The to know is defined usually like a together of knowledge or reproducible aptitudes, acquired by the study or the Expérience .

In French, the term of knowing has a direction which does not coincide exactly with that of knowledge whereas for example English uses knowledge in all the cases. This shift finds besides an origin very old since the word comes from Latin sapere , verb which employed intransitively indicated an entity which had a savor . There was thus then no reference to the least cognitive process. It is only with the Moyen-âge that emerged the current direction after having forwarded by an illustrated form nominating an informed person to some extent “ ”. As from this time, the fact of of knowing was regarded as a certificate or guarantee of wisdom, association which one nowadays finds in the form of traditional confusion between the knowledge and the Intelligence; oppositions such as “quite full head” and “head well done” recalling that the things are not so simple.

Cognitive psychology distinguishes the knowledge from the knowledge . The knowledge is data, concepts, procedures or methods which exist apart from any knowing subject and which are generally codified in reference books, handbooks, books of procedures, encyclopedias, dictionaries. Knowledge, on the other hand, is indissociable of a knowing subject. When a person interiorizes a fascinating knowledge in of knowledge , precisely, it transforms this knowledge into knowledge. From the point of view constructivist, one will say that it builds this Connaissance, which belongs to him then into clean because the same knowledge built by another person will be never a certified copy.

The knowledge is characterized by various features of a unit from knowledge in particular by qualitative dimension: the acquisition of a true knowledge supposes a continuous process of assimilation and organization of knowledge by the subject concerned, which is opposed to a simple accumulation and retention out of any will of application. At the individual level the knowledge thus integrates an added-value in report/ratio with the lived experiment and of multiple contextual information. Each Nobody organizes and works out his knowledge according to its interests and needs; the component conscious and voluntary of this development is called the Métacognition. The majority of the individual “knowledge” are naturally useful for the action, with its performance, its success: “ To know, it is to be able! ”. It is also on settings in situation which the best evaluations of the knowledge rest whereas Test S based on the only restitution of information do not guarantee its quality and consequently its value. In the same way, the knowledge is made more visible and Pratique under the name of “know-how”, “good manners”, etc the most intellectual knowledge rests on the appropriation or creation of Concept S, in parallel with the development of the “scientific knowledge” or the Philosophie. Concept of " To know to be " , as for it, used in particular in the field of the training of the adults returns to the Attitude S and Comportements that a subject implements to adapt to a medium.

If the knowledge is in the beginning a personal and individual component, the concept extends naturally to any entity capable of a similar capitalization of its experiment:

• others animal and other “erudite” organizations;
• human communities or groups and thus humanity as a whole; one speaks about “traditional knowledge”, “specialized knowledge”, “knowledge of Humanity”, etc;
• some computing systems, without that posing the equivalence of the human knowledge and of the to know of the machine named such as it is implemented in a Expert system;

Each community rests on a common knowledge; it is a component of its identity. The weight and the recognition of this knowledge and thus of the knowledge present variable forms, but the fate of the community is generally related to the conservation of this immaterial patrimony. Within the companies and cultures, the education has the role of helping with the appropriation of the elementary collective knowledge, one thus speaks about acquisition of a common base , the Enseignement supplementing the acquisition of knowledge and know-how disciplinary, while the Professional training is in charge of the transmission of the professional knowledge.

The knowledge is thus presented generally in the form of a collective Valeur; a resource of immaterial nature. From this point of view, leaving side temporarily imperceptible psychological dimension, this value takes the form of a good and even of a “economic good”. One chosifie thus this reality by materializing it in the language. One thus speaks about:

• acquisition of the knowledge, access to the knowledge, appropriation of the knowledge;
• transmission of the knowledge, exchanges of knowledge, shares knowledge, circulation of the knowledge;
• management of the knowledge ( GS ), control of the knowledge, valorization of the knowledge.

According to the times and the cultures, the conservation of the knowledge and the transmission of knowledge are based on the oral communication and the written expression. “Warehouses of the knowledge” are created and maintained like collective memory : Library, information centers, etc

To a certain extent, the knowledge is transmitted in an abstract way by the communication between pars or interaction between members of comparable statutes. The effectiveness of the transmission being for a share function of the mental plasticity of learning, itself function of its age in particular, the Pédagogie studies the conditions of these transmissions between beginners and learning and their main or more experienced Professor S or more scientists.

Management of the knowledge

The management of knowledge (GS) aims at the valorization of the knowledge within a Entreprise or of an organization for better performances. It is composed of various practices supporting the creation of knowledge, the organization of the collective knowledge and the capacities of its exploitation by the personnel. This sector started to emerge in end of the year 1980 when the quantity of information available proved to exceed the capacities of their integration by the organizations.

Management must be based on a “culture of the knowledge” divided by the community and remain in phase with this dimension. “Retention of information”, “worship of the secrecy”, etc, are reflexes which must sometimes be moderate before any other objective. From a certain point of view, the GS is with Knowledge, which the Information is with the Information system company. The human factors, social must always be taken into account for a good comprehension of the step and the recognition of its legitimacy: it is the whole of the structure which must think like “ learning Organization ”. The knowledge must be perceived like the higher possibility of services or products of quality.

The management of the knowledge initially sticks to clarify the “intellectual capital” of the employees in partnership with the organisational “memory”. The investigations and initiatives necessary must simultaneously develop the place of the knowledge of each one within the activity. That includes/understands:

• explicit working of implicit know-how. One will wonder in particular which is the deficit of the “organisational memory” in the event of absence or starting of such or such employee. One can speak about “knowing unstable”.
• the census of multiple forms of competence remained ignored, without restricting itself with the branch of industry or the professional framework. That naturally joined the steps of Validation of the professional assets and the determination of the courses of Formation. One can speak about “knowing ignored” rather than of “knowing hidden” (who would belong rather to the professional secrecies and connected).

This stage, the broad outlines of a “ cartography of the knowledge ” can already be deployed; the confrontation of this chart with the structure and operation of the organization can make it possible to record its weaknesses from the point of view of the valorization of the knowledge (human Stock management).

Then, according to the organization concerned, a dynamics of creation of knowledge must be gradually installation. This step will be able on another level to accompany or support all the methods of change of the organization (logical of project, evolutions and changes). It is thus a question of developing and of consolidating the forms of Communication (exchanges of ideas) and of Créativité by directing them towards the realization of reusable perennial resources.

The management of the knowledge can be thus conceived like the zone common to the informational Veille and information and communication interns. The complexity of these processes requires investments in information technologies. Data processing is employed at the various stages of the valorization of the knowledge, in particular in the management and the communication of the Documentation and other information-gathering and ordering.

Once the knowledge inventoried and preserved in a process of continuous increase, it is necessary to guarantee the access of all for these resources, for finally checking and supporting their use in the effective practices. For the large organizations at least, the total model can be a species of “ gone of the knowledge ” where supply and demand should coincide and satisfy the needs for the producing constantly and consuming . This adequacy should not be standardizing and work an average employee, but on the contrary to be in particular worried accessibility of the same knowledge to very diverse “customers”.

As it was known as, the psychological factors, the relational components, should never be underestimated at all the stages of the valorization of the knowledge, with the risk to see emerging from the reactions and the quite contrary unforeseen disorders to the intention first. One should not forget only the development or acquisition of a true knowledge requires time, availability and thus first of all a real motivation; motivation which can nourish profit of autonomy that brings to any person a better management of her own knowledge.

Sources: “Introduction to the management of the knowledge into the public office”, Centers Canadian management on the learning organization, April 1999.

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