This is a summary of the book titled Principles of Knowledge Auditing written by Patrick Lambe and published by MIT Press. Knowledge management (KM) is a complex field with rapid growth, often lacking a common vocabulary and theoretical underpinnings. In this book, the author delves into knowledge auditing to clarify its language and trace its evolution. Knowledge audits reveal the state of knowledge production, access, and use in an organization and can help support change. They emerged from communication and information audits of the mid-20th century and target various phenomena, including knowledge stocks, flows, and processes. However, the precise use of language can cause confusion and bias, and personal or collective dualism can oversimplify how knowledge is held in organizations. Typologies organize types of knowledge to support auditing, sensemaking, and action.

Knowledge audits, also known as KM assessments, help identify opportunities and needs, develop action plans, and create alignment across the organization. They support organizational change by helping leaders understand how the organization produces, accesses, and uses information. However, knowledge audit teams often face problems due to a disconnect between the KM function and the business's daily operation, particularly in service domains like human resources, IT, and finance.

Knowledge auditing is a complex field that involves various practices and methodologies, including inventorying knowledge, evaluating knowledge assets, analyzing records, and assessing against a benchmark. It originated from the communication and information audits of the mid-20th century and has evolved over time. Knowledge audits target various phenomena, including knowledge stocks, flows, and processes. The scope of knowledge audits varies widely, with a framework breaking them into seven categories: stocks, flows, goals and needs, enablers, processes for knowledge creation, capture, discussion, synthesis, retention, storage, capabilities, and outcomes desired from the knowledge audit and the KM program overall.

The complexity of knowledge auditing often leads to confusion and bias in the field. The word "audit" in KM often implies rigor and authority, while the methodologies often lack such rigor. The use of the term "asset" is also confusing, as knowledge doesn't have the same qualities and properties as tangible or financial assets.

Syllepsis in knowledge management (KM) can lead to issues when practitioners transfer attributes from one phenomenon to another, such as knowledge assets. The International Organization for Standardization's ISO 30401 standard suggests that knowledge is an intangible asset that needs to be managed like any other asset. Metaphors in KM can affect how people think about and use knowledge, such as "stuff" metaphors that discount the human and emotional aspects of KM. Personal or collective dualism and tacit or explicit dualism oversimplify how knowledge is held in organizations, leading to errors in knowledge auditing and KM. The personal or collective dualism leaves out the core team, preventing understanding how personal knowledge is mediated and rendered actionable. The tacit or explicit dualism overemphasizes explicit knowledge, while implicit knowledge includes knowledge that could be made explicit but has not yet. Typologies organize types of knowledge to support auditing, sensemaking, and action, but many of them fail to meet auditability criteria.

Typologies for personal and organizational knowledge have been developed, but they fail to meet the requirements for auditability. Michael Zack's typology distinguishes between declarative, procedural, causal, conditional, and relational knowledge. Harry Collins' typology identifies three forms of tacit knowledge: relational, somatic, and collective. Frank Blackler's typology describes knowledge as "embrained," embodied, encultured, embedded, and encoded. Straits Knowledge's "Wheel of Knowledge" typology helps understand and manage personal and organizational knowledge, meeting auditability requirements.

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