54 knowledge management definitions – and counting…
by Bill Ives
My friend Ray Sims is collecting definitions of knowledge management at his blog, Sims Learning Connections. Ray was the former head of knowledge management at Novell and is now an independent consultant. His opening paragraph parallels many of my thoughts:
“For many years I’ve been saying that I didn’t like the term “knowledge management” as (a) it was fundamentally an oxymoron, (b) there was no consensus within the industry as to what the term meant, and (c) in many companies the term carries negative connotations due to a perceived lack of value from earlier so-called knowledge management efforts and/or belief that knowledge management was a fad that we have moved on past or has been absorbed into other disciplines. On top of this add claims by many writers that the term has been hijacked by technology vendors, management consultants, or academics.”
And yet knowledge management persists as one of the longest running fads/trends in enhancing employee performance. I always liked the idea since it was trying to make people do their job better during the rise of process re-engineering (aka) laying off people) and later out sourcing (aka) laying off people. In my former life at a large consulting firm we had our own definition, not unlike may of those found in Ray’s post. Now we have enterprise 2.0 tools to actually realize the promise of knowledge management. Maybe it will stick around a bit longer with even more definitions. Check out what Ray wrote to see if your favorite definition is represented.
