Management requirements for knowledge management systems in the virtual organisation

In the Virtual Organisation, relationships among employees, managers, customers and suppliers are created and terminated on an irregular schedule. This constant turnover jeopardises the organisation's most valuable asset, its knowledge. Without prudent management, the knowledge created through these relationships will be lost. Effective knowledge management enables organisations to protect themselves from the losses experienced when employees and partners terminate their relationship with the company and also facilitates the proliferation of key ideas across organisational subunits and promotes collaboration among diverse project teams. All stages of knowledge management, from acquisition through cataloging, interpretation, transformation, and distribution can be supported. However, technology alone is not sufficient to achieve the objectives of knowledge management. Management policies must also be used to address participation, auditing, interpretation, dissemination and privacy. This paper presents the CaSIDA model for the design of knowledge management systems, describing the inputs and information flows of each stages of knowledge management.