Chapter 9

Question 1

What is a Knowledge Management System?

Answer 1

an organized collection of people, procedures, software, databases, and devices used to create, store, share, and use the organization’s knowledge and experience

Question 2

What types of knowledge does a KMS involve?

Answer 2

• Explicit knowledge: objective; can be measured and documented in reports, papers, and rules
• Tacit knowledge: hard to measure and document; typically not objective or formalized

Question 3

When is Knowledge created?

Answer 3

1. When an individual learns directly from another individual, in an apprentice type relationship, tacit knowledge is created from tacit knowledge
2. When two pieces of explicit knowledge are combined. A website mash-up could be considered an example of this type of new knowledge. Mash-ups were described in Chapter 6 as the combining of information from two or more webpages on one webpage
3. When an expert writes a book teaching others, explicit knowledge is being created from tacit knowledge
4. When someone reads that book, and (eventually) becomes an expert themselves, tacit knowledge has been created by explicit knowledge

Question 4

Creating/Obtaining Knowledge?

Answer 4

Knowledge workers often work in teams

Question 5

Storing knowledge

Answer 5

Knowledge repository: includes documents, reports, files, and databases

Question 6

Sharing knowledge

Answer 6

• Collaborative work software and group support systems
• Nontechnical approaches

Question 7

Using knowledge

Answer 7

Begins with locating organization’s knowledge
Knowledge map or directory

Question 8

What is the technology to support knowledge management 1?

Answer 8

• An effective KMS is based on learning new knowledge and changing procedures and approaches as a result
  -Organizational learning
  -Organizational change
• Data mining and business intelligence are important in capturing and using knowledge
• Enterprise resource planning tools include knowledge management features