Debate rages as we try to find a common definition for Knowledge Management (‘KM’). Like [David Gurteen](http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/ 0/9958C6C226C8C65680256C580033F3A0/) I believe that Knowledge Management is a transient term for an inter-personal discipline yet to be named.
…personally I believe that KM is anything but a fad. It is not going to go away and over time will evolve and mature into a fundamentally new and effective inter-personal discipline. Note: I do not say management discipline.
Professor Tom Wilson’s article concludes
… that ‘knowledge management’ is an umbrella term for a variety of organizational activities, none of which are concerned with the management of knowledge. Those activities that are not concerned with the management of information are concerned with the management of work practices, in the expectation that changes in such areas as communication practice will enable information sharing.
Yes and no.
My knowledge is what I know. It is moulded by the sum of my experiences and viewed through lenses of values, assumptions and the like. I can never share this with another person yet I can undertake ‘KM’ activities that help you to understand my knowledge and integrate it into your own. These practices involve translating my knowledge into information which then passes between us in conversation.
Our vocabulary currently groups these activities under the banner of knowledge management therefore I have to use Knowledge Management because that’s what most others know. Treat it as an invitation to a conversation about how we can all be better at what we choose to do.