The role of information technologies for knowledge management in firms

The knowledge management field has been mostly the domain of consultants, practitioners, and information systems theorists. This field has evolved largely divorced from the more scholarly areas of research on knowledge, which include studies in the social psychology, organisational and sociology fields. Grounded on scholarly research in these disciplines, this paper analyses and critiques the dominant practices and prescriptions of knowledge management programs. The paper then presents a view on the elements of an optimal knowledge management system and specifies the role that technology should play in such a system.