Complexity: Mapping Knowledge Management

We’re posting this to help illustrate the complexities of KM as an activity. The following illustration maps ‘connections’ between KM constructs and functions (see our previous blog on the 4 functions and 12 constructs).  The map (created with VUE Concept Mapping software) has been synthesised from over 150 aspects of professional and academic literature, encompassing six key disciplines of KM (there’s another version with 300+, but, trust me, it’s far too messy!).

An example of a connection between ‘Artefacts’, ‘Communication’  and ‘Motivation’ would be where an author might have made the following statement: People have to be motivated to develop lessons learned and even then there could be an issue on whether the reader will understand the key messages, as the message is twice removed:  It is coded by the author, based on their knowledge, experience and understanding, and has to be decoded by the message recipient, who will interpret the message based on their personal knowledge, experience and understanding. [Hope that explains it for you... if not, or if you want more information on the research, just get in touch]

The coding that informs the constructs and functions are for another blog, but, if you are willing to accept the research and the existence o functions and constructs, then you might find this useful – if you want evidence for a holistic approach, then this is it.

Cause and effect cannot be determined in a linear manner and, if we are going to create effective KM processes, we need to look at how we optimise the environment by manipulting all the constructs available to us.

 

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