Knowledge exists in two different forms; tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is inherent in a person’s mind. It constitutes the individual’s competence and is hard to transfer to another person. Such information gives people and institutions a competitive edge if managed well, given that it cannot be copied. On the other hand, explicit knowledge is usually documented and is publicly available.
In the midst of COVID-19, knowledge management is an integral component in employing different technologies, systems, and structures to govern such a pandemic. Integration of these elements creates a pool of comprehensive knowledge that can be shared and applied to realize positive outcomes. It involves absorbing and recording the capabilities attained by such encounters with the health pandemic and the relevant deeds needed for effective management of COVID-19 to master any other comparable illness. Through knowledge management and innovation, technology has been developed to help provide real-time and correct facts to help reduce extra infections in the prevalent worldwide endemic of COVID-19 (Kohn, 2020). The guarantee that the right people will quickly manage the factual information can be proficiently manned by digital knowledge management given its ability not only to constrain the exponential infection but also to contain the occurrence of the pandemic.
Knowledge management includes different practices and tactics to generate, store, provide, and use knowledge, creating a way for new inventions. Knowledge and innovation are developed within a social context. The developers persistently use their social networks to get hold of different concepts, gather data, and learn to diagnose and identify new practical innovations. Social networks provide powerful channels that enable the creation, transfer, and sharing of explicit knowledge. The networks are not only helpful in helping to share knowledge but also as a way of identifying who knows what inside the network (Al-Omousha et al., 2020). These kinds of social networks may well enable mutual and collective reasoning among members, generating unique and renewable knowledge.
Social capital constitutes the collective worth of the relations embedded in social networks, which can be organized to ensure the success of government initiatives. Social capital helps those seeking fresh knowledge in enabling innovation to bridge the current imperfections so as to understand and proactively satisfy people’s demands. Moreover, the partnership is essential in generating new knowledge as a social practice whereby knowledge is shared and integrated through social networks, providing social capital entrenched in these networks (Tu, 2020). Social capital is vital in enabling effective implementation of government agenda by aiding shared knowledge conception.
A critical product of innovation through knowledge management is remote working, which is now commonly referred to as “working from home.” Governments worldwide advised people and organizations to consider remote working because it reduces vulnerability to contracting and spreading COVID-19. Such an intervention enhances the quality of service and care to those who have contracted the disease by eliminating the anxiety of the disease being transmitted from person to person.
Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been at the frontline in sharing factual and sufficient information, thereby creating public consciousness on the occurrence and prevention of COVID-19. The body has also widely communicated the symptoms associated with the disease, necessary precautions, and treatment. The actions have been made possible through modern high-tech capabilities through digital information sharing. Besides, the ordinary person, as well as the medical professionals and institutions across the globe, have access to COVID-19 information contained in the organization’s digital knowledge database that is fully automated and equipped with expert knowledge (Kohn, 2020). China has, for instance, embraced this understanding and developed formidable information sharing policies and the knowledge in her care to assist countries across the world to manage this pandemic.
The Knowledge Management Depot outlines how the strategy of knowledge management can be leveraged successfully to improve the acquisition of the correct real-time information and data. Through the use of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), governments can provide a countrywide outline to enable regional administrations such as local and federal governments as well as the public, private sector, and non-governmental groups to assimilate their activities. Therefore, they will be able to protect against, prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate disease occurrence regardless of size, complication, basis, or locality. Also, first responders will be able to prepare effectively, efficiently respond to and institute recovery measures through technology support (Kohn, 2020). Social capital will enable the public health system, health professionals, and other stakeholders to collaborate and communicate harmoniously.
References
Al-Omousha, K.S., Simón-Moyab, V. and Sendra-Garcíac, J. (2020). The impact of social capital and collaborative knowledge creation on e-business proactiveness and organizational agility in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 5(4): 279-288.
Kohn, M. (2020). How knowledge management plays a life-saving role in the coronavirus epidemic. Emergency. Web.
Tu (2020). The role of dyadic social capital in enhancing collaborative knowledge creation. Journal of Informetrics, 14: 1-16.