Cognitive mapping the topic of knowledge management

Cognitive mapping the topic of knowledge management

Joseph Kim-keung Ho

Independent Trainer

Hong Kong, China

Abstract: The topic of knowledge management in the subject of Business Management is complex. By making use of the cognitive mapping technique to conduct a brief literature review on the knowledge management topic, the writer renders a systemic image on the topic of knowledge management. The result of the study, in the form of a cognitive map on knowledge management, should be useful to those who are interested in the topics of cognitive mapping, literature review and knowledge management.

Key words: Knowledge management, cognitive mapping, literature review

Introduction

As a topic in Business Management, knowledge management is complex. It is thus useful to employ some learning tool to conduct its study, notably for literature review purpose. For a teacher in research methods, systems thinking and management, the writer is specifically interested in finding out how the cognitive mapping technique can be employed to go through a literature review on  Knowledge management. This literature review exercise is taken up and reported in this article.

On the cognitive mapping exercise for literature review

Literature review is an important intellectual learning exercise, and not just for doing final year dissertation projects for tertiary education students. On these two topics of intellectual learning and literature review, the writer has compiled some e-learning resources. They are the Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page and the Literature on literature review Facebook page. Conducting literature review with the cognitive mapping technique is not novel in the cognitive mapping literature, see Eden and Simpson (1989), Eden, Jones and Sims (1983), Open University (n.d) and the Literature on cognitive mapping Facebook page. In this article, the specific steps involved in the cognitive mapping exercise are as follows:

Step 1: gather some main points from a number of academic journal articles on Knowledge management. This result in the production of a table (Table 1) with the main points and associated references.

Step 2: consolidate  the main points from Table 1 to come up with a table listing the cognitive map variables (re: Table 2).

Step 3: link up the cognitive  map variables in a plausible way to produce a cognitive map (re: Figure 1) on the topic under review.

The next section applies these three steps to produce a cognitive map on knowledge management.

Descriptions of cognitive map variables on the knowledge management topic

From the reading of some academic articles on Knowledge management, a number of main points (e.g., viewpoints, concepts and empirical findings) were gathered by the  writer. They are shown in Table 1 with explicit referencing on the points.

Table 1: Main points from the knowledge management literature and referencing

Main points from the knowledge management literature	Referencing
Point 1: "If knowledge is not something that is different from data or information, then there is nothing new or interesting in knowledge management. Yet many managers seem determinedly reluctant to distinguish between data and information on the one hand and knowledge on the other; and, more importantly, they seem reluctant to consider the implications of these distinctions".	Fabey, L. and L. Prusak. 1998. "The Eleven Deadliest Sins of Knowledge Management" California Management Review 40(3) Spring: 265-276.
Point 2: "... any discussion of knowledge is meaningless in the absence of a "knower." Knowledge is what a knower knows; there is no knowledge without someone knowing it. Knowledge therefore must be viewed as originating "between the ears" of individuals".	Fabey, L. and L. Prusak. 1998. "The Eleven Deadliest Sins of Knowledge Management" California Management Review 40(3) Spring: 265-276.
Point 3: "If knowledge exists ultimately within individuals, and it is individuals participating simultaneously in multiple group processes who make and execute key decisions, then a fundamental purpose of "managing knowledge" must be to build some degree of shared  context. "Shared context" means a shared understanding of an organization's external and internal worlds and how these worlds are connected".	Fabey, L. and L. Prusak. 1998. "The Eleven Deadliest Sins of Knowledge Management" California Management Review 40(3) Spring: 265-276.
Point 4: "* Knowledge use occurs whenever any agent makes a decision. It is part of every business process. * Knowledge processing is knowledge production and knowledge integration, two distinct knowledge processes constituting the knowledge Life Cycle (KLC). * Knowledge management is knowledge process management, that is, the management of knowledge production, knowledge integration, the KLC [knowledge Life Cycle], and their immediate outcomes".	Firestone, J.M. 2001. "Key Issues  in Knowledge Management" Knowledge and Innovation 1(3) April 15, Journal of the Knowledge Management Consortium International Inc.: 8-39.
Point 5: "Knowledge is: "Justified true belief".... "Information in context".... "Knowledge is understanding based on experience".... "Knowledge is experience or information that can be communicated or shared"... "Information, while made up of data  and information, can be thought of as much greater understanding of a situation, relationships, causal phenomena, and the theories and rules (both  explicit and implicit) that underlie a given domain or problem."..... "The most essential definition of knowledge is that it is composed of and grounded solely in potential  acts and in those signs that refer to them."...".	Firestone, J.M. 2001. "Key Issues  in Knowledge Management" Knowledge and Innovation 1(3) April 15, Journal of the Knowledge Management Consortium International Inc.: 8-39.
Point 6: "The definition of knowledge as "justified true belief" has the difficulty that we cannot know for certain that any knowledge belief, no matter how well-validated is true. Yet  some knowledge claims, the well validated  ones, are what we mean by knowledge".	Firestone, J.M. 2001. "Key Issues  in Knowledge Management" Knowledge and Innovation 1(3) April 15, Journal of the Knowledge Management Consortium International Inc.: 8-39.
Point 7: "In Managing in a Time of Great Change, Peter Drucker writes that "knowledge has become the key economic resource and the dominant - and perhaps even the only - source of comparative advantage." The  consequent implications of this notion for the way in which a business is run are far reaching and dramatic, influencing everything from a company's strategy to its products, from its processes to the very way the firm is organized".	Ruggles, R. 1998. "The State of the Notion: Knowledge Management in Practice" California Management Review 40(3), Spring: 80-90.
Point 8: ".... eight major categories of knowledge-focused activities: * screening new knowledge  * accessing valuable knowledge from outside sources  * using accessible knowledge in decision making  * embedding knowledge in processes, products, and/or services  * representing knowledge in documents, databases, and software  * facilitating knowledge growth through culture and incentives  * transferring existing knowledge into other parts of the organization  * measuring the value of knowledge assets and/or impact of knowledge management".	Ruggles, R. 1998. "The State of the Notion: Knowledge Management in Practice" California Management Review 40(3), Spring: 80-90.
Point 9: "Pointing systems that help people find each other on an "as needed" basis are also useful for solving certain types of problems. this is especially  true for problems requiring significant expertise for a short period of time, such as finding an answer to a specific esoteric question. However, a great deal of what people learn, and therefore of what the organization  comes to know, results from interactions among workers".	Ruggles, R. 1998. "The State of the Notion: Knowledge Management in Practice" California Management Review 40(3), Spring: 80-90.
Point 10: "To compete effectively, firms must leverage their existing knowledge and create new knowledge that favorably positions them in their chosen markets. In order to accomplish this, firms must develop an "absorptive capacity" - the ability to use prior knowledge to recognize the value of new information, assimilate it, and apply it to create new knowledge and capabilities. In essence, all new resources, including knowledge, are  created through two generic processes, combination and exchange".	Gold, A.H., A. Malhortra and A.H. Segars. 2001. "Knowledge Management: An Organizational Capabilities Perspective" Journal of Management Information Systems 18(1) Summer, ABI/INFORM Global: 185-214.
Point 11: "... many knowledge management projects are, in reality, information projects. When these projects yield some consolidation of data but little innovation in products and services, the concept of knowledge management is cast in doubt".	Gold, A.H., A. Malhortra and A.H. Segars. 2001. "Knowledge Management: An Organizational Capabilities Perspective" Journal of Management Information Systems 18(1) Summer, ABI/INFORM Global: 185-214.
Point 12: "Combination and exchange of knowledge for creation of new knowledge requires the presence of social capital. Social capital  is "the sum of actual and potential resources  embedded within,  available through, and derived from the network of relationships possessed by a social unit.".".	Gold, A.H., A. Malhortra and A.H. Segars. 2001. "Knowledge Management: An Organizational Capabilities Perspective" Journal of Management Information Systems 18(1) Summer, ABI/INFORM Global: 185-214.
Point 13: "Tacit knowledge (TK) is defined by Polanyi  (1962), indicating knowledge which is nonverbalized or even non-verbalizable, intuitive, unarticulated. Articulated knowledge (AK) is specified either verbally or in writing, computer programs, patents, drawings or the like".	Hedlund, G. 1994. "A model of knowledge management and the N-form corporation" Strategic Management Journal 15: 73-90.
Point 14: "...we distinguish between four different levels of carriers, or agents of knowledge: the individual, the small group, the organization, and the inter-organizational domain (important customers, suppliers, competitors, etc). AK [articulated knowledge] and TK [tacit knowledge] exist  at  all levels".	Hedlund, G. 1994. "A model of knowledge management and the N-form corporation" Strategic Management Journal 15: 73-90.
Point 15: "Articulation refers to tacit knowledge being made explicit, articulated. This can take place at all four levels in the model. Articulation is essential in facilitating transfer of information, but also for its expansion and improvement, since it allows open scrutiny and critical testing. In international technology transfer, it is a crucial element both in the case of licensing and of FDI".	Hedlund, G. 1994. "A model of knowledge management and the N-form corporation" Strategic Management Journal 15: 73-90.
Point 16: "Knowledge management tools include reward systems, learning system, and communities of practice, group benchmarking report, and corporate university. Proxies  measuring subsidiary employee's motivation and ability to learn from knowledge-inflows captured absorptive capacity".	Mahnke, V., T. Pedersen and M. Verzin. 2003. "The impact of knowledge management on MNC subsidiary performance: the role  of absorptive capacity" CKG Working Paper 12/2003, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School, The Center of Knowledge Governance, Blaagaardsgade 23B, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark.
Point 17: "When subsidiaries differ in their absorptive capacity, this affects the level of knowledge transfer from other MNC units.... While the literature offers multiple methods to conceptualise and operationalize absorptive capacity..., little attention has been paid to the question of whether and how firms can enhance the development of absorptive capacity through deploying knowledge management tools. With a few exception...., empirical studies treat absorptive capacity as a given and as an exogenous determinant to knowledge processes".	Mahnke, V., T. Pedersen and M. Verzin. 2003. "The impact of knowledge management on MNC subsidiary performance: the role  of absorptive capacity" CKG Working Paper 12/2003, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School, The Center of Knowledge Governance, Blaagaardsgade 23B, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark.
Point 18: "The concept of 'absorptive capacity' has been mainly used to capture a company's ability to recognize, assimilate, and apply external knowledge to commercial ends".	Mahnke, V., T. Pedersen and M. Verzin. 2003. "The impact of knowledge management on MNC subsidiary performance: the role  of absorptive capacity" CKG Working Paper 12/2003, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School, The Center of Knowledge Governance, Blaagaardsgade 23B, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark.
Point 19: "Many in industry confuse knowledge management (KM) with business intelligence (BI). According to a survey by OTR consultancy, 60 percent of consultants did not understand the difference between the two. Gartner consultancy clarifies this by explaining BI as set of all technologies that gather and analyze data to improve decision making..... KM is described as a systematic process of finding, selecting, organizing, distilling and presenting information in a way that improve an employee's comprehension in a specific area of interest".	Herschel, R.T. and N.E. Jones. 2005. "Knowledge management and business intelligence: the importance of integration" Journal of Knowledge Management 9(40), Emerald: 45-55.
Point 20: "KM [knowledge management] has been defined in reference to collaboration, content management, organizational behavioral science, and technologies....... Most often,.... KM technologies are thought of in terms of their ability to help process and organize textual information and data to enhance search capabilities and to garner meaning and assess relevance so as to help answer questions, realize new opportunities, and solve current problems".	Herschel, R.T. and N.E. Jones. 2005. "Knowledge management and business intelligence: the importance of integration" Journal of Knowledge Management 9(40), Emerald: 45-55.
Point 21: "Marco (2002) contends that a "true" enterprise-wide KM [knowledge management] solution cannot exist without a BI[business intelligence]-based meta data repository. In fact, a metadata repository is the backbone of a KM solution".	Herschel, R.T. and N.E. Jones. 2005. "Knowledge management and business intelligence: the importance of integration" Journal of Knowledge Management 9(40), Emerald: 45-55.
Point 22: "Much has been written in looking at how culture influences knowledge-sharing or knowledge management (KM) practices. Recently, for example, Litchtenstein & Bain (2006) looked at an Australian education service-provider and found that a knowledge-sharing culture cannot be considered in isolation from culture, organizational strategy, and organizational structure".	Liebowitz, J. 2008. "'Think of others' in knowledge management: making culture work for your" Knowledge Management Research & Practice 6, Operational Research Society: 47-51.
Point 23: "The effects of culture on KM [knowledge management] has been studied fairly widely; however, the converse has not been analyzed as closely. That is, what are the effects of KM systems on changing the culture of an organization?".	Liebowitz, J. 2008. "'Think of others' in knowledge management: making culture work for your" Knowledge Management Research & Practice 6, Operational Research Society: 47-51.
Point 24: "Many organizations embark on their KM journey for five key reasons: adaptability/ agility, creativity, institutional memory building, organizational internal effectiveness, organizational external effectiveness".	Liebowitz, J. 2008. "'Think of others' in knowledge management: making culture work for your" Knowledge Management Research & Practice 6, Operational Research Society: 47-51.

With a set of main points collected, the writer produces a set of cognitive map variables. These variables are informed by the set of main points from Table 1. These variables are presented in Table 2.

Table 2: Cognitive map variables based on Table 1

Cognitive map variables	Literature review points
Variable 1: Drivers of interest in knowledge management	Point 7: "In Managing in a Time of Great Change, Peter Drucker writes that "knowledge has become the key economic resource and the dominant - and perhaps even the only - source of comparative advantage." The  consequent implications of this notion for the way in which a business is run are far reaching and dramatic, influencing everything from a company's strategy to its products, from its processes to the very way the firm is organized". Point 24: "Many organizations embark on their KM journey for five key reasons: adaptability/ agility, creativity, institutional memory building, organizational internal effectiveness, organizational external effectiveness".
Variable 2: Improve intellectual understanding of knowledge management	Point 4: "* Knowledge use occurs whenever any agent makes a decision. It is part of every business process. * Knowledge processing is knowledge production and knowledge integration, two distinct knowledge processes constituting the knowledge Life Cycle (KLC). * Knowledge management is knowledge process management, that is, the management of knowledge production, knowledge integration, the KLC [knowledge Life Cycle], and their immediate outcomes". Point 5: "Knowledge is: "Justified true belief".... "Information in context".... "Knowledge is understanding based on experience".... "Knowledge is experience or information that can be communicated or shared"... "Information, while made up of data  and information, can be thought of as much greater understanding of a situation, relationships, causal phenomena, and the theories and rules (both  explicit and implicit) that underlie a given domain or problem."..... "The most essential definition of knowledge is that it is composed of and grounded solely in potential  acts and in those signs that refer to them."...". Point 6: "The definition of knowledge as "justified true belief" has the difficulty that we cannot know for certain that any knowledge belief, no matter how well-validated is true. Yet  some knowledge claims, the well validated  ones, are what we mean by knowledge". Point 8: ".... eight major categories of knowledge-focused activities: * screening new knowledge  * accessing valuable knowledge from outside sources  * using accessible knowledge in decision making  * embedding knowledge in processes, products, and/or services  * representing knowledge in documents, databases, and software  * facilitating knowledge growth through culture and incentives  * transferring existing knowledge into other parts of the organization  * measuring the value of knowledge assets and/or impact of knowledge management". Point 12: "Combination and exchange of knowledge for creation of new knowledge requires the presence of social capital. Social capital  is "the sum of actual and potential resources  embedded within,  available through, and derived from the network of relationships possessed by a social unit.".". Point 13: "Tacit knowledge (TK) is defined by Polanyi  (1962), indicating knowledge which is nonverbalized or even non-verbalizable, intuitive, unarticulated. Articulated knowledge (AK) is specified either verbally or in writing, computer programs, patents, drawings or the like". Point 14: "...we distinguish between four different levels of carriers, or agents of knowledge: the individual, the small group, the organization, and the inter-organizational domain (important customers, suppliers, competitors, etc). AK [articulated knowledge] and TK [tacit knowledge] exist  at  all levels". Point 15: "Articulation refers to tacit knowledge being made explicit, articulated. This can take place at all four levels in the model. Articulation is essential in facilitating transfer of information, but also for its expansion and improvement, since it allows open scrutiny and critical testing. In international technology transfer, it is a crucial element both in the case of licensing and of FDI". Point 18: "The concept of 'absorptive capacity' has been mainly used to capture a company's ability to recognize, assimilate, and apply external knowledge to commercial ends". Point 20: "KM [knowledge management] has been defined in reference to collaboration, content management, organizational behavioral science, and technologies....... Most often,.... KM technologies are thought of in terms of their ability to help process and organize textual information and data to enhance search capabilities and to garner meaning and assess relevance so as to help answer questions, realize new opportunities, and solve current problems". Point 22: "Much has been written in looking at how culture influences knowledge-sharing or knowledge management (KM) practices. Recently, for example, Litchtenstein & Bain (2006) looked at an Australian education service-provider and found that a knowledge-sharing culture cannot be considered in isolation from culture, organizational strategy, and organizational structure".
Variable 3: Effective knowledge management practices	Point 1: "If knowledge is not something that is different from data or information, then there is nothing new or interesting in knowledge management. Yet many managers seem determinedly reluctant to distinguish between data and information on the one hand and knowledge on the other; and, more importantly, they seem reluctant to consider the implications of these distinctions". Point 2: "... any discussion of knowledge is meaningless in the absence of a "knower." Knowledge is what a knower knows; there is no knowledge without someone knowing it. Knowledge therefore must be viewed as originating "between the ears" of individuals". Point 3: "If knowledge exists ultimately within individuals, and it is individuals participating simultaneously in multiple group processes who make and execute key decisions, then a fundamental purpose of "managing knowledge" must be to build some degree of shared  context. "Shared context" means a shared understanding of an organization's external and internal worlds and how these worlds are connected". Point 9: "Pointing systems that help people find each other on an "as needed" basis are also useful for solving certain types of problems. this is especially  true for problems requiring significant expertise for a short period of time, such as finding an answer to a specific esoteric question. However, a great deal of what people learn, and therefore of what the organization  comes to know, results from interactions among workers". Point 10: "To compete effectively, firms must leverage their existing knowledge and create new knowledge that favorably positions them in their chosen markets. In order to accomplish this, firms must develop an "absorptive capacity" - the ability to use prior knowledge to recognize the value of new information, assimilate it, and apply it to create new knowledge and capabilities. In essence, all new resources, including knowledge, are  created through two generic processes, combination and exchange". Point 16: "Knowledge management tools include reward systems, learning system, and communities of practice, group benchmarking report, and corporate university. Proxies  measuring subsidiary employee's motivation and ability to learn from knowledge-inflows captured absorptive capacity". Point 21: "Marco (2002) contends that a "true" enterprise-wide KM [knowledge management] solution cannot exist without a BI[business intelligence]-based meta data repository. In fact, a metadata repository is the backbone of a KM solution".
Variable 4: Learn from knowledge management practices	Point 11: "... many knowledge management projects are, in reality, information projects. When these projects yield some consolidation of data but little innovation in products and services, the concept of knowledge management is cast in doubt". Point 17: "When subsidiaries differ in their absorptive capacity, this affects the level of knowledge transfer from other MNC units.... While the literature offers multiple methods to conceptualise and operationalize absorptive capacity..., little attention has been paid to the question of whether and how firms can enhance the development of absorptive capacity through deploying knowledge management tools. With a few exception...., empirical studies treat absorptive capacity as a given and as an exogenous determinant to knowledge processes". Point 19: "Many in industry confuse knowledge management (KM) with business intelligence (BI). According to a survey by OTR consultancy, 60 percent of consultants did not understand the difference between the two. Gartner consultancy clarifies this by explaining BI as set of all technologies that gather and analyze data to improve decision making..... KM is described as a systematic process of finding, selecting, organizing, distilling and presenting information in a way that improve an employee's comprehension in a specific area of interest". Point 23: "The effects of culture on KM [knowledge management] has been studied fairly widely; however, the converse has not been analyzed as closely. That is, what are the effects of KM systems on changing the culture of an organization?".

The next step is to relate the cognitive map variables to make up a cognitive map on knowledge management. The cognitive map and its explanation are presented in the next section.

A cognitive map on knowledge management and its interpretation

By relating the four variables identified in Table 2, the writer comes up with a cognitive map on knowledge management, as shown in Figure 1.

These cognitive  map variables, four of them altogether, are related to constitute a systemic image of knowledge management. The links in the cognitive map (re: Figure 1) indicate direction of influences between variables. The + sign shows that an increase in one variable leads to an increase in another variable while a -ve sign tells us that in increase in one variable leads to a decrease in another variable.  If there no signs shown on the arrows, that means the influences can be positive or negative. Readers are referred to the Literature on knowledge management Facebook page for more  information on the topic.

Concluding remarks

The cognitive mapping exercise captures in one diagram some of the main variables involved in knowledge management. The resultant cognitive map promotes an exploratory way to study knowledge management in a holistic tone. The experience of the cognitive mapping exercise is that it can be a quick, efficient and entertaining way to explore a complex topic such as knowledge management in Business Management. Finally, readers who are interested in cognitive mapping should also find the article informative on this mapping topic.

Bibliography

1.      Eden, C. and P. Simpson. 1989. "SODA and cognitive mapping in practice", pp. 43-70, in Rosenhead, J. (editor) Rational Analysis for a Problematic World, Wiley, Chichester.

2.      Eden, C., C. Jones and D. Sims. 1983. Messing about in Problems: An informal structured approach to their identification and management, Pergamon Press, Oxford.

3.      Fabey, L. and L. Prusak. 1998. "The Eleven Deadliest Sins of Knowledge Management" California Management Review 40(3) Spring: 265-276.

4.      Firestone, J.M. 2001. "Key Issues  in Knowledge Management" Knowledge and Innovation, 1(3) April 15, Journal of the Knowledge Management Consortium International Inc.: 8-39.

5.      Gold, A.H., A. Malhortra and A.H. Segars. 2001. "Knowledge Management: An Organizational Capabilities Perspective" Journal of Management Information Systems 18(1) Summer, ABI/INFORM Global: 185-214.

6.      Hedlund, G. 1994. "A model of knowledge management and the N-form corporation" Strategic Management Journal 15: 73-90.

7.      Herschel, R.T. and N.E. Jones. 2005. "Knowledge management and business intelligence: the importance of integration" Journal of Knowledge Management 9(40), Emerald: 45-55.

8.      Liebowitz, J. 2008. "'Think of others' in knowledge management: making culture work for your" Knowledge Management Research & Practice 6, Operational Research Society: 47-51.

9.      Literature on cognitive mapping Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/Literature-on-cognitive-mapping-800894476751355/).

10. Literature on knowledge management Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.knowledge.management/).

11. Literature on literature review Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.literaturereview/).

12. Mahnke, V., T. Pedersen and M. Verzin. 2003. "The impact of knowledge management on MNC subsidiary performance: the role  of absorptive capacity" CKG Working Paper 12/2003, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School, The Center of Knowledge Governance, Blaagaardsgade 23B, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark.

13. Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/managerial.intellectual.learning/).

14. Open University. n.d. "Sign graph" Systems Thinking and Practice (T552): Diagramming, Open University, U.K. (url address: http://systems.open.ac.uk/materials/T552/) [visited at April 10, 2017].

15. Ruggles, R. 1998. "The State of the Notion: Knowledge Management in Practice" California Management Review 40(3), Spring: 80-90.