Knowledge Management

David Rashty

“We make doors and windows for a room. But it is the spaces that make the room livable. While the tangible has advantages it is the intangible that makes it useful.”

Lao Tzu 600 BC

Contents

• Introduction & definitions

• Building a learning organization

• Technologies

• Example

• CKO

• Conclusions

Questions…

• Is that true that knowledge is an asset of production more valuable than land, labor, or capital?

• Does it make sense to try to manage that asset or is it an area too fuzzy to take in hand?

• How does an organization go about improving its management of knowledge?

Introduction & definitions

…and answers.

• An Ernst & Young research shows that:– Executives describe their

businesses as “knowledge-intensive”.– Knowledge is key to competitive advantage.– Executives believe the greatest pay-off from knowledge

management will be in innovation.– An organization’s knowledge advantage depends most

on people.– The biggest obstacles to knowledge management are

cultural and behavioral.

Introduction & definitions

Knowledge

Culture, custom, values and skills as well as relationships with customers.

Intangible knowledge and capabilities.

The way organizations communicate, analyze situations and come up with novel solutions to problems.

Structured data, software and procedures.

Introduction & definitions

Management

• Management includes all the ways in which a particular asset or process is handled.

• Management includes the work of specialists and often work carried out by people throughout the organization.

• Together they manage the resources based on particular processes, structures and supporting technology.

Introduction & definitions

Knowledge Management

• Conceptualizing an organization as an integrated knowledge system.

• Management of the organization for effective use of that knowledge.

• Emphasis on the conceptual integration of the different types of knowledge.

Introduction & definitions

Important concepts

• Tacit knowledgeThe knowledge, skills, and competencies of people in an organization. 

• Explicit knowledgeThe processes, structures, information systems, and patents that remain with a company when employees leave. Structural knowledge.

• Knowledge BaseAn organized structure which facilitates the storage and retrieval of information.

• Core-competenceA company’s distinctive technological expertise and skill, its main differentiation factor, responsible for the company’s competitive advantage.

Introduction & definitions

Building a learning organization

Learning organization

Knowledge creation

Knowledge legitimization

Knowledge sharing

Building a learning organization

Knowledge creation

• The process by which an individual gains some new insight.

• Planned knowledge creation requires group collaboration rather than individual actions.

Building a learning organization

Knowledge creation

• For both the individual and the organization there is the requirement of previous related and unrelated knowledge.

• An insight may come from– learning facts, – the rediscovery of some old

concept or idea, – the creation of a new method

or design.

Building a learning organization

The creative organization

• Focus on what you want to accomplish, not what you want to avoid.

• Train people in creative confrontation or healthy disagreement. Divergent thinking stimulates creative potential.

• Don't ignore deadlines, but give yourself certain time frames where the object is only to "play" with certain ideas that aren't related to problem solving situations at hand.

Building a learning organization

The creative organization

• Let people know that "mistakes" are necessary and part of the creative process.

• While maintaining high standards for performance, do not limit ways in which people can succeed.

• Don't overlook the significance of small improvements.

• Involve employees in strategic planning for the business's future.

Building a learning organization

Knowledge legitimization

• The huge amount of information in the Internet fosters a healthy concern with the origin and legitimacy of information.

• It is not enough for management to announce a strategy. It has to make sure that the organization believes in it’s potential to advance the strategy.

• Strategies improperly supported are rarely followed.

Building a learning organization

Knowledge sharing

• Sharing knowledge is distributing it through the organization.

• Methods:– Internal publications

– Workshops and Seminars

– Email divulgations

– Small talk during lunch

– “Extra-curricular” activities

Building a learning organization

Why People Share Knowledge

• Enablers– High trust– Sharing is rewarded– Team-based work– Process focus– Aligned mission, vision and

values– Open to outside ideas– Time to share– Collaborative work– Local decision-making

• Impediments– Fear and suspicion

– Focus on organization

– Individual effort

– Functional focus

– Too busy to share

– Internal competition

– Compartmentalization

– Central, top-down decision-making

Building a learning organization

Technologies

• Intranet-based – Conferencing system– Team spaces– Communities

• Electronic mail

• Full text search tools for critical information classification and retrieval

Technologies

Relevant software

• Organik - Orbital software:– Creation of online expert

communities. Organik brings people and information together and creates a perfect environment for finding answers, finding peopleand sharing knowledge.

Technologies

Relevant software

• KnowledgeMap - Correlate:– Put content into

context, and easily share it with others using a coherent, intuitive and easy to use visual framework.

Technologies

HP case study

• Open culture that facilitates knowledge transfer;• Employees technically oriented who enjoy learning

and sharing their knowledge;• “Employees migration” between business units

fosters informal knowledge transfer;• But:

– The decentralized organizational structure and mode of operation works against knowledge exchange;

– Although culturally open to sharing, few business units are willing to invest time or money in efforts that do not have an obvious and immediate payback for the unit.

Example

HP case study

• The company promoted a series of workshops on KM.

• Key objectives for the workshops: – Facilitation of knowledge sharing

through informal networking;– Establishment of common language and

management frameworks for KM.

Example

HP case study

• The workshops resulted in:– A discussion database on training topics that

has also become a library of training materials and a means of evaluating training resources;

– A guide is being created to human knowledge resources. The primary content of the database is a set of guides to the expertise of individuals who are knowledgeable on particular topics.

Example

CKO

• A Chief Knowledge Officer might play a valuable role in leading knowledge management efforts.

• Potential duties:– Increasing the visibility of knowledge needs.

– Setting priorities among them.

– Planning the infrastructure to facilitate knowledge transfer.

CKO

Conclusions

• Knowledge management is a new paradigm for dealing with the huge amount of information available today.

• Creation and sharing of knowledge are the fronts in which organizations will position themselves in an increasingly competitive market.

Conclusions

“When minds are one, what is far comes near”

African proverb

Conclusions

References

• www.kmworld.com

• www.kmresource.com

• www.sveiby.com.au

• www.brint.com

• www.knowledgecenters.org

Conclusions