Investment in The Coconut Industry by Nancy Cheruiyot
Principles For Managing Of Knowledge Using ICTs
1. Principles to Guide the Managing of Knowledge
Using Electronic Communication and
Information-Sharing Tools
By Nadejda Loumbeva
December 2008
The identification of the principles outlined here originates in research done by the author at
University College London, University of London, in 2002 as part of an MSc in Human-Computer
Interaction with Ergonomics. At the time, the principles were used to evaluate three
geographically distributed Communities of Practice supported by electronic communication
platforms at the then UK Countryside Agency, a British non-governmental organisation.
Subsequently, they have also underlied work the author has done at other organizations, such as
the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the United Nations
World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
By Nadejda Loumbeva, MSc, MBA, CAS, Consultant and Coach on Learning and Knowledge Management. 1
Contact email: nloumbeva@iomba.ch
2. INTRODUCTION:
Information is not knowledge and knowledge is not just information. On
the other hand, what can be conveyed through an electronic platform, an
intranet, a database, a website, or anything of this kind, is just
information.
Information itself does not enable us to learn, unless we can place it in a
context. Context comes when we interact with peers, communicating
about what we do, why we do it, what stops us from or helps us doing it,
what we want to do, what interests us.
This is why, for information to make any sense to us, and help us learn,
and become knowledge, we need the interaction with our networks and
peers in order to put it in context. Putting information in context helps us
learn about it. If we do this, then we know what we are talking about
when we read through guidelines, suggestions, reports, news, and the like,
that we usually find on websites, in databases, and other types of
electronic communication platforms.
Sounds easy? Apparently, though, a lot of organizations are struggling
with putting in place communication and information-sharing tools and
processes that enable and support geographically distributed knowledge
sharing and learning among peers. Below are five principles guiding the use
of communication and information-sharing tools for purposes of managing
of knowledge. These may help to cast some light on the confusion you may
be experiencing in your organisation with regards to why the knowledge
management system that has been put in place does not quite help people
share and learn.
By Nadejda Loumbeva, MSc, MBA, CAS, Consultant and Coach on Learning and Knowledge Management. 2
Contact email: nloumbeva@iomba.ch
3. Rather than defining the sorts of tools to use for knowledge management
and sharing purposes, these principles can help you figure out the
following:
to what extent electronic communication and information-sharing
tools per se can help people to share knowledge and learn, and
how the use of such tools can be approached if they are to be at all
useful to the sharing of knowledge and learning among peers.
The principles are:
By Nadejda Loumbeva, MSc, MBA, CAS, Consultant and Coach on Learning and Knowledge Management. 3
Contact email: nloumbeva@iomba.ch
4. 1. Knowledge is not information
Information ‘does not make sense’ unless it becomes knowledge;
Information exists outside of contexts, whereas knowledge exists within
contexts (based on a shared theme, practice, purpose, etc.);
Contexts within which knowledge exists are driven by people, not by
technology;
Information is no use unless it is enabling knowledge within shared
contexts of some activity;
Information becomes knowledge when people use this in the context of
some shared interest;
Knowledge is both explicit and tacit; information is only explicit.
By Nadejda Loumbeva, MSc, MBA, CAS, Consultant and Coach on Learning and Knowledge Management. 4
Contact email: nloumbeva@iomba.ch
5. 2. Knowledge is both explicit and tacit
For most things that people know, they know them in two ways: tacit and
explicit;
Sometimes, people know things only tacitly (i.e., riding a bike);
People never know things just explicitly;
Tacit knowledge can be called intuitive knowledge, procedural knowledge,
or interest. It is inherently emotional knowledge which gives us clues
about what matters to us and thus helps us make sense of things;
Explicit knowledge is just information;
Explicit knowledge can be transferred through the means of electronic
communication and information-sharing tools;
Tacit knowledge can not be transferred through the means of electronic
communication and information-sharing tools. It can though be
communicated or conveyed during some shared activity (a phone call, a
conversation, a chat over coffee, a meeting, a workshop, a group project);
We need explicit communication such as that can be transferred via
online platforms in order to know what bits and pieces of information are
out there for us to use for our learning;
We need tacit knowledge to make sense of explicit information and
communication we come across;
Explicit knowledge thrives in media and online media; tacit knowledge is
cultivated among peers.
By Nadejda Loumbeva, MSc, MBA, CAS, Consultant and Coach on Learning and Knowledge Management. 5
Contact email: nloumbeva@iomba.ch
6. <->
3. Individual Learning and Knowledge flow in and out Group Learning
and Knowledge
People learn by themselves (through reading a book, writing a paper, or
other forms of self-study);
People also learn in groups (through working on projects together, writing
papers together, or other forms of group activity);
Some people prefer individual to group learning, and vice-versa;
Both individual and group learning are driven by some interaction among
learners and those who are driving their learning;
Group learning interactions tend to be much more synchronous than
individual learning interactions;
Individual learning draws upon tacit knowledge already learnt in the
context of some shared activity;
Group learning, via its collective process, cultivates the tacit knowledge
of not individuals who are part of group, but also the group per se. There
are things groups can know which individuals can not;
Groups can know more than individuals would ever know and so can be
more effective;
Whereas individual learning can be optimized by merely supplying
individuals with information, group learning can not;
By Nadejda Loumbeva, MSc, MBA, CAS, Consultant and Coach on Learning and Knowledge Management. 6
Contact email: nloumbeva@iomba.ch
7. Group learning can be optimized by merely enabling and supporting more
exchanges and interactions among members of the group(s);
In geographically-distributed groups, group learning can be optimized by
supporting a combination of face-to-face and online exchanges;
For an organization to make the most of group learning, it is not enough
to merely encourage people to work in groups. Rather, group learning
would need to imbue the design of the work, and overall business.
By Nadejda Loumbeva, MSc, MBA, CAS, Consultant and Coach on Learning and Knowledge Management. 7
Contact email: nloumbeva@iomba.ch
8. ≠
4. Learning and Knowledge are driven by incentives and will, not by
rules and orders
You can not tell people to know something. You can, however, create
conditions for them to know things;
Learning and Knowledge can not be planned, but rather enabled and
allowed to emerge;
The imposition of rules, of any kind and in any way, diminishes
effectiveness as it pushes people away from their preferred working and
learning mode;
That learning and knowledge can not be planned, but enabled, has
implications for the design of the work and overall business. The design
of the work should be composed of systems, structures, and the like, that
are inherently flexible;
The will and incentive to learn, and know, mostly emerges in the context
of exchanges and interactions among peers that are driven by shared
interest and so inherently informal;
The encouragement and cultivation of exchanges and interactions among
peers, in terms of informal communities of practice, more formal
knowledge networks, or else, can enable peers to identify and build on
their interests as part of the work;
By Nadejda Loumbeva, MSc, MBA, CAS, Consultant and Coach on Learning and Knowledge Management. 8
Contact email: nloumbeva@iomba.ch
9. Enabling conditions (work systems and structures) that support working
out of interest and not out of necessity in itself predisposes people to
sharing knowledge and learning together. Such conditions would work best
with people with the right values and motivation and so have implications
for staff selection and development.
By Nadejda Loumbeva, MSc, MBA, CAS, Consultant and Coach on Learning and Knowledge Management. 9
Contact email: nloumbeva@iomba.ch
10. 5. We can only know as and when we do
Knowledge is not a possession but part of what we do, when we do it;
We do not know what we know until we do something with it;
Doing something with what we know enables an interplay of tacit and
explicit knowledge. This helps us put into work what we already know and
learn something new;
Doing something with what we know is possible provided that there are
cultures and structures that favour joint action, initiative-taking, and on-
demand leadership, as well cross-cutting among different lines of work;
The use of electronic communication and information-sharing tools as
part of knowledge management initiatives should ensure these are
integrated within bigger processes of sharing and doing together.
By Nadejda Loumbeva, MSc, MBA, CAS, Consultant and Coach on Learning and Knowledge Management. 10
Contact email: nloumbeva@iomba.ch
11. CONCLUSION:
Rather than defining the sorts of tools to use for knowledge management
and sharing purposes, the above principles can help you figure out some of or
more than the following:
to what extent do electronic communication and information-
sharing tools per se help people to share knowledge and learn?
- Electronic communication and information-sharing tools can effectively
support already existing processes of sharing of knowledge and learning.
- The existence of electronic communication and information-sharing tools
does not in itself in any way guarantee there is communication, sharing and
learning per se.
how can the use of such tools be approached if they are to be at all
useful to the sharing of knowledge and learning among peers?
- Electronic communication and information-sharing tools intended for the
managing of knowledge among peers should be suitably integrated in
processes that are, first and foremost, about knowledge sharing and learning
together.
By Nadejda Loumbeva, MSc, MBA, CAS, Consultant and Coach on Learning and Knowledge Management. 11
Contact email: nloumbeva@iomba.ch
12. The above principles can also be used as baseline criteria for evaluating
knowledge management and sharing initiatives using electronic communication
and information-sharing tools in support of their process.
Nadejda Loumbeva
nloumbeva@iomba.ch
December 2008
By Nadejda Loumbeva, MSc, MBA, CAS, Consultant and Coach on Learning and Knowledge Management. 12
Contact email: nloumbeva@iomba.ch