Knowledge Management (KM) Processes in Organizations: Theoretical Foundations and Practice

Knowledge Management (KM) is an effort to increase useful knowledge in the organization. It is a natural outgrowth of late twentieth century movements to make organizational management and operations more effective, of higher quality, and more responsive to constituents in a rapidly changing global environment. This document traces the evolution of KM in organizations, summarizing the most influential research and literature in the field. It also presents an overview of selected common and current practices in knowledge management, including the relationship between knowledge management and decision making, with the intention of making a case for KM as a series of processes and not necessarily a manipulation of things. The final section highlights the use of social networking and commonly adopted Web applications to increase the value of social capital and to connect practitioners with clients and colleagues. Table of Contents: Introduction / Background Bibliographic Analysis / Theorizing Knowledge in Organizations / Conceptualizing Knowledge Emergence / Knowledge ＂Acts＂ / Knowledge Management in Practice / Knowledge Management Issues / Knowledge Management and Decision Making / Social Network Analysis and KM / Implications for the Future / Conclusion

Claire R. McInerney is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Library and Information Science in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Her PhD in Information Science was earned from the State University of New York/Albany. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST) and the Journal of Information and Knowledge Management. Prof. McInerney’s research focuses on Community Informatics, Knowledge Management, and Health Informatics. She is the author of ＂Providing Data, Information and Knowledge to the Virtual Office＂ and is co-editor of ＂Re-Thinking Knowledge Management: From Knowledge Objects to Knowledge Processes.＂ She teaches courses on Knowledge Management and is the director of the Knowledge Institute, a research center at Rutgers University. Michael E.D.Koenig is Professor at Long Island University, and he is the former and founding Dean of the College of Information and Computer Science at LIU. His career has included both academic positions and senior management positions in the information industry, including Manager of Information Services for Pfizer Research, and V.P. positions at the Institute for Scientific Information, Swets and Zeitlinger, and Tradenet Inc., and Dean and Professor at Dominican University. Koenig obtained his Ph.D. in information science from Drexel University, an MBA in Mathematical Methods and Computers and an M.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of Chicago, and his undergraduate degree in Psychology and Physics is from Yale University. A Fulbright Scholar in Argentina, he is the author of more than 100 peer reviewed scholarly publications, the co-editor of three monographs on the subject of KM published for the American Society for Information Science and Technology, including Knowledge Management: What Works and What Doesn’t, a member of the editorial board of more than a dozen journals, and a past president of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics. He is also the recipient of a Jason Farradane award for ＂Outstanding Work in the Information Field.＂