Knowledge Management One key to Effective Public Administration in the 21st Century(2006年公共管理国际会议论文).docVIP

PAGE PAGE 46 Knowledge Management: One key to Effective Public Administration in the 21st Century Charles T. Townley Beijing Normal University/New Mexico State University, USA Abstract This paper addresses ways in which public organizations can manage knowledge, their largest single asset, to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Five unique properties of knowledge are described as an introduction to the context of knowledge management. Knowledge management is defined and the roles of people, technology, processes and organizational structure are presented with examples from public organizations. Three characteristics of effective knowledge management are postulated. The paper concludes with a description of the benefits of knowledge management to individuals, communities of practice, and public organizations. Key words Knowledge management, knowledge, public organizations, communities of practice, goals, planning 1 Introduction Public organizations today create, transfer, and consume ever and ever greater amounts of knowledge. Governing bodies interact more frequently with their constituents and with each other as they develop laws that respond to an evermore complex understanding of society. Policy units base their plans and activities on what is known about the service area. And service units provide a growing array of services to meet known public needs. Since knowledge is an increasingly important operational component of all public organizations, it is incumbent on all public administrators to learn to use knowledge effectively. Knowledge may be most important organizational asset in the 21st century. Service organizations, now 80 percent of the economy in the developed world, exist primarily to provide knowledge. A natural resources department’s major asset, for example, is the knowledge required to plan and manage natural resources in ways that will advance government policy for development. Second, more knowledge is contained in products and s