READIT - 2009 - Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research

Knowledge Management Knowledge Sharing and
Co-operation - A Case Study
K.K.Kuriakose, R. Malathi, V.Parameswaran, S.A.V.Satya Murty and P.Swaminathan
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, 603102
Email: kuriakose@igcar.gov.in
ABSTRACT
Knowledge Management is the process of capturing and preserving, individual and collective
knowledge and making it available wherever and whenever it finds utility. The source of knowledge could
be paper, computers or minds of people. The boundary of Knowledge Management can be family, group,
department , organization, nation or the whole world. However the origin of Knowledge Management
practices can be traced to early civilizations, though the term “Knowledge Management” was not in
existence at that time. Currently the term is used mostly in the context of organizations, to represent formal,
systematic and deliberate activities to manage and exploit organizational knowledge.
Knowledge Management in the context of Organizations can be traced to various concepts and
practices in pursuit of productivity improvement and organizational effectiveness, efficiency and
excellence. These concepts can be traced to F.W.Taylor’s Scientific Management Principles , and the
resultant ‘time and motion study’ and other industrial engineering practices. Later the concept of ‘human
relations’ emerged out of the famous Hawthrone Experiments of George Elton Mayo. Other concepts like
‘total quality management’, ‘systems thinking’, ‘balanced score card ’, ‘business process re-engineering’,
‘management information system’ and ‘knowledge management’ were marketed as ‘magic’ solutions to
productivity improvement and other organizational problems.
The question asked in the first generation Knowledge Management was “How do we
make people share?”; the question in the second generation Knowledge Management was “How do we
better share learn and work together”; the question in the third generation Knowledge Management is
“How do we more intelligently share, learn, work together and improve our productivity” . The concept of
Knowledge Management can be extended beyond organizational boundaries to ‘Organizational Clusters’
to Nations and further to the Global Scenario, with exponentially increasing complexity and benefits.
The paper reviews the progress of Knowledge Management from ‘People Centric’ to ‘Information
Technology Centric’ and again to ‘People Centric’ and further to Intelligent Technology Centric’
approaches. The paper concludes that the practices of knowledge management was in existence since time
immemorial and will continue for ever. With new advancements in technology and better understanding of
human behavior, knowledge management will progress to hitherto unexplored and uncharted territories of
collective intelligence, collaboration, team work, excellence, harmony and happiness.
Keywords: Knowledge Management, Productivity, Information Technology
1. INTRODUCTION
Knowledge is classified into two types. They are explicit knowledge and tacit
knowledge. According to Nonaka “explicit knowledge is the knowledge that is easily
expressed, captured stored and reused. In contrast, tacit knowledge is highly personal. It
is hard to formalize and therefore difficult to communicate to others.” (Nonaka, 1991).
For Nonaka tacit and explicit knowledge are not separate but mutually complimentary
entities. They interact with each other in the creative activities of human beings. Explicit
knowledge is the articulated form of knowledge, knowledge expressed in words,
drawings, paintings, audio, video etc. According to Polanyi(1966), tacit knowledge is
that component of knowledge which resides in living beings, which is implicit,
unconscious, personal, subjective, unstructured and inexpressible, but it can be acted