Knowledge is power, and when managed efficiently, it generates optimum outcomes. Knowledge management is an established phenomenon, applied across various disciplines for transformational growth. In the year 2015, the Government of India launched Digital India Programme with the vision to “transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.” The program aims to benefit every section and sector of the country by creating an ecosystem for delivery of user centric and qualitative digital services. It weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single, comprehensive vision so that each of them is seen as part of a larger goal. To foster such knowledge economy, Capacity Building Scheme Phase II has been approved under Digital India Programme with one of the key components being knowledge management (KM) in the area of e-governance. This chapter highlights the multi-dimensional aspects of deploying KM for e-governance in a federal government system, along with its key objectives, core features moving on to framework and implementation structure.
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Acquiring knowledge is a continuous process which involves analyzing and identifying the patterns in pieces of information. It is in the higher echelon composed of data, information and knowledge. As a matter of fact, knowledge is an intellectual asset of any organization. The transformation from information societies to knowledge societies has begun to empower and enhance the self-development capacities of individuals, communities and societies as a whole. It helps people in utilizing the facilities available through digital infrastructure.
Knowledge Societies are identified as societies based on the creation, dissemination and utilization of information and knowledge. They are societies with economies through which knowledge is acquired, created, disseminated and applied to enhance economic and social development (GESCI, 2012). According to UNESCO, “Knowledge Societies are societies in which people have the capabilities not just to acquire information but also to transform it into knowledge and understanding, which empowers them to enhance their livelihoods and contribute to the social and economic development of their communities” (Engida, 2016). Knowledge Societies can also be defined as human-structured organizations based on contemporary knowledge and representing new quality of life support systems. This implies the need for understanding of distribution of knowledge, access to information and capability to transfer information into knowledge (Afgan & Carvalho, 2010).
KM has been defined by Davenport (1994) as the process of capturing, distributing, and effectively using knowledge. A later definition was provided by Duhon (1998) as “KM is a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing all of an enterprise’s information assets. These assets may include databases, documents, policies, procedures, and previously un-captured expertise and experience in individual workers.”
One of the most commonly used definitions on KM is provided by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), who defined KM as the substantiated understandings and beliefs in an organization about the organization and its environment. They also differentiated between two types of knowledge: explicit and tacit. Explicit knowledge is codified, easily translated and shared facts and information. It exists in reports and other documents. Tacit knowledge is personal knowledge that is hard to confirm and share with others. It is the private understanding and knowledge that people have about issues, problems, solutions, services, and products etc. A major area of KM is to turn tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge.
Three converging trends are behind the drive by organizations to gain better control of their information infrastructure and management of the tacit and explicit knowledge held by their personnel and the knowledge repositories in the organization. The first trend is the expected increased turnover of knowledge workers. The second trend is the push of Government to implement e-Governance at all levels – there has been increase in the amount and variety of online services available to citizens. Many Government agencies are also providing mobile communications capability to their knowledge workers, thus enabling them to communicate as information is gathered. The third trend is continued emphasis on shared services to achieve greater operational efficiencies (McNabb, 2007).
The Knowledge Management envisioned by National e-Governance Division (NeGD) is unique in its own kind under Digital India flagship programme. It is a transformational multi-phase approach adopted to establish a knowledge sharing culture for growth in the Government system. The initial phase of Knowledge Management implementation covers inter-departmental i.e. NeGD, followed by Knowledge Management at Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) and finally reaching out to Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) under e-Kranti mission (e-Kranti is an e-Governance plan initiated by the Government of India) of other ministries and departments in the federal Government of India.