KM initiatives in the academia: In search of for KM as an emerging field

• Main Author: Ndubisi, Nelson Oly
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: Z665 Library Science. Information Science
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/13906/1/KM183.pdf; http://repo.uum.edu.my/13906/; http://www.kmice.cms.net.my
• Institution: Universiti Utara Malaysia

The academic community has since joined the KM bandwagon set in motion by management consultancy firms and information practitioners. A number of members of the academia and researchers have clamored and are still clamoring for individuals and organizations to view KM as an emerging field, to embrace it, and benefit from its numerous advantages.Yet the nature, scope method, and validity aspects of KM remain ill defined.In fact there is no consensus regarding the claim that KM is a new field with its own research base, since much of the terminology and techniques used, such as knowledge mapping, seem to have been borrowed from both IM and librarianship.The discrepancy has ranged from authors who see KM as an emerging discipline, to others who claim that firms and information professionals have been practicing KM-related activities for years, and to those who insists that there is no such thing as KM.In this study, the concept of KM is examined in the Web sites of leading business schools.A few cases were identified through a literature search of ABI Inform and the Internet.Each case was reviewed and details of each area of interest were extracted and recorded.The data were compared and analyzed. Secondly, in addition, to the review of journal publications on KM, a survey of experienced academicians was conducted to understand what KM means to them, and KM initiatives in their faculties, departments, or units.Findings are discussed.