We Always Know More Than We Can Say And We Will Always Say More Than We Can Write Down

Writing is a reflective process; it is more time consuming than oral forms and less spontaneous. The time delay between event and codification also results in modification: all humans have a natural tendency to alter history to conform to the requirements of the present. The volume of knowledge that can be captured in oral format is much higher than can ever be written down, but even this only provides a partial representation of the knowledge that I know, or am capable of knowing in the right context.

Most knowledge management practice, with its focus on tacit to explicit knowledge conversion, only ever manages a partial representation of what is known, and often the least valuable. This has led the author to separate knowledge management into three separate activities.

Context management, which is all about creating linkages and connections between people and communities in order to handle the Knowledge that is ‘not a “thing”, or a system, but an ephemeral, active process of relating’ (Stacey, 2001). Here we focus on managing the channels and connections through which knowledge flows and by which it is created, rather than making any attempt to manage the knowledge itself. Social network stimulation is an example of one of the emergent techniques in this important area.

Narrative management is the use of stories and story telling, including oral history techniques and narrative databases to store knowledge that people can easily speak, and which can be accessed through the process of serendipitous encounter that is natural to the human knowledge-sharing process. Given a choice between drawing down best practice and hearing the stories of five or six trusted individuals, most opt for the latter not the former (Snowden, 2002b). Narrative databases are particularly useful in lessons learnt environments and the capture and distribution of knowledge held by retirees.

Content management comprising document management systems, search engines, best practice systems (although worst practice using narrative can be more useful) and the like, which has been the main focus of knowledge management practice, but which is at best a partial view of the full richness of the potential of knowledge management.