Strategy

This article looks at knowledge management strategy in an organization and it application thereof.

To be able to fully appreciate the term ‘knowledge management strategy, it will be beneficial to give brief definitions of strategy and knowledge.

According to Wikipedia, “Strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. Strategy is differentiated from tactics, or immediate actions, with resources at hand by its nature of being extensively premeditated, and often practically rehearsed”.

Knowledge as defined by Bellinger et al (2004) “is the appropriate collection of information, such that its intent is to be useful. Knowledge is a deterministic process”

My View on Strategy

Strategy can therefore be a definitive plan on the way forward for any given organization. Contrary to the definition, an organizations strategy can indeed be short term, taking into consideration emerging markets and evolving technologies. A strategy can start off being long term but with provisions to change directions ‘as and when’ necessary, as dictated by influences such as the environment, the economy, political changes, change in technology, etc.

Literature by Mintzberg and Waters (1985) explored two different types of Strategies, deliberate and emergent. In their opinion, for there to be a pure deliberate strategy, three conditions need to be met i.e. precise intentions need to be concrete, these intentions need to be common to all in the organization and finally, these intentions need to be realized exactly as intended. This implies that no external force such as the environment, political issues, technology etc can influence the realization of these intentions. However, to maintain competitive advantage, its knowledge management strategies need to be able to respond to external forces especially if an organization uses knowledge as an asset. This is because pure deliberate strategy rarely exists. For example, a customer based organization needs to have knowledge of their customers and changes in the environment, political issues as well as technological issues that may affect their customers in order to maintain their competitive edge. Laudon and Laudon (2006)

References:

Mintzberg H., Waters J., (1985). Of Strategies, Deliberate and Emergent. Strategic Management Journal 6, pp257-272

Bellinger G., Castro D., Mills A., (2004). Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom. Systems Thinking

Wikepedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy_(disambiguation)
[Accessed 11 February 20099]

Laudon, K., Laudon, J. (2006) Management Information Systems: Manging the Digital Firm (10th Edition)