Back
in 2020 at a university lecture regarding the Knowledge Economy from Professor Johann
Kinghorn, he mentioned something about “comfort and wealth”.
Since then, I have tried to recall and make sense on what he meant. Prof
Kinghorn was kind enough to fill in the gap, he said: “You are here in
comfort and wealth first and foremost because of the application of solidly
verified knowledge.”
To
be honest, this sentence holds so many truths and facts, hopefully my
interpretation will do Prof Kinghorn justice. My point of view will be from a
knowledge management perspective, “the application of solidly verified
knowledge”, “comfort and wealth”, is the outcome from applying solidly
verified knowledge. I suppose it can be categorized into two parts: “comfort
(Way of living) and wealth (Business)” and “solidly verified knowledge” as
Academic and Practice.
Looking
at “solidly verified knowledge”. It means that information and knowledge has
been thoroughly and rigorously tested and supported by evidence and facts, evaluated,
confirmed through a process of verification, it has been peer reviewed and
accepted by experts in a particular field. It is based on repeated thorough
confirmed experimentation, outcome, and observations where after possible “Action”
produces comfort or wealth.
In previous blogs I mentioned a couple of times the differences between Knowledge Management and Information Management. Below a table showing the differences:
How do you tie Academics and Practice together? Did you know as an organization you can obtain the expertise from an Academic Institution, such as Stellenbosch University (South-Africa), via consulting? You will be able to get solidly verified knowledge. A successful engagement depends on a long-term relationship. You will get an independent, unbiased, and objective perspective. In the 90’s I completed a university degree, fast forward and in 2020 completed a Postgraduate Diploma, currently busy with a MPhil. What struck me the most is that after decades of consulting, having access to the Book of Knowledge available from the higher institution, it is possible to relate “Theory” and “Practice” in such a way that it makes sense why “things” are happening in Organizations. Call it hindsight is 20/20. Many a times you will read research done and think: “So that is why it is happening in the Organization. It all makes sense now.” You will find solidly verified knowledge in the Book of Knowledge but also a vast spectrum of knowledge when speaking to the people at the university. From my side, the opinion is that every Enterprise Organization should maintain a relationship in some form or shape with a higher institution on a long-term basis.
This
brings us to the “Knowledge Specialist”.
Fig.1
The Knowledge Specialist
The
Knowledge Specialist will be able to communicate between the business function
and technical function, applying knowledge management principles (People,
Process, System, Technology, Knowledge, Action). This person will be able to
make sense of the information available and will have the ability to apply
sensemaking. For example: The Data Scientist struggles to articulate the Model
and analytical outcome to Business. Here the Knowledge Specialist will need to
be able to bring everything together, this includes being able to codify
knowledge and information in such a way that Business (Domain Knowledge,
Context, Experience and Strategy) and Technical (Data & Information
Management) understand each other. Adding the ability to access knowledge from
a higher education institution, the Knowledge Specialist will be able to
add value to problem solving, innovation, questions asked, AI capability,
machine learning, data analysis, data analytics, Insights, knowledge sharing,
Data Culture, Data Literacy etc. This person will be a Boundary Spanner and Knowledge Curator.
Happy
to read your comments on this approach.