Organizational Knowledge and Knowledge Management - A New Framework

Abstract

The transition of firms from the Resource-based view (RBV) to the Knowledge-based view (KBV) where knowledge is viewed as the principal resource for value creation and sustainable competitive advantage created a renewed interest among researchers to understand knowledge per se, and the concept of organizational knowledge. This interest has further been fueled by the advent of the concept of Knowledge Management (KM). With some discussions on knowledge, this paper presents a new framework for organizational knowledge and the knowledge flow within the firm. The author has pointed out that most of the research on KM has been with the firm as a business organization (where the focus is on short-term return on investment) and that is the reason many KM initiatives often stop at IT-based initiatives or fail, and fuel the fear that KM is simply just another fad. Many KM models and frameworks present KM best practices without addressing the contextual differences between organizations. In this paper, the author has presented a knowledge perspective of four different types of organizations based on their knowledge manipulation activities and suggests that KM programs need to be custom designed to cater to the different needs of the different types of organizations. The author has also suggested a new KM framework based on the dynamics of knowledge that organizations are facing today. The author developed the two frameworks during the implementation of KM initiatives at the Defence Research & Development Laboratory, Hyderabad, a premier research institution under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, during the years 1999 to 2003.