Tools of knowledge management: convergences toward organizational learning

A review on the origin, object of application, and forms of expression on knowledge management is conducted, as well-as on the strategic processes associated with this activity. Also, considerations are presented about the knowledge audit, and the most used tools in the organization to identify knowledge. Emphasis is laid on the existing convergences between the conceptual maps and the knowledge maps. Criteria are exposed to support the idea that the former is associated more with knowledge management in general and the latter, with aspects led by knowledge audit. Among the main conclusions, knowledge management is noteworthy because it is the basis for conducting the rest of the organizational processes (that is, intellectual capital management and organizational knowledge acquisition), for the institution may be in conditions for learning more through a continuous improvement process. It is recommended that research institutions, whose more significant principle is knowledge, should have among their premises to identify where the knowledge is located and how to manage it, in function of the welfare of the organization itself.