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

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can not be managed. For <strong>the</strong> third group knowledge management is a more modern technique to
exploit <strong>the</strong> mind <strong>of</strong> workers and make <strong>the</strong>m disposable.
Despite <strong>the</strong> controversies, information and knowledge have always been regarded relevant for
organizations. What may be considered different is <strong>the</strong> recent convergence <strong>of</strong> interests around <strong>the</strong>m,
which, as emphasized by Barbosa and Paim (2003), can be seen as a reflection <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> increasing
importance <strong>of</strong> information and knowledge in <strong>the</strong> social and economic spheres.
Companies that adhere to knowledge management seek to discover how to achieve results through
<strong>the</strong> intelligence, skills and education dispersed among its members. This challenge becomes greater
as <strong>the</strong> complexity <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> organization increases.
This paper aims to describe <strong>the</strong> routines adopted by a large mining company located in Brazil to
enhance <strong>the</strong> processes <strong>of</strong> creation, acquisition, codification, sharing, use and protection <strong>of</strong>
organizational knowledge.
2. Knowledge management
Knowledge management can be understood as efforts undertaken by organizations with <strong>the</strong> objective
to create, acquire, convert, protect and use <strong>the</strong>ir knowledge in order to build <strong>the</strong>ir competitive
advantage (Gold, Malhotra, Segars 2001).
The starting point for knowledge management is <strong>the</strong> understanding <strong>of</strong> what was called by Leonard-
Barton (1998) <strong>the</strong> company's strategic skills. Companies must identify <strong>the</strong> competences that were
established over time and that can not be easily imitated (Hamel, Prahalad 2000). The role <strong>of</strong>
knowledge management is to ensure that <strong>the</strong> company has <strong>the</strong> necessary knowledge to support and
develop those competences.
The internal creation <strong>of</strong> organizational knowledge involves individual and group learning through
continuous recasting or restructuring <strong>of</strong> cognitive models. The cognitive structure <strong>of</strong> individuals is
developed through interaction with social contexts, via communication functions, imitation and
comparison. These social interactions encourage individuals to analyze <strong>the</strong> strengths and
weaknesses <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir mental models, favoring <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> new patterns <strong>of</strong> interpretation
regarding reality (Turvan 2001). When evaluated, <strong>the</strong> goal is not <strong>the</strong> group consensus, but <strong>the</strong> search
for <strong>the</strong> best model (Sartor 2002).
In addition to internally developing <strong>the</strong>ir own knowledge, it is also possible and intended that
companies learn from outside <strong>the</strong>ir own borders. Organizations seek to acquire knowledge when <strong>the</strong>y
identify an internal deficiency <strong>of</strong> skill. A huge need for external knowledge acquisition can be found
when <strong>the</strong> insufficient or outdated knowledge affects <strong>the</strong> company’s long term competitiveness
(Leonard-Barton, 1998).
Knowledge codification aims to register and organize <strong>the</strong> information spread internally so that this
information is not lost and can become accessible to those who need it. Besides being encoded,
information should be shared among members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> organization. It is known that companies have
certain skills that are shared by all, but also stocks <strong>of</strong> knowledge belonging to specific groups or
individuals. Companies should identify <strong>the</strong> type <strong>of</strong> knowledge which is intended to be shared, with
whom and what are <strong>the</strong> advantages for <strong>the</strong> business strategy. Oliveira Jr. (2001, p. 295) defines
knowledge sharing as "<strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> dissemination <strong>of</strong> knowledge <strong>of</strong> a company under <strong>the</strong> control <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> owner <strong>of</strong> that knowledge."
As pointed out by Davenport and Prusak (1998), none <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> following routines are relevant if <strong>the</strong>
knowledge is not put into use, leading to changes in behavior, strategies, products and competences.
Gold, Malhotra and Segars (2001) identified that little attention has been given to this aspect in
literature. Many factors can influence people not to use knowledge such as: not respecting <strong>the</strong>
source, missing time, missing opportunities, being afraid to take risks and stubbornness (Davenport,
Prusak 1998).
In <strong>the</strong> end, a factor that can not be neglected in <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> knowledge management is <strong>the</strong> need to
strategically protect it, ei<strong>the</strong>r against <strong>the</strong> competition or against <strong>the</strong> possibility that it leaves <strong>the</strong>
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