What is knowledge?

Two resources are especially valuable for the discussion of definitions of knowledge. The first one is a textbook published couple of years ago:

Becerra-Fernandez, Irma, Gonzalez, Arlina, and Sabherwal, Rajiv. (2004). Knowledge Management: Challenges, Solutions, and Technolgies. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall (ISBN: 0-13-101606-7).

Its chapter-by-chapter Powerpoint slides can be found on its companion website (http://wps.prenhall.com/bp_becerra_km_1/0,9020,1264561-,00.html). Click on Chapter 2 (1) to look at how knowledge is related to data and information.

Another one is a very popular professional book written by two well-known scholars and management consultants, Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak. The title of the book is Working Knowledge - How Organizations Manage What They Know, published by Harvard Business School Press (ISBN: 1-57851-301-4). In this book, knowledge is defined as "a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the minds of knowers. In organizations, it often becomes embedded not only in documents or repositories but also in organizational routines, processes, practices, and norms. (p. 3)"

Data is representation of facts. Data can be transformed into information by adding value in several ways:

• Contextualized: for what purpose the data was gathered
• Categorized: by units of analysis or key components of the data
• Calculated: analyzed mathematically or statistically
• Corrected: errors are removed
• Condensed: summarized in a more concise form (2).

Transformation of data into information can be done automatically. However, the transformation of information into knowledge usually requires human efforts:

• Comparison: how does this situation compare to other situations?
• Consequences: implications of the information for decisions and actions
• Connections: how this knowledge relate to others?
• Conversation: what do other people think about this information?

Knowledge develops over time. Knowledge born of experience recognizes familiar patterns and can make connections between what is happening now and what happened then.

Knowledge is aware of what it doesn't know. It has been pointed out that the more knowledgeable one becomes, the more humble one feels about what one knows.

Unlike data and information, knowledge contains judgement. Once internalized, knowledge can exhibit its power in profound ways.

Knowledge even works through rules of thumb and intuition: felxible guides to action that developed through trial and error and over long experience and observation.

In a globalized economy, knowledge advantage may be company's greatest source of sustainable competitive advantage.

References:
1. Becerra-Fernandez, Irma, Gonzalez, Arlina, and Sabherwal, Rajiv. (2004). Knowledge Management: Challenges, Solutions, and Technolgies. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

2. Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak. (2000). Working Knowledge - How Organizations Manage What They Know. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.