The Complex Issue of Measuring KM Performance: Lessons from the Practice

Most companies that are deeply investing in Knowledge Management (KM) initiatives encounter substantial difficulties in assessing the effectiveness of these programmes. Actually, measuring the impact of KM projects is still a puzzling problem both at the conceptual and operative level. However, measuring their performance is necessary for monitoring their progress and for successfully managing and allocating resources, as well as to maintain the support and commitment by the top management. Although several KM performance evaluation approaches have been proposed in literature, they are still far from becoming an established practice. The chapter aims at discussing this issue by placing it in a business context. First, the literature on KM performance evaluation is briefly reviewed, and the main methods currently used are classified. Then, the practical experience of a multinational company is discussed, with the purpose to describe the problems that practitioners face in their daily experience, and provide insights into the possible improvements of KM performance measurement.