Maintaining knowledge assets

Abstract

The importance of organisational information and knowledge in developing advantage and sustaining business competitiveness is becoming more widely recognised. Various standards have recently been developed to assist businesses create, store, access and reuse their knowledge. These standards include ISO 5037 Knowledge Management, ISO 9001 Quality Management, ISO 4801 Health and Safety, ISO 14000 Environmental Management and ISO 15489 Records Management. The management of knowledge, and the requirements of the standards, has led to the development of new management systems specifically designed to assist maintain organisational knowledge assets. However, it is considered that unless these new systems are implemented effectively they will not succeed in assisting managers maintain information and knowledge assets. This paper discusses this modern issue of information and knowledge asset maintenance. It includes a case study and taxonomy of the issues that influence the implementation of new management systems. These will provide insights into practical implementation issues and how they can be overcome. Ultimately, it is through better implementation of information and knowledge management systems that managers can better maintain their knowledge assets. The objective of this paper is to refine models that assist managers maintain organisational knowledge assets.