The 10 laws of Knowledge

The importance of  knowledge management in any organization relies in the following laws of knowledge- 

José Carlos Tenorio Favero

1. Knowledge cannot be managed. Knowledge resides in  people. It consists of values, judgments, ideals, culture and experiences. These are tacit elements in nature and therefore cannot be managed. What must be done is to work with the individual, specifically, on their attitude, commitment and values ​​about being part of a knowledge community, the learning process, innovation and sharing knowledge with others.

2. In order to be able to transfer of knowledge it is not enough to have the means but we need a receiver and transmitter who are both willing to transfer and receive knowledge.

3. Knowledge is one of the few things that is not lost when a person shares it.When a person shares his/her money, this amount is handed over to someone else that will increase his capacity. In the case of sharing knowledge, there is no loss, but a relationship in which both sides win: one acquires knowledge and the other one analyzes it.

4. The more you teach the more you learn. When people share their knowledge and teach others then they will analyze and question what they know, thus reinforcing the shared knowledge.

5. Knowledge that is not used is lost. The more we review, analyze and evoke a concept, the hippocampus structures it better, to the point of making it a long-term memory transferring this information to the brain’s outer crust. Likewise, the more information we evoke the hippocampus  will design more efficient ways to retrieve this information to ensure it stays in the person in the long term. An example of this are the thousands of concepts learned throughout our school and university life that when are not used are eliminated by the hippocampus from our memory; if we would be tested again we would surely fail the exam.

6.Knowledge is a potential power, whose release only occurs through action. It is of no use accumulating thousands of concepts if we fail to take action from them. An example is what happened to the philosophers of the nineteenth century, which grew and developed lots of knowledge, but that did not have major impact on the world until the Industrial Age where the field of engineering applied this knowledge and generated the industrial revolution that changed our world.

7. Possessing knowledge is necessary for today, but means tomorrow’s death. What knowledge workers have to do is to possess the necessary knowledge to carry out their tasks and at the same time generate knowledge for the next day. In this way, organizations can ensure the delivery of value to its stakeholders.

8. The actions of people who share a common knowledge are not necessarily  the same, because these actions are not only based on the information they have but is based on other components that make us human and  experiences such as values, feelings, needs, etc. . which may vary depending on the stage of life of each person.

9. Knowledge transfer is enhanced when people have the opportunity to meet and share their knowledge; the more people get to know each other, their relationship is strengthened and this contributes in generating an appropriate exchange of informationn allowing it to  become a reciprocal process.

10. Knowledge evolves at the speed of business. As the environment changes and evolves in many occasions we are forced to leave behind the theories and concepts that we once learned in order to acquire new information. For some people this is difficult to accept as in some cases, acquiring knowledge meant sacrifices they had to undergo in order to obtain it and this why sometimes it is difficult to leave concepts behind in order to accept new ones.

The Knowledge Management Blog by José Carlos Tenorio Favero. Please take time support; Follow me on Twitter: josecarloskm

8 responses to “The 10 laws of Knowledge

  1. We can manage knowledge related to given problem solving using artificial intelligence methods for knowledge acquisition and knowledge processing techniques.
    Since over 25 years we have been developed many knowledge based decision support systems that have been used in various fields such as in nuclear plants, blast furnaces, automotive and aerospace industry, health and many others. Feel free to contact me if you wish to know more

    • Hi EML, integrating AI and KM sounds awesome. I have read a lot about these systems, specifically related to data mining software applied in diverse industries such as banking, engineering and health services.

      Are there any case studies or examples that you might be willing to share?

    • @Joachim, thanks for the comments! I saw some of your posts regarding informal knowledge flow. Are you aware of any mechanisms that allows us to tap into informal knowledge flows in organizations??

  2. Pingback: Knowledge Management System | Knowledge Management in Action·

  3. Pingback: Top posts 2013 and what to expect for 2014 | Knowledge Management, Innovation & Productivity in Action·

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