What is knowledge management?

Abstract

Another key indicator of this knowledge management movement has been the appearance of the chief knowledge officers, or CKOs. They have started to emerge throughout industry as stewards of an enterprise's knowledge, and with a wide range of roles and responsibilities. Today, AMOCO, AMS, SAIC, KPMG, Monsanto, Andersen Consulting, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and many other companies have CKO's. Furthermore, the federal government named its first CKO last summer, at the General Services Administration. Now, several other agencies, including the Navy, the Coast Guard and the Department of State have all named chief knowledge officers. [2] [3] Facing strong commercial and competitive pressures, many private enterprises have already launched substantial KM initiatives. And public agencies, facing the challenges of smaller budgets and privatization trends, are having to decide how to do more with less, and hence perform in a more focused and intelligent mode. What Is Knowledge? Going into an in-depth discussion of knowledge itself is not within the scope of this chapter. However, it is difficult to explain knowledge management without using knowledge at least as the starting point.