MaKE: a knowledge management method

Abstract

Purpose

Within knowledge management (KM) there is a need to develop KM methods that help prioritise requirements and assist in information systems (IS) development strategy. This paper aims to present MaKE™, a KM method that is designed to address this need.

Design/methodology/approach

MaKE was developed using an action research approach.

Findings

Organisations face a number of challenges in KM. MaKE addresses a number of them, including how to: align organisational performance and IT expenditure; adopt a sensible balance between IT and human involvement; address problems that stem from top‐down models of information strategy; assist in business innovation; address redefined value chain issues in the web technology world; realise the significance of the virtual and intangible as well as the physical; create and apply new knowledge as well as be effective in the ongoing renewal of existing knowledge; engage people in the paradigm shift away from industrial‐economic thinking and towards a knowledge perspective; link business objectives with knowledge‐sharing initiatives and technologies available to address them within a framework; and apply people‐centred KM tools to a whole organisation or across organisations.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation is the amount of testing that has occurred to test the contribution of MaKE in relation to each of the challenges referred to above.

Originality/value

There are many original concepts within MaKE. For example MaKE First Steps is the first KM process devised to assist in collaboratively defining knowledge in organisations.

Citation

Sharp, P. (2006), "MaKE: a knowledge management method", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 10 No. 6, pp. 100-109. https://doi.org/10.1108/13673270610709242