KM on intranets and the fifth dimension (ethics)

Knowledge management (KM) has captured the attention of both academics and practitioners. KM can be broadly defined as the strategies and tactics utilized by organizations to capture, manage and leverage their intellectual capital resource. The KM literature differentiates between explicit and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is easily codified, verbalized and published. Tacit knowledge, such as insights, intuitions and hunches is not as easily codified and is more difficult to articulate and transfer. Both types should be shared or externalized. Intranets initiate KM efforts because they allow the sharing of document-level information and concepts or issues, rather than the record-level information that traditional systems do. Intranets facilitate communication and interaction and create what has been referred to as a "knowledge connection." An intranet supports KM in at least three ways: (1) providing compression of time and space among the users, (2) offering the flexibility to exchange information and (3) supporting information transfers and organizational networking independent of direct contacts between users. Evidence suggests that employee acceptance of or resistance to intranets as a knowledge sharing environment is a management and corporate culture issue rather than a technology issue. A company's ability to use technology to share knowledge is based on employee enthusiasm, or lack thereof, which in turn is rooted in the corporate culture or subculture that is salient to the employee. This article examines the influence that the organization's culture has on intranets.