Information, Knowledge, Science & Technology

ITWorld.com : An organization that implements an effective knowledge management (KM) program should see a substantial payoff: Reducing duplicated work increases productivity; leveraging past experience improves quality; and tracking customer behaviors enhances customer service. In practice, this has not always happened. Many companies have invested millions, even billions, of dollars on KM technology and received little in return. Why? After researching and reviewing numerous KM initiatives, comparing those that succeeded with those that failed, the answer becomes clear: KM isn't simply about technology. It's about people. Consider this real-world example of a global financial services company that invested a sizable dollar amount in a system for capturing, organizing, and retrieving project methodology information. It seemed like a good idea -- high-powered software that promised to improve staff efficiency. The system was expensive, however, and hard to learn. The implementa...

HospitalityNet.org : Knowledge management is a structure within which the organization views all its processes as knowledge processes. In this view, all business processes involve formation, distribution, renewal, and application of knowledge toward organizational sustenance and survival. This concept embodies a transition from information value chain to a knowledge value chain. The knowledge workers need to be facile in the applications of new technologies to their business contexts. Such understanding is necessary so that they can delegate programmable tasks to technologies to concentrate their time and efforts on value-adding activities that demand creativity and innovation. More importantly, they should have the capability of judging if the organization's best practices are aligned with the dynamics of the business environment. Such knowledge workers are the critical elements of the double loop learning and unlearning cycle that should be designed within the organizational bus...

AllAfrican.com : Information and knowledge management are emerging as some of the main interventions pursued by drought-prone southern Africa to attain food sustenance and disaster preparedness. Following years of unpredictable weather patterns, the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) has now raised the role of information sharing and knowledge management to a higher pedestal. Climatic conditions have not been sympathetic to the SADC region. The past few years have seen countries going through sustained dry periods followed by one or two seasons with too much rain and flooding in low-lying areas. In response to these changes in weather patterns, regional cooperation has increased in areas such as early warning systems, and SADC countries have made great strides in strengthening the basic infrastructure and capacities of national meteorological and hydrological services. The region now relies on a coordinated information sharing and knowledge management system that ...