“Knowledge is Power, Knowledge Sharing is Empowerment”
A statement that indirectly addresses the overly cliched reputation of its inspiration, this quote truly expresses our current sensibilities; this can be observed no further than the relationship of today’s population with technology itself. Ask any pre-teen child between the ages of 7 to 12 about anything technological and one will be able to see the boundaries between generations diminish with regards to how information propagates. Because of the abundance of resources online, anyone, regardless of age, gender, and educational background, everyone has the same opportunities in the access of information which enables the gaining of knowledge. Given this premise, it is now sensible to have this diverse generation share their knowledge instead of just keeping to their own as this very diversity paves way for the cultivation of knowledge, allowing it to grow along the changing landscape of our modern age.
The Business Context
Knowledge management, in an organizational standpoint, enables effective practices to be enhanced further, maximizing the benefits it brings yet still ensuring sufficient manpower to drive these results. The propagation of essential information through well-developed training programs and intuitive, comprehensive documentations results in a progressive firm composed of well-equipped employees that doesn’t just come and go simply taking their achievements with them, but leave lasting legacies in the form of shared knowledge to new hires that are about to take their stead. And since this culture of knowledge networking has already been a part of our identity as a company, those new employees also begin to exhibit the same values of the former workers and eventually restarts the cycle of continuous knowledge sharing.
The Barriers
There can be outliers however, in that some of the people may be resistant to the concept of continuous change and could bottleneck the pursuit of progress by the company. The frequent updates to the tools being used and the organization’s systems may prove to be too overwhelming to be kept up with for the more technologically inept individuals. This can also dampen what should be a smooth transition to an updated initiative.
My Takeaway
In the end, even the most promising decisions has their own inevitable trade-offs. For knowledge management however, I believe it does more good than harm – at least as far as our organization is concerned.
Matthew's Couch 