http://www.sajim.co.za/vol1.nr4.01_03_2000/training.main.asp?pr


   
  Training Vol.1 No.4 March 2000

Information Management Training 
Prof Adeline du Toit 
asadt@lw.rau.ac.za 

The idea that knowledge can be managed is fundamental to the related notions of the 
knowledge-based business, the learning enterprise and the management of intellectual 
capital. The recent interest in these overlapping concepts reflects important phenomena that 
enterprises have to deal with, such as perceptions of increased competition, rates of change 
and market turbulence. Enterprises are therefore looking for new ways to remain in business 
or compete effectively. This column looks at the establishment of a Center for Knowledge 
Management in River Forest, Illinois, and the offering of a Certificate in Knowledge 
Management. 

Knowledge management is vital for survival in the knowledge economy 

The objective of the Center for Knowledge Management at the Dominican University is to 
teach professionals how to manage the often overwhelming flow of information and 
knowledge within an enterprise successfully. 

Beginning with the spring 2000 semester, Dominican will offer a Certificate in Knowledge 
Management geared toward people working in the information sciences, computer sciences, 
or business management fields, according to Kanti Srikantaiah, the center's director and 
editor of Knowledge Management for the Information Professional 
(http://www.asis.org/Publications/bookstore/home.html). Knowledge management has been 
endorsed as a sound business strategy by the private sector, including many Fortune 500 
companies, and is rapidly moving into other areas as well, Srikantaiah says. 

The Center uses an interdisciplinary approach to the field of knowledge management 
developed by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science and the Graduate 
School of Business. The knowledge management certificate programme enables participants 
to gain the educational background to build a career as knowledge management officers, 
knowledge management specialists and the like. Admission is open to students who hold a 
bachelor's degree in any field.  

Some of the learning objectives of the certificate programme are to: 

Understand knowledge management concepts  
Become familiar with knowledge management tools  
Facilitate mapping of knowledge assets in enterprises  
Design and implement knowledge management systems  
Create a knowledge-sharing culture within enterprises.  

Topics covered include: 



The history and the underlying concepts behind knowledge management  
Knowledge production, acquisition and dissemination  
Basic principles of organization of knowledge, indexing and data dictionaries  
Information policies and knowledge management  
Knowledge mapping  
Metrics in knowledge management  
Knowledge management application packages  
External information sources and online information systems  
Key elements in the internal and external environment of enterprises  
Relationships between strategy and structure in enterprises  
Sources of power and methods of decision making  
Dynamics of organizational change  
Knowledge representation and acquisition concepts  
Decision support systems and expert systems  
Database management technology  
Groupware  
Internet/intranet operations and web agents  
Intra- and inter-organizational knowledge management issues  
Intellectual property rights  
Transborder data flow  
National information policies  

Upon successful completion of the certificate programme, participants may apply for 
admission to the Master of Science in Knowledge Management degree programme. Courses 
completed in the certificate programme may be credited toward the Master's degree in 
Knowledge Management. It is also possible to present the knowledge management certificate 
for credit toward a Master of Library and Information Science or Master of Business 
Administration degree, upon acceptance into one of these programmes.  

Further information: http://www.dom.edu or send an e-mail to Kanti Srikantaiah 
srikant@email.dom.edu.  

  

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ISSN 1560-683

Published by InterWord Communications for the Centre for Research in Web-based Applications,
Rand Afrikaans University