Why is knowledge management such a
critical component of today’s organizations? Why is Google a good example of a
dynamic knowledge management company?
Ans:
Our
technology-driven world is both rich with information and demanding in the pace
and uncertainty of change. And although this is a setting in which knowledge
workers excel, Peter Drucker has warned that “knowledge constantly makes itself
obsolete.” His message is worth hearing. It suggests that neither people nor
organizations can afford to rest on past laurels; future success will be earned
only by those who continually build and use knowledge to the fullest extent
possible.
The term
knowledge management describes the processes through which organizations use
information technology to develop, organize, and share knowledge to achieve
performance success. You can spot the significance of knowledge management with
the presence of an executive job title—chief knowledge officer. The “CKO” is
responsible for energizing learning processes and making sure that an
organization’s portfolio of intellectual assets is well managed and continually
enhanced. These assets include such things as patents, intellectual property
rights, trade secrets, and special processes and methods, as well as the accumulated
knowledge and understanding of the entire workforce.
Google can
be considered a knowledge management company. It not only runs a business model
based on information searches; it operates as an organization with an
information-rich culture driven by creativity and knowledge. Google morphs and
grows and excels, in part, because the firm is organized and operates in ways
that continually tap the developing knowledge of its members. Its information
technologies and management philosophies help and encourage employees located
around the world to share information and collaborate to solve problems and
explore opportunities. The net result is a firm that seems to keep competitors
and the business community at large always guessing what its next steps might
be.
Source: Management, 11th Edition -
John R. Schermerhorn
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