Corporate memory management: a knowledge management process model

Knowledge is the most meaningful resource today. The management of knowledg e supports the competitive advantage of organizations. A survey conducted b y Computer Science Corporation (CSC) found that senior IS executives percei ve knowledge management to be among the most critical technologies that wil l drive business growth and innovation by the year 2000 ii]. It is widely c laimed by a number of businesses and academic professionals that in order f or the organization to have a lasting competitive advantage it will have to be knowledge driven [2]. Robert Hiebeler [3, p.24] writes, "Those companie s that develop best practices for managing knowledge capital will be the on es that ride this competitive wave". Drucker [4, ch.1] stated in his book P ost Capitalist Society, "The basic economic resource is no longer capital, nor natural resources. It is and will be knowledge". Ultimately, the knowle dge that is most relevant is that required for the performance of critical organization processes. One of the barriers to sharing knowledge, like data or information, across industries is finding a common language that promotes dialogue and exchange . Regardless of the industry or market, a common taxonomy allows one to com monly refer to the same type of work by the same name. This practice within knowledge management (KM) should accelerate the process of organizational learning. This article presents a model that can serve as a process framewo rk of KM in the organization. Each process discussed in this article includ es work ('processes') that may be performed by organizations that deliberat ely manage knowledge. The present lack of effective management of knowledge could be because most organizations are still struggling to comprehend the KM concept [2]. This KM process provides a foundation for an organization to understand its knowledge resources and activities. Corporations around the world have ide ntified the need for KM; however, they have not identified a taxonomy of pr ocesses or a vocabulary to communicate these processes. This paper addresse s these two needs by providing a procedural method for creating a sustainab le KM system.