Knowledge Management Glossary

 A

Analysis: The process of interpreting data and information. The end result is based on the data, experience, and wisdom of the analyser.

Artificial Ignorance: Sacrificing truth in favour of reverence or ritual; blindly following the rules, practices, procedures or laws without understanding or thinking about the reasoning or result.

Artificial Intelligence: Rule based analysis that can be achieved by a machine and doesn’t take into account the human side of decision making such as feeling, intuition, and creativity.

B

Balanced Score-Card: A tool developed by Kaplan and Norton to measure intellectual capital. It was designed to focus managers’ attention on factors that help the business strategy such as financial measures, customer measures, internal processes and innovation.

Barriers: Objects, ideas, practices, structures or systems that prevent or discourage action. Barriers can be disadvantageous when they discourage sharing, creativity, innovation and other positive behaviours.

Best Practices: Practices, use of knowledge, or experience that have been proven by data or experience to be valuable or effective to individuals, groups, or organizations. Best practices often can be shared with others operating in a similar field or context.

C

Cataloguing: The systematic organisation of stored information, data, or materials so that they can be easily retrieved later.

Classification: A system of arranging ideas or physical objects in hierarchal and enumerative schemes. For classification systems to work they must by systematic, logical, flexible, current, encompass the whole field of knowledge and use consistent, unambiguous terminology.

Collaborative Tools: Electronic tools such as email and social media that facilitate interaction between employees.

Communities of Practice (Communities of Interest): Formal or informal networks of people who work on similar processes or in similar disciplines and who come together to develop and share their knowledge in that field for the benefit of both themselves and their organization.

Content Management: The management and organisation of unstructured information such as videos, graphics, reports, emails and presentations.

Content Mapping: The identification and organisation at a high-level of the meaning contained in a collection of electronic documents.

Core Capabilities: Skills, competencies and systems within an organisation that have been built up over time and cannot be easily repeated, thus constituting a competitive advantage.

Core Knowledge Activities: Knowledge activities, the identifying, creating, storing, sharing and use of knowledge, which are widely used by an organisation.

Core Rigidities: Systems within an organisation that can constitute a part of their competitive advantage, but may also form a weakness if they are too unchangeable and therefore do not allow for organisational growth and innovation.

Corporate Amnesia: The loss of collective experience, entrenched tacit knowledge and accumulated skills in an organisation, often through large-scale downsizing or high attrition rates.

Customer Capital: The value of an organisation’s relationships with its customers. An intangible asset created by customers’ loyalty to a company, product or brand.

D

Data: Individual components of information. Generated through various means, datum or data are raw facts and figures that have not been interpreted or analysed.

Data Management: The management and organisation of structured information, often in spread sheets or relational databases.

Data Mining: An analysis technique used to reveal trends and patterns in large databases. Data mining is often used to generate information to help improve business processes.

Discussion Forum: A platform for individuals with similar interests to exchange ideas, post questions, offer answers or offer advice on relevant subjects. Electronic forums allow for archiving and searching of previously posted topics, thus further disseminating the ideas or advice.

E

Economic Value Added (EVA): A measurement tool developed by Stern Stewart & Co. that attempts to capture the true economic profit of a company.

Electronic Collaboration: A process through which project partners can contribute jointly to works in progress via electronic means such as email and public networks.

Experience: The process by which a person gains knowledge and skills by participating in a particular activity or field.

Expert System: A branch of artificial intelligence. Computer programs that simulate human decision making processes.

External Structure: A company’s intangible assets or image that depend on external relationships such as those with customers and suppliers.

Explicit Knowledge: Captured and catalogued information and knowledge that can be readily transmitted to other people.

F

Faceted Classification: An information classification structure used to categorise objects by a series of facets or dimensions such as colour, location, subject or price. These are normally defined by a taxonomy.

H

Human Capital: The value of an organisation’s people, including their knowledge, competencies and experience.

I

Ideas: Mental pictures or dreams that have not been substantiated by data or proven by experience, although may be based on an individual’s knowledge or experience in a certain area.

Ignorance: The state of not knowing that occurs when people are unwilling or unable to obtain certain knowledge.

Individual Competence (Personal Competence): The capacity of employees to act in a wide variety of situations. This is often based on their education, skills, experience and attitude.

Industry Best Practices: Practices that have been determined as effective approaches across an industry. They are often used as a benchmark or helpful tool for companies to improve their own processes and procedures.

Information: Data that has been given meaning by way of relational connections and can be used to answer ‘where’ ‘when’ ‘what’ and ‘who’ questions.

Information Management: The management and organisation of both structured and unstructured information. Information management can include data management and content management principles.

Information Technology: The creation and use of tools to collect, move, store, share and analyse information.

Intellectual Capital: The knowledge assets of an organisation. Intellectual capital cannot be displayed on a company’s balance sheet, although provides real value to the company. It is made up of human capital, structural capital and customer capital.

Internal Structure: A company’s intangible assets that depend on internal factors such as patents, brands, processes, employee relationships, culture and managers.

K

Knowledge: The internalisation of information, data, and experience that is the result of learning. It can be broken down further into tacit and explicit knowledge.

Knowledge Architect: The staff member responsible to define knowledge and intellectual processes and identify the technological and human resources required to create, capture, organise, access and use knowledge assets.

Knowledge Audit: The formal process to determine and evaluate how and where knowledge is used within an organisation. It examines the way knowledge is collected, catalogued and stored.

Knowledge Base: A system used to collect, organise, store, share and use information as part of a Knowledge Management process.

Knowledge Bridge: A connection built between the business processes and the technological, sociological, personal, financial, sales, creative, and customer oriented functions of an organisation to promote cross-collaboration and knowledge sharing between functions.

Knowledge Creation: The process that results in new knowledge or new techniques through the re-organisation of existing knowledge.

Knowledge Economy: Using knowledge to achieve economic gains; knowledge is not only used as a means of producing and selling goods, but is the good in itself.

Knowledge Flow: The way in which knowledge travels, grows, is stored and retrieved.

Knowledge Facilitators: Individuals that help collect, store and disseminate an organisations’ knowledge for the benefit of the organisation.

Know-Haw: The skills, capabilities and knowledge needed to achieve a desired objective.

Knowledge Management: A systematic way of channelling knowledge to the right people, at the right time to enable them to more efficiently handle a task or provide increased understanding for an area of interest.

Knowledge Management Staff: In an organisation, the people responsible to design and implement a policy for the creation, capture, storage, cataloguing, and sharing of organizational knowledge.

Knowledge Map: A physical representation of knowledge relationships that enables a user to retrieve knowledge tools or sources needed to conduct business processes.

Knowledge Mapping: The process of creating a knowledge map through the identification and categorisation of organisations’ knowledge assets.

Knowledge Owner:The person or people responsible for storage and maintenance of an area or piece of knowledge.

Knowledge Sourced: Anywhere required knowledge can be found, for example a manual, piece of technology or another person.

Knowledge Worker: Someone whose primary duty is to create, disseminate or work with knowledge and information. They often have a deep background or understanding of a certain area of knowledge.

L

Learning: Acquiring new or altered knowledge, understanding, behaviours, skills, values, or preferences. Learning often involves a complex process whereby an individual is exposed to information and experiences over time and through multiple senses.

Learning Organisation: An organisation dedicated to continually transform itself by facilitating the identification, creation, sharing and use of knowledge that promotes employee and organisational learning.

Local Best Practices: Practices that have been determined as effective approaches within a unit, department or organisation.

M

Management: The process of planning, organising, resourcing, leading and/or measuring activities aimed to achieve certain objectives.

Mentoring: A method by which a senior or more experienced person fosters the development of a junior or less experienced person in their field.

Metadata: The design and specification of data structures to help describe, explain or facilitate the retrieval of information resources.

Motivation: An external or internal influence that provides a push or incentive to accomplish a goal or pursue an action.

O

Organisational Culture: A combination of organisational history, shared experiences, group expectations, unwritten or tacit rules, ethics, and social interactions that affect employees behaviour in an organisation.

P

Paradigm: An example, model or pattern that represents how something is supposed to function or react.

Practices: Techniques, methodologies, procedures, and processes that are used for the purpose of completing a job or action.

Q

Query: A question or series of questions presented to an information retrieval system in an attempt to acquire information sources relating to the query subject.

S

Sharing: The joint use of a resource such as an object, information or location. In an organisation sharing is generally deemed beneficial as it saves resources by their joint use and increases efficiency by allowing multiple people to benefit from the efforts of one.

Structural Capital: The value of an organisation’s intangible structural assets including its processes, information systems, databases and patents.

T

Tacit Knowledge: The personal knowledge resident within the mind, behaviour and perceptions of an individual. It is usually acquired through extended education and experience and is thus difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalising it.

Taxonomy: A system of categorising information that uses a hierarchical or ranked classification structure.

Technology: The creation and use of tools such as machines or processes that help achieve an objective or action.

Technological Capability: The conceptual ability to achieve a desired outcome through existing technological means.

Thinking: A mental process whereby a person integrates previous knowledge and experience with new data or information.

U

Understanding: A realisation of ‘why’ something works or is. It is a psychological process that allows a person to think about, interpret, learn and deal with people, things, events or situations.

W

Wisdom: A profound understanding of people, things, events or situations that enables well-placed thought and action towards the object.