search for previous questions and answers
An indexed and searchable repository of project plans from previous projects
A known error database provided by a vendor which lists common issues in their product and how to resolve them
Skills register, and typical and anticipated user skill levels
Diagnostic scripts
A managed set of web-based training courses
Weather reports needed to support business and IT decision-making (for example, an organization may need to know whether rain is likely at the time of an outdoor event)
Customer/user personal information, for example to support a blind user who needs to have specific support from the service desk
Many of these knowledge and information assets are configuration items. Changes to CIs must be under the control of the change management process, and details of their attributes and relationships will be documented in the CMS.

18. Knowledge Bases
From a technical context, a knowledge base is a repository of knowledge assets managed by the organization and accessible by authorized individuals.
From an organizational context, a knowledge base is composed of:
Knowledge possessed by members of the organization
A framework connecting knowledgeable members
Structures promoting interaction and communication between members
Most knowledge management solutions focus on providing a technical solution without fully exploiting or leveraging the organizational aspects of knowledge management. Implementation of these solutions can be complemented through knowledge consultants who may provide some support in organizational change or training in knowledge management but are retained only until the technical solution is in place. The Service Knowledge Management System and its individual components are a version of technical knowledge bases.
Thinking of a knowledge base from an organizational context, the knowledge assets are the people in the organization. The framework and structure provides the control to allow knowledge to be expressed explicitly or tacitly in a manner that provides the greatest value to the organization. In this context, the SKMS may be a part of the structure to communicate explicit knowledge but does not completely fulfill the goal and objectives of knowledge management for the enterprise.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

19. Knowledge Management Objectives
The strategic objectives of knowledge management for most organization revolve around the following statements:
Transform knowledge into value add components serving business processes and operations.
Leverage knowledge to accelerate growth, generate innovation, and provide competitive advantage.
Within this context, knowledge management initiatives will typically focus on:
Creating a knowledge repository
Managing knowledge as assets
Improving knowledge quantity and/or quality
Enhancing a culture for knowledge sharing
This is the standard way of looking at knowledge management, its objectives and approaches to achieving those objectives. However, the fulfillment of these objectives can sometimes be narrow in scope and incomplete.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

20. Purpose of KM Purposes from a Enterprise Architecture perspective:
Executive – making strategic decisions about products, services, acquisitions, and alliances based on knowledge-related factors
Business Management – determining why, where, and to what point, knowledge should be invested in or exploited
Architect – defining practices to identify, organize, direct, promote, and monitor knowledge-related activities
Engineer – incorporating defined practice in daily operations to create a knowledge-focused culture
Technician – applying practices to create/use explicit knowledge and leverage tacit knowledge
Taking a page from Enterprise Architecture, lets look at knowledge management from several perspectives in the enterprise. What this illustrates is knowledge management plays a different role depending on a person’s relationship to the initiative and, as such, the purposes of knowledge management. Ideally, an organization will want to create objectives and initiatives which address all of these purposes.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

21. Benefits of KM
Improves decision-making capabilities by ensuring appropriate knowledge is available to the right people at the right time
Provides a framework for capturing knowledge and promoting learning within the organization
Stimulates cultural change and innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas
Enhances employee retention rates by recognizing the value of employees' knowledge and rewarding them for it
Streamlines operations and reduces costs by eliminating redundant or unnecessary processes
Improves customer service by reducing response time and increasing quality of service
Gets products and services to market faster, thus boosting revenues and improving competitive advantage

22. Challenges in KM
Lack of Participation Lack of Definition/Too Much Definition Contributions Misunderstood/Restricted Data Deluge Ongoing Maintenance
The greatest challenge in knowledge management is the lack of participation by members of the organization. Knowledge management becomes a major disappointment for management when the enterprise invests in the company-wide knowledge management system and only 5% of the company participates. The reasons for participation, or lack thereof, do not revolve around the system and often the source of the failure is not the implementation but a lack of definition in the initiative.
Management is often placed in a precarious position when asked to decide on a knowledge management solution. They need knowledge to make the decision, but the knowledge they need to make a comprehensive decision is not always available. Sounds confusing? Many organizations will move forward with knowledge management initiatives without clearly understanding what knowledge is and how it can be leveraged. In most cases, the persuasive tone is “the only good knowledge is knowledge which can be measured.” A lack of definition or even overly defined knowledge can lead to potential failures knowledge management; it will also impact participation.
A challenge for members in organization is their relationship to contributing knowledge. A person may not value his/her own knowledge and restrict his/her contributions and participation to knowledge management based on this assumption. A person may value his/her knowledge highly and be fearful of losing that advantage shared in the organization; thus limiting his/her participation. On the other hand, management or the system may determine a person’s knowledge is not valuable and limit his/her participation. In each scenario provided, the assumptions generated are incorrect and inappropriate. Knowledge management solutions must encourage an open space for knowledge sharing. Some of the most effective interchanges of knowledge begin with someone asking: Does anyone know? Has anyone ever? Why does ….happen? How do you?
A successful knowledge management program has its own challenges, particularly when a person seeking knowledge is overrun by knowledge from his/her peers. In an effective system, knowledge should provide several perspectives, opinions, and possible direction, much like a conversation around the water cooler. While different perspectives are advantageous, the knowledge used should be consistent with the organization’s strategic goals and objectives. Therefore, some filtering may be necessary to ensure that knowledge is presented in the right context. Applying the necessary level of filtering without restricting knowledge sharing can be a tedious endeavor for an organization.
Finally, a challenge for knowledge management initiatives is the need for aggressive and active maintenance of the knowledge environment. Knowledge management will not be effective if a technical solution is dropped into place and left alone. In every successful initiative, the majority of time and money spent on growing knowledge management occurs outside the technical solution. This does not mean that technical solutions do not provide value; they do and they must be appropriate in the current and future culture being developed. Often, organizations create short-term plans regarding knowledge management and forget to recognize the long-term requirements of the program. Knowledge management initiatives are not an area to test, explore, or experiment in the short term; they will always fail. If an organization is willing to make a long-term commitment to knowledge management, they will have greater freedom and effectiveness in testing, exploring, and experimenting with different solutions.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

23. Implementing KM Scope Management Tracking Individual Learning
Holistically, Knowledge Management is not easy to implement. There are several approaches to take and a comprehensive knowledge management program should touch them all. However, there is no one-size-fits-all knowledge solution available to any organization and attempting to create the ideal solution in the initial project will lead to unfettered failure.
When looking at implementing a knowledge management program, three areas should be considered:
Scope (Individual, Organizational) – How will the program deal with individual knowledge versus organizational knowledge? Will the program emphasize sharing of knowledge with other individuals or through a defined system? Will harvesting, harnessing, hunting, and hypothesizing related activities be performed at an individual or organizational level?
Tracking (People, Information) – Do you know what information is available and where it is at? Is there duplicate, redundant, or conflicting information between the sources? Do you know what knowledge assets in the form of people are available and where they are located? Are communities of practice established, whether formal or not? Are knowledge activities being standardized or customized?
Management (Knowledge, Learning) – Are current knowledge assets protected from loss or corruption? What programs are in place to increase knowledge? What is the state of knowledge sharing internally and with external entities? What management controls are in place to maintain current knowledge and learn new knowledge? How are these controls being measured?
Scope
Learning
Management
Organizational
Knowledge
People
Information
Tracking
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

24. Tips on Implementing KM
Try not to use the term Knowledge Management Move away from a technology-centric paradigm Start small Be user-friendly
Knowledge Management as a term has a few surprising challenges mostly because it has been frequently misused that immediate biases appear when it is used. The diagram in the previous slide shows a comprehensive perspective of knowledge management. Individual cross-sections should not be labeled knowledge management. Here are some useful words to consider using instead of knowledge management:
Communication
Collaboration
Culture
Expert locators
Document management
Presentation and visualization
eLearning/Training
Content generation
Personal/skills management
Artificial Intelligence
Automation
Networking/Cloud Computing
Formats and standards
Big Data/Data Analytics
Knowledge management uses technology to fulfill its objectives, but its objectives cannot be fully achieved simply by implementing a technical solution. Knowledge management is a cultural endeavor for an organization. Its success directly corresponds to its acceptance in the organization’s culture.
Knowledge management programs should start small to create immediate success then build on those successes by adding to its scope, tracking capabilities, and management. There is a pervasive paradox present in all knowledge-related endeavors: the amount of knowledge hidden from an individual will overwhelmingly shadow the knowledge known to the individual. In practical terms, this paradox asserts that no amount of initial planning will truly address the complexities involved in implementing knowledge management. Therefore, the best practice is to tread carefully.
Participation is the key to any knowledge management initiative. Typically, organizations will create or buy a system and impose that system on its employees. Once it is recognized that employees are already sharing, knowledge management initiatives should focus on identifying how they are sharing and introduce systems to facilitate that sharing in the same manner. Often, this means adopting technologies that people are using in their private lives, rather than introducing an unfamiliar technology or process.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

25. The Toolkit
The Toolkit is designed to be holistic in its approach to Knowledge Management. Its intent is to identify the potential dangers in improving an organization’s capabilities and to provide a practical approach to implementing Knowledge Management solutions. The technologies are too broad and diverse to be covered in a single toolkit, so templates and aids are provided, which can be used across several implementation projects.
The goal of the Knowledge Management Toolkit is to define what knowledge management is, how it can be used effectively by an organization, and support an organization’s attempt to develop its capabilities in knowledge management.
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008

26. Moving Forward
The toolkit is designed to accept one basic premise: that an organization already has capabilities in knowledge management, whether they are seen as such or not. A specific organization may find individual presentations or documents more valuable than others, but it is our hope that the overall toolkit sufficiently covers the broad spectrum of knowledge management for all organizations.
The core documents of the toolkit focus on developing an organization in the three major focus areas of knowledge management:
Discovering Knowledge
Capturing Knowledge
Sharing Knowledge
Copyright: The Art of Service 2008