Knowledge Management In Education: A Key Driver Behind
Organizational Success
05 October, 2013
Introduction
One of the new
ideas behind improving Educational quality is the systematic management of
knowledge in schools. Knowledge management is a response to the explosion in information
and the realization that knowledge is together with quality, a key driver
behind organizational success. The problem is not how to find information, but
to be able to successfully manage it. Knowledge management was a theme of
Edwards Deming in his book, The New Economics (1974). Deming believed that all
organizations should understand their knowledge sources, manage on the basis of
rational data and make decisions based on all the available information.
The term knowledge management is applied to everything from the
application of new technology to the much broader endeavors of trying to
harness the intellectual capital of an organization. The idea is that knowing
what we know and using it creatively and productively is the major source of economic
value and competitive advantage at the disposal of any organization and is an
idea that educational institutions need to take seriously. However, the
educational organizations need to be clear that knowledge is more than
information. More and better information does not mean that we are anymore
knowledgeable. In fact often the opposite can be the case. Information by
itself can often lead to confusion and overload. Information overload is one of
today's most serious problems both for individuals and for organizations. It is
the productive use of information that is important. A key to successful
knowledge management is to exploit all forms of knowledge, both formal and
informal. This can be achieved by developing an open knowledge-sharing culture
and developing processes linked to appropriate technologies that facilitate the
sharing and exploitation of all available information. Thus, what is more
important today is that the educational organizations learn to develop a
culture of knowledge-sharing and use of modern technologies to share and
facilitate the sharing and use all available information.
What happens if we ignore our
knowledge base?
There are a number of unfortunate consequences of ignoring the
need to properly harness both institutional and individual knowledge. Some of
the consequences are listed below:
• Loss of expertise;
• Lost or missed opportunities ;
• having to reinvent the wheel;
• Loss of knowledge of best practices ;
• Loss of learning opportunities;
• Damage to key stakeholder relationships;
• Reductions in the quality of future knowledge;
• Damage to the organization's culture and social capital;
• The danger that other organizations will capitalize on
ideas that were once their own because they could not harness their knowledge
better
The new approach of “power sharing” and “effective and
participatory management” challenges school managers to change from autocratic
style based on laws and regulations towards an open approach of dialogue and
consultation. School managers need to listen, consult and engage in dialogue
more and identify needs of parents, teachers and learners.
Knowledge Management in Education
For any educational organization, knowledge is a key asset that
creates and adds value to the organization's products and services. It is
composed of those insights and understandings that give meaning to the
information and data at the organization's disposal. Knowledge originates in
the minds of knowing subjects who evaluate and interpret it in the light of the
framework provided by their experiences, values, culture, and learning. In the
organizational context knowledge takes a range of explicit forms and formats,
including processes, procedures and documents as well as more tacit forms,
including values, beliefs, emotions, judgments, and prejudices. If properly
applied, all forms of knowledge can provide the driving force for action .
There are two types or concepts of knowledge that are crucial to knowledge
management and to using knowledge effectively in the organizational context.
The two concepts are generally known as explicit and tacit knowledge.
Explicit knowledge is:
• Objective and formal knowledge;
• Tangible information
• Capable of being codified;
• Consciously accessible;
• Easily networked on databases and intranets;
Educational establishments routinely collect huge amounts of
information in the form of data about students, their background, their
progress, their assessments and their examination results. Harvesting formal and
explicit knowledge is essential for the proper functioning of these educational
organizations. However, while there is purpose in collecting it, often there is
little overall plan within the organization to fully exploit it. It is usually
just collected for the task in hand. Often little thought is given as to how it
can be exploited for the organization's own long-term benefit, even though the
potential power of harnessing it can be enormous. It can be shared and used to
create new and useful knowledge. With modern technology it can be downloaded
into databases and made accessible over institutions intranets and the
Internet. In many educational institutions, if a typical teacher is asked to
produce the school organization chart, programme of self evaluation, student
recruitment figures, the internal telephone directory, or a list of courses and
programmes, it often becomes a chore when it should be a quick and routine
activity. It is often said that finding the internal telephone extension takes
at least five minutes in the average organization.
Tacit knowledge is:
• Socially constructed knowledge;
• The folklore of the organization;
• stored inside people's heads;
• The knowledge of the mastery of a skill;
• A mix of values, insights, hunches, prejudices, feelings,
images, symbols and beliefs;
• Difficult to codify and to store on databases and
intranets;
• Often difficult to communicate and share;
• A valuable and rich source of experience and learning.
Philosopher Michael Polanyi sums up the concept in his memorable
phrase ‘we know much more than we can tell'. In using this phrase he
illustrates how difficult tacit knowledge is to communicate and to share. Tacit
knowledge highlights the importance of subjective dimension to knowledge. It is
personally and socially embedded knowledge that contains hunches, insights,
intuitions, feelings, imagery and emotions. It is deeply rooted in an
individual's experience and consciousness and is fashioned by his or her
experiences, values and culture. It is the knowledge that helps individuals
make sense of their world and as such is often deeply affected by personal
beliefs and values.
Implications for Educational
Managers
An Educational Manager usually performs many of the following
tasks:
• Implementing educational
• Equipping the education centre
• Preparing financial reports
•
Maintaining health and safety
• Preparing curriculum
• Supporting staff
• Attending administrative meetings
Harnessing tacit knowledge requires excellent management,
interpersonal and communication skills as well as a good IT infrastructure.
Realizing the potential of tacit knowledge involves an enormous culture shift
and is a much bigger project than just investing in information technology. It
is about trusting and valuing staff. Simply listening to people talk about
their personal knowledge is an important activity in an organization and is the
reason why appraisals, performance review, feedback sessions, mentoring, exit
interviews and other good HR practices are so important. Teamwork and more
informal networking and mentoring groups can also be a very useful means of
sharing tacit knowledge. As organizations grow, it becomes increasingly
unlikely that word of mouth will be an adequate means of conveying all the
tacit knowledge that needs to be shared. There will be a need to find more
formalized means of sharing. Here, role of Educational Managers is crucial as
it involves technical competence in time management; organization of resources
and handling an enormous amount of details. For educational organizations tacit
knowledge can be shared by promoting Action Researches in the organizations as
a good method where an inquiry team investigates an issue and reports their
findings back to a wider group. Thus, knowledgeable managers are able to find
processes to make tacit knowledge communicable and available to a wider
audience wherever possible.
Conclusion
The focus of Educational Managers needs to be on understanding the
dynamics and the psychology of personal knowledge; tacit knowledge is difficult
to control in a predictable way. For example, many employees do not recognize
that the knowledge they possess is even the property or province of their
employers and may see it as their own intellectual capital. In many
organizations, individuals perceive their greatest value to be what they know.
For them knowledge is power. Their unique information gives them status, and
often guarantees that they are listened to and consulted. Bearing these considerations
in mind people usually have good reasons to hoard and with hold information. It
is the task of educational managers to develop practices that encourage
knowledge sharing. It is a key aspect of quality improvement that people can
share their knowledge and expertise. Proper teamwork cannot operate without it
building up trust is key to knowledge sharing.
(Ms.Swaleha Sindhi is Assistant
Professor in The M.S.University of Baroda & Mr.Adfer Shah is Research
Assistant in SNCWS, New Delhi.Email:ms.swalehasindhi@
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