Knowledge management: a human attribute

Knowledge can be defined as what we know – which is somewhat intangible – it is an all-encompassing term that is used both in academia and the business environment. For the purposes of this paper the perspective taken here is that knowledge involves the cognitive / mental process of understanding, comprehension and learning i.e. that set of activities that goes on in the minds of individuals. The paper discusses both the subjective and objective view of knowledge, using the four paradigms of information systems development model (Hirschheim & Klein’s 1989) and isomorphism (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983) as mechanisms to explain why knowledge is polysemous, influenced by multiple logics and represents complexity and is therefore a human attribute as opposed to an objective tangible resource or organisational differentiator. The conclusion focusses upon managing individuals, recognising their contribution, which in turn manages the knowledge within individuals and subsequently knowledge that resides within organisations.