Much has been written on the importance of knowledge management, the challenges facing organizations

importance of knowledge management

Much has been written on the importance of knowledge management, the challenges facing organizations, and the important human resource management activities involved in assuring the acquisition and transfer of knowledge. Higher business education plays an important role in preparing students to assume the knowledge management and human resource roles so necessary to organizations. The authors examined the relationship between knowledge management, human resource management, and typical knowledge learning goals of an accredited business education program. A theoretical model is presented, illustrating how these relationships might overlap. The model proposes a linkage between knowledge management tenets, human resource management activities in organizations, and Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy for planning and evaluating educational goals.
Keywords: higher education, human resource management, knowledge management
The management of knowledge has increasingly become a topic of interest in both business–industry and education circles. The processes through which organizations develop, organize, and share knowledge—knowledge management (KM)—can lead to a source of sustainable competitive advantage (Hatch & Dyer, 2004). The generation and availability of new and existing knowledge presents a tremendous challenge and opportunity to organizations attempting to compete in a global arena. Human resource managers are challenged to meet the ever-increasing demands of a technologically driven environment. Educational institutions are equally challenged to keep pace with changes in the global business environment as well as the increased demands of stakeholders for accountability. Examining the relationships between KM, human resource management (HRM) activities, and university business program goals may lead to a better understanding of ways to prepare graduates to assume
CorrespondenceshouldbeaddressedtoPeggyBrewer, EasternKentucky University, Management, Marketing, and Administrative Communication Department,521LancasterAvenue, BTC011, Richmond, KY40475, USA. E-mail: peggy.brewer@eku.edu
roles in the business environments as well as give university programs a good way to measure assurance of learning. The purpose of this paper is to identify relationships between organizational processes, human resource activities, and KM activities. Additionally, the knowledge dimensions proposed by the revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy are used to demonstrate how knowledge as imparted and measured in higher education might compare to KM in organizations (Anderson et al., 2001).

LITERATURE REVIEW
Knowledge Management A review of the literature indicates that the field of KM has gained popularity in both the business and education arenas, and advances in information technology have served to assist in developing and implementing KM strategies. Serban and Luan (2002) cited five reasons for interest, emergence, and growth in the field of KM: (a) information overload and chaos, (b) information congestion, (c) information and skill segmentation and specialization, (d) workforce mobility and

Features Codified Personal Stored Context-specific Transferrable Difficult to formulate Easily expressed and shared Difficult to capture communicate, share Sources Manuals Informal business processes & communications Policies, procedures Personal experiences Databases, reports Historical understanding
turnover, and (e) competition. Having the ability to find needed information in a timely fashion without the necessity of being an expert in computer and information technology isaforcedrivingorganizationstobecomemoreeffectiveand efficient in managing information. Workforce turnover and mobility have led organizations to appreciate the necessity of capturing, retaining, and sharing knowledge, skills, and abilities that may be lost with employee departures. Forecasting, planning, and adapting to change are essential for organizations to remain competitive. Therefore, continuous improvement via creativity and innovation becomes a competitive necessity. Identifying and classifying the knowledge bases essential to an organization’s ability to remain a viable competitive entity is necessary. There are various ways of classifying knowledge. Tilak (2002) classified knowledge as being either popular— commonsense knowledge acquired through experience—or erudite—education or research-based knowledge. Table 1 illustrates the distinction between explicit and tacit knowledge, another way to classify knowledge (Serban & Luan, 2002). Steyn (2004) offered a reminder that there is a distinction between data, information, and knowledge, with knowledge being the action of the process. Knowledge leads to decision-making and action plans. Knowledge is an intangible asset embedded in individual workers in organizations. Tacit knowledge can become explicit organizational knowledge with deliberate efforts on the part of management to encourage personal and professional growth of knowledge workers, to encourage the sharing of knowledge and skills throughout the organization,andbydevelopingaknowledge-

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Overview of the article

            According to the article, “Knowledge Management, Human Resource Management, and Higher Education: A Theoretical Model by Peggy D. Brewer and Kristen D. Brewer, higher business education plays a significant role in preparing students for future careers in human resource and knowledge management roles. In order to come up with this conclusion, the authors of this article examined the relationship between human resource management, knowledge management and the knowledge objectives of a business education program……………..

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