Common Knowledge Management Practices

There are a few common knowledge management practices being utilized for the purpose of improvement of organizational performance. Researches have introduced basically the most common used five practices, knowledge repository (KR), expert directory (ED), lesson learn system (LLS), communities of practice (COP), organizational learning (OL).

A knowledge repository (KR) is arguably the most basic of the five practices. It’s a basically an IT-based storage of knowledge. In the book “What every manager should know”, Liebowitz and Backman defines it as an “on-line computer-based storehouse of expertise, knowledge, experiences, and documentation about a particular domain of expertise (Liebowitz, Beckman 1998). In creating a knowledge repository,

For example, a KR can be seen as an old and static way of sharing knowledge. It’s rarely updated and it's hard to find what you're looking for. People will be reductant to use the system and definitely won't have any motivation to upload anything. But a KR can be a very powerful tool if used correctly. Applying modern techniques like data-mining, social media and push technologies can make a KR become more than just a simple document management system. For example, documents about company policies or work instructions but it can also include things like case studies. All relevant digitalized information in a company can and should be stored in the repository. For a knowledge repository to be successful however, people need to be willing to contribute their knowledge. People also need to look for and reuse the knowledge (Ba et al. 2001). The goal is to capture the more tacit part of the spectrum and thereby making it more valuable. If implemented and used right we think it will be one of the strongest tools in your knowledge management strategy. In a case study about Buckman Laboratories implementation of a message board a lot of the advantages about letting people observe and take part in conversation is outlined (Fulmer 1999). This solution you could argue is part all three of the practices we have presented in this document. You have a repository of sort with all the knowledge saved in archived threads, you have experts who take part in discussions and who of which could answer specific questions that you may have. Some threads might even be put together and stored to work as a lesson learned