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Knowledge management for best practice

According to Stephen A. Roberts

The corporate communicator needs to know how to manage information effectively both individually and within the task/group/organizational setting. In practice corporate communication practitioners are needed who are able to exploit the riches of the world- wide web and other electronic resources with confidence and intelligence, but at the same time realize that traditional information and library skills also have their place in their practical repertoire. Such skills can reinforce strengths in business and organizational information seeking, but today and increasingly in the future this will not be enough. Full professional competence requires a mastery of a totality of capacities and qualities in information. This chapter reveals how the strategic response to this need is being realized through the development of knowledge management: as a key norm within corporate communication theory and practice.

The corporate communicator’s work is ethically committed to truthful and verifiable information. So, there is a premium on finding out the facts: getting the right data and information together on clients, events and issues. This contributes to the better under- standing of clients’ needs and enables the consideration of the right responses to problems and the construction of appropriate messages. It is normative to ensure that corporate communication action is driven by quality information: the best guarantee of quality corporate communication practice. Concepts and terminology require definition and models of processes need elaboration to provide some intellectual cohesion. In practical terms this means interalia the following:

Corporate communication professionals need to have a good grounding in personal information and knowledge management skills. Through their professional education corporate communication professionals need to acquire a good range of transferable information and communication skills to add to their general portfolio of communication and professional skills. 

The corporate communication professional needs to be able to put both understanding and skill in information management at the disposal of the client in every way as an exercise of professional techniques, through ethical and legal responsibility, and as a contribution to meeting client needs as an outcome of quality management.

Ensuring that the corporate communication practitioner can effectively manage information and knowledge resources within their organization by the establishment of information strategy and policy, action planning and effective management of work, in order to maximise the value of information and knowledge resources and to reduce all risks to themselves and their clients arising from information and knowledge work and communication activities.

Through effective information management corporate communicators are better equipped to exploit their specialist competences in a take this further and distinguish between different kinds of formally published information (popular books, monographs, periodical publications and their electronic equivalents) and informal information and communication activities within a social context (meetings, seminars, conferences and even documented contributions which have received less than absolute reviewing and refereeing). Information managers (librarians, information service providers, database providers, web-masters, etc.) have elaborated their competencies and craft on this basis.