Managing Knowledge Effectively

Effective knowledge management is not a panacea, it is one of many components of good management. Sound planning, good marketing, high-quality products and services, attention to customers, the efficient structuring of work, and the thoughtful management of an organization's resources is not diminished in importance by the acknowledgement that knowledge is critical to success and needs to be managed.

However, when a business faces competitors that perform well on those other dimensions, the difference between success and failure may well turn on how effectively it manages its knowledge (Davenport et al, 1998). Knowledge management success factors may be links to economic performance or industry value; a technical and organizational infrastructure; a standard, flexible knowledge structure; a knowledge-friendly culture; a clear purpose and language; a change in motivational practices; multiple channels for knowledge transfer and senior management support (Davenport et al., 1998).

In order to manage knowledge effectively in corporates and organizations, besides other factors, special attention should be given to contextual dimensions of organization such as strategy, technology and culture, that is:

• Most important is building a strong culture to adopt and support it.
• Defining effective strategies for using all knowledge resources efficiently.
• Using information technologies (digital documents, intranets, expert systems etc) for developing knowledge management systems.