Introduction

Knowledge management (KM), in many ways, is more of an art than a science (Liebowitz, 1999). Knowledge management is the process of creating value from an organization s intangible assets. Simply put, KM refers to sharing and leveraging knowledge within an organization and outwards toward customers and stakeholders. According to Liebowitz (2004), however, many organizations do not have a systematic approach to sharing and leveraging knowledge internally and externally.

In any growing field, the art often precedes the science until various methodologies, techniques, processes and tools are developed to underpin the field. This has certainly been the case with KM, as there has been a blurring of the true meaning of data, information, knowledge, expertise, wisdom and beyond (Liebowitz, 1999). In addition, the early contemporary works in KM promised improved knowledge-sharing techniques to increase innovation, improve customer service, retain expertise and enhance learning. As a result, many organizations appointed chief knowledge officers or chief learning officers to develop a KM strategy to spearhead knowledge initiatives. Several organizations, such as Dell and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), preferred a codification approach, which emphasizes a systems approach to capturing and sharing knowledge, often emanating from their information technology (IT) department. Others, such as Hewlett-Packard, Hallmark and the US Federal Aviation Administration, felt that a personalization approach to accentuate people-to-people connections was a better fit for their organization (Zack, 1999). Often both approaches have been used by organizations, but one generally dominates.

Knowledge management has such strategic value that...