Technology and communication are both important aspects when it comes to knowledge management in an organization. Knowledge management helps the organization to gather information and knowledge from employees, business partners and customers with a goal of improving market value and assisting in organizational growth. Both small and big organizations depend on knowledge management to make business decisions. If a business takes advantage of information gathered from its clients, it can use that data to gain competitive advantage and improve customer relations and communication.
What is knowledge?
”Knowledge is fluid framed experience, values, contextual information as expert insights that provides a frame work for evaluation and incorporating new experiences of information. ”Defined by Davanport and Prusak
Knowledge is divided into three types, explicit knowledge, tacit knowledge and cultural knowledge. Knowledge management in an organization is a complex process. It basically covers five steps and these include, Knowledge collection, Organization , Data protection , Preservation and Dissemination. Below I have listed a few points on how technology and communication affect knowledge management.
- Supports Information Processing Tasks: Using technology can help in organizing collected data and also it helps in protecting and spread of this information across the organization through a decentralized information system known as a Database. With the use of technology, employees can easily perform the following tasks in time:
– Capturing information – at its point of origin with input devices
– Conveying information – in its most useful form without input devices
– Creating information
– Cradling information – for use at a later time with storage devices
– Communicating information – to other people or another location with telecommunication technologies
- Communication: It is very important to have an effective communication module within an organization in the process of building a knowledge management infrastructure. In this process managers should set objectives of the organization before using technology to acquire specific goals. When the manager outlines the objectives of the organization, they have to communicate to all departments and parties involved in the process of acquiring data or using it.
- Communication Tools: Technology will provide communication tools which might be of use in organizational communication and knowledge management. These tools help in supporting shared information within the organization. These tools include e-mail, instant messaging, software, forums and other shared communication technology platforms. For example, employees can use software to provide specific updates to databases and have access to powerful software that lets them sift through the database to find any information they need. This process is made easy by technology and it makes knowledge management effective.
