Knowledge management: A strategic contribution of information technology in achieving organisational excellence

The unprecedented growth and convergence of telecommunications, computing and electronic networks, offer a multitude of applications in every sphere of human endeavour, be it business, government, military, non-profit organizations, health and education. It is only in recent years that organizations have consciously started engaging in managing knowledge as strategic resource to attain Organisational Excellence. The splurge in the contemporary literature on knowledge management (KM) is associated with the proliferation of information technology (IT) because IT enables creation, storage, communication and sharing of knowledge in innovative ways, such as data mining, data warehousing, internet, enterprise resource planning etc.

The objective of this paper is to examine the strategic contributions of IT in managing knowledge as strategic resource in pursuit of Organisational Excellence. A conceptual framework towards this aim has been discussed, the components of which include creation of value and generation and protection of knowledge. KM creates value through the creation of value added products, improvement in performance, and improvement in productivity and gaining competitive advantage. KM leads to the creation and protection of knowledge by research and development, patents, conservation of resources and security of telecommunication infrastructure.

The most widely discussed forms of knowledge are explicit knowledge, and tacit knowledge. Knowledge Management System (KMS) have been enabled information exchange to be performed on a greater scale and speed, and lower cost. However, since KMS does not involve interpersonal interaction, it can be enable sharing of explicit knowledge only. Despite its limitations, the potential of IT-enabled KMS to transform organizations cannot be undermined.