Journal Article Critique “From common to uncommon Knowledge: Foundations of Firm-specific use of Knowledge as a Resource”

Knowledge is considered as one of the most important and competitive resource for sustenance of the organisation (Zack, 1999). It can be compared to the strategic resource that can be used and applied in various frames of the organisation. Experienced managers in the organisations believe that company can receive strategic advantage through knowledge and not the strategies or actions implemented by competitors. Knowledge can be regarded as a strong approach that opens numerous ways of success. It is that weapon that help organisation to evaluate solutions in financial and other professional difficulties.

Through our examination of Hislop (2013) and other supporting material during this class, we have discovered the characteristics and nature of knowledge management strategy. Using my organization as a back drop it has become clear the one does not merely undertake a knowledge management program and expect success. Instead, it requires a thorough examination of the organization, essential knowledge, key roles, policies, politics, available technology

Knowledge management was defined as the turning of information into actionable knowledge which can be accessed by people who can apply it. Robbins (2003) gives a time perspective in his definition of knowledge management. He mentions as part of knowledge management the distribution of the right information to the right people at the right time. Lytras et al (2002) gives a definition of knowledge management which emphasises the purpose of knowledge management. In the definition creation of new capabilities, enablement for superior performance, encouraging innovation and enhancement of customer value were mentioned. For the purpose of this study the researcher summarised knowledge management as the intentional process of coordinating people, technology and systems to optimise creation and sharing of intellectual

Knowledge is defined as “an understanding and one that gains knowledge through experience, reasoning, intuition and learning” (Cong, & Pandya, 2003, p. 2). Individuals can inflate their knowledge when they share their knowledge with others, and when knowledge is combined with other people’s knowledge they will begin to build new knowledge. It is also considered as a mixture of values, experience, background information, grounded intuition and authority insight that offers a framework and environment for integrating and gauging new information and experiences. It “is applied in the minds of knowers and in organizations, where it is often embedded not only in documents or repositories but also in organizational routines, processes, practices and norms” (Cong, & Pandya, 2003, p. 2).

With the benefit of hindsight, it is apparent that in the knowledge era, creating and leveraging knowledge is the business of business. By all available measures, the stock market is already providing handsome rewards to companies that successfully leverage their knowledge--a phenomenon that will almost surely grow in significance as knowledge-based organizations increase in size and number. A number of firms are anticipating this and looking to knowledge management to enhance, measure, and manage the knowledge of their employees and organizations more effectively.

Understanding the nature, role, importance, and value of tacit knowledge at individual or group level, is imprudent to formulating a KM strategy You must also formulate decisions about the organizations cultural change, picking the appropriate tools and finding a suitable measurement system. Without awareness of tacit knowledge any KM program is unlikely to maintain perspective and balance. In contrast to the views held by the tacit knowledge approach, the explicit knowledge approach shows that knowledge is something that can be explained by individuals. The explicit knowledge takes some effort and assistance may be required to obtain the desired knowledge. As a result, the explicit knowledge approach assumes that the useful tacit knowledge of individuals in organizations can be articulated and made explicit. The explicit knowledge approach also shows that explicit knowledge assets can then be dispersed within an organization through documents, drawings, standard operating procedures, manuals of best practice, and the like.

Knowledge as Power: Since the emergence of knowledge based economy, one’s power has been considered in association with his/her possession of knowledge (Heizman, 2011; Mudambi&Navarra, 2004). Knowledge and power are intrinsically related. This is because knowledge creates space for the exercise of power; the exercise of power, in return, makes the control of knowledge possible (Foucault, 1980).Such relationship constitutes the knowledge-as-power argument, which implies that keeping knowledge circumscribed confers power. It is considered to be a major focus area in knowledge and learning industry in the fast growing competitive world. Knowledge Management Development and sharing helps the organization to develop group dynamics and group activity

Nevertheless, other researchers propose a more detailed view of factors constituting a knowledge intensive organization. Such includes the employment of a large proportion of employees trading primarily in knowledge, through the creative generation and usage of knowledge to deliver complex and unique products and/or services(Blackler, 1995; Karreman et al., 2002). Physical manifestations of knowledge intensiveness has also been observed in firms, through increased decentralization and flatter organizational structures(Grey and Sturdy,

The ever increasing importance of knowledge in contemporary society calls for a shift in our thinking concerning innovation in business organisations – be it technical innovation, product or process innovation, or strategic or organizational innovation. It raises questions about how organizations process knowledge and, more importantly, how they create new knowledge. Innovation, which is a key form of organisational knowledge creation, cannot be explained sufficiently in terms of information processing or problem solving. Innovation can be better understood as a process in which the organisation creates and defines problems and then actively develops new knowledge to solve them (Nonaka 1994, p. 14). Davenport and Marchand suggest that: “whilst knowledge management does involve information management, beyond that it has two distinctive tasks: to facilitate the creation of new knowledge and to manage the way people share and apply it” (Davenport &

The essence of the expertise and experience lies in the fact that possessing of their own understanding of the environment in which employees work in learning organization, enable them to anticipate and stay ahead of the reaction of a competitor. Knowledge and understanding of the market, especially its sector, allows the expert to be ready to change and dynamic use of creative and innovative solutions.

In the mid-1990’s, owing to the already widely used internet and the shiftsin business environments, reuse of knowledge has become one of companiescompetitive advantage, because having learned from the past, they are minimizing the chance of committing the same mistakes twice or learned what could have done to maximize benefits. Knowledge management has become an important function for success. As a result KM has

Knowledge management can be considered to be an essential strategic function in any organisation today. As the world becomes more globalised, and traditional structures of intermediation are removed whilst new ones are created, it is clear that knowledge, and consequently a learning organisation is one that is more likely to find unique sources of competitive advantage, and be able to develop sustainable competitive strategies in the long term. A number of different processes and sub-processes have been identified with knowledge management, such as knowledge generation, knowledge codification, and knowledge transfer or

The correct utilisation and management of knowledge has been cited as a key way of assisting firms in evolving in tandum with the ever changing environments they work within. However this manifestaiton of knowledge and skills is far more complecated then first envisaged. A huge amount of debate has arisen in terms of the direction and correct implementation of skills, learning, knowledge, and information on a practical level (Drucker; 1999). Although this debate has assisted in the creation of a number of managerial approaches and provided conceptual depth, there is still no thorough best practice framework for firms to operate with, with many gaps and conflicting

The depth and value of tacit knowledge an organization has within its own structure and surrounding ecosystem is significant and potentially transformative in its value. Combined with the explicit knowledge organizations possess, which according to empirically-derived studies, is just 30% of total knowledge captured

In today’s world of advancement and changing technology with the blink of an eye, organizations work hard to maintain its position in the market. They try to implement and adopt every possible new techniques and methodology feasible to their organization. Due to massive competition in the market every organization tries to excel in their field. They intend to get the best work out of their employees and to deliver the best to their customers. However, not all the companies succeed in doing so. They ignore the fact that in order to improve continuously, knowledge and learning also need to be polished regularly.