KM is such a vast subject it can be easy to simply rattle off the principles in a classroom situation. Jan Fazlagic, an academic and business consultant specialising in KM at The Poznan University of Economics, gives his tips on putting the theory into practice in a more engaging way.

Virtually all properly designed knowledge management programmes require some basic training for employees. But teaching in KM courses is not a merely academic issue; business training also needs special attention. Therefore, it is worth investigating what constitutes good quality KM education.

The following examples come from 10 years of experience in teaching KM to undergraduate and graduate students, managers and academics. Some were used in the Erasmus/Socrates class (‘KM in service organizations’), provided by The Poznan University of Economics for international students.

"It is not enough to provide definitions of information, knowledge and data."

KM as a discipline

The first papers on KM which appeared in early 1990s focused on the importance of knowledge assets in organisations. Later the emphasis shifted towards KM strategies and measurement. Sadly, the issue of KM didactics did not grasp the attention of KM movement proponents. As a result, there are no handbooks which describe KM as a teaching subject similar to marketing and finance.

It is not enough to conduct a KM class to provide a set of definitions of information, knowledge and data. It should provide an added value compared with a marketing or general management class. Here are some points to remember when designing a quality KM course:

Preach what you praise

If you praise the power of knowledge as a source of competitive advantage, make sure your knowledge of the world is above-standard of an average university teacher or training consultant. Do not limit yourself to a narrow set of business books advertised in an airport kiosk.

Teaching KM requires special care for delivering up-to-date, multidisciplinary information. History, sociology, technology and biology are but a few disciplines abundant in examples useful for preparing a KM class or training course. Such stories are necessary to make courses lively and effective (see box out at the end of the article for practical examples).

Engage the public

Knowledge itself is potentially a purely academic (or boring!) subject. If you focus on simply describing what knowledge is, you will lose credibility among the participants. Knowledge is more than information. A KM class should teach knowledge management.

Try acting out scenes in the class. If you are teaching about innovation, the national innovation system is a must to talk about. How do you teach the difference between a business angel and a venture capitalist? One can prepare a nice two-column table showing the main differences between the two, but why not ask students to act out a scene where one is an innovator trying to promote an invention and another is either a business angel or venture capitalist? The rest of the class then has to guess (based on theoretical introduction prior to this exercise) which role the actors are playing.

If you are teaching the Nonaka’s knowledge spiral (the SECI model) it is a good idea is to ask students to act out a flow of knowledge within an organisation in four episodes. As later stages of the SECI model describe the role of groups, more students can be engaged in this exercise. It is fun and effective.

Don’t teach general business

It is tempting to include into the course subjects related to KM such as services marketing, personal communication, motivation, organisational culture, leadership etc. A good KM course should provide added value for the participants. They should learn about things which are not taught in other courses. This requires a special effort in order to design a KM course using your own invention.

Here is a brief curriculum for a 30-hour KM lecture:

• General features of knowledge as an economic resource (e.g. stickiness of knowledge).
• The philosophy perspective, e.g. why truth and certainty are not the same.
• The data-information-knowledge-wisdom pyramid in two approaches (static: what are the differences, and dynamic: how data becomes information etc.).
• Wisdom versus intelligence, e.g. an intelligent vs. a wise manager.
  The knowledge spiral.
• Knowledge sharing: why it is important?
• Knowledge creation – the creativity in organisations, creative people and creative processes.
• Introduction to Intel
• The thinking process – thinking styles, decision-making processes, the art of asking questions, reflective practitioner.
• The learning process – the learning cycle, unlearning, learning organisation.
• Measurement of knowledge, e,g, the IAM model.
• Protection of knowledge in organisations, including legal issues such as IP rights, ethical aspects of knowledge protection, knowledge as a public and/or private benefit. You can illustrate this issue with examples from the past.

Delivering a quality KM course requires extra effort because the level of expectation from the participant is (and should be) higher. There are not many handbooks for students where KM is described in the form of a course similar to marketing or leadership. It is important to focus on those issues which are not tackled by other management disciplines e.g. strategic management, HRM or marketing (especially marketing services).

Raising the standards of KM teaching is in the interests of all stakeholders, including researchers. The distinction between KM and information management, or between general management and KM, can be convincingly manifested in the field of KM teaching

Putting KM into context
History, sociology, technology and biology are a few disciplines useful for preparing a lively and effective KM course.

Tacit knowledge: In the times of WWI when most of France’s heavy industry was under German occupation, the French desperately wanted to increase the production of their famous state-of-the-art 75mm infantry gun. They ordered the production of the gun in steel mills in the US and sent sketches of the gun to US engineers, who made many attempts to make the weapon. Finally, the French engineers had to travel over the Atlantic to show the Americans how to make the gun to the standard required.

The importance of the physical environment for knowledge sharing among people: A village in north east Germany (pictured) was populated by Slavonic tribes closely related to Poland and the Czech Republic. The layout of the village shows how its Slavonic inhabitants planned the public space so the houses formed a star-like shape. Each house entrance is facing another house. Such a layout enabled close relationships between the villagers and illustrates the importance of knowledge sharing as a social phenomenon supported by physical space.