Knowledge Management and Leadership Opportunities for Technical Communicators
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/stc/tc/2000/00000047/00000004/art00005
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  peer-reviewed

Wick, Corey
Technical Communication Online
2000

Abstract:

Over the past several years, organizations have devoted increasing amounts of attention to a phenomenon called 'knowledge management.' Despite its growing visibility, knowledge management nonetheless suffers from a multitude of definitions with little apparent consistency. In this article, I outline four of the most common definitions of knowledge management. I unify these definitions by explaining them as four points along a continuum of increasing depth and complexity. After outlining knowledge management in this manner, I explain how technical communicators usually play supporting roles, not leadership roles, in knowledge management efforts. I then argue that to overcome this challenge, technical communicators must carefully re-think how they define knowledge management, technical communication, and themselves as professionals. I further argue that technical communicators should define themselves not by the products they produce but by the 'core competencies' with which they produce them.