Unit 3.6

Knowledge Management and the KM Lifecycle

IT 233: Business Information Systems

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

✅ Define Knowledge Management (KM) and its importance to an organization.
✅ Differentiate between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge.
✅ Describe the four stages of the Knowledge Management System Lifecycle.
✅ Identify the types of tools used in a Knowledge Management System (KMS).

What is Knowledge Management (KM)?

Knowledge Management (KM) is the systematic process of capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using organizational knowledge.

It’s about making the best use of the collective expertise and insights of people within an organization. 🧠

While data management handles raw facts, KM focuses on the most valuable asset: employee experience and know-how.

The Two Faces of Knowledge 🎭

Explicit Knowledge (The "What")

Knowledge that is easy to articulate, write down, and share.

📜 Reports & Manuals
📊 Procedures & Formulas
💻 Databases & Tutorials
Formal and systematic.

Tacit Knowledge (The "How")

Knowledge that is personal, in people's heads, and hard to formalize.

💡 Skills & Experiences
🤔 Intuition & Insights
🎨 "Gut feelings"
The biggest challenge & opportunity in KM.

Activity: Classify the Knowledge

For each item, decide whether it is Explicit or Tacit knowledge. Click your answer.

Example: Learning to Cook Momos 🥟

How do explicit and tacit knowledge apply?

📜 Explicit Knowledge

The written recipe
List of ingredients and measurements
Step-by-step instructions
Cooking time and temperature

🤌 Tacit Knowledge

The "feel" of the perfect dough consistency.
The muscle memory for folding the pleats quickly.
An experienced cook's intuition for seasoning the filling.

Quick Quiz: What Type of Knowledge?

Read each scenario and choose the correct knowledge type.

🎬 Recap: Tacit vs Explicit Knowledge

🔁 How Knowledge Converts: The SECI Model

Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, The Knowledge-Creating Company (1995): new knowledge comes from turning tacit into explicit knowledge and back again.

Mode	From → To	Example
Socialization	Tacit → Tacit	An apprentice tailor learns by working beside a master
Externalization	Tacit → Explicit	A pilot writes up a near-miss so others can learn from it
Combination	Explicit → Explicit	Merging branch reports into one company handbook
Internalization	Explicit → Tacit	A trainee practises from the handbook until it becomes second nature

Externalization is the hardest step, and it's where a KMS helps most.

🧪 Quick Activity: Which SECI Mode?

Call out S, E, C or I for each example.

A software team records a "lessons learned" video after a failed launch. → E: tacit experience made explicit
A new nurse shadows a senior nurse on night rounds for a week. → S: tacit to tacit by observation
A consultant combines five client reports into one industry benchmark. → C: explicit to explicit
After reading the driving manual and practising, a learner drives without thinking. → I: explicit becomes tacit skill

🎬 Watch: The Knowledge Spiral

The Knowledge Management Lifecycle 🔄

KM is a continuous cycle, not a one-time project. It ensures knowledge is constantly refined and reused.

1. Create
(Capture)

➡️

2. Store
(Organize)

➡️

3. Disseminate
(Share)

➡️

4. Apply
(Use)

Applying knowledge often creates new knowledge, which starts the cycle all over again.

Explore the KM Lifecycle

Click each stage card to reveal its key details.

✍️

1. Create

(Capture)

➜

🗄️

2. Store

(Organize)

➜

📡

3. Disseminate

(Share)

➜

🎯

4. Apply

(Use)

Click a stage above to see its details.

Lifecycle Stages: Create & Store

1. Create (or Capture) ✍️

Discovering new knowledge or capturing existing (often tacit) knowledge.

Internal R&D and innovation
External sources (market research)
Expert interviews and debriefs
Documenting best practices

2. Store 🗄️

Organizing knowledge in a central place for easy access.

Stored in a knowledge repository or base.
Must be codified, formatted, and indexed.
The goal: make knowledge findable when needed.

Lifecycle Stages: Disseminate & Apply

3. Disseminate 📡

Making knowledge available to the right people at the right time.

Company intranets, portals, wikis
Powerful search engines
Push notifications and alerts
Fostering a culture of sharing.

4. Apply 🎯

The most important stage: putting knowledge into action to create value.

Solving problems faster
Making better, informed decisions
Driving innovation and new ideas
Avoiding "reinventing the wheel."

Match the Action to the KM Stage

Click on a scenario, then click the correct lifecycle stage to match it.

🚧 Why KM Projects Fail

Most KM failures are about people, not software.

"Knowledge is power": experts fear that sharing makes them replaceable.
No time and no reward: writing things up isn't part of anyone's job or appraisal.
Stale content: outdated wiki pages make people stop trusting the system.
Poor search: if knowledge can't be found in a minute, people ask a colleague or guess.

Fixes: credit contributors by name, assign owners to keep content updated, and make leaders use the system first.

Knowledge Management Systems (KMS)

KMS: An information system that supports and enhances the process of knowledge management.

A KMS is not a single piece of software.

It's a collection of IT tools and technologies working together to support the KM lifecycle. 🛠️

🎬 Watch: Inside a KMS: CMS and DMS

Common KMS Tools

📄 Document Management Systems

For explicit knowledge: reports, procedures, manuals.

🌐 Intranets & Portals

A central gateway to access company information and applications.

✍️ Wikis

Collaborative sites where employees can contribute and edit content (e.g., an internal Wikipedia).

Common KMS Tools (cont.)

🔍 Expert Locator Systems

A directory to find people with specific tacit knowledge or skills.

💬 Collaboration Tools

Discussion forums, instant messaging, and video conferencing to share knowledge in real-time.

🛠️ Real Case: Xerox Eureka

Problem: researchers at Xerox PARC found that copier repair technicians solved hard faults by swapping stories, which is tacit knowledge the official manuals didn't contain.
KMS: in the 1990s, Xerox built Eureka, a shared database where technicians submit repair tips. It started in France and later spread worldwide.
Quality control: experienced peers check each tip before it's published.
Incentive: the reward was recognition, with the author's name on the tip, not cash.

Lifecycle: Create (tip) → Store (Eureka) → Disseminate (laptops in the field) → Apply (faster repairs).

Repairing an Office Copier

Practical Application in Nepal 🇳🇵

Scenario: A Senior Engineer at a Hydropower Company is Retiring

How can KM prevent their decades of tacit knowledge from being lost?

Capture: Record video interviews of them troubleshooting common turbine issues.
Store: Upload videos and documented procedures to a central knowledge base on the company intranet.
Disseminate: Make the knowledge base a key part of the training for new junior engineers.
Apply: A new engineer uses a video tutorial to solve a pressure issue, preventing costly downtime and learning a valuable skill.

🏦 Worked Example: A Bank's Contact-Centre Knowledge Base

Illustrative: a hypothetical Nepali commercial bank.

Create: after each tricky call (a card blocked abroad, or a failed mobile-banking transfer), the agent writes a short "how I solved it" note.
Store: a team leader checks each note and tags it by product (card, loan, app) in the knowledge base.
Disseminate: when an agent types the caller's problem, the system suggests the top three matching notes.
Apply: new agents resolve more calls without transferring them, and a weekly report shows which notes are used most.

Exam tip: for each stage, give the stage, then the action, then the tool.

💬 Discussion: Can AI Be Your KMS?

Many firms now use AI chat assistants that answer staff questions from company documents. Which KM lifecycle stage does this improve most?
Can an AI assistant capture tacit knowledge, or only what has already been written down?
What could go wrong if the documents behind it are out of date?

⚡ Key Takeaways

KM is a strategic process to leverage an organization's collective brainpower.
Tacit knowledge (the "how") is harder to manage but often more valuable than explicit knowledge (the "what").
The KM lifecycle (Create, Store, Disseminate, Apply) is a continuous loop for organizational learning.
A Knowledge Management System (KMS) is the collection of IT tools that enables this entire process.

Exam Practice 📝

Short answer

What is knowledge management?
Distinguish between explicit and tacit knowledge with examples.
List the steps of the knowledge management system lifecycle.

Exam Practice 📝 (continued)

Long answer

Explain the concept of knowledge management and the difference between explicit and tacit knowledge.
Describe the knowledge management system lifecycle with an example from a Nepali organization.

Revise the answers in the full note.

Image & Video Credits

Images

Title: Library of Congress Main Reading Room: Carol M. Highsmith, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
SECI model diagram: made for this course
Technician repairing a photocopier in Uganda (a generic copier repair, not a Xerox machine): B722N, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Videos (YouTube)

PM Expert, "Tacit Knowledge vs. Explicit Knowledge: What's the Difference?" (4–67 s)
The Business Professor, "SECI Model" (0–72 s)
IBM Technology, "What is Knowledge Management?" (261–322 s)

Thank You!

Any Questions?

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Unit 3.6: Knowledge Management and the KM Lifecycle