Knowledge Management

Notice: Knowledge Management has been suspended as of Fall 2021.

The CSUN Master of Knowledge Management (M.K.M.) degree prepares graduates to meet a variety of organizational, social and ethical challenges in the digital age. In a globally competitive, fast-paced world, harnessing knowledge and maximizing workforce efforts are the linchpins of organizational success. Those who lead will need to know how to leverage organizational knowledge to create a competitive advantage and to do so in a way that is sensitive to the impacts of these efforts on communities—especially communities of color—within and outside of the workplace. This fully online, cohorted program equips its graduates to acquire, develop, use and share knowledge that creates value for themselves and their organizations. Moreover, its home in the College of Humanities means that students will adopt a critical, humanistic perspective that emphasizes the social and political dimensions of knowledge production and access. The program’s interdisciplinary content includes many topics covered in a traditional MBA program, but also emphasizes specialized skills and perspectives that are relevant to the fair and responsible management of knowledge in a 21st-century enterprise. These include utilizing relevant technologies; understanding the relation of knowledge and power; engaging modern communications; managing distant and diverse staff; promoting and sustaining a fair and equitable knowledge-sharing environment; leveraging global networks to achieve competitive strategic goals; recognizing and responding to the needs of diverse knowledge communities; and anticipating the potentially disproportionate impact of knowledge management strategies and technologies on communities of color. The program balances knowledge management theory and practice in order to uniquely prepare the managerial leader for the 21st-century economy and organization.

A. Requirements for Admission

To be admitted to the Master of Knowledge Management program, students must meet the following minimum requirements:

1. Have at least one of three degree requirements:
   1. A bachelor’s degree in any major from an accredited college or university with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
   2. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a GPA of 2.5-2.99 and a passing score (50th percentile or higher) in the verbal section of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
   3. A master’s degree from an accredited college or university.
2. Have been in good standing at the last institution attended.
3. Meet all requirements for CSUN graduate admission.
4. International applicants must submit an IELTS score of at least 6.5 or a TOEFL score of 550 or above (paper-based), 79 or above (Internet) or 213 or above (computer). Students who did not attend a college or university in which English was the primary language of instruction must demonstrate English language competence on the TOEFL or IELTS.
5. Submit a resume demonstrating at least one (1) year of work experience in an organizational setting.
6. Submit a one-page statement of purpose for entry into the Master of Knowledge Management program.
7. Submit a recent writing sample.
8. Applicants may be asked to participate in an interview with the program coordinator of the Master of Knowledge Management program and/or faculty admissions committee.

Application to the Department

The applications of students will be reviewed by the academic lead of the Knowledge Management program to determine if minimum qualifications are met for entry into the program. Students who meet University requirements will be interviewed for the Master of Knowledge Management program. Students will be admitted as either conditionally classified or classified graduate students.

B. Conditionally Classified Status

Students who do not meet all requirements may, nevertheless, be accepted as conditionally classified students, subject to various university and college requirements for classified status. Students who are admitted conditionally must achieve full classified standing prior to completing more than 12 units of graduate coursework appearing in the formal program.

C. Classified Status

To meet the minimum requirements for classified status, students must fulfill two of the following:

1. Attain a 3.0 GPA or higher in all work undertaken since admission to the program.
2. Hold a graduate degree from an accredited institution.
3. Score at or above the 50th percentile on the verbal or quantitative portions of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or score 4.5 or above on the analytical writing portion of the GRE. The GRE requirement is waived if the student’s undergraduate cumulative average is 3.0 or higher.
4. Attain a satisfactory performance on another nationally normed, university-approved examination.

D. Requirements for the Degree

1. Required Courses (33 units)

KM 610 Theories of Knowledge Management (3)
KM 611 Legal and Ethical Aspects of Knowledge Management (3)
KM 620 Information Organization and Knowledge Access (3)
KM 625 Research Methods, Mapping and Modeling for Knowledge Workers (3)
KM 631 Knowledge Leadership (3)
KM 633 Communication in the Knowledge Environment (3)
KM 635 Knowledge Systems (3)
KM 642 Organizational Culture and Change Management
KM 643 Competitive Intelligence (3)
KM 645 Statistics and Data Analytics (3)
KM 650 Knowledge Management Technologies (3)

2. Culminating Experience (3 units)

KM 698 Graduate Project (3)

Total Units Required for the M.K.M. Degree: 36