KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Knowledge management essentially involves knowledge needs assessments, identification of knowledge sources, knowledge creation, acquisition, organization and storage, knowledge dissemination, transfer, sharing or diffusion. These activities however will be determined by the organizational environment.  Organizations differ depending on the nature of their operations. How knowledge is managed in organization A would be different on how it is managed in organization B.

Before I delve into what I understand knowledge management system is, I would like to first define what a system is. A system is a group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole. A system comprises a number of essentials that together make a complete form. As already stated knowledge management encompasses a number of elements which include: knowledge needs assessments, identification of knowledge sources, knowledge creation, acquisition, organization and storage, knowledge dissemination, transfer, sharing or diffusion. These elements collectively give us a knowledge management system. These elements help an organization to manage its knowledge.

Knowledge management system could therefore be said to be those activities that collectively enables an organization effectively and efficiently manage its knowledge. However, from a technological point of view knowledge management systems are taken to refer to information systems used in managing knowledge in organizations. Taken this way knowledge management systems could be said to be information communication technologies that assist in carrying the core activities of knowledge management which can be summed up thus: knowledge creation, storage, retrieval, transfer and application.

Let’s take the example of a library environment. Basic the library acquires explicit knowledge in either print or non-print form, classifies, catalogs, and issues. These activities can be done either manually or electronically. There are library systems that have been developed that can be used to do all these activities. These systems can consequently be referred to as library knowledge management systems.