Knowledge management and ANCs: a cultural match: finding new ways to efficiently capture and transfer knowledge faster than competitors.

• Author: Johnson, Paul
• Position: Alaska Native BUSINESS NEWS

Knowledge Management has been an established discipline since 1995, but it roots can be traced farther back and some of the most common and tangible examples come from some unlikely business origins-the U.S. military. The U.S. Army's use of "After Action Reports" is the premise in which I come to view Knowledge Management. This might in large part be due to my adherence to project management principles and applying lessons learned to the conclusion of projects and/or activities.

If one were to attempt to define just what exactly is "Knowledge Management" you would find several different definitions as a result of whom the audience is in which you asked. For example, if you asked someone in the Information Technology field to define Knowledge Management, you might get a series of responses revolving the application of Web-based knowledge bases, portals, intranet, etc. If you were to pose the same question to someone in the Human Resource field, you would find approaches toward employee training, mentoring, and overall professional development approaches. I am certain there are many more definitions that can be sought, as they are heavily dependent upon one's point of view. But, it is important to realize that these two fields are the two most likely to gain an appreciation for Knowledge Management in your organization.

GAINING MOMENTUM

Recently, Knowledge Management has gained more traction in today's modern business world as more and more of our economy is becoming "Knowledge Based" and the competitive advantage has transitioned toward finding new ways to efficiently capture and transfer knowledge faster than competitors. More importantly, we have all heard that "knowledge is power," but knowledge is also leverage as people who have gained key knowledge, insight, and understanding of a field, process, or industry that they can effectively leverage those skills, etc. Basically, that is a long-winded way of providing a reason for the rise in number of consultants today!

ANCS' ROLE

But, this article is about Knowledge Management and ANCs. To begin with we have discussed the difficulty of finding all one encompassing definition of Knowledge Management due to the varying perspectives applying it. But, for simplicity purposes, let us use Wikipedia's definition: "Knowledge Management (KM) comprises of a range of practices used by organizations to identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge for reuse, awareness and learning."

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