**4.1.3 Postulate 3: Company's knowledge includes two main categories of knowledge**

Within organizations, knowledge consists of two main categories (ref.Table.1).


Table 1. The two main Categories of Company's knowledge

On the one hand, explicited knowledge includes all tangible elements (we call it "knowhow"); and on the other hand, tacit knowledge (Polanyi, 1966), includes intangible elements (we call it "skills"). Tacit knowledge can or cannot be articulated into explicit knowledge. The tangible elements are collective knowledge. They take the shape of formalized and codified knowledge in a physical format (databases, procedures, plans, models, algorithms, and analysis and synthesis documents), or are embedded into automated management systems, in conception and production systems, and in products. The intangible elements are inherent to the individuals who bear them, either as collective knowledge - the "routines" that are non-written individual or collective action procedures (Nelson and Winter, 1982) or personal knowledge (skills, crafts, "job secrets", historical and contextual knowledge of environment, clients, competitors, technologies, and socio-economic factors).

#### **4.2 Knowledge management perspectives**

Relying to the postulates mentioned above, it appears that, KM addresses activities, which utilize and create knowledge more than knowledge by itself. With regard to this question,

the organization's missions. Therefore, knowledge is linked to their decisions, their actions,

**4.1.3 Postulate 3: Company's knowledge includes two main categories of knowledge** 

On the one hand, explicited knowledge includes all tangible elements (we call it "knowhow"); and on the other hand, tacit knowledge (Polanyi, 1966), includes intangible elements (we call it "skills"). Tacit knowledge can or cannot be articulated into explicit knowledge. The tangible elements are collective knowledge. They take the shape of formalized and codified knowledge in a physical format (databases, procedures, plans, models, algorithms, and analysis and synthesis documents), or are embedded into automated management systems, in conception and production systems, and in products. The intangible elements are inherent to the individuals who bear them, either as collective knowledge - the "routines" that are non-written individual or collective action procedures (Nelson and Winter, 1982) or personal knowledge (skills, crafts, "job secrets", historical and contextual knowledge of environment, clients, competitors, technologies, and socio-economic factors).

Relying to the postulates mentioned above, it appears that, KM addresses activities, which utilize and create knowledge more than knowledge by itself. With regard to this question,

and their relations with the surrounding systems (people and artifacts).

Table 1. The two main Categories of Company's knowledge

**4.2 Knowledge management perspectives** 

Within organizations, knowledge consists of two main categories (ref.Table.1).

since 2001, our group of research has adopted the following definition of KM (Grundstein and Rosenthal-Sabroux, 2003):

"KM is the management of the activities and the processes that enhance the utilization and the creation of knowledge within an organization, according to two strongly interlinked goals, and their underlying economic and strategic dimensions, organizational dimensions, socio-cultural dimensions, and technological dimensions: (i) a patrimony goal, and (ii) a sustainable innovation goal" (p.980).

The patrimony goal has to do with the preservation of knowledge, their reuse and their actualization; it is a static goal. The sustainable innovation goal is more dynamic. It is concerned with organizational learning that is creation and integration of knowledge at the organizational level.

This definition of KM induces a specific KM governance, and leads towards a technological, managerial, and socio-technical well-balanced KM initiatives within organizations referring to general model for knowledge management within organization so called MGKME (Grundstein, 2005a, 2007, 2008), which integrates managerial guiding principles*, ad hoc* infrastructures, socio-technical environment, support and value adding processes, organizational learning processes, generic KM processes, and relevant methods and supporting tools. MGKME is described section 6. Furthermore, distinguishing information from knowledge leads to conceive what we call Enterprise's Information and Knowledge Systems (EIKS).
