This essay will explain data, information and knowledge as well as the socio-technical system, knowledge management, organizational knowledge and organizational learning. We will also discuss the relationship between organizational knowledge and organizational learning as well as the affect that knowledge management has on each of these concepts. However, in order to understand Knowledge Management, we must first identify and explain some of the key fundamental concepts.
Data, information and knowledge are important terms with distinct meanings that are central to the concept of Knowledge Management. Together they represent the transformation of unorganized facts to relevant associations and meaning to understanding.
Terminology and Definitions:Data - A group of unorganized facts taken out of context. No association or relation among data. (Bellinger, 2004).
Information - Organized and refined collection of data as a result of associations and meanings among the different pieces of data in the collection. Data put into context. (Bellinger, 2004).
Knowledge - The ability to understand information and realize its patterns and implications. "It is what we know and our process of comprehension in relation to specific information" (Wilson, 2002).
Knowledge Management - An increasingly debated term, Knowledge Management is generally the continual process of creating, disseminating, storing and utilizing knowledge. The product of this continual process is an organization 's knowledge. This knowledge is utilized for reuse, awareness and learning throughout an organization (Alavi, Maryam & Dorothy E. Leidner (1999).
Organizational
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