A

PROJECT REPORT

ON

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

REQUIRMENT OF MASTER’S DEGREE IN BUSINESS

ADMINISTRATION

Webuniv Infotech Ltd.

SUBMITTED BY:

MANISH KUMAR SINGH

Roll No.: 510919914

Session: 2009-2011

SANNEXURE –A (COVER PAGE)

Webuniv Infotech Ltd

Code:-0963

Project title:

KNOWLEDGE MANGEMENT

By:

MANISH KUMAR SINGH

Roll No.: 510919914

A project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the

degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION of SIKKIM MANIPAL

UNIVERSITY, INDIA.

Sikkim –Manipal university of Health, Medical and technological Sciences

Distance education wing

Syndicate house

Manipal-576 104

ANNEXURE B (STUDENT DECLARATION)

We here by declare that the project report entitled KNOWLEDGE

MANAGEMENT submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree of masters of business Administration to Sikkim-Manipal University,

India, are our original work and not submitted for the award of any other

degree, diploma, fellowship, or any other similar title or prizes.

Reg.No: Name

510919914 MANISH KUMAR SINGH

Date:

Place:

ANNEXURE –C (EXAMINER’S CERTIFICATE )

The project report by Manish Kumar Singh on KNOWLEDGE

MANAGEMENT is approved and is acceptable in quality and form.

Internal examiner External

examiner

Name:- Name:-

Qualification: - Qualification:-

Designation: - Designation:-

ANNUXERE – D (UNIVERSITY STUDY CENTRE

CERTIFICATE)

This is to certify that the project report entitled KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of MASTER OF

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION of SIKKIM MANIPAL UNIVERSITY of Health, Medical

and Technological science.

Manish Kumar Singh has worked under my supervision and that no

part of this report has been submitted for the award of any other degree,

Diploma , fellowship or other similar titles or prizes and that the work has been

published in any journal or Magazine.

Name Reg. no

Manish Kumar Singh 510919914

Certified

(Guide’s Name)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With a deep sense of gratitude I express we thanks to all those who have been

instrumental in the development of the project report.

I am also grateful to Webuniv Infotech Ltd, Delhi who gave me a valuable

opportunity of involving me in real live business project. I am thankful to all the

professors whose positive attitude, guidance and faith in my ability spurred me

to perform well.

I am also indebted to all lecturers, friends and associates for their valuable

advice, stimulated suggestions and overwhelming support without which the

project would not have been a success.

S.NO CHAPTERISATION

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Objective of the Project

Introduction of the Topic

Introduction

Definition of Knowledge

Types of Knowledges

Religious Meaning of Knowledge

About Knowledge Management

History of Knowledge Management

Modern Methods

Needs of Knowledge Management

Key Concepts of Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management Technologies

Sources of Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management Stratagies

Knowledge Management – Emerging Perspective

Knowledge Management in Disaster Risk Reduction

Knowledge Management – Cross Disciplinary Domain

About Tata Steels

Introduction

Products

Corporate Sustainability

Policies

Management

Business Units

Corporate Governance

Aim & Vision

Journey of Knowledge Management in Tata Steels

Phases of Knowledge Management

Stakeholders in Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management Stratagies at Tata Steels

Knowledge Management Portal at Tata Steel

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

Knowledge Management Milestones

Knowledge Management at Asian Development Bank

Core Knowledge Activities

Knowledge Management Tools

Pillars of Knowledge Management

Function & Activities for Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management at NASA

Where is NASA headed ?

How will NASA measure success?

Research Methodology

Suggestion

Conclusion

Bibliography

1.KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

OBJECTIVES

1. To understand the concept of Knowledge Management in India.

2. To learn the importance of Knowledge Management in Corporate World.

3. The project will identify, analyze and evaluate the various types of

Knowledge existing thereof.

4. To identify the Importance of Knowledge Management in Disaster Risk

Reduction.

5. To understand the problems and challenges faced by the Organizations in

managing the Knowledge of different types.

6. To define the Knowledge Management in different organizations.

7. To study the profile of the Tata Steel.

8. To know about the Journey of Knowledge Management in Tata Steels.

9. To know about the Knowledge Management in Asian Development Bank.

10. To understand the Concept of Knowledge Management in detail.

2. INTRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Introduction

Knowledge Management ('KM') comprises a range of practices used by

organisations to identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge. It has

been an established discipline since 1995 [1] with a body of university courses

and both professional and academic journals dedicated to it. Many large

companies have resources dedicated to Knowledge Management, often as a

part of 'Information Technology' or 'Human Resource Management'

departments. Knowledge Management is a multi-billion dollar world wide

market.

Knowledge Management programs are typically tied to organisational

objectives such as improved performance, competitive advantage innovation,

lessons learnt transfer (for example between projects) and the general

development of collaborative practices. Knowledge Management is frequently

linked to the idea of the learning organisation although neither practice

encompasses the other. Knowledge Management may be distinguished from

Organisational Learning by a greater focus on specific knowledge assets and

the development and cultivation of the channels through which knowledge

flows

At Knowledge Praxis, Knowledge Management has been defined as a

business activity with two primary aspects:

Treating the knowledge component of business activities as an

explicit concern of business reflected in strategy, policy, and

practice at all levels of the organization.

Making a direct connection between an organization’s

intellectual assets — both explicit [recorded] and tacit [personal

know-how] — and positive business results.

In practice, knowledge management often encompasses identifying and

mapping intellectual assets within the organization, generating new knowledge

for competitive advantage within the organization, making vast amounts of

corporate information accessible, sharing of best practices, and technology that

enables all of the above — including groupware and intranets.

That covers a lot of ground. And it should, because applying knowledge to work

is integral to most business activities.

Knowledge management is hard to define precisely and simply. (The definition

also leapfrogs the task of defining "knowledge" itself. We’ll get to that later.)

That’s not surprising. How would a nurse or doctor define "health care"

succinctly? How would a CEO describe "management"? How would a CFO

describe "compensation"? Each of those domains is complex, with many sub-

areas of specialization. Nevertheless, we know "health care" and

"management" when we see them, and we understand the major goals and

activities of those domains.

What is “KNOWLEDGE ?”

In simplest terms, knowledge is the ability of an actor to respond to a body of

facts and principles accumulated over a period of time

One way to look at knowledge is as the apogee of the following continuum –

data information knowledge

Data=1 unit of fact; information=aggregation of data;

knowledge=potential for action on information

Data and information have intrinsic properties, the quality of knowledge

depends on the properties of the agent

Aren’t we managing knowledge already? Well, no. In fact, most of the time

we’re making a really ugly mess of managing information. In practice, the

terms information and knowledge are often used interchangeably by business

writers.

Let’s choose a simple working definition and get on with it:

Knowledge has two basic definitions of interest. The first pertains to a

defined body of information. Depending on the definition, the body of

information might consist of facts, opinions, ideas, theories, principles,

and models (or other frameworks). Clearly, other categories are possible,

too. Subject matter (e.g., chemistry, mathematics, etc.) is just one

possibility.

Knowledge also refers to a person’s state of being with respect to some

body of information. These states include ignorance, awareness,

familiarity, understanding, facility, and so on.

There are many thoughtful and thought-provoking definitions of "knowledge" —

including the important distinctions Gene Bellinger et al. make in "Data,

Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom". Nevertheless, Nickols provides a good,

sensible, functional definition, and it is sufficient for our purposes.

Nickols’ two kinds of knowledge parallel Michael Polanyi’s often-quoted

distinction between explicit knowledge (sometimes referred to as formal

knowledge), which can be articulated in language and transmitted among

individuals, and tacit knowledge (also, informal knowledge), personal

knowledge rooted in individual experience and involving personal belief,

perspective, and values. (Polanyi, Michael. The Tacit Dimension. London:

Routledge & Kegan Paul. See also Karl E. Sveiby’s online description, "Tacit

Knowledge."

In traditional perceptions of the role of knowledge in business organizations,

tacit knowledge is often viewed as the real key to getting things done and

creating new value. Not explicit knowledge. Thus we often encounter an

emphasis on the "learning organization" and other approaches that stress

internalization of information (through experience and action) and generation

of new knowledge through managed interaction.

In the opinion of the editors of Knowledge Praxis, quibbles about fine

distinctions in the meaning of knowledge are just not very important. (See Rant

#1: Thinking objectively about subjective knowing) It doesn’t matter whether a

written procedure or a subject matter expert provides a solution to a particular

problem, as long as a positive result is achieved. However, observing how

knowledge is acquired and how we can apply knowledge — whether tacit or

explicit — in order to achieve a positive result that meets business

requirements … that’s a different and very important issue.

Knowledge is defined (Oxford English Dictionary) variously as (i) expertise,

and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the

theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, (ii) what is known in a

particular field or in total; facts and information or (iii) awareness or familiarity

gained by experience of a fact or situation. Philosophical debates in general

start with Plato's formulation of knowledge as "justified true belief". There is

however no single agreed definition of knowledge presently, nor any prospect

of one, and there remain numerous competing theories.

Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception,

learning, communication, association and reasoning. The term knowledge is

also used to mean the confident understanding of a subject with the ability to

use it for a specific purpose if appropriate.

DEFINING KNOWLEDGE

“We suppose ourselves to possess unqualified scientific knowledge of a

thing, as opposed to knowing it in the accidental way in which the

sophist knows, when we think that we know the cause on which the fact

depends, as the cause of that fact and of no other, and, further, that the

fact could not be other than it is. Now that scientific knowing is

something of this sort is evident — witness both those who falsely claim

it and those who actually possess it, since the former merely imagine

themselves to be, while the latter are also actually, in the condition

described. Consequently the proper object of unqualified scientific

knowledge is something which cannot be other than it is. ”

The definition of knowledge is a matter of on-going debate among philosophers

in the field of epistemology. The classical definition, described but not

ultimately endorsed by, Plato[1], has it that in order for there to be knowledge at

least three criteria must be fulfilled; that in order to count as knowledge, a

statement must be justified, true, and believed. Some claim that these

conditions are not sufficient, as Gettier case examples allegedly demonstrate.

There are a number of alternatives proposed, including Robert Nozick's

arguments for a requirement that knowledge 'tracks the truth' and Simon

Blackburn's additional requirement that we do not want to say that those who

meet any of these conditions 'through a defect, flaw, or failure' have

knowledge. Richard Kirkham suggests that our definition of knowledge requires

that the believer's evidence is such that it logically necessitates the truth of the

belief.

In contrast to this approach, Wittgenstein observed, following Moore's paradox,

that one can say "He believes it, but it isn't so", but not "He knows it, but it isn't

so". [2] He goes on to argue that these do not correspond to distinct mental

states, but rather to distinct ways of talking about conviction. What is different

here is not the mental state of the speaker, but the activity in which they are

engaged. For example, on this account, to know that the kettle is boiling is not

to be in a particular state of mind, but to perform a particular task with the

statement that the kettle is boiling. Wittgenstein sought to bypass the difficulty

of definition by looking to the way "knowledge" is used in natural languages. He

saw knowledge as a case of a family resemblance.

RELIABLE KNOWLEDGE

In An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method (1934), Morris R. Cohen and

Ernest Nagel reviewed the pursuit of truth as determined by logical

considerations. They reviewed ways of eliminating doubt and arriving at stable

beliefs or reliable knowledge, such as

The method of authority

The method of intuition

The methods of experimental inquiry:

Types of invariant relations

The experimental method in general

The method of agreement

The method of difference

The joint method of agreement and difference

The method of concomitant variation

The doctrine of the uniformity of nature

The plurality of causes

Their final conclusion was, "Scientific method we declare as the most assured

technique man has yet devised for controlling the flux of things and

establishing stable beliefs."

In an essay entitled "Inductive Method and Scientific Discovery," Marcello Pera

said, "In the first place, the scientific method is a procedure, a general strategy

that indicates an ordered sequence of moves (or steps) which the scientist has

to make (or go through) in order to reach the goal of his research." (In On

Scientific Discovery, edited by Grmek, Cohen, and Cimino [1977], published in

the Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science Series.) The scientific method is

not a method directly applied, but rather a guide to the mental activity stages

of originating, refining, extending, and applying knowledge. It is subject neutral

and flexible in use; it is thus suitable for all domains.

Statements about truth must be viewed skeptically. Rather than state

something as "true," the following phrase should be used: "On the evidence

available today the balance of probability favors the view that..."

The literature contains hundreds of formulas for the scientific method. They are

basically the same but differ in length and terminology. In an article

"Suggestions for Teaching the Scientific Method" published in the March 1961

issue of American Biology Teacher, Dr. Kenneth B.M. Crooks suggested this

one:

Curiosity

Is there a problem?

Get the evidence

Attributes needed

Weigh all evidence

Make the educated guess (hypothesis)

Challenge the hypothesis

Get a conclusion

Suspend judgment

SDeductive reasoning

COMMUNICATING KNOWLEDGE

Symbolic representations can be used to indicate meaning and can be thought

of as a dynamic process. Hence the transfer of the symbolic representation can

be viewed as one ascription process whereby knowledge can be transferred.

Other forms of communication include imitation, narrative exchange along with

a range of other methods. There is no complete theory of knowledge transfer or

communication.

While many would agree that one of the most universal and significant tools for

the transfer of knowledge would be the different systems of writing argument

over the usefulness of the written word exists however, with some scholars

skeptical of its impact on societies. In his novel “Technopoly” Neil Postman

demonstrates the argument against the use of writing through an excerpt from

Plato’s work “Phaedrus” (Postman, Neil (1992) Technopoly, Vintage, New York,

pp 73). In this excerpt the scholar Socrates recounts the story of Thamus, the

Egyptian king and Theuth the inventor of the written word. In this story Theuth

presents his new invention “writing” to King Thamus, telling Thamus that his

new invention “will improve both the wisdom and memory of the Egyptians”

(Postman, Neil (1992) Technopoly, Vintage, New York ,pp 74). King Thamus is

skeptical of this new invention and rejects it as a tool of recollection rather than

retained knowledge. He argues that the written word will infect the Egyptian

people with fake knowledge as they will be able to attain facts and stories form

an external source and will no longer be forced to mentally retain large

quantities of knowledge themselves

Andrew Robinson also highlights, in his work “The Origins of Writing”, the

possibility for writing to be used to spread false information and there for the

ability of the written word to decrease social knowledge (Robinson, Andrew

(2003) “The Origins of Writing” in Crowley and Heyer (eds) Communication in

History: Technology, Culture, Society, Allyb and Bacon, Boston pp 34). People

are often internalizing new information which they perceive to be knowledge

but are in reality fill their minds with false knowledge.

SITUATED KNOWLEDGE

Situated knowledge is knowledge specific to a particular situation. Imagine two

very similar breeds of mushroom, which grow on either side of a mountain, one

nutritious, one poisonous. Relying on knowledge from one side of an ecological

boundary, after crossing to the other, may lead to starving rather than eating

perfectly healthy food near at hand, or to poisoning oneself by mistake.

Some methods of generating knowledge, such as trial and error, or learning

from experience, tend to create highly situational knowledge. One of the main

benefits of the scientific method is that the theories it generates are much less

situational than knowledge gained by other methods. Situational knowledge is

often embedded in language, culture, or tradition.

Knowledge generated through experience is called knowledge "a posteriori",

meaning afterwards. The pure existence of a term like "a posteriori" means this

also has a counterpart. In this case that is knowledge "a priori", meaning

before. The knowledge prior to any experience means that there are certain

"assumptions" that one takes for granted. For example if one is being told

about a chair it is clear to him that the chair is in space, that it is 3D. This

knowledge is not knowledge that one can "forget", even someone suffering

from amnesia experiences the world in 3D. See also: A priori and a posteriori.

PARTIAL KNOWLEDGE

One discipline of epistemology focuses on partial knowledge. In most realistic

cases, it is not possible to have an exhaustive understanding of an information

domain, so then we have to live with the fact that our knowledge is always not

complete, that is, partial. Most real problems have to be solved by taking

advantage of a partial understanding of the problem context and problem data.

That is very different from the typical simple math problems that we solve at

school, where all data are given and we have a perfect understanding of

formulas necessary to solve them.

RELIGIOUS MEANING OF KNOWLEDGE

In many expressions of Christianity, such as Catholicism and Anglicanism,

knowledge is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

In Islam, the prophet Muhammad has described himself and his vicergeant Ali

as the sources of knowledge: "I am the City of Knowledge and Ali is its Gate".

Hindu Scriptures present two kinds of knowledge, Paroksha Gnyana and

Aporoksha Gnyana. Paroksha Gnyana is secondhand knowledge: knowledge

obtained from books, hearsay, etc. Aporoksha Gnyana is the knowledge borne

of direct experience, i.e., knowledge that one discovers for oneself.

The Old Testament's Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil contained the

knowledge that separated Man from God.

In Gnosticism divine knowledge or gnosis is hoped to be attained and escape

from the demiurge's physical world. And in Thelema knowledge and

conversation with one's Holy Guardian Angel is the purpose of life, which is

similar to Gnosis or enlightenment in other mystery religions

KNOWLEDGE ASSETS

There are two types of knowledge assets –

Explicit or formal assets like copyrights, patents, templates, publications,

reports, archives, etc.

Tacit or informal assets that are rooted in human experience and include

personal belief, perspective, and values

3. A BRIEF HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

An overarching theory of knowledge management has yet to emerge, perhaps

because the practices associated with managing knowledge have their roots in

a variety of disciplines and domains.

A number of management theorists have contributed to the evolution of

knowledge management, among them such notables as Peter Drucker, Paul

Strassmann, and Peter Senge in the United States. Drucker and Strassmann

have stressed the growing importance of information and explicit knowledge

as organizational resources, and Senge has focused on the "learning

organization," a cultural dimension of managing knowledge. Chris Argyris,

Christoper Bartlett, and Dorothy Leonard-Barton of Harvard Business School

have examined various facets of managing knowledge. In fact, Leonard-

Barton’s well-known case study of Chaparral Steel, a company which has had

an effective knowledge management strategy in place since the mid-1970s,

inspired the research documented in her Wellsprings of Knowledge — Building

and Sustaining Sources of Innovation (Harvard Business School Press, 1995).

Everett Rogers’ work at Stanford in the diffusion of innovation and Thomas

Allen’s research at MIT in information and technology transfer, both of which

date from the late 1970s, have also contributed to our understanding of how

knowledge is produced, used, and diffused within organizations. By the mid-

1980s, the importance of knowledge (and its expression in professional

competence) as a competitive asset was apparent, even though classical

economic theory ignores (the value of) knowledge as an asset and most

organizations still lack strategies and methods for managing it.

Recognition of the growing importance of organizational knowledge was

accompanied by concern over how to deal with exponential increases in the

amount of available knowledge and increasingly complex products and

processes. The computer technology that contributed so heavily to

superabundance of information started to become part of the solution, in a

variety of domains. Doug Engelbart’s Augment (for "augmenting human

intelligence"), which was introduced in 1978, was an early

hypertext/groupware application capable of interfacing with other applications

and systems. Rob Acksyn’s and Don McCracken’s Knowledge Management

System (KMS), an open distributed hypermedia tool, is another notable

example and one that predates the World Wide Web by a decade.

The 1980s also saw the development of systems for managing knowledge that

relied on work done in artificial intelligence and expert systems, giving us such

concepts as "knowledge acquisition," "knowledge engineering," "knowledge-

base systems, and computer-based ontologies.

The phrase "knowledge management" entered the lexicon in earnest. To

provide a technological base for managing knowledge, a consortium of U.S.

companies started the Initiative for Managing Knowledge Assets in 1989.

Knowledge management-related articles began appearing in journals like

Sloan Management Review, Organizational Science, Harvard Business Review,

and others, and the first books on organizational learning and knowledge

management were published (for example, Senge’s The Fifth Discipline and

Sakaiya’s The Knowledge Value Revolution).

By 1990, a number of management consulting firms had begun in-house

knowledge management programs, and several well known U.S., European,

and Japanese firms had instituted focused knowledge management programs.

Knowledge management was introduced in the popular press in 1991, when

Tom Stewart published "Brainpower" in Fortune magazine. Perhaps the most

widely read work to date is Ikujiro Nonaka’s and Hirotaka Takeuchi’s The

Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics

of Innovation (1995).

By the mid-1990s, knowledge management initiatives were flourishing, thanks

in part to the Internet. The International Knowledge Management Network

(IKMN), begun in Europe in 1989, went online in 1994 and was soon joined by

the U.S.-based Knowledge Management Forum and other KM-related groups

and publications. The number of knowledge management conferences and

seminars is growing as organizations focus on managing and leveraging explicit

and tacit knowledge resources to achieve competitive advantage. In 1994 the

IKMN published the results of a knowledge management survey conducted

among European firms, and the European Community began offering funding

for KM-related projects through the ESPRIT program in 1995.

Knowledge management, which appears to offer a highly desirable alternative

to failed TQM and business process re-engineering initiatives, has become big

business for such major international consulting firms as Ernst & Young, Arthur

Andersen, and Booz-Allen & Hamilton. In addition, a number of professional

organizations interested in such related areas as benchmarking, best

practices, risk management, and change management are exploring the

relationship of knowledge management to their areas of special expertise (for

example, the APQC [American Productivity and Quality Council] and ASIS

[American Society for Information Science]).

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

There is no universal definition for knowledge management

At its broadest, KM is the ‘process through which organizations generate

value from intellectual and knowledge based assets’

Knowledge management (KM) refers to a range of practices used by

organizations to identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge for reuse

and learning across the organization. Knowledge management applications/

knowledge management tools are used to tie organizational objectives to the

achievement of specific business outcomes such as improved performance,

competitive advantage, and higher levels of innovation.

Definitions used by PETER DRUCKER

“Information is data endowed with relevance and purpose. Converting

data into information thus requires knowledge.”

“In the information–based organization, the knowledge will be primarily at

the bottom, in the minds of the specialists who do different work and

direct themselves”

“Managing Knowledge Means Managing Oneself”

“For the first time, they [people] have to manage themselves”

“The historic shift to self-management offers organizations four ways to

best develop and motivate knowledge workers:

Know people’s strengths

Place them where they can make the greatest contributions

Treat them as associates

Expose them to challenges”

“Knowledge workers don’t believe they are paid to work 9 to 5; they

believe they’re paid to be effective.”

“Organizations that understand this– and strip away everything that gets

in their knowledge worker’s way – will be able to attract, hold, and

motivate the best performers.”

S“This will be the single biggest factor for competitive advantage in the

next 25 years.”

“Management Legend: Trust Never Goes Out of Style”

Delphi Group’s Collaborative Commerce Summit

Drucker delivered an opening speech on the topics of business processes

and the role of technology in the modern company.

Discussed with John Archer, senior architect for SilverStream Software

Inc. about the role of technology in management of strategic business

processes

“Trust is a central issue in making the most of organization knowledge”

“The workers shouldn’t be managed so much as entrusted to do the most

with their knowledge”

“You can't manage knowledge. …Knowledge is between two ears, and

only between two ears.”

“When employees leave a company, their knowledge goes with them, no

matter how much they've shared.”

NEED FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Some of the most common reasons that makes having a knowledge

management solution imperative:

Volumes of unorganized unsearchable knowledge.

Knowledge transfer is time consuming.

Email overload due to knowledge transfer by email.

Secure sharing of sensitive knowledge among limited people

Loss of knowledge when people leave or hardware devices fail.

Ongoing security and backup of knowledge.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: CONTEXT

There is a broad range of thought on Knowledge Management with no

unanimous definition. The approaches vary by author and school. Knowledge

Management may be viewed from each of the following perspectives:

Techno-centric: A focus on technology, ideally those that enhance

knowledge sharing/growth.

Organisational: How does the organisation need to be designed to

facilitate knowledge processes? Which organisations work best with what

processes?

Ecological: Seeing the interaction of people, identity, knowledge and

environmental factors as a complex adaptive system.

In addition, as the discipline is maturing, there is an increasing presence of

academic debates within epistemology emerging in both the theory and

practice of knowledge management. British and Australian standards bodies

both have produced documents that attempt to bound and scope the field, but

these have received limited acceptance or awareness.

Knowledge Management, has always existed in one form or another. Examples

include on-the-job peer discussions, formal apprenticeship, discussion forums,

corporate libraries, professional training and mentoring programs. However,

with computers becoming more widespread in the second half of the 20th

century, specific adaptations of technology such as knowledge bases, expert

systems, and knowledge repositories have been introduced to further enhance

the process.

The emergence of Knowledge Management has also generated new roles and

responsibilities in organisations, an early example of which was the Chief

Knowledge Officer. In recent years, Personal knowledge management (PKM)

practice has arisen in which individuals apply KM practice to themselves, their

roles and their career development.

Schools of thought in Knowledge Management

There are a variety of different schools of thought in Knowledge

Management. These include:

the Intellectual capital movement with Leif Edvinsson and Tom Stewart

a focus on collaboration including concepts of Community of practice and

a range of collaborative technologies. Much of this work originates from

research by Etienne Wenger and the Lotus Institute (now absorbed into

IBM Research). Other prominent figures include Saint-Onge, McDermott

and others.

the use of social network analysis to understand interactions between

people within organisations, both qualitatively and quantitatively,

associated with Krebs, Stephen Borgatti, Cross and others.

a body of work derivative of Information theory associated with Larry

Prusak and Tom Davenport and linked to the conversion of internalized

tacit knowledge into explicit codified knowledge (SECI) allowing

successful knowledge sharing as highlighted by Ikujiro Nonaka and

Hirotaka Takeuchi. This is probably the dominant school of thought, as

represented by publications and includes later developments by authors

such as Probst, Von Krough & Malhotra amongst many others.

Management of tangibles & intangibles, living networks, co-creation and

whole systems through value networks and value network analysis

(Allee). This work also includes linkages and connections to theory

associated with the Learning Organization

Complexity approaches associated with David Snowden (see Cynefin)

Max Boisot, J C Spender and others. Variations of this include the use of

narrative (Snowden, David M. Boje and others) as a form of fragmented

knowledge

KEY CONCEPTS IN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Dimensions of knowledge

A key distinction made by the majority of knowledge management practitioners

is Nonaka's reformulation of Polanyi's distinction between tacit and explicit

knowledge. The former is often subconscious, internalized, and the individual

may or may not be aware of what he or she knows and how he or she

accomplishes particular results. At the opposite end of the spectrum is

conscious or explicit knowledge -- knowledge that the individual holds explicitly

and consciously in mental focus, and may communicate to others. In the

popular form of the distinction, tacit knowledge is what is in our heads, and

explicit knowledge is what we have codified.

Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) [2] argued that a successful KM program needs, on

the one hand, to convert internalized tacit knowledge into explicit codified

knowledge in order to share it, but, on the other hand, it also must permit

individuals and groups to internalize and make personally meaningful codified

knowledge they have retrieved from the KM system.

The focus upon codification and management of explicit knowledge has allowed

knowledge management practitioners to appropriate prior work in information

management, leading to the frequent accusation that knowledge management

is simply a repackaged form of information management. [3]

Critics have argued that Nonaka and Takeuchi's distinction between tacit and

explicit knowledge is oversimplified and that the notion of explicit knowledge is

self-contradictory. Specifically, for knowledge to be made explicit, it must be

translated into information (i.e., symbols outside of our heads).

Another common framework for categorizing the dimensions of knowledge

discriminates between embedded knowledge as knowledge which has been

incorporated into an artifact of some type (for example an information system

may have knowledge embedded into its design); and embodied knowledge as

representing knowledge as a learned capability of the body’s nervous,

chemical, and sensory systems. These two dimensions, while frequently used,

are not universally accepted.

It is also common to distinguish between the creation of "new knowledge" (i.e.,

innovation) vs. the transfer of "established knowledge" within a group,

organization, or community. Collaborative environments such as communities

of practice or the use of social computing tools can be used for both creation

and transfer.

Knowledge access stages

Knowledge may be accessed at three stages: before, during, or after

knowledge-related activities. Some people would argue that there is a life cycle

to knowledge use. Starting with capture (although that word is itself

contentious) or creation, moving on to use and reuse with the ultimate goal of

enriching an organisation's capability. In counter to this many would state that

such a life cycle view is too linear in nature and reflects an information centric

view.

For example, individuals undertaking a new project for an organization might

access information resources to identify lessons learned for similar projects ,

access relevant information again during the project implementation to seek

advice on issues encountered, and access relevant information afterwards for

advice on after-project actions and review activities. Knowledge management

practitioners offer systems, repositories, and corporate processes to encourage

and formalize these activities with varying degrees of success.

Similarly, knowledge may be accessed before the project implementation, for

example as the project team learns lessons during the initial project analysis.

Similarly, lessons learned during the project operation may be recorded, and

after-action reviews may lead to further insights and lessons being recorded for

future access. Note: In this context recording knowledge relates only to those

aspects of knowledge which can be codified as text, or drawings.

Different organizations have tried various knowledge capture incentives,

including making content submission mandatory and incorporating rewards into

performance measurement plans. There is considerable controversy over

whether incentives work or not in this field and no firm consensus has

emerged.

Adhoc knowledge access

One alternative strategy to encoding knowledge into and retrieving knowledge

from a knowledge repository such as a database, is for individuals to make

knowledge requests of subject matter experts on an ad hoc basis. A key benefit

claimed for this strategy is that the response from the expert individual is rich

in content and contextualized to the particular problem being addressed and

personalized to the particular person or people addressing it. The downside of

this strategy is that it is tied to the availability and memory recall skill of

specific individuals in the organization. It does not capture their insights and

experience for future use should they leave or become unavailable, and also

does not help in the case when particular technical issues or problems

previously faced change with time to the point where a new synthesis is

required, the experts' memories being out of date. The emergence of narrative

approaches to knowledge management attempts to provide a bridge between

the formal and the ad hoc, by allowing knowledge to be held in the form of

stories.

DRIVERS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

There are a number of claims as to the "drivers", or motivations, leading

organizations to undertake a knowledge management program. Popular

business objectives include gaining a competitive advantage within the

industry and increasing organizational effectiveness with improved or faster

learning and new knowledge creation. As knowledge management programs

can often lead to greater innovation, better customer experiences, consistency

in good practices, knowledge access across a global organization, and other

organizational benefits, many knowledge management programs will usually

set some of these as end objectives as well. The government sector represents

a highly active area, for example DiploFoundation Conference on Knowledge

and Diplomacy (1999) outlines the range of specific KM tools and techniques

applied in diplomacy.

Some typical considerations driving a Knowledge Management program

include:

Making available increased knowledge content in the development and

provision of products and services

Achieving shorter new product development cycles

Facilitating and managing organizational innovation and learning

Leveraging the expertise of people across the organization

Increasing network connectivity between employees and external groups

with the objective of improving information flow

Managing the proliferation of data and information in complex business

environments and allowing employees to access appropriate information

sources

Managing intellectual capital and intellectual assets in the workforce

(such as the expertise and know-how possessed by key individuals) as

individuals retire and new workers are hired

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES

The early Knowledge Management technologies were online corporate yellow

pages (expertise locators) and document management systems. Combined

with the early development of collaborative technologies (in particular Lotus

Notes), KM technologies expanded in the mid 1990s. Subsequently it followed

developments in technology in use in Information Management. In particular

the use of semantic technologies for search and retrieval and the development

of knowledge management specific tools such as those for communities of

practice.

More recently social computing tools (such as blogs and wikis) have developed

to provide a more unstructured approach to knowledge transfer and knowledge

creation through the development of new forms of community. However, such

tools for the most part are still based on text, and thus represent explicit

knowledge transfer. These tools face challenges distilling meaningful re-usable

knowledge from their content.

Knowledge mapping is commonly used to cover functions such as a

knowledge audit (discovering what knowledge exists at the start of a

knowledge management project), a network survey (Mapping the relationships

between communities involved in knowledge creation and sharing) and

creating a map of the relationship of knowledge assets to core business

process. Although frequently carried out at the start of a Knowledge

Management programme, it is not a necessary pre-condition or confined to

start up.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ENABLERS

Historically, there have been a number of technologies 'enabling' or facilitating

knowledge management practices in the organization, including expert

systems, knowledge bases, various types of Information Management, software

help desk tools, document management systems and other IT systems

supporting organizational knowledge flows.

The advent of the Internet brought with it further enabling technologies,

including e-learning, web conferencing, collaborative software, content

management systems, corporate 'Yellow pages' directories, email lists, wikis,

blogs, and other technologies. Each enabling technology can expand the level

of inquiry available to an employee, while providing a platform to achieve

specific goals or actions. The practice of KM will continue to evolve with the

growth of collaboration applications, visual tools and other technologies. Since

its adoption by the mainstream population and business community, the

Internet has led to an increase in creative collaboration, learning and research,

e-commerce, and instant information.

Organisational enablers for knowledge management programs include

Communities of Practice, Networks of Practice, before-, after- and during-

action reviews (see After Action Review), peer assists, information taxonomies,

coaching and mentoring, and so on.

KM: ROLES AND ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTRUE

Knowledge management activities may be centralized in a Knowledge

Management Office, or responsibility for knowledge management may be

located in existing departmental functions, such as the Human Resource (to

manage intellectual capital) or IT departments (for content management, social

computing etc.). Different departments and functions may have a knowledge

management function and those functions may not be connected other than

informally.

KM: REASONS OF FAILURE OR SUCCESS

No established evidence attests to the reasons behind failure and success of

Knowledge Management initiatives in organizations. Some argue that a failure

to sustain investment is one factor, but it can equally be argued that if

knowledge management delivered on its promises investment would continue.

As with many management initiatives, particularly those with a heavy IT basis

(as is the case in Knowledge Management), frequent questions are raised about

the level of consultation necessary before a program is started; these questions

are linked to issues of cultural change and a willingness to share and

collaborate with colleagues. There is no evidence that Knowledge Management,

in all these respects, is any different from other management initiatives.

THE VALUE OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

It is important to manage knowledge assets because –

Organizations compete increasingly on the base of knowledge (the

only sustainable competitive advantage, according to some)

Most of our work is information based (and often immersed in a

computing environment)

Our products, services, and environment are more complex than

ever before

Workforces are increasingly unstable leading to escalating

demands for knowledge replacement/acquisition

DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Knowledge began to be viewed as a competitive asset in the 80s, around

the same time that information explosion started becoming an issue

The trend was fueled by the development of IT systems which made it

simple to store, display, and archive classified, indexed information

The process received a fillip after Drucker (and others) stressed the role

of knowledge as an organization resource, and Senge popularized

‘learning organizations’

Seeds of KM may also be found in business practices like TQM and BPR to

which KM is often compared

SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Today, KM draws from a wide range of disciplines/practices –

Cognitive science

Groupware, AI, KBMS

Library and information science

Document management

Decision support systems

Technical writing

Organizational science

Many more

KM today (catch-all?)

There is a great risk today of KM over-reaching itself

Everything from organizational learning to business and

competitive intelligence has become fair game for KM

There are KM components to each of these but these spaces are

however best left to specialized practitioners

SCOPE OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Today, most companies define the scope of KM as –

KM mechanics (tools for information management)

KM culture (knowledge as a social activity)

KM systems (knowledge sharing as part of an organization’s DNA)

KM MECHANICS

Information management may well be considered the first wave of KM

(and is still often considered synonymous with KM)

Information management tries to make the right information available to

the right person at the right time though a variety of database driven

information applications

Information management tools try to capture the human experience of

knowledge through the collecting, classifying, disseminating, searching,

indexing, and archival power of technology

LIMITATIONS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Reliance on technology produces consensual knowledge (over-reliance on

best practices for instance) and may stifle innovation

The notion that ‘right information’ is predictable and flows from historical

data may be flawed

Making information available in not enough; getting people to use it is

more critical

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT CULTURE

All knowledge has a social and evolutionary facet

There is a crying need to continuously subject knowledge to re-

examination and modification

It is important to keep the human and social elements of organization

involved in all stored knowledge

KM culture through CoP

Communities of practice (or thematic groups) are a popular way of

injecting KM culture in an organization

CoPs are fora where members share information and experiences,

develop new insights, assimilate and transform knowledge

CoPs emphasize shared interests and work across locations and time

zones (often using technology developed during KM’s first wave)

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

KM succeeds fully when it is woven into the fabric of an organization and

becomes intrinsic to an organization’s processes

Common practices include –

Formal KM leadership

Formal rewards and recognition for KM oriented work

Tools and mechanisms that encourage knowledge sharing

Development of knowledge bases

Intellectual asset management

Metrics to evaluate KM initiatives

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS TODAY

In many ways, the systemic approach is the logical culmination of KM

mechanics and KM culture

Many KM systems are however not yet robust enough –

KM metrics (surveys, benchmarking, cost/benefit studies, service

evaluation) are still an inexact science

Knowledge workers are often KM resistant (KM is frequently

considered an oxymoron)

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT – REPORT CARD

Clearly, the jury is still out on KM though there is increased acceptance

that KM can be central to organizational success

The key achievements of KM have been in emphasizing that –

There is a tacit dimension of knowledge creation which must be

recognized and valued

Knowledge is subjective and interpretative and distinct from raw

data or information

Meaning is central to knowledge creation

Knowledge is social and interactive in nature

Technology is an inalienable aspect of KM

Knowledge management strategies that create value

there is no one-size-fits-all way to effectively tap a firm's intellectual

capital. To create value, companies must focus on how knowledge is

used to build critical capabilities.

A firm that had invested millions of dollars in a state-of-the-art intranet

intended to improve knowledge sharing got some bad news: Employees were

using it most often to retrieve the daily menu from the company cafeteria. The

system was barely used in day-to-day business activities.

Few executives would it. There are numerous examples of knowledge-

management programs intended to Institute for Strategic argue with the

premise that knowledge management is critical—but few know precisely what

to do about Change have been exploring the roots of the problem and have

developed a method improve innovation, make effective knowledge

management a reality in their organizations.

Much of the problem with knowledge management today lies in the way the

subject has been approached by vendors and the press responsiveness and

adaptability that fall short of expectations. Researchers at the Accenture to

help executives. Knowledge management is still a relatively young field, with

new concepts emerging constantly. Often such as British Petroleum and

Skandia. And most knowledge-management initiatives have focused almost

entirely on changes in tools and technologies, such as intranets and Lotus

Notes.

These approaches have little , it is portrayed simplistically; discussions typically

revolve around blanket principles that are intended to work across the

organization. For example, companies are urged to emulate knowledge-

management leaders relevance for executives contending with the day-to-day

reality of running a company. Knowledge management is complex and

multifaceted; it encompasses everything the organization does to make

knowledge available to the business, such as embedding key information in

systems and processes, applying incentives to motivate employees and forging

alliances to infuse the business with new knowledge. Effective knowledge

management requires a combination of many organizational elements—

technology, human resource practices, organizational structure and culture—in

order to ensure that the right knowledge is brought to bear at the right time.

Many companies have implemented sophisticated intranets, common

repositories and other systems, largely ignoring the complex cultural issues

that influence the way people behave around knowledge. By and large, those

companies have seen little improvement in their ability to manage knowledge.

Too often, companies implement state-of-the-art technology and then discover

that culture and behavior are slow to change.

In short, simplistic solutions and "one-size-fits-all" approaches leave executives

with little in the way of practical advice about how to transform the entire

knowledge-management system. What's more, this fuzziness makes it difficult

for executives to see a clear link between their knowledge-management

investments and business value.

To help executives, the Institute has developed a framework that associates

specific knowledge-management strategies with specific challenges that

companies face. This Knowledge Management Framework is based on the

premise that the focus should be placed on the way knowledge is used to build

the critical capabilities a company needs in order to succeed—on the core

processes and activities that enable it to compete. Enhancing a bank's know-

how in evaluating credit risk, for example, should result in reduced loan losses;

improving a consumer products company's understanding of customer

preferences should increase its percentage of successful new products.

The framework begins by assessing and categorizing the way work is done in

the core process. Work can be evaluated along two dimensions. First is the

level of interdependence involved—that is, the degree to which individuals and

organizations need to collaborate and interact. Second is the complexity of

work involved—the degree to which employees need to apply their judgment

and interpret a variety of information. Using these two factors, the Institute has

identified four distinct categories of work, or "work models":

Transaction model, in which there is a low degree of both

interdependence and complexity. Work is typically routine, highly reliant

on formal rules, procedures and training, and depends on a workforce that

exercises little discretion.

Integration model, in which there is a high degree of interdependence

and a low degree of complexity. Work is systematic and repeatable, relies

on formal processes, methodologies and standards, and depends on tight

integration across functional boundaries.

Expert model, in which there is low interdependence and high

complexity. Work requires judgment and is dependent on "star

performers."

Collaboration model, in which there is a high degree of both

interdependence and complexity. Work involves improvisation and

learning by doing, and relies on deep expertise across functions and the

use of flexible teams.

Key to

Understanding

In general, a given core process can be mapped to one of these four categories.

For example, supply-chain management and procurement tend to fit into the

integration model; the work in these processes is often routine, and activities

generally span multiple functions and organizations. In comparison, marketing

and financial management tend to be expert model work, requiring individuals

in one functional area to apply their judgment to solve unanticipated problems.

However, it is important to note that there are no hard-and-fast connections

between a certain core process and a work model, because the same process

can be performed in different ways. Sales, for example, can refer to individuals

covering their respective territories (expert model) or to a supplier's

multifunctional team working closely with a customer to maintain retail

inventories (integration model). So the key is to understand how work is

performed; it is the nature of the work that determines the appropriate

knowledge-management approach.

Knowing the work model that's associated with the core process is important

because each model presents its own distinct set of knowledge-management

challenges. In the collaboration model, for example, a key challenge is the

achievement of breakthrough innovation. To drive such innovation, a company

needs to encourage risk-taking and bring together a variety of knowledge

domains, such as research, product development, marketing and

manufacturing, in order to solve complex problems. At one biotech company,

the Institute found that increasingly complicated projects and the need for a

growing number of scientific disciplines was making it harder to integrate

activities into a coherent whole. Every point in the chain needs to know not just

what the links above and below are, but also needs to have some idea of what

the whole continuum is.

In the expert model, on the other hand, the organization usually needs to focus

on getting results from its star performers. To do so, companies must contend

with issues such as attracting and motivating talented individuals and

overcoming "silos" of information. For example, at one expert model company

studied by the Institute, individuals had a tremendous amount of knowledge

about products, but each person rarely knew what the others were doing. In

one product area, managers discovered seven redundant research projects.

In essence, the framework allows executives to gain a better understanding of

their current knowledge-management practices—which in most companies

have evolved in an ad hoc, unconscious manner—and to identify the

knowledge-management challenges associated with their core processes. From

that specific diagnosis, it is a short step to prescribing specific remedies,

because each set of challenges points to a handful of potential knowledge-

management strategies.

For example, the challenges in the transaction model are centered on the need

to codify knowledge and ensure consistent performance. Possible knowledge-

management strategies would therefore include "automation" that embeds

knowledge in systems, or perhaps "routinization," in which knowledge is built

into policies and procedures, and training is aimed at standardizing workers'

behavior. In the integration model, where the challenge is to orchestrate

activity across various parts of the organization, executives might consider the

adoption of standard processes or methodologies that integrate performance

across functions. Or they might use softer measures that focus on the use of

cross-functional teams, shared goals and feedback systems.

In the expert model, knowledgeable individuals are key. Here, executives may

recruit star performers away from other companies, or may choose to focus on

programs that develop stars internally through long-term career-progression

programs, apprenticeships, mentoring and training. And in the collaboration

model, where the challenges revolve around creating breakthrough

innovations, the choices may include "action-learning" strategies that

encourage discovery through "skunkworks" and pilots, or "knowledge-linking"

strategies that focus on learning through consortia and alliances.

The framework also makes it possible to address all elements of the

knowledge-management system as a whole—technology, human resource

practices, organization and culture—because it focuses executives' attention on

the capabilities their organizations need rather than on component solutions.

Also, attention is shifted from broad, vague issues to a well-defined set of

challenges that are specific to their business. They have a manageable number

of targeted options from which to choose, which makes it easier to formulate

an integrated approach to changing organizational structure, technology,

human resources and the world culture.

In addition to guiding improvements in today's core processes, the framework

can also be used to help companies evolve and adapt to new conditions.

Markets, customers, technology and competition are always changing. To

thrive, companies must change over time as well, or their core capabilities may

well become core rigidities that lead to obsolescence. As they strive to move in

new directions, executives can use the framework to understand the

knowledge-management systems that new capabilities will require.

In the silicon-chip industry, for example, the design of new microchip

manufacturing processes has always been considered something of an art—a

collaborative model type of effort involving a small cadre of experts, extensive

experimentation and rapid learning to get it right. Now, however, with most

personal computers selling for less than $1,000, chip makers need to move to

lower-cost approaches—and to an integration model of knowledge

management, where the focus is on standardization, repeatable work and

continuous improvement. The framework can help companies envision what

their new knowledge-management approach should look like under their new

strategy, and plot out a path that will take them there.

The company believes that it may be falling behind in terms of bringing true

breakthrough products to market, particularly in the area of eCommerce.

Executives want to build on traditional strengths to keep improving existing

products, but they also recognize that they will need to take a different

approach if the company is to maintain product leadership in its industry. So in

the creation of electronic commerce products, the company is considering a

move toward the collaboration model and the use of a skunkworks-style

operation that relies on multidisciplinary teams and team incentives, rather

than individual experts.

Executives are also beginning to experiment with external alliances as a way to

bring new knowledge into the company. Using the framework as a guide, the

company has been able to gain a sophisticated understanding of how to

improve its current knowledge-management systems and, at the same time,

develop a sense of how it can manage knowledge to forge new capabilities for

the long term. That kind of evolutionary ability will become increasingly

important in the coming years, as the demands of new markets and new

competitors drive continuing shifts in corporate strategies. To support those

strategies, companies will have to build new capabilities more and more rapidly

—and so the ability to manage knowledge to support that change will be

critical.

Knowledge Management - Emerging Perspectives

Yes, knowledge management is the hottest subject of the day. The question is:

what is this activity called knowledge management, and why is it so important

to each and every one of us? The following writings, articles, and links offer

some emerging perspectives in response to these questions. As you read on,

you can determine whether it all makes any sense or not.

Develpoing a

Context

Like water, this rising tide of data can be viewed as an abundant, vital and

necessary source. With enough preparation, we should be able to tap into that

reservoir -- and ride the wave -- by utilizing new ways to channel raw data into

meaningful information. That information, in turn, can then become the

knowledge that leads to wisdom.

Before attempting to address the question of knowledge management, it's

probably appropriate to develop some perspective regarding this stuff called

knowledge, which there seems to be such a desire to manage, really is.

Consider this observation made by Neil Fleming as a basis for thought relating

to the following diagram.

A collection of data is not information.

A collection of information is not knowledge.

A collection of knowledge is not wisdom.

A collection of wisdom is not truth.

The idea is that information, knowledge, and wisdom are more than simply

collections. Rather, the whole represents more than the sum of its parts and

has a synergy of its own.

So, in summary the following associations can reasonably be made:

Information relates to description, definition, or perspective (what, who,

when, where).

Knowledge comprises strategy, practice, method, or approach (how).

Wisdom embodies principle, insight, moral, or archetype (why).

Now that I have categories I can get hold of, maybe I can figure out what can

be managed.

An Example

This example uses a bank savings account to show how data, information,

knowledge, and wisdom relate to principal, interest rate, and interest.

Data: The numbers 100 or 5%, completely out of context, are just pieces

of data. Interest, principal, and interest rate, out of context, are not much

more than data as each has multiple meanings which are context

dependent.

Information: If I establish a bank savings account as the basis for

context, then interest, principal, and interest rate become meaningful in

that context with specific interpretations.

Principal is the amount of money, $100, in the savings account.

Interest rate, 5%, is the factor used by the bank to compute

interest on the principal.

Knowledge: If I put $100 in my savings account, and the bank pays 5%

interest yearly, then at the end of one year the bank will compute the

interest of $5 and add it to my principal and I will have $105 in the bank.

This pattern represents knowledge, which, when I understand it, allows

me to understand how the pattern will evolve over time and the results it

will produce. In understanding the pattern, I know, and what I know is

knowledge. If I deposit more money in my account, I will earn more

interest, while if I withdraw money from my account, I will earn less

interest.

Wisdom: Getting wisdom out of this is a bit tricky, and is, in fact,

founded in systems principles. The principle is that any action which

produces a result which encourages more of the same action produces an

emergent characteristic called growth. And, nothing grows forever for

sooner or later growth runs into limits.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN

DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

The Indian Approach

Background

Indian sub-continent is susceptible to different types of natural hazards owing

to the unique topographic and climatic characteristics. Theoccurrence of

disasters along with the losses over the years has been increasing on account

of larger population being vulnerable to natural hazards. India has experienced

many massive disasters such as the Orissa supercyclone in 1999, Gujarat

earthquake in 2001, recent devastating Tsunami - 2004 and many more in the

past. This owes not only to the physical vulnerability i.e their proximity to the

hazard zone and ill-maintained standards of safety to counter the effects but

also due to the prevailing social and economic conditions. There is a conscious

effort for Disaster Risk Reduction at National, Provincial and sub-provincial

level. Thousands of organizations are supporting the effort from last few

decades. However there is a felt gap in information coordination and sharing.

The knowledge and experiences of disaster practitioners are remaining in

individual or institutional domain. There is an urgent need of an organized

common platform to capture, organize and share this knowledge and to create

a versatile interface among policy-makers in the Government and disaster

managers at all administrative level

(National/State/District/Sub-District/Community). Acknowledging the need for a

disaster

knowledge networking platform to facilitate interaction and have simultaneous

dialogue with all related expertise dealing with disaster management in India,

the knowledge

management initiative has been thoughtfully envisaged asa tool to store,

retrieve, disseminate and manage information related to Disaster Management.

Knowledge Management Concept and Principles

Knowledge Management is about applying the collective knowledge of the

entire workforce to achieve specific organizational goals. It is about facilitating

the process by which knowledge is created, shared and utilised. Knowledge is

defined as “the fact or condition of knowing something with a considerable

degree of familiarity through expe-rience, association or contact.” Forty years

ago, Michael Polanyi provided an explanation of knowledge upon which models

of knowledge creation have been built. He differentiated between explicit, tacit

and implicit forms of Knowledge Management

Explicit knowledge is that which is stated in detail and leaves nothing merely

implied. It is termed “codified” or “formal” knowledge because it can be

recorded.

Tacit knowledge is that which is understood, implied and exists without being

stated. It is informal, experiential, and difficult to capture or share. It is knowl-

edge that cannot be expressed.For example, an individual knows how to reach

with his arm to grasp an object, but cannot describe how he knows how to do it.

Implicit knowledge is that which could be expressed, but has not been. It is

most often thought of as existing within the

minds of individuals or in social relationships. Nonaka and Takeuchi argue that

effective organizational knowledge creation best occurs through the spiral

process where knowledge is converted from tacit to explicit in a continuous and

dynamic cycle,as illustrated in following figure. It is when tacit knowledge and

explicit knowledge interact that innovation occurs. Knowledge creation is

facilitated by deliberately managing the cycle. Organizational knowledge

creation begins with socialization, where individuals share experience and

mental models. It develops into externalization when individuals use metaphors

or analogies to articulate hidden tacit knowledge that is otherwise difficult to

communicate. It moves into the combination phase for knowledge to be

articulated, shared and expounded. Finally, individuals learn by doing and

internalizing the new knowledge. The spiral begins again as the experience-

based operational knowledge learned in the first cycle provides a larger

knowledge base for continuous innovation and growth. It is this model that

demonstrates how knowledge comes into action.

The Knowledge Management Cycle

How knowledge processes in a KM environment are managed to convert

knowledge for action and to achieve the desired results of increased value in

the organization or specific operations is illustrated in the model in Figure

3.There are three general perspectives in the cycle: Management, Application

and Organization:

Management focuses on capturing, organizing and facilitating knowledge.

Many of these activities span the externalization and combination

quadrants of the Nonaka model.

Application focuses on effective retrieval of relevant content through

advanced searches and mining to conduct knowledge-related work and

tasks and on the use of the results for discovery. It relies on the

knowledge combination portion of the model.

Organizations focus on learning, sharing and collaboration. This is the

education component of the cycle that is within the internalization

quadrant, moving into the socialization portion.

Disaster Risk Reduction – Role of Information and Knowledge

Many of us assume that knowledge management is about capturing best

practices and experiences people have and store it in a database with a hope

that it will be useful later. In fact this is not true and many of us spend more

than ten percent of our time in searching for a piece of information we know

resides somewhere. Knowledge management is all about getting the right

knowledge, in the right place, at the right time. In a broader context,

information about disaster preparedness, dos’ and don’ts in emergency,

disaster management plans, policies and guidelines are available at various

domains from decades. However, millions of people are getting severely

affected by disasters every year due to lack of adequate coping mechanisms.

This may be attributed to the fact that the information lying at one place is not

getting transformed into the life saving knowledge for the communities at risk.

It is a proven fact that India is among the world’s most disaster prone countries

due to its geo climatic conditions, large population and socio-economic

conditions.

In order to enhance the information sharing and management of the knowledge

generated in these institutions, it is highly essential to closely knit the

organizations/ institutions and moreover people.

The network of these institutions will create a common platform and enable its

stake holders and people to capture, organize, share and reuse the knowledge

generated in the area of disaster management. The network will use various

tools to connect the Government, Institutions and people.

Indian Approach to Knowledge Management in –Disaster risk

Reduction Practice area

Under the Ministry of Home Affairs, GOI-UNDP(United Nations Development

Programme) National Disaster Risk Management programme, Knowledge

Networking is foreseen as an initiative to establish networks and partnership

among prime government agencies, policy makers, disaster managers and

specialists from allied fields of engineering, architecture, planning, seismology,

hydrology, agriculture and social science to exchange information and working

together to reduce the risk of disaster. The

initiative is aiming to connect all government departments, statutory agencies,

research organizations/ institutions to share collectively and individually their

expert know-how’s. The exchange is facilitated through physical interaction,

workshops, documentation of experiences, sharing on World Wide Web Portal

etc.

Creating an Environment for Knowledge Management

In order to evolve community of practices the initiative is focusing at linking the

program partners and providing a platform to collaborate. This collaborative

platform which is in the form of an electronic platform will facilitate interaction

among the program partners. The system will be incentive based and provide

various tools, decision support systems, monitoring systems to the stake

holders.

Strengths of Knowledge Networks in Disaster Management

Better response.

Empowered Government Disaster Management Departments.

Better valuation of Resources and services

Integration into mainstream development.

Effective monitoring of initiatives.

Promoting fair practices among the disaster management community.

The KNOWLEDGE PORTAL : A tool for Knowledge Management

The knowledge management initiative of Government of India involves a web

portal to facilitate the knowledge collaboration between the network members.

The portal provides tools to capture or acquire and organize knowledge. It also

provides facility to find and share knowledge through the portal. The portal is

providing Knowledge Collaboration Tools and incentive based tools such as:

Moderated access and facilitation.

Programme monitoring and methodology sharing tools.

Members workspace for decentralized content management.

Powerful search engines.

Moderated discussion forum for problem solving.

Document management system.

Moderated intra network e-mail groups.

Other services to create an incentive for the network members:

GoI, Disaster Management programme monitoring tool.

Disaster Risk Management Programme monitoring tool.

NPCBEERM1/ NPCBAERM2 programme monitoring tool.

Emergency contact management system.

Database of district Disaster Management Plans.

Map center – Hazard & vulnerability maps.

Independent workspace for States & Resource Institutions for designing

and updating content.

Automated portal administration for ease of content updating. The portal

is operating on an extranet and controlled by access levels. Users at the

various networks are sharing their programme status and progress in the

portal.

The portal is capturing the products of the programme such as disaster

management plans, various manuals, documents, reports, trained human

resources roaster etc. The portal will have a public interface once it is

populated with information. The portal is also containing a List Server3 which

facilitates e-mail and discussion groups. The portal will enable cross postings

and interactions across the networks. The description of the

functioning of the portal is depicted below.

There are various groupware and e-mail list servers to facilitate

discussion and interaction of the network members.

COMPONENTS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Knowledge Management : a Cross-Disciplinary Domain

Knowledge management draws from a wide range of disciplines and

technologies.

Cognitive science. Insights from how we learn and know will certainly

improve tools and techniques for gathering and transferring knowledge.

Expert systems, artificial intelligence and knowledge base

management systems (KBMS). AI and related technologies have

acquired an undeserved reputation of having failed to meet their own —

and the marketplace’s — high expectations. In fact, these technologies

continue to be applied widely, and the lessons practitioners have learned

are directly applicable to knowledge management.

Computer-supported collaborative work (groupware). In Europe,

knowledge management is almost synonymous with groupware … and

therefore with Lotus Notes. Sharing and collaboration are clearly vital to

organizational knowledge management — with or without supporting

technology.

Library and information science. We take it for granted that card

catalogs in libraries will help us find the right book when we need it. The

body of research and practice in classification and knowledge

organization that makes libraries work will be even more vital as we are

inundated by information in business. Tools for thesaurus construction

and controlled vocabularies are already helping us manage knowledge.

Technical writing. Also under-appreciated — even sneered at — as a

professional activity, technical writing (often referred to by its

practitioners as technical communication) forms a body of theory and

practice that is directly relevant to effective representation and transfer

of knowledge.

Document management. Originally concerned primarily with managing

the accessibility of images, document management has moved on to

making content accessible and re-usable at the component level. Early

recognition of the need to associate "metainformation" with each

document object prefigures document management technology’s

growing role in knowledge management activities.

Decision support systems. According to Daniel J. Power, "Researchers

working on Decision Support Systems have brought together insights

from the fields of cognitive sciences, management sciences, computer

sciences, operations research, and systems engineering in order to

produce both computerised artifacts for helping knowledge workers in

their performance of cognitive tasks, and to integrate such artifacts

within the decision-making processes of modern organisations." [See

Powers’ DSS Research Resources Home page.] That already sounds a lot

like knowledge management, but in practice the emphasis has been on

quantitative analysis rather than qualitative analysis, and on tools for

managers rather than everyone in the organization.

Semantic networks. Semantic networks are formed from ideas and

typed relationships among them — sort of "hypertext without the

content," but with far more systematic structure according to meaning.

Often applied in such arcane tasks as textual analysis, semantic nets are

now in use in mainstream professional applications, including medicine,

to represent domain knowledge in an explicit way that can be shared.

Relational and object databases. Although relational databases are

currently used primarily as tools for managing "structured" data — and

object-oriented databases are considered more appropriate for

"unstructured" content — we have only begun to apply the models on

which they are founded to representing and managing knowledge

resources.

Simulation. Knowledge Management expert Karl-Erik Sveiby suggests

"simulation" as a component technology of knowledge management,

referring to "computer simulations, manual simulations as well as role

plays and micro arenas for testing out skills." (Source: Email from Karl-

Erik Sveiby, July 29, 1996 )

Organizational science. The science of managing organizations

increasingly deals with the need to manage knowledge — often explicitly.

It’s not a surprise that the American Management Association’s APQC has

sponsored major knowledge management events.

That’s only a partial list. Other technologies include: object-oriented

information modeling; electronic publishing technology, hypertext, and the

World Wide Web; help-desk technology; full-text search and retrieval; and

performance support systems.

Categorization of knowledge management approaches

The term "knowledge management" is now in widespread use, having

appeared in the titles of many new books about knowledge management as a

business strategy, as well as in articles in many business publications, including

The Wall Street Journal. There are, of course, many ways to slice up the multi-

faceted world of knowledge management. However, it’s often useful to

categorize them.

In a posting to the Knowledge Management Forum, Karl-Erik Sveiby identified

two "tracks" of knowledge management:

Management of Information. To researchers in this track, according to

Sveiby, "… knowledge = Objects that can be identified and handled in

information systems."

Management of People. For researchers and practitioners in this field,

knowledge consists of "… processes, a complex set of dynamic skills,

know-how, etc., that is constantly changing."

Sveiby’s characterization is on target, but it may not capture the full flavor of

the important distinctions in approaches to organizational knowledge

management. At Knowledge Praxis, we have adopted a three-part

categorization: (1) mechanistic approaches, (2) cultural/behavioristic

approaches, and (3) systematic approaches to knowledge management.

Mechanistic approaches to knowledge management

Mechanistic approaches to knowledge management are characterized by the

application of technology and resources to do more of the same better. The

main assumptions of the mechanistic approach include:

Better accessibility to information is a key, including enhanced methods

of access and reuse of documents (hypertext linking, databases, full-text

search, etc.)

Networking technology in general (especially intranets), and groupware

in particular, will be key solutions.

In general, technology and sheer volume of information will make it work.

Cultural/behavioristic approaches to knowledge management

Cultural/behavioristic approaches, with substantial roots in process re-

engineering and change management, tend to view the "knowledge problem"

as a management issue. Technology — though ultimately essential for

managing explicit knowledge resources — is not the solution. These

approaches tend to focus more on innovation and creativity (the "learning

organization") than on leveraging existing explicit resources or making working

knowledge explicit.

Assumptions of cultural/behavioristic approaches often include:

Organizational behaviors and culture need to be changed … dramatically.

In our information-intensive environments, organizations become

dysfunctional relative to business objectives.

Organizational behaviors and culture can be changed, but traditional

technology and methods of attempting to solve the "knowledge problem"

have reached their limits of effectiveness. A "holistic" view is required.

Theories of behavior of large-scale systems are often invoked.

It’s the processes that matter, not the technology.

Nothing happens or changes unless a manager makes it happen.

Systematic approaches to knowledge management

Systematic approaches to knowledge management retain the traditional faith

in rational analysis of the knowledge problem: the problem can be solved, but

new thinking of many kinds is required.

Some basic assumptions of Systematic Approach are

It’s sustainable results that matter, not the processes or technology … or

your definition of "knowledge."

A resource cannot be managed unless it is modeled, and many aspects of

the organization’s knowledge can be modeled as an explicit resource.

Solutions can be found in a variety of disciplines and technologies, and

traditional methods of analysis can be used to re-examine the nature of

knowledge work and to solve the knowledge problem.

Cultural issues are important, but they too must be evaluated

systematically. Employees may or may not have to be "changed," but

policies and work practices must certainly be changed, and technology

can be applied successfully to business knowledge problems themselves.

Knowledge management has an important management component, but

it is not an activity or discipline that belongs exclusively to managers.

4. TATA STEELS

Introduction

Established in 1907, Tata Steel is the world's 6th largest steel company with an

aggregate of annual crude steel production capacity of around 28 million

tonnes having approximately 82,700 employees across the four continents. It

was Asia's first steel company and remains India's largest integrated private

sector steel manufacturer. With investments in Corus, NatSteel and Tata Steel

(Thailand), Tata Steel is the world's second most geographically diversified

steel producer, with operations in 24 countries and commercial presence in

over 50 countries.

The Company plans to grow and globalise through organic and inorganic

routes. To fulfil its objective of Growth & Globalisation, the five million tonnes

per annum (MTPA) Jamshedpur Works is gearing up to double its capacity by

2010. The Company is making steady progress on its three greenfield steel

projects in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, to add 23

million tonnes to its present capacity. It also plans to set up steel making

capacities in Vietnam and Bangladesh.

Through investments in Corus, Millennium Steel (renamed Tata Steel Thailand)

and NatSteel Asia, Singapore, Tata Steel has created a manufacturing and

marketing network in Europe, South East Asia and the Pacific-rim countries.

Corus, which manufactured 18.3 MT of steel in 2006, has operations in the UK,

the Netherlands, Germany, France, Norway and Belgium. Tata Steel (Thailand)

is the largest producer of long steel products in Thailand, with a manufacturing

capacity of 1.7 MT. NatSteel Asia produces about 2 MT of steel products

annually across its regional operations in seven countries.

Tata Steel, through its joint venture with Tata BlueScope Steel Limited, has also

entered the steel building and construction applications market. It has also set

up joint ventures for the development of limestone mines in Thailand, to

procure low ash coal from Australia and coking coal from Mozambique, for the

development of iron ore deposits in Ivory Coast and for setting up of a deep-sea

port in coastal Orissa.

The Company is also exploring opportunities in the titanium dioxide business in

Tamil Nadu, India and it will soon be manufacturing high carbon ferro-chrome

from its plant in South Africa.

Tata Steel is one of the few steel companies in the world that is Economic Value

Added (EVA) positive. It was ranked the "World's Best Steel Maker", for the

third time by World Steel Dynamics in its annual listing in February, 2006. Tata

Steel has been conferred the Prime Minister of India's Trophy for the Best

Integrated Steel Plant five times.

PRODUCTS

Tata Steel is a global player with a balanced presence in developed European

and fast growing Asian markets and with a strong position in the construction,

automotive and packaging markets. Its Jamshedpur steel works produces hot

and cold rolled coils and sheets, galvanised sheets, tubes, wire rods,

construction rebars, rings and bearings. In an attempt to 'decommoditise' steel,

the Company has introduced several branded steel products, including Tata

Steelium (the world's first branded Cold Rolled Steel), Tata Shaktee (Galvanised

Corrugated Sheets), Tata Tiscon (rebars), Tata Pipes, Tata Bearings, Tata

Structura, Tata Agrico (hand tools and implements) and Tata Wiron (galvanised

wire products). In the financial year 2006-07 revenue from the sale of these

branded steel products was 26% of the company's sales revenues.

Corus' main operating divisions comprise Strip Products, Long Products and

Distribution & Building Systems Division. Combining international expertise

with local customer service, the company supplies a range of long and strip

products to demanding customers worldwide in markets including the

construction, automotive, packaging and engineering sectors. The NatSteel

group produces construction grade steel such as rebars, cut-and-bend, mesh,

precage bore pile, PC wires and PC strand. Tata Steel Thailand produces round

bars and deformed bars for the construction industry.

CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY

Regarded globally as a benchmark in corporate social responsibility, Tata

Steel's commitment to the community remains the bedrock of its hundred

years of sustainability. Its mammoth social outreach programme covers the

company-managed city of Jamshedpur and over 800 villages in and around its

manufacturing and raw materials operations through uplift initiatives in the

areas of income generation, health and medical care, education, sports, and

relief.

The Company, fully conscious of its responsibilities to the future generations,

has always taken pro-active measures to ensure optimum utilization of natural

resources. This is reflected in the ISO-14001 certification that all its operations

have achieved for environment management. The SA 8000 certification for

work conditions and improvements in the workplace at the steel works in

Jamshedpur, along with its Ferro Alloys and Minerals Division, is a reiteration of

its commitment towards the Company's employees. Tata Steel has pioneered

numerous employee welfare measures such as the 8 hours working day and

the three tier joint consultation system of management which have been the

platform for nearly 80 years of industrial harmony in its Steel Works in

Jamshedpur.

Global Compact, United Nations

Founder member.

Conferred the prestigious Global Business Coalition Award for Business

Excellence in the Community in recognition of its pioneering work in the

field of HIV/ AIDS awareness.

Jamshedpur city has been chosen to participate in the UN Global Compact

Cities Pilot Programme.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

World Steel Dynamics has ranked Tata Steel as the world's best steel

maker (for two consecutive years) in its annual listing in February 2006.

Tata Steel has been conferred the Prime Minister of India's Trophy for the

Best Integrated Steel Plant five times.

It has been awarded Asia's Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise award in

2003 and 2004.

POLICIES  

Quality Policy

Consistent with the group purpose, Tata Steel shall constantly strive to improve

the quality of life of the communities it serves through excellence in all facets

of its activities.They are committed to creating value for all our stakeholders by

continually improving our systems and processes through innovation, involving

all our employees.

This policy shall form the basis of establishing and reviewing the Quality

Objectives and shall be communicated across the organization. The policy will

be reviewed to align with business direction and to comply with all the

requirements of the Quality Management Standard

Alcohol and Drugs Policy

Tata Steel believes that the loyalty and commitment of its employees depend

upon the quality of life they are offered at work and at home.

We recognize that indiscriminate use of alcohol and drugs is injurious to the

well being of individuals, their families and the community as a whole. We

acknowledge that the misuse of these psychoactive substances is a major

health and safety hazard.

Tata Steel is therefore committed to creating an alcohol and drug-free

environment at the work place. This would be achieved through the

involvement of all employees and the Joint Departmental Councils in

spearheading appropriate initiatives. The initiatives would include :

Raising awareness, through the dissemination of information, education

and training and by promoting healthy life styles among our employees

and their families.

Motivating those employees who have an alcohol/drug problem, to seek

assistance, while maintaining confidentiality about such cases.

HIV(+) & AIDS Control Policy

Tata Steel would take measures to prevent the incidence and spread of HIV and

AIDS in the society. In case of need, the company would arrange to provide

counseling and medical guidance to these patients and their families.

Human Resource Policy

Tata Steel recognises that its people are the primary source of its

competitiveness.It is committed to equal employment opportunities for

attracting the best available talent and ensuring a cosmopolitan workforce.

It will pursue management practices designed to enrich the quality of life of its

employees, develop their potential and maximise their productivity.It will aim

at ensuring transparency, fairness and equity in all its dealings with its

employees.Tata Steel will strive continuously to foster a climate of openness,

mutual trust and teamwork.

Corporate Social Responsibility Policy

Tata Steel believes that the primary purpose of a business is to improve the

quality of life of people.

Tata Steel will volunteer its resources, to the extent it can reasonably afford, to

sustain and improve healthy and prosperous environment and to improve the

quality of life of the people of the areas in which it operates.

Environmental, Occupational Health & Safety Policy

Tata Steel reaffirms its commitment to provide safe working place and clean

environment to its employees and other stakeholders as an integral part of its

business philosophy and values. We will continually enhance our

Environmental, Occupational Health & Safety (EHS) performance in our

activities, products and services through a structured EHS management

framework. Towards this commitment, we shall;

Establish and achieve EHS objectives and targets.

Ensure compliance with applicable EHS legislation and other requirement

and go beyond.

Conserve natural resources and energy by constantly seeking to reduce

consumption and promoting waste avoidance and recycling measures.

Eliminate, minimize and/or control adverse environmental impacts and

occupational health and safety risks by adopting appropriate "state-of-

the-art" technology and best EHS management practices at all levels

sand functions.

Enhance awareness, skill and competence of our employees and contractors so

as to enable them to demonstrate their involvement, responsibility and

accountability for sound EHS performance.

MANAGEMENT

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

(As on 22nd November, 2007)

Mr R N Tata (Chairman)

Mr James Leng (Non - Executive Deputy

Chairman)

Mr Nusli N Wadia (Company Director)

Mr S M Palia (Company Director)

Mr Suresh Krishna (Financial Institutions'

Nominee)

Mr Ishaat Hussain (Board Member)

Dr Jamshed J Irani  

Mr Subodh  

Bhargava

Mr Jacques

Schraven

(Non - Executive

Independent Director)

Dr Anthony

Hayward

(Non - Executive

Independent Director)

Mr Philippe Varin (Non - Executive Non

independent Director)

Mr B Muthuraman (Managing Director)

Dr T Mukherjee (Non Executive Director)

Mr Andrew Robb (Non Executive Independent

Director)

BUSINESS UNITS

Apart from the main Steel Division, Tata Steel's operations are grouped under

the following Strategic Business Units:

Bearings Division : Manufactures ball bearings, double row self-aligning

bearings, magneto bearings, clutch release bearings and tapered roller

bearings for two wheelers, fans, water pumps, etc.

Ferro Alloys and Minerals Division : Operates chrome mines and has units

for making ferro chrome and ferro manganese. It is one of the largest players in

the global ferro chrome market.

Agrico Division : Tata Agrico is the first organised manufacturer in India of

hand tools and implements for application in agriculture.

Tata Growth Shop (TGS) : Has designed, developed, manufactured, erected

and commissioned thousands of tonnes of equipment ranging from overhead

cranes to high precision components, including a rocket launch pad for the

Indian Space and Research Organisation.

Tubes Division : The biggest steel tube manufacturer with the largest market

share in India, it aspires to strengthen its market presence by expanding and

modernising its commercial and precision tube manufacturing capacity.

Wire Division : A pioneer in the manufacture of steel wires in India, it

produces coated and uncoated wires, branded as Tata Wiron. The division also

operates a wholly owned subsidiary in Sri Lanka.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

The company believes that good corporate practices enable the board to direct

and control the affairs of a company in an efficient manner and to achieve its

ultimate goal of maximising shareholders value. Realising this, the company

has adopted many practices over the last few years, even when there were no

mandatory requirements in this regard. As a result, a number of provisions

regarding Corporate Governance prescribed by the Listing Agreement have

already been complied with and steps are being taken to comply with the

balance provision within the current financial year.

The Internal Audit Department reports, on a quarterly basis, any significant

findings to the Audit committee, which comprises of three non-executive

Director: Mr. P.K Kaul - Chairman, Mr. S. M. Palia and Mr. Ishaat Hussain -

Members. The committee met three times during the year to review the audit

observation, adequacy of actions taken and followed up implementation of

corrective actions.

AIM AND VISION

"To seize the opportunities of tomorrow and create

a future that will make us an EVA Positive Company

To continue. to improve the quality of life

of our employees and the communities we serve."  

VISION INTO REALITY

Tata Steel is Asia’s first and India’s largest private sector integrated steel

manufacturer. At the advent of the new millennium the employees of the

Company co-created Vision 2007 as a statement of future intent. Sustainable

Development, through the improvement of the quality of life of its employees

and the communities it serves, was enshrined within it. To translate this Vision

into reality, Tata Steel altered paradigms, repositioned benchmarks and re-

evaluated core competencies.

Having effected a quantum change in operations, work culture and efficiencies,

the Company aspires to further accelerate the creation of stakeholder value.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Having espoused the philosophy of Sustainable Development, the Company’s

operations, including all its outlocations are inextricably interlinked with the

progress of the enterprise, the welfare of the people and the health of the

environment.

As global initiatives in promoting responsible business gather momentum, Tata

Steel stands as a beacon of social and environmental commitment, not only in

India but across the world as well.

Today, Tata Steel is well positioned to take forward its 100-year ethos with

renewed vigour, having formally integrated its economic, environmental and

social performance reporting. Tata Steel’s commitment to sustainable

development and growth is amply reflected in its Vision 2007. The Company

has identified and is proactively engaged in addressing economic sustainability,

environmental concern and the social needs of its stakeholders.

The core issue, however, identified by Tata Steel, which underpins all these is

Value Balancing; such that long-term partnerships are established with its

stakeholders.

Sustainability has also been integrated into the business systems at Tata Steel.

Inputs from stakeholders through formal and informal processes allow the

Company to focus on their concerns, to identify issues and delineate strategic

objectives.

OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS

Sustainability issues are reflected through specific social and environmental

objectives and targets accepted by the top management as a part of Vision

2007.

To achieve its sustainability goals, the organisation has identified 12 key

enterprise processes critical to the growth and success of the organisation.

Mapping and identifying stakeholder concerns through a structured

engagement and feedback process has been initiated. These stakeholder

concerns are analysed, prioritised and are the prescribed goals for Corporate

Sustainability Management. The senior management of Tata Steel tracks the

performance of the targets against each strategic goal.

Sustainability at the Tata Group and Tata Steel has always been value-driven.

The five core values underpinning the way the Tata companies conduct

business are:

Integrity

Understanding

Excellence

Unity

Responsibility

12 Key Enterprise Processes

• Leadership • Order Generation

• Strategic Planning & Risk

Management

• Operation

and Fulfillment

• Market Development • Inbound Supply Management

• Investment Management • Research & Development

• Improvement & Change

Management

• Information Management

• Human  Resources • Social Responsibility & Corporate

Services

5. JOURNEY OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN TATA STEELS

Tata Steel decided to embark on formal KM initiative in the year 1999. The

beginning was made in July’99 to place a Knowledge Management (KM)

programme for the company to systematically & formally share and transfer

learning concepts, best practices and other implicit knowledge.

The emphasis on knowledge management was clearly demonstrated in 1999

while coining the vision statement of the company – which read “Tata Steel

enters the new millennium with the confidence of learning and knowledge

based organization…..” Then followed the new vision statement, co-created by

the employees in 2001 (Fig. 1) which again identified ‘Manage Knowledge’ as

one of the main pillars in strategy to become EVA+ by 2007. This clearly

indicated the thrust Senior Management wanted on an initiative like KM.

The essence of Knowledge management is to capture the available abundant

knowledge assets either in form of tacit (experience, learning from failure,

thumb rules, etc.) or explicit (literature, reports, failure analysis etc.), to

organize and transform the captured knowledge, and to facilitate its usage at

right place and at the right time.

PHASES OF KNOIWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Starting from a small sapling in 1999, the KM system of Tata Steel underwent a

lot of improvements, and changes. In the process, it passed through many

learning phases to reach its current state. The various phases of KM spiral at

Tata Steel are shown in Fig 2. In its latest phase, the Knowledge Management

has been identified as one of the main enablers to make Tata Steel self reliant

in technology which will enable the company become a global player in near

future.

STAKEHOLDERS IN KM

Tata Steel aims at capturing knowledge from various working groups and

outside agencies who play a major role in day-to-day functioning. The major

stakeholders covered under KM being:

Senior Management

Officers

Employees (Supervisors & Workmen)

Customers

Supplier

Experts (In & outside company)

OPPORTUNITY OF KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Tata Steel’s knowledge management initiative is driven by its corporate KM

group which attempts to cover all possible opportunities of knowledge

generation in and outside the steel works. The primary sources being:

Day-to-day operation

Learning from failure

Published Papers by employees (National and International publications)

Task Force/Consultant/Technical Groups

Engineering Project

Knowledge Sharing across the value chain

Tata Steel defines its value chain as a connected series of internal and external

organizations, resources, and knowledge streams involved in creation and

delivery of value to end customers. It includes the organization’s suppliers and

customers. In fact, one of the organization’s strategic goals is to develop value-

creating partnerships with customers and suppliers. Tata Steel developed two

programs in particular to help manage knowledge across its value chain: the

customer value management (CVM) program and its supplier value

management (SVM) program.

Instruments of Knowledge Transfer

Tata Steel follows three strategies for managing organizational knowledge (Fig

2). Knowledge can be contributed either by an individual (codification) or a

team or a group of people (Personalization). The first two strategies enable

capture and systematic storage of knowledge, whereas the third strategy

(Knowledge Diffusion) derives the benefit of replicating best practices identified

in the repository and thereby eliminating the ‘re-invention of wheel’.

The above strategies ensure knowledge sharing across the entire value chain

from customer to the supplier. Some of the instruments through which the

above strategies are deployed are:

Knowledge Contribution by an individual (I): All contributions are

first sent to a set of subject matter experts to check their relevance,

correctness of information and  utility to the company before being

available in portal for public usage

Ask Author (I): A user can put forth his/her queries to the author

regarding any particular Knowledge Piece through this route.

Ask Expert (I & II): A panel of experts is identified area-wise to answer

queries of users from all corner of Tata Steel. This feature directs the

query to the relevant expert and thus helps the questioner in seeking his

answer. The queries also remain open for other users to attempt a reply

Knowledge Usage (III): Any employee can bring about

intangible/tangible savings in related work areas by using an existing

knowledge asset.

Communities of Practice (II): To encourage knowledge sharing

behavior in an informal manner, across the boundaries of departments

and divisions, various Communities of Practice or Knowledge

Communities are formed. Each knowledge community further consists of

certain sub-communities which attempts to focus on smaller functional

areas.

Content Management (I): The knowledge repository of Tata Steel is

not only huge in size, but also is rich in content - thanks to the

contribution of more than 15,000 employees. However, constant effort is

put in to keep the knowledge base current and contemporary. In order to

do this, old knowledge pieces are archived and knowledge on similar

subjects are distilled. In the process of knowledge distillation, members

are encouraged to compile knowledge pieces available in related areas

and hence prepare a consolidated one which will contain all relevant

information at one place.

Other activities of Knowledge Communities (II & III) : The diverse

community structure requires knowledge sharing among the members to

ensure proper knowledge diffusion. Hence communities organize inter

and intra community meetings at regular intervals chaired by senior

officials to discuss and share knowledge on aspects that affects both the

parties. These communities also organize seminars by inviting well-

known experts in various fields.

Involving shop-floor employees in KM: A large number of employees

in Tata Steel are deployed at the shop-floor. In a century old company,

these employees really possess a wealth of knowledge. In order to

capture the tacit knowledge from shop floor and to facilitate horizontal

deployment of the same at all other locations, a new initiative named as

Knowledge Manthan (means churning) has been started in 2004.

Realizing the rich dividend from its Knowledge Manthan initiative the

Knowledge management group has extended the idea of involving grass-

root employees by launching yet another initiative named ‘MASS’ in the

year 2005. Many of the ideas captured through Manthan are now being

deployed through ‘MASS’.

KM Portal @ Tata Steel

On the corporate intranet a KM Portal has been developed to communicate all

KM related matters across the company. It provides an online knowledge

repository to the users who can submit, search and use knowledge pieces

available on it. The portal also provides a virtual forum where employees can

invite and involve other fellow employees or lead experts (specific to interested

areas) to discuss and solve the problems faced by them. Relevant Indian and

international standards, quality system manuals, standard practices and

procedures also feature for ready reference of users.

Awards & Accolades

Tata Steel has won many laurels for its endeavour and initiatives towards

creating a culture of managing knowledge. It was the winner of MAKE Asia

award for the year 2003 and 2004 (finalist in the year 2002). In 2005, Tata

Steel won the first MAKE India award. It has also earned a distinction among

Indian companies to be selected twice as a best practice partner by American

Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) for its KM process.

KM MILESTONES

Tata Steel ranked as no.1 in 2006 Indian MAKE Survey

Tata Group recognized as one of the 2006 Global Most Admired

Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE)

Tata Steel is selected as a Best Practice Partner by APQC – Second Time

for KM

An International Symposium on Knowledge Management was organised

at Jamshedpur on December 6-7, 2005

Thrust on usage of knowledge assets through MASS

(Manthan ab shopfloor se)

Tata Steel – winner of the first Indian MAKE Award, 2005

Launch of Knowledge Debate; a mode of knowledge transfer

TATA STEEL Launches ‘Knowledge Manthan’

TATA STEEL Wins MAKE ASIA 2004 AWAR

Tata Steel is the Best Practice Partner in Knowledge Management

Tata Steel wins the MAKE ASIA 2003 Award

6. KM AT “ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK”

Core Knowledge Activities

Knowledge management activities can be described in relation to many

different disciplines and approaches but almost all focus on five core activities:

identify,

create,

store,

share, and

use. The routine associated with these can be interpreted thus:

Knowledge Management Tools

Knowledge management tools fit in five areas of competence as illustrated in

the figure below. Some knowledge management tools require expert

facilitation.

Knowledge Management Context

Knowledge management tools are more effective where the specific

knowledge, relationships, and context of development agencies such as ADB

and the external environment they face are dealt with in an integrated and

coherent manner.

←

The figure above demonstrates the importance of using knowledge

management tools with respect to the specific milieu in which ADB operates.

Pillars of Knowledge Management

Four pillars are critical to knowledge management. Balanced interconnectivity

must be sought. Leadership is particularly important because it drives values

for knowledge creation. Successful implementation of knowledge management

in OED requires champions and OED's management has risen to the challenge

of removing cultural roadblocks, building commitment, and getting results from

knowledge management.

Functions and Activities for Knowledge Management

Knowledge management must be embedded into all of an organization's

business processes. It is not an activity delivered by a distinct department or a

particular process. An architecture must be built to initiate and implement

organization-wide knowledge management initiatives. The pillars of knowledge

management are critical to success. All must be addressed. The following table

outlines the core functions and typical activities of the architecture for lesson

learning, and identifies illustrative implementation elements.

Pillar Function Typical Activity Illustrative

Implementation Element

Leadership Drive values for

knowledge

management.

← Identify

knowledge

critical to

learning

lessons in ADB.

← Conduct

work-centered

analysis.

← Plan high-

level strategic

approach.

← Establish

goal and

prioritize

objectives.

← Define

requirements

and develop

measurement

program.

← Promote

values and

norms.

← Implement

strategy.

← Strategic planning

← Vision sharing

← Definition of goal and

objectives

← Executive

commitment

← Knowledge

management programs

tied to metrics

← Formal knowledge

management roles in

existence

← Tangible rewards for

use of knowledge

management

← Encouragement,

recognition, and reward

for knowledge sharing

← Communications

Organizatio

n

Organize to support

values for

knowledge

management.

← Identify

critical

knowledge

gaps,

opportunities,

and risks.

← Develop

business

process model.

← Engage key

audiences with

incentives.

← Organizational

structure

← Organizational culture

← Business process

workflows

← Business process

reengineering

← Management by

objectives

← Total quality

management

← Operating procedures

for knowledge sharing

← Knowledge

performance metrics

← Communications

Technology Collect and connect

knowledge.

← Enhance

system

integration and

access.

← Deploy

intelligent

agents for

people.

← Exploit

semantic

technologies.

← Reuse

existing

capabilities in

new ways.

← Email

← Data warehousing

← Data management

software

← Multimedia

repositories

← Groupware

← Decision support

systems

← Intranet

← Search engines

← Business modeling

systems

← Intelligent agents

← Neural networks

← Lessons learned

← Monitor,

measure, and

report

knowledge

performance

metrics.

systems

← Video conferencing

← Communications

Learning Cultivate and utilize

virtual teams and

exchange forum for

knowledge

management.

← Enliven

collaboration.

← Facilitate

communities of

practice.

← Encourage

storytelling.

← Recognize

and reward

knowledge

sharing.

← Tacit and explicit

knowledge

← Capturing, organizing,

and disseminating

knowledge

← Team learning

← Management support

for continuous learning

← Virtual teams

← Exchange forums

← Communities of

practice

← Encouragement,

recognition, and reward

for innovation

← Communications

Audiences for Evaluation

Audiences for evaluation products and services are both inside and outside

ADB. They include the Board of Directors; Management; senior staff; staff in

headquarters, resident missions, and representative offices; institutional

responsibility centers in developing member countries; local stakeholders;

nongovernment organizations; other development agencies; and umbrella

organizations such as the Development Cooperation Directorate in the

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Evaluation

Network that it coordinates, the United Nations Evaluation Group, and the

Evaluation Cooperation Group.

Interfaces for Lesson Learning

Inter- and intra-organizational relationships encompass OED itself, other

departments, developing member countries, and the international evaluation

community. The figure below shows these interfaces with the specific context,

knowledge, and the relationships of OED and the external environment it faces.

Influencing Change

OED makes continuous efforts to influence change in development strategies,

policies, practices, and procedures. Having influence begins with determining

what, exactly, one wants to influence. Specifically, what decisions does one

wish to influence, what changes does one seek to effect? After that, it is easier

to establish who one needs to influence, namely, who is in a position to make

or influence those decisions or effect those changes. Subsequently, OED

considers what knowledge the target audience needs, what OED itself needs to

know in order to advise the latter, and how OED is going to share that

knowledge. OED endeavors to explicitly anchor broader evaluation studies in

decisions and changes desired and emphasizes the importance of focusing on

relationships at the onset of each evaluation study.

Operating Framework for Lesson Learning

Drawing the elements of knowledge, relationships, context, external

environment, interfaces, and architecture in a conceptual structure generates

the operating framework within which decisions on knowledge management

initiatives can be taken and implemented. The following figure depicts the

operating framework within which knowledge management tools can be

leveraged for lesson learning in ADB.

7. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AT NASA

Knowledge management is getting the right information to the right people at

the right time, and helping people create knowledge and share and act upon

information in ways that will measurably improve the performance of NASA and

its partners. For NASA this means delivering the systems and services that will

help our employees and partners get the information they need to make better

decisions. There are three priority areas where KM systems and processes can

help NASA's ability to deliver its missions:

To sustain NASA's knowledge across missions and generations

KM activities will identify and capture the information that exists

across the Agency

To help people find, organize, and share the knowledge NASA already

have

KM processes will help to efficiently manage the Agency's

knowledge resources

To increase collaboration and to facilitate knowledge creation and sharing

The Knowledge Management Team will develop techniques and

tools to enable teams and communities to collaborate across the

barriers of time and space

Where Is NASA Headed?

NASA’s 25-Year roadmap for how knowledge management will support

their space missions.

How Will NASA Measure Success?

Successful implementation of KM is truly measured by its contribution to

mission success. However, our research shows that there are four primary

success factors for KM: culture, an architecture, services, and a robust

infrastructure.

8. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Type of research: Descriptive Research.

Data Collection

a). Secondary data collection:- Secondary data was collected through:-

The companies have some data & it was taken from their

websites.

Through Various Websites.

Through various Magazines.

Through Newspaper

Through various Books

Data analysis and Hypothesis testing

After collecting data through above mentioned methods various tools were

used to analyse the data.

SUGGESTIONS

Although Knowledge Management is such a broad topic that I don’t

have much knowledge to give suggestions but still I would recommend

some suggestions from my side, these are:

Knowledge Management Programmes should be handled properly.

It should focus more on managing knowledge of past and present

employees.

It should give proper knowledge and training to the persons who are

managing knowledge.

Company should provide Environment for Knowledge Management

functions.

As Knowledge Management is useful in every aspect of life, so it should

be deal with proper care.

Companies should increase the Knowledge Management Departments.

CONCLUSION

From the deep and thorough study made on company, organization, firm, or

any government department way of managing the knowledge of their

employees, employers, directors and co-members through studying the

Knowledge Management in detail, I get to conclude that it was a really

interesting part of an Organisation to study in and it gave me immense

knowledge about the way the companies are prone to keep the Knowledge of

their past and present employees and use it at the time of need.

It was an expansion of my knowledge and a very good experience to know

about the Knowledge Management criteria and methods of Knowledge

Management of reputed companies like TATA STEELS, ASIAN

DEVELOPMENT BANK and NASA and it would be very useful in my carrier

ahead in corporate because of my keen interest in KNOWLEDGE

MANAGEMENT

BIBLIOGRAPHY/REFERENCES

The various Information and Data has been gathered from the

following sources.

BOOKS :-

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION – I (K.K. SINHA)

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION – II (K.K. SINHA)

MAGAZINES :-

BUSINESS TODAY

READERS DIGEST

INDIA TODAY

OUTLOOK

WEBSITES :-

www.google.com

www.wikipedia.com

www.tatasteels.com

www.adb.com

www.indiatimes.com

NEWS PAPERS

ECONOMIC TIMES

BUSINESS TIMES

HT BUSINESS

MINT

TIMES ASCENT