Strategies to Facilitate Knowledge Codification through Integrated Management System (IMS)

Managing nuclear safety knowledge is challenging due to the uniqueness of the knowledge itself. It requires specific strategies to ensure it becomes an integral part of all nuclear activities. In general, safety knowledge that need to be managed includes both explicit (documented knowledge) and tacit (subjective knowledge) knowledge. Explicit knowledge is in the form of a formal, easily documented, systematic, and easily communicated within organization. While tacit knowledge is knowledge held by an employees in accordance with the understanding, skills (expertise), and their experience. Therefore, tacit knowledge need to be managed differently to ensure it can be properly captured, preserved and transferred to successors. This is the most difficult steps in the implementation of nuclear safety knowledge management. Tacit knowledge need to go through codification process so that it can be systematically documented and accessible in the organization. One of the strategies to facilitate tacit knowledge codification is through the implementation of Integrated Management System (IMS). IMS for safety and security is established in Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia) to ensure nuclear safety and security matters are incorporated in managing nuclear facilities and activities. This paper looks at the role played by the IMS process in contributing to the knowledge codification within the organization. (author)