Making knowledge work: five principles for action-oriented knowledge management

Often knowledge management (KM) initiatives are built on an assumption that the relationship between knowledge and action starts with knowledge, that is, we know something and we act upon it. Such an assumption can lead KM initiatives to develop knowledge that is not necessarily useful for the actions that an organization is willing to take. However, if the organization derives knowledge from the actions they are willing to take or they are taking, the knowledge can be much more useful as it will directly facilitate the actions. In this article, we argue that the relationship between knowledge and action is reciprocal and offers two-way learning. As such, KM initiatives are most apt to be successful by considering how to derive knowledge from action as well as how to deliver knowledge. The paper develops five principles for action-oriented KM.