Abstract topic discussion
Keywords: knowledge management/knowledge itself management/knowledge resource management/knowledge capital management/knowledge theory/knowledge resources/knowledge capital
At present, the "knowledge economy fever" in the theoretical circle has just cooled down, and the "knowledge management fever" has begun to heat up sharply. At the turn of the century, knowledge management has once again become a hot topic in domestic theoretical circles. The introduction and discussion of knowledge management in domestic academic circles of library, information and information management reached a climax in 1999 and 2000. Literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature, literature. Unfortunately, however, all these studies have played down and ignored a very important issue, that is, the hierarchical problem in knowledge management. Based on the above research, this paper will take enterprise knowledge management as the object, and deeply discuss the hierarchical problems of knowledge management, so as to achieve the purpose of comprehensively understanding and grasping knowledge management. The author believes that enterprise knowledge management is divided into micro-level and macro-level and consists of the following three parts.
1 Micro-level of enterprise knowledge management: management of enterprise knowledge itself
Enterprise knowledge management itself can also be called pure knowledge management. This level of enterprise knowledge management is mainly studied by economists and enterprise management theorists, so it has a strong color of enterprise management, and of course it also involves information science to some extent. It refers to the creation, absorption, acquisition, processing, storage, retrieval, dissemination, enjoyment, transfer and innovation of knowledge itself or "pure knowledge" in enterprises. According to the scope of knowledge managed, this level of enterprise knowledge management can be divided into narrow sense and broad sense. In a narrow sense, this level of enterprise knowledge management refers to the management of enterprise tacit knowledge (uncoded knowledge). For a long time, people have always confined knowledge to explicit knowledge (coded knowledge) and equated knowledge with explicit knowledge, while ignoring tacit knowledge or tacit knowledge. Enterprise knowledge management can be said to be aimed at this defect. Although the proposal of enterprise knowledge management does not obliterate the management of explicit knowledge in enterprises, it also emphasizes what we often call "knowledge processing" in the form of explicit knowledge management, but in comparison, its rise at present highlights the importance of tacit knowledge management in enterprises. Because in the traditional western enterprise management theory, the knowledge that Taylor and Simon refer to is generally explicit knowledge. For example, Taylor, the father of scientific management, pointed out that after applying knowledge to work, the productivity increased at a rate of 3.5 to 4 percentage points per year. Taylor's knowledge in the form of quantifiable data here is the explicit knowledge of enterprises, which does not involve the tacit knowledge of enterprises at all. In fact, tacit knowledge is much more important than explicit knowledge. If explicit knowledge is the tip of the iceberg on the water surface, then tacit knowledge is the main body of the iceberg hidden under the water surface. Although they are more difficult to find than the tip of the iceberg-explicit knowledge, they are the most important source of social wealth. An important viewpoint of the concept and theory of enterprise knowledge management is to emphasize that tacit knowledge is more perfect than explicit knowledge and can create more value; The excavation and utilization of tacit knowledge contained in enterprises will become the key for enterprises to win competitive advantage.
Compared with the narrow sense, the broad sense of enterprise knowledge management refers to both explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge in enterprises, and it emphasizes the management of the whole knowledge itself in enterprises. More specifically, it includes: ① socialized management of enterprise knowledge-from tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge; ② Externalization management of enterprise knowledge-from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge; ③ Internalization management of enterprise knowledge-from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge; ④ Integrated management of enterprise knowledge-from explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge. We can use the table 1 to summarize these four knowledge transformation modes as follows.
Table 1 Four Knowledge Transformation Models of Enterprise Knowledge Management
attached drawing
The above four aspects of enterprise knowledge management are isomorphic as knowledge creation, acquisition (knowledge production) and knowledge flow (knowledge exchange) within the enterprise, with the aim of realizing enterprise knowledge sharing and the ultimate goal of enterprise knowledge innovation.
Enterprises implement knowledge innovation in order to rely on and make use of their own knowledge to obtain continuous creativity, so that enterprises have a competitive advantage in the non-linear market competition environment. The process of knowledge innovation is actually a process of knowledge exchange and knowledge sharing. As mentioned above, the mutual transformation between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge characterized by socialization, externalization, internalization and integration constitutes the knowledge exchange of enterprises. Knowledge sharing is another important link of enterprise knowledge management at this level after knowledge exchange, and it is also the direct purpose of knowledge exchange. Knowledge sharing means that employees' explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge are shared by other members of the organization through telephone, oral conversation, internet and other communication methods, thus transforming them into the knowledge wealth of the organization. In short, knowledge sharing is to realize the transformation of knowledge from personal knowledge to organizational knowledge wealth. This change requires knowledge to be enjoyed not only by knowledge accumulation, but also by knowledge processing and even the primary incubation of knowledge innovation. The processing of knowledge is very important in the enjoyment of the whole knowledge, and the core content of knowledge processing is the organization and order of knowledge. Constructing knowledge base, knowledge warehouse, drawing knowledge map and knowledge history map are four extremely important concrete realization forms for enterprises to organize and organize knowledge, and are also powerful tools for managing enterprise knowledge itself. Sometimes, in order to emphasize this point, knowledge organization (knowledge ranking) is taken out separately and juxtaposed with knowledge as another important link of enterprise knowledge management at this level. This practice of dividing the whole operation process into four parallel stages: knowledge exchange, knowledge organization and order, knowledge sharing and knowledge innovation, and highlighting the importance and purpose of knowledge sharing and knowledge innovation on this basis has become a remarkable feature of enterprise knowledge management at this level. The study of knowledge enjoyment, knowledge absorption (knowledge production and acquisition) and knowledge transfer closely related to it is also regarded as an important aspect of modern economics and management: the frontier field of enterprise theory research-"the shift of research focus of enterprise knowledge theory".
2 Macro level of enterprise knowledge management: enterprise knowledge resource management
This level of enterprise knowledge management research has a strong flavor of information management. Some researchers believe that knowledge management is actually knowledge resource management, and knowledge resource management (KRM) is the inevitable trend of information resource management (IRM), so knowledge management can be regarded as the extension, development and sublimation of information resource management. Some researchers believe that knowledge management is a development stage of information management and the deepening and latest development of current information management. In short, in the field of academic theory, knowledge management is mainly studied by the library and information management community from this perspective. Let's review the classical theoretical viewpoint that information management is divided into five stages, which was put forward by internationally renowned information management scientists and American scholars D.A. Friedrich Hirth and F.W. Horton as early as the mid-1980s. That is, the first stage: the period of physical control of information (from the end of 19 to the end of 1950s), which can also be called the period of document management; The second stage: during the period of automation technology management (1960s-1970s), information systems represented by MIS were widely used, and the role of information technology and information experts was increasingly prominent. The third stage: information resource management (mid-1970s-1980s); The fourth stage: business competition analysis and wisdom (1980s); The fifth stage: knowledge management (since 1990s). Therefore, in history, knowledge management has always been regarded as a stage of information management, which is accompanied by management.
The development and needs of practice gradually hatch from information management, forming a brand-new management field. Knowledge management from this perspective is the knowledge management at the level of enterprise knowledge resource management. Let's analyze it here.
At present, the authoritative understanding of information resources is: there are two kinds of understanding of information resources. One is a narrow understanding, that is, it only refers to the information content itself. The other is a broad understanding, that is, in addition to the information content itself, it also includes information equipment, information personnel, information systems and information networks closely related to it. According to this idea, knowledge resources can also be divided into narrow sense and broad sense. Knowledge resources in a narrow sense are only knowledge itself, while knowledge resources in a broad sense include not only knowledge itself, but also various resources related to knowledge. We know that although knowledge management itself involves information science, such as knowledge organization, knowledge storage and retrieval, it is also directly related to information management, but it is more related to the management of industrial and commercial enterprises. Therefore, it should belong to the category of business management and economic management, and the management of knowledge itself is still at the micro level, which we have discussed earlier. The enterprise knowledge resource management mentioned here refers to the management of various knowledge-related resources in the enterprise from the perspective of information management. It is an all-round and whole-process management involving knowledge itself, knowledge organizations (institutions), knowledge facilities, knowledge activities, knowledge personnel, knowledge systems and knowledge networks. It is the management of knowledge resources in a broad sense from the perspective of information management, involving the construction of national innovation system, and it is a macro level relative to the management of knowledge itself. Here, it is regarded as another research level in enterprise knowledge management, which is different from the management of enterprise knowledge itself. Domestic academic circles of library and information management have made in-depth and active explorations and achieved a number of fruitful research results. Professor Ma Feicheng, a domestic researcher of information resource management, in the national key textbook "Information Resource Management" co-authored by two doctoral students, positioned information resource management on the basis of its basic significance, discussed knowledge management from the perspective of enterprise information resource management in the form of a special chapter and section, and pointed out enterprise knowledge management.
It is a new development of enterprise information resource management, a more advanced information management theory and method based on people's deep understanding and experience of information resource management defects, and an inevitable product of various information resource management defects exposed day by day with the progress of technology, the further improvement of human information management needs and the transition of economic form from information economy to knowledge economy. Other researchers discussed it more directly, and clearly put forward that knowledge management is a kind of resource management based on the micro-level of enterprises; The foundation of knowledge management is knowledge resources, which are composed of people, networks and knowledge. The starting point of knowledge management is the distribution and sharing of knowledge resources; The core of knowledge management is the development and utilization of knowledge resources; The carrier of knowledge management is a resource-based knowledge management system.
The research content of enterprise knowledge management is very rich, and some researchers further divide knowledge resource management into intellectual property management, scientific research management, literature information management, knowledge system management, network knowledge resource management and so on. Specifically, enterprise intellectual property management is to manage the knowledge resources in enterprises from the perspective of property rights; Enterprise scientific research management refers to the application of scientometrics and other tools to enterprise scientific research and development (R&; D) management; Enterprise literature information management refers to the management of various knowledge records in enterprises. Through the establishment of literature database, literature retrieval and service, the sharing of literature information is realized. Enterprise knowledge system management involves the establishment and perfection of terminology base and knowledge base, the establishment of knowledge intelligence system and knowledge evaluation system, the support of enterprise organizational memory, the development of scientific and technological research and innovation, and so on. Network knowledge resource management is the research on network database, domain name management, search engine, metadata, network resource collection and evaluation, and network knowledge resource security. The in-depth development of the above research branches will greatly enrich and promote the development of enterprise knowledge management research at the level of enterprise knowledge resource management.
3 Derivation of enterprise knowledge management and knowledge resource management: enterprise knowledge capital management
Intellectual capital, sometimes called intellectual capital, is an important concept of enterprise knowledge management. Before the formulation of knowledge management formally appeared, intellectual capital management has been widely used in western theoretical circles, and its representative is the method introduced by Scandia Insurance Company of Sweden. This method defines intellectual capital as the difference between the book value and market value of an enterprise (company), which is an intangible asset and cannot be reflected in the book value of an enterprise. Once the concept of knowledge capital was put forward, it went through a process of gradual clarification. According to the current international mainstream view, knowledge capital mainly includes human capital and structural capital, or human capital, structural capital and customer capital. Therefore, it can be considered that enterprise knowledge capital takes all knowledge resources in the enterprise, including knowledge itself, as the object of sale and capitalization, thus becoming the most valuable asset in the enterprise. Enterprise knowledge capital is all kinds of "living" knowledge that can directly create wealth for enterprises. The skills and knowledge of employees, customer loyalty and the collective knowledge contained in the organizational culture, system and operation of enterprises all reflect the knowledge capital. The concept of enterprise knowledge capital emphasizes a potential ability to create value by applying knowledge in enterprises and an ability to aggregate knowledge carriers, not knowledge, whether it is knowledge itself or the whole knowledge resources. Knowledge capital is actually the commercialization, value and capitalization of knowledge itself and knowledge resources, emphasizing the value appreciation and wealth creation of knowledge. Here, Figure 2 can be used to represent the internal relationship among knowledge itself, knowledge resources and knowledge capital, and the shaded part in the figure is knowledge capital.
The relationship among knowledge itself, knowledge resources and knowledge capital.
Through the above analysis of knowledge capital, we can easily find that the management of enterprise knowledge capital is derived from the management of enterprise knowledge itself and the management of enterprise knowledge resources through the bridge of capitalization and capital operation, and is closely related to them, which together constitute a complete and real enterprise knowledge management. The view that "enterprise knowledge management is the management of knowledge capital in enterprises" is obviously one-sided, narrow and even wrong. Enterprise knowledge management in a complete sense includes micro-level enterprise knowledge management, macro-level enterprise knowledge resource management and enterprise knowledge capital management from the former two. Enterprise knowledge capital management aims at value creation and appreciation, and through the identification, acquisition and effective utilization of knowledge capital, the company's ability to increase value and create wealth is improved. On the one hand, it includes all the "living" knowledge parts that can be used to create wealth in enterprises, on the other hand, it activates some "dead" knowledge in the implementation of enterprise knowledge management and enterprise knowledge resource management, making it "living" knowledge that can create wealth and realize value appreciation. Just because knowledge capital management plays such a vital role in the whole knowledge management, from this perspective, we can also think that "the core of enterprise knowledge management lies in enterprise knowledge capital operation", which is enterprise knowledge capital management from a dynamic perspective.
At present, the theoretical circle studies enterprise knowledge capital management from the perspective of economic management and enterprise management. In a static sense, the management of enterprise knowledge capital involves four aspects: ① the management of assets that make enterprise products competitive in the market, such as R & ampd management and enterprise technology innovation ability management. ; (2) Asset management from enterprise employees, such as knowledge, experience and skills management of enterprise employees; (3) Asset management embodied in spiritual wealth, such as enterprise intellectual property management; (4) the management of assets that make the enterprise cohesive, such as the management of corporate culture, business planning and management. For dynamic enterprise knowledge capital management, we usually call it enterprise knowledge capital operation. The operation of enterprise knowledge capital refers to a series of processes such as the creation, collection, development, organization, allocation, dissemination, utilization and evaluation of knowledge capital, so as to maximize the preservation and appreciation of enterprise knowledge capital and improve the competitiveness of enterprises. The effective implementation of enterprise knowledge capital operation needs a series of safeguard measures: strengthening enterprise organizational learning; Strengthen human resource management; It is necessary to establish new enterprise management ideas and concepts of "people-oriented", "ability-oriented" and "knowledge-oriented"; It is necessary to develop new enterprise production and operation organization modes such as "knowledge alliance" and "virtual enterprise"; Efforts should be made to create a good environment for the survival and development of virtual organizations or virtual enterprises; Popularize CKO system in enterprises; It is necessary to establish knowledge incentive mechanism in enterprises and so on.
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