Creating a culture that fosters sharing instead of hoarding of information and opinions requires much more than simply installing a suggestion box in the company cafeteria. A systematic framework for information sharing, as part of a formal KM program, can provide employees and managers in the organization with clearly defined roles and responsibilities for using knowledge to increase the organization’s competitiveness.
The interpretation of precisely how Knowledge Management can support information sharing, archiving, and repurposing depends largely on the perspective of senior management. For example, in the case of Medical Multimedia, the CEO is concerned with the competition and retaining intellectual capital, potentially to increase the value of the company for a future acquisition or merger. With this perspective, another motivation for implementing a KM program is to determine the value of the company, based in part on the result of a knowledge audit. Modern service companies are increasingly valued not by their investment in plastic chairs in the cafeteria or PCs on employee’s desks but by the intellectual capital of the employees and management. Documenting exactly what intellectual capital exists in the company helps the CEO optimally position his company in the market.
In contrast, senior management with a technical orientation may view Knowledge Management in terms of technology. Typically the chief information officer (CIO) is named as acting CKO or a CKO is hired to work under the CIO. The technical approach to Knowledge Management is especially prevalent in the high-technology arena, where all managers have a working knowledge of, and experience with, technology and what it can do for the company.