Knowledge management and the information professional

Abstract

Knowledge plays an increasingly important role in modern organisations. Business processes are complex and dynamic, manual labour is being replaced by knowledge work, requiring a high level of skills and expertise. Knowledge and skills that are of value to the organization tend to be embodied in individuals difficult to substitute. Relationships between organisations nowadays are highly intricate, the marketplace is global. The speed of transactions in the dynamic economy requires the ability to interpret and respond to information about changes in the environment almost instantaneously. Middle management is disappearing, leaving lower levels in the organisation with higher responsibilities. The amount of knowledge available on any subject is increasing to a level that is impossible to grasp in its entirety. Finding and choosing knowledge that is of the highest value to the organization or the individual worker seems an almost impossible task. Organisations are required to apply new technologies and to innovate timely in anticipation of changes in the marketplace rather than as a reaction to business decline. Knowing when, how and what to innovate therefore is a key competence for organisations. To cope with these characteristics, organisations need to think about the way they acquire or create, manage and use knowledge. In a broader sense there is a need to rethink society, the economy, organisations, work, methods and systems in terms of the role and requirements of knowledge.