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One helpful practical outcome from this
discussion is that it indicates how necessary it
is to cultivate skills in intelligence from the
point of view of identifying it, capturing and
processing it, and putting it to good use.
Corporate communication is rich in similar
analogies from the business and corporate
client field. Determining a client’s needs and
offering clients advice requires depths of intelligence
as well as a thorough sifting of data,
facts and information. The same set of information
is susceptible to different readings, so
corporate communicators weigh up intelligence
and draw upon intuition, experience,
analogy and metaphor to shape and deliver
campaigns. Through the same process they
develop their professional knowledge as a
variety of intellectual capital.
Definitions of knowledge: a conceptual
basis
Some attempt at a working definition of
knowledge has already been made through
the exploration of data, information and intelligence
which leads to an appreciation of
knowledge operationally and resourcefully:
the sense that a desirable purpose is to consider
how to manage it for beneficial ends.
For argument the distinction between small
‘k’ knowledge and large ‘K’ knowledge is
maintained. The former small ‘k’ knowledge
results as a reaction to known intelligence
(derived from information and data). A
person will possess knowledge when they
have absorbed the potential of a given ‘intelligence’.
The process of absorption itself is a
critical component of knowledge management.
Someone will know something to some
degree, and furthermore will hope that it will
lead to/contribute to positive outcomes when
this is necessary (this may protect them from
danger as much as to make an economic,
social or political gain).
Knowledge with a large ‘K’ can be defined
as an aggregate of intelligence and knowledge
derived from intelligence (which may be
traced back to antecedent information and
data) and will show states of extension and
completion. In usual discourse (and in this
chapter) the distinction between ‘large’ and
‘small’ is lost. However it is described, knowledge
may lead the possessor towards outcomes
either positive or negative but both
reflecting the resourcefulness of what is
known.
Knowledge is now considered conventionally
as intellectual capital or assets. Stewart
(1997) amongst others identifies customer
capital (client embodied knowledge), human
capital (especially the competences embodied
in the organization’s community of practice –
its people and human resources), and structural
capital (embodied in organizational
structures and systems). There is also proprietary
intellectual property (designs, patents,
agreements, etc.) which seeks to enjoy legal
protection as well as other information assets.
This intellectual capital is matched by financial
capital and physical assets. It is very clear that
corporate communication professionals have
always worked predominantly with intellectual
capital. Knowledge management, as
much as information management, should
now be seen as a core professional competence
enabling the fullest exploitation of intellectual
assets and capital.
Knowledge management
Knowledge-based work and management is
distinct from, although related to, other situations
and people who work with and manage
data (statisticians, data processors of various
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors