Knowledge management and organizational memory

This chapter introduces the basics of knowledge management. Management includes all the ways in which an organization's knowledge assets are handled, including how knowledge is gathered, stored, transmitted, applied, updated, or generated. The majority of texts on knowledge management focus on the management of the organization as a whole, to create an environment where knowledge management can succeed. Most knowledge management literature treats knowledge broadly, and uses it to cover all that an organization needs to know to perform its functions. This may involve formalized knowledge, patents, laws, programs, and procedures. It can also include the way that organizations function, communicate, analyze situations, develop new solutions to problems, and develop new ways of doing business. Moreover, it may involve issues of culture, custom, and values as well as relationships with suppliers and customers. Any knowledge management system must be able to support the acquisition, analysis, preservation, and reuse of knowledge as a continual and cyclic process.