Getting value from knowledge management

Abstract

Purpose

Getting value from knowledge management (KM) means managing the way new knowledge is brought to bear on the business's practices, for value is added only through practice – not through talk. Though there are relationships between knowledge and practice, and the purpose of KM is to get more value from the firm's knowledge, knowledge is too loose and slippery a term to afford us a good handle on these matters. The paper proposes a novel typology that distinguishes data, meaning, and skilled practice. Each must be managed differently, though management must integrate all into the business model.

Design/methodology/approach

A non‐empirical theoretical paper clarifying the interaction of different epistemologies or ways of knowing within the business. Different epistemologies are illustrated and discussed at a managerial level, the formal and academic philosophizing is left out.

Findings

The paper shows that KM are not all alike.

Originality/value

Highly original, given very few KM writers address multiple epistemologies and then propose a practice‐based approach to their integration. Despite its theoretical language the paper actually proposes a severely practical approach to real‐world KM.

Citation

Spender, J. (2006), "Getting value from knowledge management", The TQM Magazine, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 238-254. https://doi.org/10.1108/09544780610659970