Zarządzanie (ryzykiem) wiedzą(y) w niepewnych i dynamicznych środowiskach  
[Knowledge (risk) management in uncertain and dynamic environments]  

Susanne Durst (Department of Business Administration, TalTech, Tallinn, Estonia)


The on-going COVID-19 pandemic has underlined once more how important it is to 
have access to relevant and updated information and knowledge to make improved 
decisions. Even though Knowledge Management has established itself as a field of 
study. A closer look at the extant literature, however, shows that knowledge is 
still primarily discussed as something positive, something of value. Potential 
downsides of knowledge are (still) neglected or underestimated. 

Organizations that fail to properly manage their critical knowledge to secure its 
value-creation potential undergo significant risks, for example, loss of 
expertise or reinvention of know-how. Therefore, the need to carefully manage the 
downside risks of knowledge is high too. One can argue that managers can only 
make use of the full potential of the organization's knowledge when considering 
both knowledge as an asset and as a liability (a negative risk). Against the 
challenges both private and public organizations are facing, such as 
digitalization, skills shortage, succession planning and sustainability, to name 
a few, there is a strong need to bring knowledge risks and ways to handle/manage 
them more into the limelight. Therefore, the aim of the seminar is to introduce  
to the other side of knowledge to raise awareness of the different qualities of 
knowledge and the likely consequences.