Knowledge management in universities - the CIST case

The global communication networks provide nowadays access to enormous quantity of information and knowledge coming from a great variety of sources. The information overload raises new challenges to individuals and organizations. First, there is a need for proper knowledge management (KM) at individual level in order to access fast and easy the information, expertise and knowledge necessary for knowledge workers, to avoid duplication of work and knowledge losses. Second, organizations should integrate knowledge management into their business/functional processes in order to raise their own effectiveness and productivity. This is equally valid for business, governmental and research organizations. Finally, there is a need for integrating knowledge audit into company practice in order to monitor knowledge management results and impact on the organization, and focus further knowledge management actions in order to gain maximum benefits The paper presents, initially, the concept of knowledge audit. It considers knowledge audit as an instrument for monitoring KM initiatives, presents the authors understanding of its main goals, and highlights some knowledge audit models described in the research and the business literature. A special focus is made on the methodology of the TRAINMOR KNOWMORE project completed recently within the Leonardo da Vinchi programme of the European Commission. Subsequently, one of the pilot studies within the project and its results is presented in the paper, e.g. the results of a knowledge audit carried out in the Centre of Information Society Technology (CIST) - a dynamic research unit of Sofia University. The central focus of the paper is the need of knowledge workers in an university environment. It presents the main features of the Centre of Information Society Technology of Sofia University and the main findings of a recent pilot knowledge audit in CIST. On this base, the paper proposes a framework for Knowledge Management in CIST, which could be implemented after a pilot trial at the whole university.