Knowledge management is usually associated with the IT field, though it easily encompasses IT and nearly every other branch of a department or agency. Knowledge management is simply a practical, process-orientated approach to how agencies and departments capture institutional knowledge and learn from it. Knowledge management’s primary goal is to measurably improve individual and organizational performance.
Nowadays there is hardly a large organization or national and local government that does not recognize the value and benefits creating potential of knowledge. There are also many existing knowledge management related initiatives among different organizations and government entities, even though, some of those are not necessarily on the right track. Knowledge management has a long and distinguished history. It was initiated arguably as long ago as in the 1960s, when Peter Drucker first coined the term “knowledge worker”.
Debra Amidon has composed a detailed timeline of knowledge management and has traced many of the early roots going back to the early 1980s. There has been a rapid spread of the influence and uptake of knowledge management following its wider promotion since late 1990s. [Knowledge Management in Government Organizations – Module 1 [Electronic resourse], available at: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/ public/documents/un/unpan031578.pdf (viewed on February 12, 2018). – Title from the screen].
Knowledge management in its current form probably first received significant attention in 1990s, with leading private sector companies developing procedures to guarantee effective generation, capture and dissemination of information and know-how and the promotion of knowledge. Public sector organizations, especially government entities, are typically thought to be later adopters to this knowledge management wave.
However, due to the ever-increasing pressure for higher efficiency and effectiveness and the growing needs for sharing knowledge among different government entities at different levels as well as coping with this inevitable trend, government is quickly catching up and is fully prepared to reap the benefits generated from knowledge management programs [Knowledge Management Basics [Electronic resourse], available at: https://publicadministration.un.org/ published/courses/1343/Course2537/v2010_11_2_18_17_44/course/course 2537.html?LockModuleID=12689&redirect=true%20%20 (viewed on February 21, 2018). – Title from the screen].
We can agree with such a definition of “knowledge management” It’s a “system that ensures continuity of leadership by identifying and addressing potential gaps in effective leadership and implements and maintains programs that capture organizational knowledge and promote learning” [Why KMI for the Government? [Electronic resourse], available at: https://www.kminstitute.org/ content/government (viewed on January 20, 2018). – Title from the screen].
There are several key functions of knowledge management in Government with the shift to service and knowledge orientation in e-government and the trend towards virtual administrations and seamless government’s providing services via one-stop portals, key application themes of the public sector are touched; promoting a knowledge based economy; rendering information and services to citizens and business customers; enhancing governmental cooperation. [Knowledge Management in Government Organizations – Module 2 [Electronic resourse], available at: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan031579.pdf (viewed on February 15, 2018). – Title from the screen]. In Ukraine, only in 2013, an attempt was made to apply knowledge management techniques.
For example, the Knowledge Management Portal “We Develop e-Governance” was created, an information and technological solution that should use the technologies and practices of corporate knowledge portals, provide interaction between public authorities, local authorities, civil society institutions and the expert community in the field of information and communication technologies, development of egovernance. But, unfortunately, no concrete achievements from the work of this resource were received.
