Knowledge creation and management: Integrated issues

Knowledge is defined as what we already know. Knowledge management (KM) is the practice of making knowledge instantaneously available in a usable format and using it. Knowledge creation (KC) is what we know now that we did not know before. The KM idea began with the realized need to convert the abundance of raw data available in organizations into database to be used to the business advantage. Present-day computers are the medium for this data synthesis. As a result, most of the emphasis on KM has been information technology (IT)-focused. An equally important issue needing attention is KC. There is a lack of published literature on this topic. Knowledge creation depends on: 1) the authenticity and completeness of data, 2) meaningful summaries of the data, 3) newly acquired knowledge when the summaries are viewed and interpreted with the aid of basic principles, and 4) circumstances surrounding a specific application that make the knowledge usable or unusable. Both knowledge creation and knowledge management are crucial components of the whole. Without an integrated approach, neither of them can create a strategic business advantage. In this paper, we will develop the link between KM and KC.