Knowledge for Communicating Knowledge

Background

Our understanding of communication, and particularly computer-mediated communication in the organizational context, has developed dramatically in the last few decades. The classical information-transmission model introduced by Shannon and Weaver (1949) has transformed into more active, psychological, and social models of communication (Axley, 1986). See, for example, Riva and Galimberti, 1998 for an overview of these transformations in theories and metaphors of communication. In the interest of brevity and in order to identify the role of KM in enhancing communication, we select one model of organizational communication (Te’eni, 2001) that helps to define the link between KM and communication. The model has three main factors, each of which includes several attributes:

• 1.

  Inputs to the communication process include (a) distance between sender and receiver, (b) values and norms of communication, and (c) attributes of the task that is the object of the communication;

• 2.

  A cognitive-affective communication process of exchanging a message that describes the choice and implementation of (a) one or more communication strategies used to transmit the message, (b) the form of the message and (c) the medium through which it is transmitted; and

• 3.

  The communication impact: (a) the mutual understanding and (b) the relationship between the sender and receiver.