Title: Information Systems
Understanding Knowledge Management
Environment: A Holistic Approach
Abstract: Information Technology has guided
many companies to the new arena of leveraged knowledge and
collaboration making them to rethink how works gets done by linking
people through electronic media. However, knowing is a human action
that depends on experience but which evolves as well with new
insights. The difficulty in knowledge management application
relies in the people’s mindset and how it will influence the
organizational culture. This paper describes the current knowledge
management landscape and focuses on the mindset required to make
knowledge delivery happen. “Markets for knowledge have existed for a
long time; however, they have been highly inefficient”.
Knowledge Management Systems are growing in importance and they will
strongly influence the management activities of companies in different
ways. In this era of globalization making the best informed decisions
possible based on knowledge have become the first priority. In
response, many companies have turned to knowledge management systems to
share knowledge and information on a more systematic structure. They
have been transforming themselves to adapt to these new requirements of
dynamic organizational culture that includes the different mindsets of
the individuals who support the organization. However, Knowledge
Management Technology is not working, due to the fact that it is based
more on a publishing model rather than collaboration management.
IT plays an important role in the exchange of information but it has to
be balanced with the human-centered approach. The ways in which
business are managed are affected by the cultural values and associated
behavior patterns and sometimes conflicting practices that operate in
the environment. The main challenge is to combine the “hard skills” of
business task and the “soft skills” of the way individuals interact and
communicate. Knowledge Management is one of the most important
requirements for making the Integration Systems a real, competitive,
and widely-implemented organizational concept.