an introduction:

In the age of knowledge, the intellectual capital represented in innovation and invention has become more valuable in quantity and quality than the value of the company's fixed assets, so we are witnessing acquisitions of small-sized companies in terms of the number of workers in amounts exceeding billions of dollars, while the assets of these companies do not exceed a few hundreds of thousands. This wide discrepancy between the value of fixed assets and the market value of companies is due to the knowledge assets owned by these companies, embodied in innovative products and registered inventions, all of which are the outcome of the knowledge that these companies possess.

Knowledge management has gone beyond the circle of profit production to become an imperative for the development of all institutions - profit and non-profit - and making them able to achieve their goals.

 

Types of knowledge:

Knowledge is divided into two basic types: implicit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge refers to all the sciences, experiences and experiences that a certain person acquired during his life that formed his personality, while explicit knowledge represents the sum of the documented knowledge and experiences available to everyone through books, newspapers or social media, through paper or electronic writing or video and audio recordings.

Tacit knowledge represents the bulk of human knowledge, and it is knowledge that is most often transmitted orally, such as a mother's speech to her son, grandfather to his grandson, the sheikh and the professor to their students, or a skilled worker to his co-workers. However, the most dangerous thing in this matter is the loss of knowledge and its loss in the absence of its bearer. That is why the African saying: "The death of an African calf is like a library fire." Hence, the importance of knowledge management at the individual and collective levels is evident, from the individual to institutions of all kinds to the entire society.

 

What is knowledge management:

It is the set of strategies, practices, techniques, methodologies and formal and informal processes used by the organization to generate, store, transfer, disseminate and apply knowledge and improve administrative and organizational performance and decision-making.

 

Basic knowledge management processes:

Knowledge management is represented in the following processes:

1. Monitoring and collecting: This process includes all the tasks related to the type of knowledge required to achieve the objectives of a particular institution and to determine its locations and how to obtain it.

2. Preservation: This process provides mechanisms for preserving data and information, whether manually or electronically, with the contents being classified and categorized to facilitate access to them when needed.

3. Participation: This process allows knowledge to reach all relevant parties and individuals through manual or electronic mechanisms over communication networks, regardless of the geographical distance of the knowledge seeker.

4. Use: Knowledge is a way to develop a business and provide value-added products and services. That is why one of the biggest tasks of knowledge management is to make use of the accumulated knowledge while monitoring its impact on the development of work.

 

In order for these processes to be implemented, a frame of reference must be in place that guides institutions to best practices, as the reference framework includes the following element:

1. Operations: The tasks include ensuring that cognitive support reaches the student in order to develop his performance.

2. Job roles: Determine the job description of the persons assigned to the tasks of knowledge management.

3. Technology: The technical tools available to monitor, preserve and share knowledge, such as databases, communication networks, and accompanying software.

4. Governance: It includes policies and regulations that detail, explain, and enforce knowledge management tasks as well as create the appropriate environment for the production and exchange of knowledge.

 

Why does the organization need knowledge management?

In light of the knowledge economy and the fierce free market competition, knowledge management is no longer an intellectual luxury, but a practical necessity for survival. The reasons for its need can be summarized in the following:

First: The sharp competition in providing innovative products that represent the outcome of creativity has made the task of keeping pace with the market and satisfying customers a difficult matter, which requires companies to invest in knowledge and creativity by establishing effective knowledge management systems that enable them to transform the accumulated amount of knowledge into a qualitative addition represented in implementing innovative solutions In the form of products or services that meet the needs of people and different market sectors.

Second: The rapid increase in the pace of production and consumption and the multiplicity of competitors, made the collection and analysis of data and the extraction of future indicators an increasingly difficult matter with the passage of days, which puts institutions and companies in front of a great challenge in terms of managing this accumulated knowledge and transforming it into an added value that gives them vitality and sustainable development.

Third: It goes without saying that the biggest challenge facing enterprises is preserving their legacy of knowledge and "expertise" in light of changing workers, regardless of the reasons for leaving work. This challenge is represented in how to transform the knowledge inherent in the issuance of employees into documented and preserved institutional knowledge, so that it is transferred smoothly among the employees of the organization over the ages and thus the ability to develop it and transform it into new initiatives and products.

Fourth: Creativity and innovation is a set of basic processes that are based on a solid foundation of knowledge, as innovation is nothing but an organized and systematic process based on generating new knowledge from the womb of the institutional knowledge base and then applying this knowledge to produce new, unprecedented goods, services, or initiatives.

 

Conclusion:

Individuals progress as groups advance in this era through their knowledge production, so America, China and Japan have not risen except by this, India and Vietnam have not crossed poverty and despair barriers except with knowledge, and the Kodak company and its ilk collapsed only by failing to pursue knowledge production after it was full of hearing and sight. Are we aware of these lessons, or do we still treat knowledge management as an intellectual luxury, nothing more?