Traditional View
Historically, organisations have pursued 3 types of activities pertaining to knowledge management:
• Collect & store data – this is by-product of automating commercial activities (Typical example: data collected from transaction processing)
• Process information – this is management of existing knowledge (Typical example: report on average collection delay & good paymasters)
• Concentrated analysis information– by a select few - to create knowledge Today's successful companies are those that are able to capture, store and leverage what their employees 'know'. This activity involves the management of knowledge – which is radically different from the earlier concept of processing data.

Constant Innovation
Continuous knowledge is the key to constant innovation. That's why knowledge as a resource is side-lining the 3 M’s : money, manpower & material. (Just like the current definition of our Universe gives information the primary position, followed by space & time).

Today, capital deployment is increasingly being driven by innovation. (Traditionally, businesses deployed capital to make productive use of labour.) And what is innovation but productive application of knowledge?

So the world is steadily moving from ‘productivity of labour’ to ‘productivity of knowledge’. The future will see knowledge as the singular, major differentiating factor in the competitive position of any organization. In fact, the only significant advantage any organization possesses is its capability to exploit available knowledge.

The objective therefore is to make the organization innovate constantly, continuously. In 'auto' mode. A few rules to help achieve this : Involve as many people as possible in the process of knowledge gathering & (selective) dissemination of information
• Acknowledge & understand the existence of implicit knowledge
• Continuously update the knowledge base (with implicit as well as explicit knowledge)

Implicit & Explicit Knowledge
The 2 kinds of knowledge (implicit & explicit) are vastly different in nature. Explicit knowledge can be expressed in words & numbers and is therefore easily shareable in the form of data, rules, specifications and other forms of structured documentation. Explicit knowledge is thus easily transmitted between individual entities.

Naturally, to date the pre-dominant form of organization knowledge comprises mainly of explicit knowledge.

However, explicit knowledge is just the tip of the "knowledge iceberg". The sheer mass of knowledge is primarily implicit. And invisible, quite like the submerged part of an iceberg.

Implicit knowledge is hard to express, display & store. Being personal in nature, it is difficult to formalize and even harder to communicate or share. Intuitions & insights are typical examples of implicit knowledge. Implicit knowledge is deeply rooted within each individual's experience. And this experience is strongly flavored by personal ideals, values & emotions.

It is easy to see how the vast bank of organization knowledge lies locked within each individual. And the importance of converting implicit knowledge to explicit.

The Knowledge Boom
Knowledge-based industries are already the leading industries in today's economy. And signs of a veritable 'knowledge boom' are visible everywhere - new corporate designations like Corporate Knowledge Officer (CKO) have been created in large organizations, both corporate as well as academic. While the market abounds with new books & journals, knowledge management conferences, knowledge management services & tools & knowledge databases (e.g. Knowledge Xchange, Center for Business Knowledge, & Knowledge View).

There is a clear need to measure organization knowledge (sometimes referred to as intellectual capital), and manage (store, package, selectively disseminate) it.

“Break-free” Knowledge
Implicit knowledge has many dimensions. One of these is based on highly subjective, perceptions, ideals, values, emotions & mental models. These are so ingrained within each individual that they are taken for granted. More importantly, these have an influence on each individual’s perception of the world.

Implicit knowledge can also have a shackling effect on individuals. As victims of powerful, invisible, implicit-knowledge based layers, human beings can become captive to fixed ways of thinking. (For example, some of us automatically tend to spend time in finding out what is not working so that we can repair it. And many of us look for deficiencies in our colleagues, instead of looking for strengths upon which to build.)

Awareness of existence of such knowledge layers can help free individual & collective thinking, clearing the path to innovation.

As the philosophers have said time & again, all action comes from knowledge. And all action must end in knowledge !