Knowledge Cycles and Sharing: Consideration for Healthcare Management

Abstract

Healthcare organizations have the same problem as any other organization that is run by sentient but mentally isolated beings. It is a problem that comes out of constructivist thinking and relates to the ability of people, once they start to communicate, to share knowledge. The popular knowledge management paradigm argues the importance of knowledge to management processes and organizational health. It may be said that it is likely that this paradigm will in due course give way to the “intelligent organization” paradigm that addresses how knowledge can be used intelligently for the viability of the organization. Part of the knowledge management paradigm centers on the use of knowledge sharing. This takes the view that while knowledge is necessary for people to do their jobs competently, there is also a need to have the potential for easy access to the knowledge of others. This chapter centers on the capacity of organizations to know what knowledge they have and to coordinate this knowledge.