Knowledge Loss
The primary cause of knowledge loss is employee turnover. Some types of knowledge are difficult to transfer or document. When an employee leaves, they may make an effort to write down or transfer everything that they know but this typically has a limited impact. Knowledge can also be lost simply because it isn't captured. For example, a project manager may fail to capture the rationale for the decisions made within the context of a project. Any knowledge that is potentially valuable that isn't retained can be considered lost. The third reason for knowledge loss is deletion or isolation. This can happen in the transition from a legacy system due to a failure to migrate data and documents.Knowledge Waste
Knowledge waste is the tendency for organizational knowledge to go unused when it would be useful. Knowledge may be stored in silos that are difficult for people to search or access. This can be intentional or technical, as teams may be needlessly secretive or store knowledge in obscure repositories that are unknown to the organization as a whole. In many cases, there are well developed processes for capturing knowledge but few processes for actually using it. For example, projects may capture lessons learned to prevent future projects from repeating the mistakes of the past. However, use of such documentation is often rare.Knowledge Loss vs Knowledge Waste | ||
Knowledge Loss | Knowledge Waste | |
Definition | A failure to retain organizational knowledge. | A failure to use organizational knowledge when it would be useful. |
Causes | Employee turnoverFailure to documentDeletion | Lack of communicationSecrecySecurity barriersData isolationProcess gapsNot invented here |