March 2005

Knowledge Mapping - What Is It And When Should You Use It?

Knowledge and the management of knowledge have never been more important. As the Industrial Revolution has progressed to the technological society there has been a steady progression in the need for data, information and now, knowledge. Information on its own is not enough, what matters is knowledge.

Data - A piece of information without context and interpretation
Information - A set of data with context and interpretation.
Knowledge - A set of data and information, to which is added expert opinion and experience, to result in a valuable asset which can be used or applied to aid decision making. Knowledge may be explicit and/or tacit, individual and/or collective.

Knowledge mapping is not a new concept; we have been utilising it in our everyday lives for a long time; what we do not do effectively is document our knowledge in a systematic way. Knowledge mapping is all about keeping a record of the information and knowledge you need; where you can get it from, who holds it, whose expertise it is etc. An effective knowledge map shows details of the knowledge that exists within the organisation including location, quality, and accessibility. It also shows the knowledge required to run the organisation smoothly, therefore enabling you to find information easily and efficiently and use the available knowledge to the best benefit of the organisation.

A Definition of Knowledge Mapping

"Knowledge mapping is about making knowledge that is available within an organisation transparent, and is about providing the insights into its quality."
- Willem-Olaf Huijsen, Samuel J. Driessen, Jan W. M. Jacobs, 2004.

How are the Knowledge Maps created?

Knowledge maps are created by transferring tacit and explicit knowledge into an easy to understand pictorial format that can be interpreted by everyone within the organisation.

There are a number of basic steps in creating knowledge maps:

Review the whole process and the inter-relationships.
Review the activities in a logical sequence.
Identify the knowledge required for each activity and understand any gaps.
Identify the explicit knowledge in the process.
Identify the tacit knowledge in the process.
Identify the explicit and tacit organisational knowledge (cultural).
Identify the key relationships.

A knowledge map shows the sources, flows, constraints, and sinks of knowledge within an organisation. It is a navigational aid to both explicit information and tacit knowledge, showing the importance and the relationships between different sources of knowledge.

Benefits of Knowledge Mapping

In many organisations there is a lack of transparency of organisation-wide knowledge. Valuable knowledge is often not used because people do not know it exists, and even if they know the knowledge exists, they may not know where to find it in a timely manner. The major benefits include;

encouraging reuse and preventing reinvention,
finding critical information quickly,
highlighting islands of expertise,
providing an inventory and evaluation of intellectual and intangible assets,
improving decision making and problem solving by providing applicable information,
providing insights into corporate knowledge, and,
increasing the ease of access to all in the organisation.

A knowledge map also serves as a continuously evolving organisational memory, capturing and integrating the key knowledge of an organisation. It enables employees to learn the use of appropriate knowledge at appropriate times.

Process-Based Knowledge Mapping

This is the most common form of knowledge map and shows knowledge and sources of knowledge for internal as well as external organisational processes and procedures. This includes tacit knowledge (knowledge in people such as know-how, and experience) and explicit knowledge (procedural knowledge such as that contained in documents).

For more information on the benefits of knowledge mapping and an informal discussion on how it could benefit you and your organisation, contact Steve Stones on 024 7632 3260.

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