Knowledge mapping

A knowledge map belongs to the field of knowledge management. A knowledge map gives a schematic overview of the knowledge and skills of the employees in a company or organisation.

Knowledge maps are used to map the available knowledge in an organisation or company. They give information about the location of knowledge (which may be an artifact such as a database, a person or community). Knowledge maps do not necessarily contain material from the knowledge and information base of the organisation itself; rather they contain the meta knowledge about the knowledge base.

Related Types

An Inventory Map shows where and how specific information is stored. The goal is to allow users to readily access material in a simple way.
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are developed to show information in a geographical context.
Another possibility to show information is a Knowledge Matrix. Depending on the question, it is possible to span the knowledge between two dimensions. The use of “leading differences” (internal/external, new/available, tacit/explicit …) opens different perspectives to the organisational knowledge base and shows trends more clearly.

Requirements

Knowledge is dynamic. Thus, knowledge require regular maintenance. This may require employees to describe their documents with metadata (author, keywords…). Such systems are highly dependent on the willingness of employees to maintain them.

Advantages

There are several benefits for a company to use knowledge maps: It grants a high transparency of the knowledge concerning the following questions

Who has the knowledge?
Where does the knowledge reside?
In which form is the knowledge available?
How much knowledge is available for a specific field?

It is easy for managers to see in which fields a lot of knowledge (hills) is available and in which fields a lack of information (valleys) exists. This can lead to strategic considerations about which knowledge that is currently shown as a valley in the landscape is important for the company . There are enormous benefits especially for the employees. They could search selectively for their information, see related topics in an overview and easily localize the contact person.

Points of criticism

Knowledge management shifts the internal balance of power because of the spread of knowledge within the company.
Knowledge maps have to be up-to-date.
They should not breach privacy
Knowledge maps have to be understood as living documents which are never finished, but are rather developed steadily. The quality of the data and information is strongly related to the acceptance by employees and management. This is also an important factor for the success of such a project. Therefore, it could be helpful - especially in the starting phase of the project - to collect only very important knowledge and to ensure interoperability with existing systems.
In phases of negative business activity it is hard to implement such a system. Because of the fear of loosing their jobs, the employees will not be willing to reveal knowledge.
It is necessary to use a collective language. Only a “controlled vocabulary” grants a comparable conceptual usage and classification.
Only if knowledge is of adequate worth will knowledge maps attain their full power. A knowledge map system is deployed most effectively if an internal know-ledge market is already in existence.

Related fields

References

Böhmann, T. / Krcmar, H.: Werkzeuge für das Wissensmanagement, Report Wissensmanagement, Symposion Publishing, Düsseldorf 1999, p. 82-91
Reinmann-Rothmeier, Mandl, Erlach, Neubauer: Wissensmanagement lernen, Beltz Verlag, Weinheim und Basel 2001, ISBN 3407363761
Wissenskapital, Studienarbeit von Tobias Mueller, Sven Szigeti – HdM Stuttgart