Knowledge Management Principles

This article discusses the principles of knowledge management and their impact on organizational performance. It covers the benefits of KM technologies and approaches for transferring knowledge. The article also includes a case study on the impact of knowledge management on ROI.

RUNNING HEAD: Knowledge Management Principles
Knowledge Management Principles

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Contents
Question 1........................................................................................................................................2
5 decisions taken today:...............................................................................................................2
Data, Information or Knowledge involved in the decisions.........................................................2
Influence of Lack of pre-existing data, information or knowledge on the decisions...................2
Question 2........................................................................................................................................3
Knowledge Management (KM) at high school benefitted from information technologies (KM
technologies)................................................................................................................................3
Knowledge Management technologies currently used by High School and its improvement.....3
Question 3........................................................................................................................................4
Pros and Cons of Socialization.....................................................................................................4
Pros and Cons of Externalization and Internalization..................................................................4
Approach for transferring knowledge..........................................................................................5
Question 4........................................................................................................................................5
Explanation of the problem..........................................................................................................6
Strengths and Weaknesses............................................................................................................6
Corrective Measures.....................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Question 1
5 decisions taken today:
Early in the morning I woke up at 6 and went for a walk. Secondly I went to the library to
collect my books for the next semester. Thirdly I went to meet a friend of mine who is living in
next lane. Fourthly, I decided to make breakfast for myself. Lastly, I decided to go for a bicycle
ride in the evening.
Data, Information or Knowledge involved in the decisions
The information involved in taking first decision was the health benefits for me. The
information that morning walk will give me energy for the rest of the day and will address my
high blood pressure encouraged me to take such decision. My next decision was based on the
data that only three days are left for my next semester and I need to study hard for attaining good
marks. Moreover, when I was informed that my old school friend is living in next lane, I framed
the third decision and went to meet him. Furthermore, I have taken classes for cooking
continental dishes early this year. Therefore, I decided to apply my knowledge by preparing
continental breakfast for myself for the first time. My last decision was framed on the basis of
the information related to the health benefits arising out of regular cycling such as improved joint
mobility, decreased body fat levels and strengthened bones (Victoria State Government, 2017).
Influence of Lack of pre-existing data, information or knowledge on the decisions
These decisions would have significantly affected by the lack of pre-existing data, information or
knowledge. In case I did not have information regarding health benefits of going for a walk early
morning, I would have wasted my time by acting lazy. Secondly, the lack of data regarding the
exact days left for the next semester would have encouraged me to further delay my studies
which would have resulted in my failure in the semester. Due to this, my final grades would have
significantly affected. Moreover, my large social circle helps me in acquiring information
regarding most of our old friends. If such information would have not been provided to me then I
would have missed to meet my best friend of school days as I did not had his contact details or
address earlier. Meeting him has substantially reduced my stress has made internally happy.
Furthermore, lack of knowledge regarding how to cook continental food would have forced me
to prepare boring breakfast. Lastly, if I did not had information that my excess body fat can be

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easily reduced and joint mobility can be easily improved than I would have used my scooter
instead of a bicycle. This would have also contributed to the increasing levels of pollution and
have not contributed to my health (Zsambok & Klein, 2014).
Question 2
Knowledge Management (KM) at high school benefitted from information technologies
(KM technologies)
The Kilmore International School is a high school which is non- denominational, independent,
coeducational boarding and day school for students who are academically motivated. However,
this high school makes the use of knowledge management (KM) and takes the benefit of
information technologies (KM technologies). Such KM technologies assist the Kilmore
International School by focusing on knowledge management instead of information processing.
It is conceptualized in the high school as strategic management activities which assist the
teachers in the collection of information or making the use of knowledge resources of
organization for the purpose of carrying out their tasks and teaching effectively (Fernandez &
Sabherwal, 2014). The knowledge management practices significantly contribute in capturing,
codifying and distributing knowledge in high school with the help of applying information
technologies or human interaction in order to make it shareable by all the teachers (Soto- Acosta
& Cegarra- Navarro, 2016). Knowledge management helps Kilmore International School by
way of strengthening the knowledge sharing culture and building collegiality into the school
organization. It helps in boosting the knowledge management and provides intelligence for
making the efficient use of infrastructure (Cohen & Olsen, 2015).
Knowledge Management technologies currently used by High School and its improvement
The KM technology currently used by Kilmore International School include artificial
intelligence (AI) technologies that supports databases, enterprise resource planning systems,
management information systems and decision support systems (Power, Sharda & Burstein,
2015). This provides the proper reporting channels to the school authorities with the help of
databases and supports effective decision making. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies also
provide security to a great extent in the storage of data. It assists in avoiding confusion and chaos
by specifying the degree of control in advance. The data related to students is properly managed

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with the help of artificial intelligence technologies. The security of the data related to students
and teachers is facilitated through granting access to the knowledge management system only to
the authorized person.
They can be significantly improved by simplifying the techniques in order to make it
understandable by junior employees as well. Moreover, the KM technology needs to be cost
effective so that its implementation does not result in heavy losses for Kilmore International
School. The cons associated with the theory of artificial intelligence should be cut down and it
should be made capable of addressing all the knowledge management requirements of the high
school. It should also provide regular updates for meeting the emerging requirements (Botha,
Kourie & Snyman, 2014).
Question 3
The transfer of tacit knowledge can be made in two different ways. One is socialization and other
is converting it into explicit form through the process of externalization and then transferring it
to the recipients who further convert it into tacit form with the help of internalization process.
Pros and Cons of Socialization
Pros-
Socialization provides the integration of multiple streams for the purpose of creating new
knowledge. With the help of socialization, tacit knowledge can be directly transferred to another
person (Mariano & Awazu, 2016). Socialization also allows organizations to gain new
knowledge from its outside boundaries with the help of interaction with the suppliers, customers
and stockholders.
Cons-
It becomes difficult when knowledge is to be transferred to a number of persons as this is not
possible with the help of face- to- face meeting. Joint activities are required for socialization such
as informal conversations, meetings, etc. in order to help the individuals for acquiring
knowledge. Socialization in case of community of practice becomes difficult as they are
dispersed geographically (Evans, Dalkir & Bidian, 2015).

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Pros and Cons of Externalization and Internalization
Pros-
Externalization assists the individuals with the help of conversion of tacit knowledge into
explicit forms, which can be effortlessly understood by the rest of their group.
Internationalization facilitates the conversion of explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge.
Cons-
Externalization is considered to be a difficult process. This is due to the fact that there is
difficulty in the articulation of tacit knowledge. The accomplishment of externalization takes
place with the use of metaphors which may sometimes create difficulties. It is a long process
where conversion is required from explicit form to tacit form (Edwards, 2015).
Approach for transferring knowledge
For the purpose of transferring knowledge from one person to another, socialization is
recommended. This will facilitate a face to face meeting which could involve a session of
question and answers between the sender and receiver of knowledge. It will create a synthesis of
tacit knowledge across individuals and will provide an overview of the thinking of others. It will
make an effective transfer of knowledge and will enable another person to take action on it.
For the purpose of transferring knowledge from one person to 100 other individuals in different
parts of the world, exchange approach is recommended as it focuses on explicit knowledge
sharing. Such approach is useful for communicating or transferring explicit knowledge among,
organizations, groups and individuals. This will facilitate the sharing of printed reports which
can be transferred to different parts of the world. The process of internalization and
externalization will help in capturing the tacit and explicit knowledge respectively. In the
process of exchange, the knowledge will be transferred by one person in a document to others
(Becerra- Fernandez, Leidner & Leidner, 2014).
However, in case of community of practice in which the members are dispersed geographically
but make regular communication for the purpose of discussing mutual interests, the process of
socialization can also be adopted.

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Question 4
Knowledge management impacts the overall performance of the organization. Such overall
performance also results in the enhancement of learning of employees from external sources and
from other employees. It also assists to facilitate effectiveness, innovativeness, and efficiency of
the process of organization. The direct impact of knowledge management is concerned with
revenues and costs and can also be linked to the strategy or vision of the organization. Such
direct impact is measured in terms of return on investment (ROI) (Webb, 2017).
The above analysis is completely incorrect. It is true that there is a decrease in the ROI of the
organization from 10 percent to 5 percent at the year of system implementation but it does not
mean that the knowledge management system should be uninstalled.
Explanation of the problem
Knowledge management can affect the overall performance of the organization either directly or
indirectly. Direct impact occurs when the knowledge is utilized for creating innovative products
that generate profit and revenue or when the business strategy is aligned with the knowledge
management strategy. Here the direct impact is not visible in the return on investment but it does
not mean that there is no positive impact of knowledge management (Geisler &
Wickramasinghe, 2015). Here the impact on the organizational performance is indirect. Indirect
impact of knowledge management on the performance of the organization comes about with the
help of activities that are indirectly associated with the strategy, vision, costs and revenue of the
organization. This is due to the fact that the use of knowledge management is made for the
purpose of demonstrating intellectual leadership within the industry. It could also be the result of
knowledge usage for gaining a beneficial negotiating position with respect to partner
organizations or competitors (Reich, Gemino & Sauer, 2014).
Strengths and Weaknesses
Though the return on investment is reduced but still there are some strengths of the knowledge
management. Such intellectual leadership gained by the organization within the industry has the
capability of enhancing the customer loyalty. Knowledge management would have also resulted
in sustainable competitive advantage which will be visible in the return on investment after some
time and will provide the capability for developing and exploiting intangible and tangible
resources better than the competitors (Birasnav, 2014).

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The weaknesses include that such indirect impact of knowledge management on the
organizational performance cannot be easily associated with the transactions and therefore
cannot be measured. The reduced ROI visible from the financial records of the organization will
have negative impact on the investors.
Corrective Measures
The uninstallation of the knowledge management system should be cancelled and some
corrective measures should be taken which will result in increased ROI. The indirect impacts
will slowly and gradually lead the organization towards increased ROI but the organization
should also improve its ability to create and leverage product related knowledge along with the
knowledge related to the managerial resources across business, and customers. Innovation
should be introduced in the products by utilizing the knowledge which will subsequently
increase the ROI of the organization (de Vasconcelos, Kimble, Carreteiro & Rocha, 2017).

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References
Becerra-Fernandez, I., Leidner, D.E. and Leidner, D., 2014. On knowledge, knowledge
management, and knowledge management systems: an introduction. In Knowledge
Management (pp. 17-24). Routledge.
Birasnav, M., 2014. Knowledge management and organizational performance in the service
industry: The role of transformational leadership beyond the effects of transactional
leadership. Journal of Business Research, 67(8), pp.1622-1629.
Botha, A., Kourie, D. and Snyman, R., 2014. Coping with continuous change in the business
environment: Knowledge management and knowledge management technology. Elsevier.
Cohen, J.F. and Olsen, K., 2015. Knowledge management capabilities and firm performance: A
test of universalistic, contingency and complementarity perspectives. Expert Systems with
Applications, 42(3), pp.1178-1188.
de Vasconcelos, J.B., Kimble, C., Carreteiro, P. and Rocha, A., 2017. The application of
knowledge management to software evolution. International Journal of Information
Management, 37(1), pp.1499-1506.
Edwards, J.S., 2015. Business processes and knowledge management. In Encyclopedia of
Information Science and Technology, Third Edition (pp. 4491-4498). IGI Global.
Evans, M., Dalkir, K. and Bidian, C., 2015. A holistic view of the knowledge life cycle: the
knowledge management cycle (KMC) model. The Electronic Journal of Knowledge
Management, 12(1), p.47.
Fernandez, I. B. and Sabherwal, R. 2014 . Knowledge Management: Systems and Processes.
Routledge.

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Geisler, E. and Wickramasinghe, N., 2015. Principles of knowledge management: Theory,
practice, and cases. Routledge.
Mariano, S. and Awazu, Y., 2016. Artifacts in knowledge management research: a systematic
literature review and future research directions. Journal of Knowledge Management, 20(6),
pp.1333-1352.
Power, D.J., Sharda, R. and Burstein, F., 2015. Decision support systems. John Wiley & Sons,
Ltd.
Reich, B.H., Gemino, A. and Sauer, C., 2014. How knowledge management impacts
performance in projects: An empirical study. International Journal of Project
Management, 32(4), pp.590-602.
Soto-Acosta, P. and Cegarra-Navarro, J.G., 2016. New ICTs for knowledge management in
organizations. Journal of Knowledge Management, 20(3), pp.417-422.
Victoria State Government. 2017. Cycling - health benefits, [Online]. Available at:
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/cycling-health-benefits [Accessed on:
20 April 2018].
Webb, S.P., 2017. Knowledge management: Linchpin of change. Routledge.
Zsambok, C.E. and Klein, G. eds., 2014. Naturalistic decision making. Psychology Press.