5 Knowledge Management

Transcript

Brief Introduction:

Hello Friends. I am sure you must have been motivated with learnings of Hole in the Wall experiment at Delhi. So now we have the case that with minimum monitoring and with minimum invasion, we can have maximum learning also provided we have infrastructure, we have accessibility, and we have an interest to develop the skills. The things what that we were discussing about was the knowledge, development of the knowledge. In this particular discussion we will be discussing about the management of the knowledge. How the knowledge can be managed.

Knowledge Management of Farmers:

Let us begin with the issues related to the knowledge management of farmers.

• In one of our previous discussions we have already observed the differences between the data and information. And ultimately how it translates itself into the knowledge with the involvement of the learner.
• Knowledge is embedded in the process as well as the technologies, because it is the thought process of an individual. He has understood that particular information in that way which was earlier known as the data. The data when it is added certain context and process, it is becoming the information. And the information when it is understood by an individual, that becomes the knowledge. And when the knowledge is applied, so that we call it as wisdom; it develops into the products as well as the services.
• Knowledge has implicit as well as an explicit dimension. It is not that everything I know that I can explain. It is not that everything I know, I can deal with the people. So the implicit as well as explicit means. So the things that are in your mind, you can use it but you cannot explain it. But there are certain things which you can explain, which we call it as the explicit things. Or you can write it down or that can become the beneficial issue for the others also.
• The basic issue here that what we are emphasizing on is the knowledge sharing is an important knowledge management process. How can I share the knowledge? Before sharing, how can I collect it, how can I process it, then how can I share it with the people. All these activities are the part of the knowledge management process.
• Knowledge sharing ultimately benefits our farming community. And that is what is the basic activity of extension education activities.

Knowledge Management:

Then the process of knowledge management.

• To help an organization to identify, select, organize, disseminate, transfer the information. So these are the underlying processes of knowledge management. What is that. Identification of the knowledge, then selection of the knowledge, then organizing it, disseminating it and ultimately transferring it to the internet community.
• Then structuring enables the problem solving, dynamic learning, strategic planning, decision making. So they are the further processes of this knowledge management.
• And ultimately the leverage value of intellectual capital through the reuse. Because the same thing we can apply wherever and whenever it is needed.

Types of Knowledge:

The types of knowledge as we were talking of the explicit as well as implicit.

• The explicit knowledge means it is codified, recorded, actualized into some form outside the head. Because what I am trying to put before you and you can understand it. So that’s what is explicit. Because I am trying to that knowledge out for the benefit of the society.
  • In the form of maybe the books, periodicals, journals, maps, photographs, audio-recordings webpages, web portals etc.

So this is how I can show my explicit knowledge by providing contents through these things.

• Tacit knowledge is a form of experience and insight. Because it is inside me, I cannot explain it for one or the other reasons. So that’s what is tacit. It is hidden. So not in the recorded form but it is in our head, and it is in our intuition.
• Basically it is an intellectual capital.
  • It doesn’t mean much unless it is packaged in a useful way. So if I don’t make use of that it is not having any meaning, but it is ample knowledge is there, but it is not having any use.
  • Technology and global environment are redefining the same thing in a useful way, so that you can translate this tacit knowledge into the explicit knowledge.

Theoretical Base:

The theoretical base include.

• The facts examined by our ancestors in the laboratory of nature during the time and reach us. We call it as the indigenous knowledge. There are no established laboratories, but they considered nature itself as a laboratory for themselves. So whatever the products that we got out such exercises, we tried to identify it as indigenous knowledge.
• Then there is another set of knowledge which is known as the science based knowledge, which is the outcome of the logical, reasoning process. It is the product of scientific thinking and analogy. It has a perfect base. If and but relationships. Then cause and effect relationships. We try to identify it as the science based knowledge.

So two knowledge bases that we discussed, that is the tacit as well as the explicit. And there is another thing that is indigenous knowledge as well as the science based knowledge. With these 4 types we can come out with a paradigm of knowledge matrix, wherein we said that I stands for implicit knowledge and S stands for scientific knowledge. E stands for explicit knowledge and T stands for Tacit knowledge.

So when the indigenous knowledge, it is explicit in nature. It is very rare commodity. There are so many indigenous technologies still needs lot of explanation. But because of lack of explanation, they are not finding the light in the society. Then the second category is the knowledge which is tacit but indigenous. It is the most prominent commodity, which we are all searching for. Because the tacit which needs to be explained, but it is indigenous also. It is limited to this particular place only. Nowhere we can find it, so that is why it is the most prominent commodity.

The explicit as well as the scientific knowledge(the science based knowledge) is the rare commodity, because there are so many things which are waiting for a science analogy and the reasoning. Then the most frequent knowledge is which is tacit as well as it is scientific in nature.

Knowledge Requires Capture, Organization, Access and Leverage:

Keeping these things in view, the knowledge requires to be captured, organized, accessed and leveraged. So what are the old as well as new ways of doing these things for the purpose of knowledge management. If you look into the first element, that is capture. How it was captured? In the earlier days

• It was in the written form, auditory or graphical representation. So these were the forms of capturing the knowledge, the traditional ways of capturing the knowledge. But the modern way included the digitization of this particular knowledge and putting it into the cyberspace is the modern way.
• If you look into its organization, the contents were organized in the form of tables, indexes, libraries etc. But in case of the new ways it is being done with the help of the software and it is available in cyberspace for 24/7/365. It means every moment you have an access. But in these places, you have a limited access.
• Then coming to the access, it’s the physical body which goes to a library or a company or that particular place (8:07) to have an access. But in case of new way, the access you can have it with the help of your computer or the network technologies.
• The tacit knowledge is rarely tapped. So this is what is the challenge even today. So there are many people with tacit knowledge, but it needs to be translated into explicit knowledge. The tacit knowledge is tapped using the technological tools, many such experiments that are going on. Earlier it was a very hard task, but now the things are getting simplified.
• Ultimately the leverage is a sum game in case of old way. But the leverage is exponential; multiples upon multiples in the new ways with the help of the technologies, we can simplify these particular processes.

Approaches to Knowledge Management:

Then coming to some of the approaches of knowledge management,

• Which includes the process approach, which codifies the knowledge
  • And formalized controls as well as approaches as well as technologies
  • It fails to capture most of the tacit knowledge, because the process is involved, until and unless somebody reveals the process, he cannot capture it.
• The practice approach reveals that.
  • It assumes that most of the knowledge is tacit in nature, and obviously because I have understood a particular process in a particular way, it has lot of implications. But if I don’t explain it or if I don’t bring it outside, it is not having much implications.
  • Then it is an informal system, where the social events, communities of practice, person to person contact, which challenge to make the tacit knowledge explicit. Capture it, add to it or transfer it, this is what is the practice approach. If you want to practice, it has to be explicit. As long as it is tacit knowledge it is very difficult.
• Then coming to the hybrid approach which is a combination of many things
  • So wherein in case of practice approach initially used to store the explicit knowledge
  • The tacit knowledge primarily stored as the contact information
  • The best practices captured and managed.
• What is this best practice
  • The best practice includes the methods that effective organizations use to operate and  manage the functions. So this is how the hybrid approach operated
• Then the knowledge repository, which is the storehouse of the various quantum of knowledge.
  • The place where the knowledge is captured as well as stored.
  • And the different storage mechanisms depending upon the data, are captured, processed and disseminated.

Knowledge Management System Cycle:

Then coming to the knowledge management cycle

• Which creates knowledge through new ways of doing things. Maybe it is traditional or maybe it is the science based knowledge. Maybe it is explicit knowledge or maybe it is tacit knowledge. It tries to create the knowledge using new ways of doing things, maybe extracting the things from various sources etc.
• Then it identifies and captures the new knowledge in the second part. The developed knowledge, the created knowledge now has to be coded.
• Then places knowledge into a context so that it is usable. So that’s what is the process of refinement, wherein we are refining the captured knowledge, the created knowledge, which is being captured and it is being refined.
• And then in the next step it is the stored knowledge as a knowledge repository. So this is where the information-communication technology plays a dominant role. Earlier there were limited ways and means of storage of this generated information. But now there are umpteen number of avenues, possibilities that we can store the knowledge.
• And reviews for accuracy and relevance, that is what is the managerial steps that comes into the picture. The knowledge is now being managed with the involvement of these processes of conducting reviews and other things.
• And then makes the knowledge available at all times to anyone. So this is what is the process of dissemination again. The role of information communication technologies comes into the picture. Because it is having the storage facilities. That storage is having the largest capacities, wherein we can store the knowledge that is created as well as captured, and then ultimately it is refined.

And the entire process that starts from creation to dissemination, we can call it as the knowledge management cycle. If you look into the information dissemination needs of the agricultural extension processes, the similar activities that are being taken up. The knowledge is that is with our farming community as well as the scientific community needs to be brought under a particular platform, with the help of which we call it as knowledge creation.

That has to be captured in an appropriate forms. Which are suitable for our farming communities. And the knowledge has to be refined over a period of time, because the situations are changing, since agriculture is a biological process. The context are changing, the agro-climatic changes are happening. Over a period of time we are getting new diseases, new insects, new problems related to agriculture. So that is why the refinement is very very essential.

Storing of the huge amount of data that is generated, maybe as a part of research or maybe as part of the traditional knowledge. Then the stored data has to be managed over a period of time. And ultimately it needs to be disseminated, through various methods and approaches of extension. So this is how the knowledge management process which we try to understand in the context of agriculture.

Conclusion:

To conclude we can say that

• knowledge is basically a commodity, which can be created and which can be stored, which can be packaged and which can be marketed.
• And it needs to be managed for the benefit of the community, as we have said with the help of a cycle. So until and unless you manage the knowledge, the benefits of the generated knowledge, the created knowledge is not going to reach to the entire mass.
• And information technology tools facilitate the process of knowledge management. Let us make use of the tools of this information-communication technology, for creation, for capturing, for storing, for managing as well as ultimately for the dissemination of the knowledge, because we being the students of agriculture, we need to customize everything from the point of view of farmers.

With this we are coming to the end of second week’s of discussion. Now you should be getting ready for the test, wherein you will be coming across different questions in the objective form. So that you can test your gained knowledge over a period of 2 weeks. And also we expect your comments as well as whatever the doubts that you have regarding the topics that we have discussed so far. So I welcome you all to interact on the Forum activities of the agMOOCs platform.

Thank You.