Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Tendayi Gondo and Edmore Kori
1.1 What are knowledge management systems?
Existing literature on KM is pregnant with a taxonomy <strong>of</strong> explanations about what <strong>the</strong> term KM refers
to (see Nonaka 1991; Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995; Bassi 1997; Mayo 1998; Nonaka and Konno 1998;
Parlby 1998; Beckman 1999; Gordon 2000; Martin 2000; Allee 2001 to name a few). We adopt a
syn<strong>the</strong>sis <strong>of</strong> such definitions given by Yang and Wan (2004: 595) who describes KM as <strong>the</strong> process
<strong>of</strong> collecting and identifying useful information (i.e. knowledge acquisition), transferring tacit
knowledge to explicit knowledge (i.e. knowledge creation or transfer), storing <strong>the</strong> knowledge in <strong>the</strong>
repository (i.e. organizational memory), disseminating it through <strong>the</strong> whole organization (i.e.
knowledge sharing), enabling employees to easily retrieve it (i.e. knowledge retrieval) and exploiting
and usefully applying knowledge (i.e. knowledge leverage). “Knowledge in SME operations can
<strong>the</strong>refore be defined as that knowledge which is related to company’s customers, products and
services, operational procedures, competitors and job associates. Such knowledge could be found in
people’s heads, stored in documents or papers, or located in types <strong>of</strong> electronic devices (Yang and
Wan 2004).
1.1.1 KM development
The development <strong>of</strong> a KM system requires that three important threads are addressed (Davenport &
Prusak 2000; Lesser and Prusak 2000; O’Dell and Grayson 1999; Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995). First,
social interactions and networks are deemed to be crucial in accelerating knowledge sharing, in
assembling divergent resources from dispersed locations within an organization, and in enhancing <strong>the</strong>
effectiveness <strong>of</strong> storing individual and organizational knowledge. Second, technologies can be
employed for nurturing knowledge sharing and storing practices. The third thread is that top managers
need to remove all obstacles that impede <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> KM best practice.
In <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> knowledge flow, individuals could more easily acquire knowledge and retrieve
special resources if trust and trustworthiness are embedded among people through personal contact,
inter-relationship and networking (Lesser and Prusak 2000). A number <strong>of</strong> technologies can be utilized
for knowledge repositories, including among o<strong>the</strong>rs. In addition, <strong>the</strong> repositories in any forms should
be accessible, traceable, retrievable, and useable, regardless <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> spatial–temporal discrepancy
(Johnson and Paper 1998; Martin 2000). KM has a emerged as a multidisciplinary discipline –
borrowing concepts and principles from such fields as systems engineering, organizational
development, systems management and organizational behavior. Following literature on KM, we can
distinguish between 4 pillars <strong>of</strong> any knowledge enterprising institution – including leadership,
organization, technology and learning (Figure 1). The leadership component questions <strong>the</strong>
organization’s business culture, strategic goals and its communications among o<strong>the</strong>r issues.
Organizational processes and procedures are also critical to any effective KMS. The role <strong>of</strong>
Technology, particularly IT has been underscored by many (Melville et al 2004; Ray et al 2007). Only
learning organizations are open to KM driven change process.
Figure 1: Major pillars <strong>of</strong> Knowledge Management
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