Knowledge Management Definitions

Knowledge Management

The creation and subsequent management of an environment which encourages knowledge to be created, shared, learn, enhanced, organized and utilized for the benefit of the organization and its customers. This definition assumes that knowledge can not be managed in the traditional sense but that an organization can optimize the value of its knowledge through an appropriate blend of leadership, values, culture, processes, tools and skills to support knowledge access and use. Managing this stock of Intellectual capital in an organization as it flows and grows is the domain of knowledge management. The way that stocks of intellectual capital change and evolve over time is then dependent on knowledge management strategies in knowledge creation, access and use.

Learning organization

An organization skilled at creating, acquiring, interpreting, and retaining knowledge; and then modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights. There is no one clear, agreed definition of a learning organization. Most scholars agree that learning is a process that unfolds overtime and link it with knowledge acquisition, deeper understanding, and improved performance. An organization with the necessary practices, culture and systems to promote the continuous sharing of experience and lessons learned. Through Knowledge mapping, Knowledge Management systems seek to identify the kinds of specific organizational and individual learning that must take place if the business is to build and maintain the required competencies to compete effectively. They then aim to implement these through Competency Management. Also described as a place where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together.

Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO)

Senior position with strategic responsibility for knowledge strategies and policies. A generic term used to describe the role with strategic responsibility for ensuring that knowledge strategies are embedded within all appropriate business strategies and processes. This role also articulates and champions the knowledge vision and provides the organizational leadership to implement and sustain knowledge practices and behaviors.

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Human Capital Management Definitions

Human Capital Management

The challenge of recruiting and retaining qualified candidates, and helping new employees fit into an organization. The goal is to keep employees contributing to the organizations intellectual capital by offering competitive salary, benefits and development opportunities. The major functions of human capital management include Recruitment, Compensation, Benefits and Training.

Organizational Development

A planned organization-wide effort to improve and increase the organizations effectiveness, productivity, return on investment and overall employee job satisfaction through planned interventions in the organization's processes.

Succession Planning

The process of identifying and preparing suitable employees through mentoring, training and job rotation, to replace key personnel within an organization as they leave.  Succession planning is traditionally targeted to senior leadership levels, but new technology enables strategic succession planning for other levels of organizations.

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Management & Business Psychology Definitions

Organizational Psychology

The practice of organizational psychology consists of intervening with organizations to achieve one or more of the following objectives: 1) raise performance; 2) improve processes and relationships; 3) enhance fairness and equity; and 4) increase subjective well-being. Always within the context of organizations, interventions may focus on individuals, pairs of individuals, groups, combinations of groups or whole organizations. Methods of intervention derive from explicit psychological concepts and theories appropriate to the objectives and entities engaged in change processes. When fully utilized, the practice of organizational psychology begins with assessment or diagnosis, proceeds to design and implementation, and concludes with evaluation of the efforts to bring about change. Organizational psychology is practiced with service delivering and product generating organizations from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors of society.

Emotional intelligence

Type of intelligence defined as the abilities to perceive, appraise, and express emotions accurately and appropriately, to use emotions to facilitate thinking, to understand and analyze emotions, to use emotional knowledge effectively, and to regulate one's emotions to promote both emotional and intellectual growth.

Personality inventory

A self-report questionnaire used for personality assessment that includes a series of items about personal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

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I&T Applications & Management Definitions

Chief information officer (CIO)

The person responsible for planning, choosing, buying and installing a company's computer and information-processing operation. Originally called data-processing managers, then management information system (MIS) directors, CIOs develop the information technology (IT) vision for the company. They oversee the development of corporate standards, technology architecture, technology evaluation and transfer; sponsor the business technology planning process; manage client relations; align IT with the business; and develop IT financial management systems. They also oversee plans to reinvest in the IT infrastructure, as well as in business and technology professionals. They are responsible for leading the development of an IT governance framework that will define the working relationships and sharing of IT components among various IT groups within the corporation.

Enterprise applications

Software products designed to integrate computer systems that run all phases of an enterprise's operations to facilitate cooperation and coordination of work across the enterprise. The intent is to integrate core business processes (e.g., sales, accounting, finance, human resources, inventory and manufacturing). The ideal enterprise system could control all major business processes in real time via a single software architecture on a client/server platform. Enterprise software is expanding its scope to link the enterprise with suppliers, business partners and customers.

Portal

A high-traffic Web site with a wide range of content, services and vendor links. It acts as a value-added middleman by selecting the content sources and assembling them in a simple-to-navigate and customize interface for presentation to the end user. Portals typically offer such services as Web searching, news, reference tools, access to online shopping venues, and communications capabilities including e-mail and chat rooms.

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