Knowledge Management: Everyone Benefits by Sharing Information

Knowledge management acts something like a library in that it provides a repository for written information on a given subject, but it also tries to make available to the organization as a whole the knowledge that is in people’s heads. This knowledge may be the most valuable of all because it is put in context and it is frequently more extensive and up-to-date and, therefore, more useful for decision-making. In short, knowledge management helps ensure that the right information gets to the right people at the right time to make the right decisions.

Knowledge management is not the latest trendy business idea. It’s a concept that has been used for the past several years by a variety of organizations in both the public and private sectors. These organizations found that they had outgrown such traditional though still highly effective information-sharing methods as conversations around the office coffee machine. International consulting firms, for example, value knowledge management as a highly effective tool to ensure that far-flung project teams can communicate effectively and share essential information. In the public sector, agencies have found that knowledge management helps capture the collective knowledge that ensures institutional continuity and the continued achievement of their strategic objectives.

In traditional organizations, knowledge tends to flow along organizational lines, from the top down. But that pattern seldom results in making knowledge available in a timely fashion and where it’s needed the most. In organizations with managed knowledge, information can flow across organizational lines, reaching the people who can use it in ways that best promote the organization’s goals and that enhance service to the customer at the same time.

How this happens can be understood by examining the four basic elements of the knowledge management cycle: find/create, organize, share, and use/reuse. Under “find/create,” especially as it operates in a transportation organization, knowledge is gained through a variety of means, including publications, conferences and meetings, project experiences, research, and industry expertise. In the next step in the cycle, “organize,” the knowledge is filtered and catalogued, and links to the outside are created. Then the information is shared for wide availability, making use of high-tech computer tools such as the Internet and other techniques such as conferences, journal articles, and the natural communication channels created in a collaborative work environment.

To help carry out the “organize” and “share” functions in a specific community of people having a common interest, many experts recommend a knowledge manager. This person has the task of soliciting good practices, indexing and cataloguing new information as it comes in, and serving as an information broker by assisting people to obtain the information they need. The knowledge manager can also serve as an advocate for knowledge-sharing practices within and beyond his or her specific community of practice.

The final stage of the knowledge management cycle, “use/reuse,” involves both informal contacts and access to reports, good practices, success stories, and other forms of communication, including exhibits, demonstrations, and training sessions. Much of this knowledge can be made available to a wide audience through the Internet. This is the step in which knowledge is applied and reapplied to solve real-world issues, such as building better bridges, operating roadways more efficiently, and improving highway safety. Of course, these results are then captured as part of the lessons learned for use as the knowledge cycle begins again.