READIT-2007 - Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research

group knowledge is a tangible object which can be identified and handled in information
systems.
For the second group, knowledge management is synonymous with people
management, adding a new dimension to traditional human resource management, because
they believe that knowledge resides only in the minds of people and what is available
explicitly is only information. The researchers in this field have their education in business
management, philosophy, psychology, sociology etc. They are primarily involved in
assessing and improving human skills and behaviour. For them, knowledge is a process, a
complex set of dynamic skills, know how etc., which is constantly changing. Knowledge is
the capacity to act and it is synonymous with individual competence (Sveiby, 2001). Based
on this, we can define “knowledge management as the one which creates and nurtures the
organizational environment where knowledge sharing, creation and growth takes place in the
organization as an integral process in every role, on a continuous basis ,thereby improving
the dynamic capacity of the employees to act effectively in various situations”.
Knowledge management initiatives can be classified in to two main types. This
classification is based on the way knowledge is shared. One method is ‘indirect’ by
converting the tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge and shared. It is by the process of
exernalisation , combination and internalization . This method is also called the codification
approach where the strategy is people to document and document to people. The other
method is ‘direct’ where tacit knowledge is shared among people where the strategy is people
to people. This method is also called personalization approach. A holistic approach to
knowledge management should address both direct and indirect methods.
ORGANIZATIONAL MEMORY
Organizational Memory is the body of data, information and knowledge relevant to
an individual organization’s existence. It has two repositories – an organization's record of
activities/products , including its electronic data bases, and individuals’ memories. The
composition of OM includes prior data and information, all internally-generated
documentation related to the organizational activities such as intellectual property, details of
events, products and individuals, relevant published reference material and – importantly –
institution-created knowledge. OM can be visualized as the data, information and knowledge
captured by an organization in accessible repositories. These repositories consist of
documents, audio, video, people, culture and computers. The effective use of captured data,
information and knowledge results in ‘learning’ by individuals and organization. The
effective use is possible only if it can be accessed when required, necessitating effective
retrieval systems. It is generally expected that learning will improve organizational
effectiveness. But, it is also possible that organizations can learn incorrect behaviours. In
order to avoid such a pitfall, the contents of OM, its usage and the resultant performance need
to be continuously monitored. The basic components of Organizational Memory
System(OMS) are capturing, storing, searching, retrieving, using and assessing. In other
words OM is a subset of OMS. However we use the terms OM and OMS interchangeably.
The simplified representation of an OM is shwn in figure 1. The central repository consists of
data, information and knowledge created and used by various organizational entities. The
organizational entities can be individual employees, team, sections, task force, departments
etc.
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