The core idea
Knowledge management concerns how useful knowledge is created, shared, retained and applied. Explicit knowledge can be expressed in records or instructions; tacit knowledge is often embedded in experience and judgement. Armstrong and Taylor discuss both codification and person-to-person exchange. A document store can support learning, but it cannot capture every situational cue an experienced colleague notices.
Source and attribution [1]Using it in practice
Choose a recurring task where knowledge loss or repeated searching causes harm. Identify what can be documented and what needs demonstration, conversation or supervised practice. Give each resource an owner, review date and clear audience. Build short debriefs into work and make it safe to record uncertainty. Test whether a newcomer can find the right material and use it successfully.
An example, not a reported case
Worked example · illustrative
After several avoidable service faults, a team creates a one-page diagnostic record for each unusual case. Experienced technicians explain how they distinguished similar symptoms. New colleagues practise with support, then improve the notes when instructions prove unclear. The shared resource grows from real decisions instead of becoming an unfiltered archive.
What to watch for
Not all knowledge should circulate freely. Customer information, employee cases and commercial details require appropriate access controls. Communities of practice need time and a useful purpose; attendance figures alone say little about whether expertise has been exchanged.
Codification and connection
A searchable procedure helps with stable, repeatable work. A community of practice helps people interpret unfamiliar situations and compare approaches. Use both where appropriate. Treat stories as prompts for investigation rather than automatically reliable instructions.
Make handovers teachable
Before a planned departure or role move, prioritise rare tasks, key relationships and unresolved decisions. Pair observation with an explanation of why a choice was made. Ask the successor to perform the task and describe their reasoning, rather than simply signing off a handover checklist.
Check use and quality
Measure time to find an answer, repeated errors and whether guidance remains current. Remove or label superseded versions through an agreed process. Reward useful contributions and correction, not the number of files uploaded.
Take it into your next conversation
Three useful questions.
- What knowledge would be hardest to replace?
- Which task needs guided practice rather than a document?
- Who keeps the shared material trustworthy?
Related terms
Go to the evidence
Sources & attribution
Further reading: Michael Armstrong with Stephen Taylor (2023), Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 16th edition, chapters 15. Edition & reading notes ↗
[1] Armstrong & Taylor (2023), 16th edition, chapters 15 — reading notes ↗
The core idea is an original summary of the cited work. Application notes, examples and sketches are our interpretations, not quotations or reproductions of the authors’ figures. Publisher records may require access to read the full original work.
Original teaching guide informed by the cited handbook chapters. The four-step sketch is an ADM HR application aid, not a named Armstrong model. Examples are invented. The 2023 book is not used to establish current employment law.
Published 2026-09-25 · Reviewed 2026-09-25. Editorial approach