Knowledge manipulation activities: results of a Delphi study

Knowledge-based organizations are hosts for multitudes of knowledge management (KM) episodes. Each episode is triggered by a knowledge need and culminates with the satisfaction of that need (or its abandonment). Within an episode, one or more of the organization’ processors (human and/or computer-based) manipulate knowledge resources in various ways in an effort to meet the need. This paper identifies and characterizes a generic set of elemental knowledge manipulation activities that can be arranged in a variety of patterns within KM episodes. It also indicates possible knowledge flows that can occur among the activities. This descriptive framework was developed using conceptual synthesis and a Delphi methodology involving an international panel of researchers and practitioners in the KM field. The framework can serve as a common language for discourse about knowledge manipulation. For researchers, it suggests issues that deserve investigation and concepts that must be considered in explorations of KM episodes. For practitioners, the framework provides a perspective on activities that need to be considered in the design, measurement, control, coordination, and support of an organization’ KM episodes.