What is Knowledge

Introduction

Before one can begin to talk about knowledge management (KM), one must start by clearly defining the meaning of the word "knowledge". It is important to understand what constitutes knowledge and what falls under the category of information or data. Unfortunately, this is a more difficult task than may be apparent at first. Within everyday language, within specific fields, and even within the same disciplines, the word "knowledge" often takes on a variety of meanings.

What is Knowledge?

To illustrate, Theirauf (1999) defines the three components as follows: data is the lowest point, an unstructured collection of facts and figures; information is the next level, and it is regarded as structured data; finally, knowledge is defined as "information about information".

• Data - It is unstructured facts and figures that have the least impact on the typical manager.

• Information - Essentially information is found "in answers to questions that begin with such words as who, what, where, when, and how many" (Ackoff 1999).

• Knowledge - Knowledge is closely linked to doing and implies know-how and understanding.

Importance of Knowledge

Knowledge has great value since it is inherently unique to your organisation. It shapes and drives your business activity, your ability to sell or do more, and stand apart from your competitors.

Individual knowledge is easily lost, especially when key employees leave. Make sure that your employees share knowledge and skills, and pass them on to their successors wherever possible. For example, you can:

• hold brainstorming sessions

• organise training courses

• maintain up-to-date documentation about processes and procedures

Types of Knowledge

Understanding the different forms that knowledge can exist in, and thereby being able to distinguish between various types of knowledge, is an essential step for knowledge management. Knowledge has been classified and characterized in many different ways.

Procedural Knowledge:

Procedural Knowledge also known as Interpretive knowledge, is the type of knowledge in which it clarifies how a particular thing can be accomplished. It is not so popular because it is generally not used.

It emphasizes how to do something to solve a given problem.

Declarative Knowledge:

Declarative Knowledge also known as Descriptive knowledge, is the type of knowledge that tells the basic knowledge about something and it is more popular than Procedural Knowledge.

It emphasizes what to do something to solve a given problem.

Another significant classification of knowledge sees it as tacit or explicit (Nonaka 1994; Polanyi 1966).

• Explicit knowledge

This type of knowledge can be easily extracted from the following sources:

1. books

2. files

3. folders

4. documents

5. databases

• Tacit knowledge

This form of knowledge is intuitive in nature. It is based on experience and practice and often helps in achieving long-term goals. This type of knowledge transfer is difficult, as it lies with a single person. There is no easy way to extract it as with explicit knowledge, leaving the knowledge-holder with the task of writing it down or creating a video.

Tacit knowledge is the knowledge you’ve gained through living experience, both in your personal life and professional development. It is often subjective, informal, and difficult to share or express because it is affected by our personal beliefs and values.Tacit knowledge is abstract and affects how we perceive and move through the world.

Examples of tacit knowledge include:

1. Innovation

2. Learning how to speak another language

3. Leadership

4. Sales

How Tacit knowledge is obtained

You cannot simply instruct a person through a course to obtain tacit knowledge. Although studying the facts and details about a subject is a prerequisite to obtaining tacit knowledge, spending time learning on the job and gaining personal experience is what raises the knowledge quality.

It is more difficult and time-consuming, but that is why it is so valuable. The following are some of the ways to obtain tacit knowledge:

1. Simplifying processes

2. Going through experiences

3. Trial and error

4. Experiments

5. Capturing data throughout a research period

6. Documenting findings, then using the information to strategize

source: https://document360.com/blog/tacit-knowledge/