I recently had an interesting discussion on the topic of ethics in business and how they apply to Knowledge Management. My view is that ethics are the foundation of effective knowledge management.

Here's how I currently define the argument for Ethics in KM
  1. Knowledge Management is about sharing of knowledge, information, and experiences - an exchange of information and ideas . (We often call this learning.)
  2. This exchange cannot occur without effective communication.
  3. For communication to be truly effective, transparency must exist. Transparent communication is built on trust
  4. Any unethical behavior undermines trust which ultimately impairs communication which leads to the loss of sharing and the loss (or distortion) of information and knowledge .

The bottom line is that ethics is important to KM because of trust.

Discussion/Comments (2):

Ethics are the foundation of effective Knowledge Management

Hi, Erik,

If I take it the in the corporate context the company to define the ethics, this fits perfectly into the overall expectations on a company's Knowledge Charter (but there are more expectations on the company: { Link }

regards

gerald

Posted at 03/03/2011 1:29:39 by Gerald Meinert


Ethics are the foundation of effective Knowledge Management

Plagiarism for students, writers and business are not ethical. Regarding knowledge sharing in organization, how many employees can claim that they share knowledge without caring about the identity and closeness of their workmates? And more and more business and people share knowledge for social good. Such as those volunteers who taught at the school in the remote mountain areas in China. Or those companies who gave up the rights of their non-use patents. Ethics and Knowedge management should go hand in hand. Vincent, Hong Kong

Posted at 03/03/2011 6:19:11 by Vincent Leung



Discussion for this entry is now closed.