Knowledge management and organizations; social networking and community of practice.

Knowledge Management: Organizations and Strategies; Social Networking.

In my previous post, I have given a brief introduction to the term knowledge management. I shall now throw some light on organizations and strategies and also look at a new term social networking and community of practice.

Knowledge management with regards to organizations and strategies gives more meaning to the term knowledge management and underlines the importance of knowledge management to us. The ability to convert data into meaningful structure so that it is of benefit to the organization is what in my opinion can be termed as knowledge. It is the complex task of using data and information meaningfully and strategically to gain monetarily. Knowledge management is perhaps that aspect of business which is tough to transfer and/or teach. It is more of a skill gained through continuous evaluation of the market with regards to the company and business environment. Knowledge management in my opinion is not a lesson that can be learnt via texts and other literature. Although there are tools available for knowledge management experts, it is still the ability to use it appropriately that sets good managers apart from the rest.

Social Networking: Social networking is the newest form of networking. It is an extension to the word networking in real life. Networking in real life indicates meeting new people, exchanging contacts, etc. Social networking is basically meeting up people through an online platform. Social networking sites typically consist of a user created profile with photos and editable questions. Through social networking, users can interact each other more innovatively and it is this buzz that has seen sites like facebook and orkut become top favorites. From a business point of view, social networking sites’s majority of revenue comes from advertising. Given the growing craze of such sites, it is not hard to believe that such websites are increasing by the day.

Community of Practice:

Community of practice is a term given to learning through the society. CoP is a unique kind of learning that occurs when people with shared social interests work towards attaining a certain goal. Again in my views, it is yet another door for people to share information and gain knowledge.

Ps: I would request people to give me more insight on the concept of Community of Practice.

Knowledge management:- An Introduction

The term knowledge management comprises of two quite simple words- knowledge and management. Although the terms are quite easy to find meanings in the dictionary, the term when used together is quite complex and witty to understand. Knowledge management is formally defined as a business activity that is used by organizations for a number of reasons.

• To gain competitive advantage in the competitive world and to produce innovation.
• Reducing the size of work in organizations.

and many more.

The strongest understanding I got from the term knowledge management was when it was split into two terms viz: knowledge and management. Knowledge is again divided into explicit and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is the knowledge which can be passed on and learnt through various sources. Tacit knowledge is the individuals ability to understand a situation based on past experiences and personal belief, perspective and values. This was all I understood about knowledge management as a concept and why it was needed in the organizations.

Hello all!!

Hiiee to all my fellow students. As i have missed previous lectures on the topic, i am writing this to introduce myself to others. I am Milind Mehta pursuing BISM. This is just a introductory "HI"!! Hoping to see your responses soon!!