KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE GENERATION 1

Running head: KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE GENERATION 1
Knowledge and Knowledge Generation
[Author’s Name]
[Institution]
KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE GENERATION 2
Knowledge and Knowledge Generation
That information is the critical organizational resource and the source of
organizations’ competitive advantage is difficult to deny. According to Davenport and Prusak
(1998), information is a type of knowledge, the value of which comes from its interpretation
within a given context. As a result, organizations must have and run systems and processes
needed to enable a knowledge generation, codification and transfer. Unfortunately,
organizations can not always successfully develop and implement the systems of knowledge
acquisition, to facilitate understanding and close the existing knowledge gaps. A recent article
from the Professional Services Close Up magazine offers an interesting insight into the
problem of organizational knowledge.
In this article, Anonymous (2010) discusses the lack of knowledge alignment between
business and IT personnel, as well as between business and IT decisions. Many organizations
believe the acquisition of business-focused knowledge by IT personnel to happen naturally
(Anonymous, 2010). In reality, however, the absence of effective systems of knowledge
transfer leads to a widening knowledge gap that hurts equally IT departments and whole
organizations (Anonymous, 2010). Here, the focus should be on providing contextual
information, which enables IT specialists to reconsider their role in the context of the
organization’s initiatives and strategies (Anonymous, 2010). Anonymous (2010) writes that
IT specialists and business professionals often speak different languages, and
institutionalization of open communication and business-oriented training approaches could
help IT professionals to align their professional skills with the basic goals and objectives of
the organization in which they work. These solutions could help IT specialists to generate and
transfer their knowledge in terms that are easy to understand by other workers, and in ways
that help to align this knowledge with the knowledge of the organization, in general. In this
context, one of the basic issues is in whether the formalization of knowledge transfer in
KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE GENERATION 3
organizations can suffice to help technical specialists and leaders generate and transfer
comprehensive knowledge to internal customers. Also, it is necessary to define what systems
and processes should be in place, to allow organizations that use the knowledge generated by
IT specialists, to meet their strategic and tactical goals. So, is it enough to formalize the
process of knowledge transfer, to let organizations benefit from the knowledge generated by
IT specialists?
KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE GENERATION 4
References
Anonymous. (2010). TEKsystems: Partnership between IT and the business is critical.
Professional Services Close – Up, 8 September.
Davenport, T.H. & Prusak, L. (1998). Working knowledge: How organizations manage what
they know. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.