Understanding Knowledge – Part II Lecture One

Understanding
Knowledge
Lecture One – Part II
Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Review of Last Lecture

What is Knowledge Management (KM)?

What are the driving forces?

Role of KM in today’s organization

What is Knowledge Management System
(KMS)?

Classification of Knowledge Management
Systems

Effective Knowledge Management
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
In this Lecture

Basic Knowledge-related
Definitions
 Data, Information and
Knowledge
 Data Processing versus
Knowledge-based Systems
 Types of Knowledge
 What makes someone an
expert (knowledge worker)?
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Basic Knowledge-Related
Definitions
Common
Sense
Fact
Heuristic
Knowledge
Intelligence
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Basic Knowledge-Related
Definitions
Common
Sense
Fact
Inborn ability to sense, judge, or perceive
situations; grows stronger over time
Heuristic
Knowledge
Intelligence
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Basic Knowledge-Related
Definitions
Common
Sense
Fact
Inborn ability to sense, judge, or perceive
situations; grows stronger over time
A statement that relates a certain element
of truth about a subject matter or a domain
Heuristic
Knowledge
Intelligence
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Basic Knowledge-Related
Definitions
Common
Sense
Fact
Inborn ability to sense, judge, or perceive
situations; grows stronger over time
A statement that relates a certain element
of truth about a subject matter or a domain
Heuristic
A rule of thumb based on years of
experience
Knowledge
Intelligence
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Basic Knowledge-Related
Definitions
Common
Sense
Fact
Inborn ability to sense, judge, or perceive
situations; grows stronger over time
A statement that relates a certain element
of truth about a subject matter or a domain
Heuristic
A rule of thumb based on years of
experience
Knowledge Understanding gained through experience;
familiarity with the way to perform a task;
an accumulation of facts, procedural rules,
or heuristics
Intelligence
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Basic Knowledge-Related
Definitions
Common
Sense
Fact
Inborn ability to sense, judge, or perceive
situations; grows stronger over time
A statement that relates a certain element
of truth about a subject matter or a domain
Heuristic
A rule of thumb based on years of
experience
Knowledge Understanding gained through experience;
familiarity with the way to perform a task;
an accumulation of facts, procedural rules,
or heuristics
Intelligence The capacity to acquire and apply
knowledge
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Data, Information, and
Knowledge

Data: Unorganized and
unprocessed facts; static; a
set of discrete facts about
events
 Information: Aggregation
of data that makes decision
making easier
 Knowledge is derived from
information in the same way
information is derived from
data; it is a person’s range
of information
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Relationship between data,
information and Knowledge
Knowledge
Zero
Low
Data
Value
Medium High Very High
Information
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
An illustration
Knowledge
Counting
HTHTT
HHHTH
…
TTTHT
pH = nH/(nH+nT)
pT = nT/(nH+nT)
nH = 40
nT = 60
EV=pH RH+ pT RT
pH = 0.40
pT = 0.60
RH = +$10
RT = -$8
EV = -$0.80
Information
Data
Value
Zero
Low
Medium High Very High
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Relating Data, Information,
and Knowledge to Events
Knowledge
Information
System
Information
Use of
information
Knowledge
Data
Decision
Events
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Types (Categorization) of
Knowledge
 Shallow (readily recalled) and
deep
(acquired through years of experience)
 Explicit (already codified) and
tacit
(embedded in the mind)
 Procedural (repetitive, stepwise) versus
Episodical (grouped by episodes or cases)
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Explicit and Tacit Knowledge

Explicit (knowing-that)
knowledge: knowledge
codified and digitized in
books, documents, reports,
memos, etc.

Tacit (knowing-how)
knowledge: knowledge
embedded in the human
mind through experience
and jobs
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Illustrations of the Different Types
of Knowledge
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
What makes someone an
expert?

An expert in a specialized area
masters the requisite knowledge

The unique performance of a
knowledgeable expert is clearly
noticeable in decision-making
quality

Knowledgeable experts are more
selective in the information they
acquire

Experts are beneficiaries of the
knowledge that comes from
experience
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Expert’s Reasoning Methods
Reasoning
by analogy:
relating one concept to
another
 Formal reasoning:
using deductive or
inductive methods
 Case-based reasoning:
reasoning from relevant
past cases
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Deductive and inductive
reasoning

Deductive reasoning:
exact reasoning. It
deals with exact facts
and exact
conclusions

Inductive reasoning:
reasoning from a set of
facts or individual
cases to a general
conclusion
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Human’s Learning Models
 Learning
by experience: a
function of time and talent
 Learning
by example: more
efficient than learning by
experience
 Learning
by discovery:
undirected approach in which
humans explore a problem area
with no advance knowledge of
what their objective is.
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
End of Lecture One
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
You’ve just been hired by Woolworth and
have been asked to bag groceries for
customers….
How would you do this?
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
A classic example of deductive reasoning,
given by Aristotle, is
 All men are mortal. (major premise)
 Socrates is a man. (minor premise)
 Socrates is mortal. (conclusion)
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
The wheel is round. (Or, all wheels I have
seen are round)
The bird flies. (Or, all birds I have seen
could fly)
to infer general propositions like:
All wheels are round.
All birds can fly.
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
What is Knowledge
Management?

Knowledge management (KM)
may be defined simply as doing
what is needed to get the most
out of knowledge resources.

Related to the concept of
intellectual capital (both
human and structural).

KM focuses on organizing
and making available
important knowledge,
wherever and whenever it is
needed.
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
Forces Driving Knowledge
Management

Increasing Domain Complexity

Accelerating Market Volatility

Intensified Speed of Responsiveness

Diminishing Individual Experience
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Chapter 1: Understanding Knowledge
What is Knowledge Management
“Systems” ?
Social/Structural
mechanisms (e.g., mentoring
and retreats, etc.) for promoting knowledge
sharing.
Leading-edge
information technologies (e.g.,
Web-based conferencing) to support KM
mechanisms.
Knowledge
management systems (KMS): the
synergy between social/structural mechanisms
and latest technologies.
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