Content area
Full Text
Inf Syst Front (2007) 9:493504 DOI 10.1007/s10796-007-9053-4
Security as a contributor to knowledge management success
Murray E. Jennex & Suzanne Zyngier
Published online: 9 October 2007 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2007
Abstract Security is an important topic, but is it important for Knowledge Management (KM)? To date, little mainstream KM research is coming through with a security focus. This paper asks why, and proposes that security be integrated into KM success models. The Jennex and Olfman (International Journal of Knowledge Management 2(3):5168, 2006) KM success model is used to illustrate how security, specifically risk management, and the National Security Telecommunications and Information System Security Committee (NSTISSC) security model can be applied to KM management support and governance and KM Strategy. Finally, two case studies are provided that illustrate the application of risk management through governance to KM.
Keywords Knowledge management . Knowledge management success . Knowledge management strategy . Security . Knowledge management governance . Knowledge transfer
1 Introduction
Security is about protecting something. Information System, IS, security is about protecting IS assets such as networks,
databases, computers, and applications. Knowledge management (KM) is about sharing and transferring knowledge from knowledge producers to knowledge users.
KM can be defined as the capturing of knowledge from past decision-making for application to current decision-making with the express purpose of improving organizational performance (Jennex 2005b, p. iv). KM helps organizations better leverage their knowledge, or what they know, by applying the processes of knowledge identification, capture, storage, search, and retrieval, and by creating processes that facilitate the transfer of knowledge from those that generate it to those who use it to make decisions. KM results in business organizations generating value and competitive advantage (Zyngier et al. 2006). Military and government organizations also use KM to support decision making and to create intelligence value and tactical and strategic advantage (Maule 2006).
It is not intuitive to KM researchers and practitioners that security and KM are related. This is borne out in the literature. A review of the first 12 issues of the International Journal of Knowledge Management (IJKM) found no articles discussing security within KM out of the 41 published (although two editorials have been written: Jennex (2006) focuses on the persistence, i.e. integrity, of knowledge...