Confronting the assumptions underlying the management of knowledge

Knowledge and knowledge management are receiving tremendous interest from both practitioners and academics. Although knowledge management is often accepted as a very useful organizational activity, a number of the assumptions underlying knowledge management have not been investigated. This paper examines four knowledge management assumptions: knowledge is worth managing, organizations benefit from managing knowledge, knowledge can be managed, and little risk is associated with managing knowledge. The assumptions are analyzed at strategic and operational levels, and both negating and supporting evidence is presented. Based on this analysis, a framework for research in knowledge management is proposed. The framework is used to generate a number of key questions that should be addressed in knowledge management research. Particular attention is given to goals and rewards as well as to the role of information technology in knowledge management.