How to Apply Knowledge Management to the Development of Your Competitive Advantage

Knowledge management is a business management concept that relates to how data, information and other intellectual data are handled in an organization. This business concept suggests that if knowledge is managed properly in an organization, meaning that it is made available on-demand to all agents within an organization, that the organization will operate much more efficiently and be better able to grow and mature. Theoretically knowledge management seems like a good way to improve productivity and profitability, but unfortunately knowledge management systems often fail to live up to their promises when applied to real business situations.

Why Knowledge Management Systems Fail

The failure of a knowledge management system is usually caused by a misapplication of template style knowledge management systems. Just because a particular knowledge management system works for one business does not mean that it will work for another. This is because each company has a unique set of factors that impact how knowledge is developed, viewed by its members and shared between its members. All of these factors need to be taken into consideration when develop a system of knowledge management.

Know the Players

Before you develop a knowledge management system for your company you need to understand how each member in your company is motivated. According to Information Week employees are not going to make contributions to your knowledge management system if they don't receive something in exchange for the knowledge that they input into the system. This means that in order to be effective you need to know what will motivate each employee to contribute their knowledge to your system.

There are three main motivational profiles for knowledge management systems. The first motivational profile for a knowledge management system is the "connector" profile. Connectors are members of your knowledge system who are motivated to make contributions by the opportunity to make new connections with other knowledge contributors. These are the networking people in your organization, they are vendors that provide services or supplies to your company and they can even be other people in your industry.

The "maven" is the next motivational profile. A maven is a knowledge inputter that is motivated by the opportunity to gain more knowledge. These people are going to be the corporate climbers, such as junior executives and entry level employees who are eager to develop their resume and professional expertise.

The final motivational profile is the "evangelist." This knowledge inputter is interested in spreading the word about new knowledge. They enjoy giving knowledge to others so that they can apply the knowledge to new discoveries and applications.

Developing Your Competitive Advantage

In order to use your knowledge management system to develop your competitive advantage you need to motivate your employees to contribute to the system. This is done by offering them what they are motivated by, such as the chance to make a new network connection, the chance to acquire new knowledge or the chance to transmit the knowledge to other people. By enhancing the participation in your knowledge management system you will be able to increase its effectiveness in your organization. This will in turn improve your company's innovation and productivity, which will improve your competitive advantage and profitability.

References

Bellinger, Gene. (2004). "Knowledge management - emerging perspectives." Systems-Thinking.org Retrieved from the World Wide Web 11.02.09 from http://www.systems-thinking.org/kmgmt/kmgmt.htm

Kontzer, Tony. (2003, August 18). "I.T. manifesto: Know what people want." Information Week. Online version accessed 11.02.09 from http://www.informationweek.com/news/business_intelligence/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=13100319