Comprehensive knowledge and information management

Knowledge management affects the organisation´s technical assets as well as the employees’ willingness to share knowledge. Knowledge is an essential resource in public administrations and has to be stored in order to not get lost for the organisation. As a main reason for the loss of knowledge, participants of our focus group with a socialpolitical background named the retirement of employees. That is why it is important to build up a learning culture, to ensure and promote knowledge transfer within the organisation, as well as with relevant stakeholders. Knowledge management is cofounded with (new) information technologies, which provide an opportunity for administrations to become more efficient. [1][2]
It is therefore necessary to establish a centralised knowledge base, where the organisation's knowledge is stored and saved. This can make public administration work more effective and improve its performance. At the same time, knowledge management can have positive impact in many spheres, for example, policy making and citizens’ engagement. It could be said, that this is a need, which also addresses other needs in public administration.
A comprehensive knowledge management plays an important role on the implementation phase of the policy cycle, but can also have positive impact on the policy formulation and evaluation phase. [3]

[1]    Hanger. S., Pfenninger, S., Dreyfus, M., Patt, A. (2013), Knowledge and information needs of adaptation policy-makers: a European study, Regional Environmental Change, 13(1), 91-101.
[2]    OECD (n.d.), Knowledge management in the public and private sectors: similarities and differences in the challenges created by the knowledge-intensive economy, www.oecd.org/edu/innovation-education/2667077.pdf, retrieved December 20, 2017.
[3]    Wigg, K. M. (2002), Knowledge management in public administration, Journal of Knowledge Management, 6(3), 224-239, https://doi.org/10.1108/13673270210434331.