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October 2016
Policy&Practice
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anaging data, infor-
mation, knowledge,
and learning in health
and human service
(HHS) organizations
is a complex endeavor that can either
accelerate or inhibit goals toward inte-
gration, innovation, and sustainable
outcomes. Historically, knowledge
management (KM) has been defined as
the process of “managing knowledge
of and in organizations,” including
assets such as databases, documents,
policies, procedures, and previously
uncaptured expertise and experi-
ence in teams and individual workers.
Increasingly, KM is also considered the
process of collecting and disseminating
information gained or contained in
Illustration by Chris Campbell
Strengthening the Capacity to Respond
More Effectively to Current Issues and
Plan for the Future
Impact
M
intra- and interorganizational systems
and relationships, such as content and
learning management systems (CMS/
LMS), social networking, and media.
These critical activities often occur dis-
parately across HHS agencies and lack
a cohesive vision that provides clear
direction on prioritization and deploy-
ment of resources. More recently, the
discussion around KM has shifted
toward understanding the differences
between KM and knowledge mobili-
zation (KMbz), which is the transfer,
translation, exchange, and co-pro-
duction of knowledge. The intention
is to understand how knowledge is
brought to action for greater impact
through effective dissemination and
implementation.
Managing
Knowledge
By Lee Biggar and Christine Tappan
for