Knowledge Management Definitions (KM DEFINITIONS)

Definition of Knowledge Management

There are several different, and sometimes quite confusing statements that claim to be a definition of Knowledge Management' and there are different perspectives on what Knowledge Management is. For example:

▪ KM is about systems and technologies

▪ KM is about people and learning organisations

▪ KM is about processes, methods and techniques

▪ KM is about managing knowledge assets

▪ KM is a holistic initiative across the entire organisation

▪ KM is not a discipline, as such, and should be an integral part of every knowledge workers daily responsibilities

What is most important for you is to have your own definition of Knowledge Management; what KM is to you and your organisation. What is even more important is that you and your colleagues have a 'common shared understanding' of what KM means for you all.

To help you get started, we have included immediately below a few definitions of what KM means to some organisations. We suggest you consider them, together with any other definitions you may have, and see if there are any words or phrases that particularly 'resonate' with what you are trying to do. This will help you formulate your own definition of knowledge management.

At the end of this page, we invite you to share with us all, any definitions you have discovered and/or formulated. We can then all comment and rate the usefulness of each definition as we wish. This then provides us, at the bottom of this page, with a list of KM Definitions, listed in highest rated/ranked order, to help us even further. So please share your definitions and/or any comments or rating to definitions. 

Some well known KM Definitions

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"If only HP knew what it knows it would make three times more profit tomorrow"

Lew Platt, ex CEO Hewlett Packard

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"Knowledge Management is the discipline of enabling individuals, teams and entire organisations to collectively and systematically create, share and apply knowledge, to better achieve their objectives"

Ron Young, CEO/CKO Knowledge Associates International

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"Most activities or tasks are not one-time events. Whether its drilling a well or conducting a transaction at a service station, we do the same things repeatedly. Our philosophy is fairly simple: every time we do something again, we should do it better than the last time".

Sir John Steely Browne, BP, Harvard Business Review, 1997.

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"The capabilities by which communities within an organisationcapture the knowledge that is critical tothem, constantly improve it and make it available in the most effective manner to those who need it, so that they can exploit it creatively to add value as a normal part of their work"

GlaxoSmithKline

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"Knowledge management will deliver outstanding collaboration and partnership working. It will ensure the region maximizes the value of its information and knowledge assets and it will help its citizens to use their creativity and skills better, leading to improved effectiveness and greater innovation".

West Midlands Regional Observatory, UK

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"We recognise that our most important asset is people and their knowledge. We understand Knowledge Management (KM) as the cultivation of an environment within which people are willing to share, learn and collaborate together leading to improvement".

Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP)

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"Knowledge Management ('KM') comprises a range of practices used by organisations to identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge. It has been an established discipline since 1995 with a body of university courses and both professional and academic journals dedicated to it. Many large companies have resources dedicated to Knowledge Management, often as a part of 'Information Technology' or 'Human Resource Management' departments. Knowledge Management is a multi-billion dollar world wide market.

Knowledge Management programs are typically tied to organisational objectives such as improved performance, competitive advantage innovation, lessons learnt transfer (for example between projects) and the general development of collaborative practices. Knowledge Management is frequently linked to the idea of the learning organisation although neither practice encompasses the other. Knowledge Management may be distinguished from Organisational Learning by a greater focus on specific knowledge assets and the development and cultivation of the channels through which knowledge flows"