Knowledge Management as a Theory of Everything

Balancing Science and Knowledge in Everyday Life

Apr 12, 2009

Although the title seems to be exaggerated, knowledge management is the golden key in everyday life as a part of human natural instinct.

Knowledge management is indeed a popular term even in the public; not only as an effective technique of modern management, but also as a well-known academic program, in the realms of management discipline. The need for knowledge management is highlighted according to the rapidly growing amount of data, but mainly in two fields: information technology and business. However, there should be no limit for this issue; as such an increase of options and possibilities is also the case in other fields and even everyday life.

In available academic programs and professional careers, knowledge management is treated as an IT tool to manage business-related data. It is due to the fact that IT has incredible capability to handle data. On the other hand, business has many data (i.e. raw knowledge), in addition to the market demand for such business analyses. In general, economic is a potential home for applied mathematics, and it is not strange that many Nobel Laureates in Economics are also mathematicians.

Here a different aspect of knowledge management is discussed to open the door for numerous applications of knowledge management.

Terminology

Knowledge and Science are considered identical in the public, as Science is from the Latin origin ‘scire’ meaning ‘know’ (from The Oxford Compact English Dictionary). From a technical terminology standpoint, knowledge refers to ‘awareness of a fact;' while Science refers to ‘systematically organized body of knowledge.' In other words, knowledge provide the ability to report; while, science give the ability to deduce.

Knowledge Management Is Theory of Everything

In a concise definition, knowledge management is ‘to balance the knowledge and science.' This is a vital need to use knowledge in appropriate ways. The first rule of knowledge management is that knowledge is not useful by itself, and it should be transformed to a useful form. It is like making something out of raw materials. Heedlessly, knowledge can also be harmful. Overflow of knowledge is harmful, like the flood come out of blessing rain. Knowledge management is to build dam to control the coming water.

Knowledge Management Rules (Tips):

The main reason that people usually ignore knowledge management is its simplicity. The rules are simple and everyone believes to know them, but few take them into account in real life. For instance, lack of appropriate knowledge management leads to car accidents, bankruptcy, crisis, crime, etc.

Due to the involvement of different factors in various cases of everyday life, it is not possible to formulate a solid and comprehensive manual to use knowledge management in life. Instead, every case needs a particular consideration, but knowledge management can provide a solid scientific framework to find the best solution to decide on critical situations.

Note: This is the first time (at least not common) that knowledge management is treated this way; thus, the idea can be premature, needing for solid improvements from different standpoints. The author appreciates any comment or suggestion to enhance this idea.

Some practical applications of this idea can be found in the following articles:

The copyright of the article Knowledge Management as a Theory of Everything in Business Management is owned by Ali Eftekhari. Permission to republish Knowledge Management as a Theory of Everything in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.