KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT via INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES CASE ...828587/FULLTEXT01.pdf · KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT . via . INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES . ... Knowlege Management via Information

BLEKINGE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MBA THESIS SPRING 2006 SUPERVISOR: ANDERS HEDERSTIERNA AUTHOR: ASLI MORALI

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT via

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES

CASE STUDY QUALITY CONTROL PLANS

IN SIEMENS A&D ET

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I first would like to thank Blekinge Institute of Technology for giving me the chance to study in the MBA program as an international student. I also would like to thank Siemens A&D ET for sponsoring my thesis. My supervisor from Blekinge Institute of Technology, Anders Hederstierna guided me very much and provided me required feedback along my way. I then would like to thank Quality Managers of Siemens A&D ET production locations: Baban Shinde from India Thomas Lenz from Brazil Kudret Yapici from Turkey Liang Pan from China Georgios Sarris from Greece Sorin Popescu from Romania I also would like to thank Hans Schmidt and Gerhard Nissl from Siemens A&D ET Regensburg Headquarters Quality Technical Support Department for the unstructured interviews that has given me a very good insight to the IT systems used in Siemens A&D ET. Finally, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to my Supervisor Ertan Karamehmetoglu from Siemens A&D ET, which supported me during all my way along the thesis even if he was very busy. I appreciate very much the effort and the time spent of my supervisor. Asli Morali

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SUMMARY Title: Knowlege Management via Information Technologies, Case Study: Quality Control Plans In Siemens A&D ET

Author: Asli Morali Supervisor: Anders Hederstierna Department: School of Management, Blekinge Institute of Technology Course: MBA thesis, 10 credits. Background and Problem Discussion: Efficient knowledge management becomes day by day a very critical issue for organizations by being considered as one of the most important competitive advantages. Globalization brings more complexity into business environments and communication and information technologies are very critical for control and coordination. IT gained much importance allowing organizations to manage knowledge in global scale. The knowledge sharing is even more complex and critical for multinational organizations. This study will help to gain a deeper understanding of the effects of IT in knowledge management process in multinational companies. As an example, Siemens AG is a well-known multinational involved in intense global knowledge management and sharing. Siemens A&D ET is one of the divisions of Siemens AG which is looking for an IT solution for knowledge management about quality control plans worldwide. The case study will try to find the most efficient IT solution for Siemens A&D ET to share knowledge internationally about quality control plans. Purpose: The primary purpose of the study is to gain a deeper understanding of the effects of IT in knowledge management process in multinational companies. The secondary purpose of this study is to give some advices about how knowledge on quality control plans could be shared in between different locations by use of IT within Siemens A&D ET. Method: Inductive, Exploratory, Qualitative Case Study. Primary data is collected from headquarters and international production locations of Siemens A&D ET with the help of unstructured interviews and questions sent by e-mail. Theory: The theory section is constructed at different levels. I started by discussing the knowledge in general and the classification of knowledge as a basis for the study. Next, I presented the literature about knowledge management. Then, I covered Knowledge Management and Information Technologies to discuss finally the knowledge management in multinational companies by use of IT. Analysis: I have used the theory chapter as much as possible to analyze the current situation in Siemens A&D ET. The analysis is done based on the empirical study, first I analysed the situation in international production locations, then I analysed the options of IT solutions. Lastly, I combined both analysis to drive a conclusion.

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Conclusion: There is a high dependence on IT for knowledge sharing in multinationals and the expectations from IT is high. The risk to fall into the trap of investments for expensive IT solutions is very high for multinational companies. Multinational companies possess dispersed knowledge all around the world and it is important to recognize that most of the part of this knowledge is tacit. Therefore even though IT facilitate the knowledge management and sharing between different units of multinational companies, it is crucial to develop other means to share the tacit part of the knowledge base. For Siemens A&D ET Case it is technically easy to design an IT solution to share, manage, update and coordinate the quality control plans. 4 different IT alternatives can be a solution for Siemens A&D ET. Secure Data Exchange Folders and SharePoint are very easy to initiate and the required level of investment is relatively low, they might be used as a short term temporary solution. A&D CADIM Web Client and SAP Q solutions are relatively hard to initiate and the required level of investment is higher. Therefore, those solutions are suitable as permanent and long term solutions. However, as the study shows the main problem starts with the tacit part of the knowledge about quality control plans. Results show that there are many barriers to share the knowledge about quality control plans via IT and due to low need for such a system in locations, the commitment of the locations seems to be very low. If Siemens A&D ET is willing to put one of those solutions into application, it is clear that all systems require other mechanisms to support the efficient knowledge exchange. Face to face communication is one of the most important supporting mechanisms.

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ABSTRACT Efficient knowledge management becomes day by day a very critical issue for organizations by being considered as one of the most important competitive advantages. Globalization brings more complexity in to business environments and communication and information technologies are very critical for control and coordination. IT gained much importance allowing organizations to manage knowledge in global scale. In the recent literature about knowledge management there are pessimistic and optimistic views on the role of IT. Optimistic views put lot of emphasize on the role of IT on knowledge management. On the contrary, pessimistic views on the role of IT show the importance of tacit components of knowledge which cannot be shared via IT. The knowledge sharing is even more complex and critical for multinational organizations. They are geographically dispersed and effective knowledge management is extremely required to survive in global competition. It is important to control and coordinate the corporations’ dispersed subordinates for which IT is used as a critical tool. Siemens AG is a well-known multinational involved in intense global knowledge management and sharing. Siemens A&D ET is one of the divisions of Siemens AG which is looking for an IT solution for knowledge management about quality control plans worldwide. This study will try to find the most efficient IT solution for Siemens A&D ET to share knowledge internationally about quality control plans. Moreover, this study will help to gain a deeper understanding of the effects of IT in knowledge management process in multinational companies.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1. Background 1 1.2. Research question 2 1.3. Purpose of the study 3 1.4. Limitations 3 CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY 4 2.1. Choice of subject 4 2.2. Perspective 4 2.3. Preconceptions 5 2.4. Research philosophy, research approach and research strategy

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2.5 General Method of Study 6 2.6 Primary data collection 8 CHAPTER 3 THEORY 9 3.1. What is knowledge? 9 3.2. Classification of knowledge 9 3.3. Knowledge management 12 3.4. Knowledge management and Information Technologies 13 3.5. Knowledge Management in multinational companies by use of IT

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CHAPTER 4 EMPIRICAL STUDY 21 4.1. Background information about Siemens A&D ET 21 4.2. Definition of the Case Study: Quality Control Plans in Siemens A&D ET

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4.3. Results of the questions 22 4.4. Results of the follow-up questions 25 4.5. Current IT Systems used in Siemens A&D ET to exchange knowledge

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CHAPTER 5 ANALYSIS 32 5.1. Analysis of the questions 32 5.2. Analysis of the follow-up questions 34 5.3. Analysis of alternative IT solutions 35 5.4. Overall analysis 39 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS 42 REFERENCES 45 APPENDIX A 46

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QUESTIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION PLANTS SIEMENS A&D ET APPENDIX B FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION PLANTS SIEMENS A&D ET

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APPENDIX C SAMPLE QUALITY CONTROL PLANS FROM SIEMENS A&D ET INTERNATIONAL LOCATIONS

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APPENDIX D SAMPLE QUALITY CONTROL PLAN IN ENGLISH

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Summary of comparison for tacit and explicit knowledge

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Table 2: Comparison for alternative IT solutions 38

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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter sets the background for my research. Based on this background, I pose my research question, I set my study purposes and the limitations of my study. 1.1. Background Organizations today are involved in complex and complicated tasks. With the explosion of information and an ever increasing consumer demand for high quality products and services, having a competitive advantage is seen as a basic survival necessity. One critical issue about competitive advantage is the management of knowledge. Johannessen, Olaisen, Olsen (2001) are referring to D’aveni (1994) stating that business are moving more and more towards globalization, turbulence and complexity, together with increasing development in information and communication technologies which is simply called hyper-competition. The focus on knowledge is increasing since it is identified as one of the most important resources for companies resulting in competitive advantage. (Johannessen, Olaisen, Olsen, 2001) During last years, Information Technologies (IT) gained very much importance, since it allows organizations to share and manage the existing knowledge base. However, there are different views on the role of IT. Some views are optimistic about the role of IT in knowledge management, some views are more pessimistic. In general optimistic views’ emphasize is on technology, whereas pessimistic views’ emphasize is on human aspects. One example is Hislop (2002) who underlines the optimistic emphasize of IT in the recent knowledge management literature. He criticizes the literature stating that IT can have a main role in knowledge management which over-emphasizes technology and neglects social and cultural aspects. He states there is optimism about ‘how either an organization’s knowledge assets can be shared directly via information technology systems or that such processes can be supported and facilitated by information technology.’ As a result, he takes a pessimistic view about the role of IT in the process of knowledge sharing. Hislop refers to Cook and Brown (1999), suggesting that the built-in nature of the knowledge makes difficult its sharing with the help of IT. Johannessen, Olaisen, Olsen (2001) are underlining tacit knowledge which makes the difference in creating and sustaining competitive advantages for companies. They refer to Grant (1996) who states that tacit knowledge makes up the core capability and to Leonard-Barton (1995) who states that tacit knowledge differentiates the firms from the competitors and gives strategic advantages.

Knowledge Management via Information Technologies Case Study: Quality Control Plans in Siemens A&D ET

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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali The knowledge sharing is even more complex and critical for multinational organizations. They are geographically dispersed and effective knowledge management is extremely required to sustain existing competitive advantages and to develop new ones. The environmental conditions are more complex for multinationals, the cultural differences play an important role in knowledge management. March and Bubenko (2000) state, that global economy made geographic distribution usual in business processes and operations. Development of Internet and World Wide Web, allows many organizations to make use of dispersed databases which reduces costs and improves responsiveness to support business processes. Finnegan and Longaigh (2002) referring to all type of international or multinational organizations as pan-national corporations, say that pan-national corporations are very complex in structure and the organizational form is extremely stimulated by globalization. It is important to control and coordinate the corporations’ spatially dispersed subordinates for which IT is used as an important tool. Pan-nationals are using IT to create an ‘effective information-processing network’ to integrate complex activities and to survive in global competitiveness. One well-known example for multinational companies is Siemens AG involved in intense knowledge management and sharing in global scale. Siemens has many divisions. Siemens Automation and Drives Electro-installation Technologies (Siemens A&D ET) is one of the divisions of Siemens AG providing worldwide solutions and products in the area of electrical installation. The headquarters is located in Regensburg - Germany and there are many production units around the world (in Greece, Romania, Turkey, India, China, Brazil, USA and Canada). One current problem in Siemens A&D ET is the knowledge management about quality control plans. Local production units are responsible for the updates of quality control plans for their production range. However, the revised quality control plans are neither with the headquarters nor with the other international production units shared. All knowledge about quality control generated in local plants is kept inside and not shared. This might cause duplication of design efforts in new product development and increase manufacturing efforts in other local plants. Therefore, quality control plans in local plants need to be managed electronically with the most efficient way and this leads to the following research question. 1.2. Research question “How IT can be used in the most efficient way in Siemens A&D ET to share knowledge internationally about quality control plans?”


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali 1.3. Purpose of the study The primary purpose of the study is to gain a deeper understanding of the effects of IT in knowledge management process in multinational companies. The secondary purpose of this study is to give some advices about how knowledge on quality control plans could be shared in between different locations by use of IT within Siemens A&D ET. 1.4. Limitations The study is limited to find a solution to share quality control plans for Siemens A&D ET only for the headquarters in Regensburg and the production locations in Greece, Romania, Turkey, India, China and Brazil. The other production locations in USA and Canada are out of the study. This limitation comes from the difference of the technical standards requirement. In USA and Canada electrical standards (UL standard) are different than the other countries (CE standard). Therefore the sharing of knowledge is only needed between the countries where the same technical standards are applied for production and quality control.


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CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the method followed during the research. It starts by explaining why this particular topic is chosen, then perspective taken during the study is stated and my preconceptions on the topic. I then continue with my research philosophy, my research approach and my research strategy. Next, general method for the research is made clear. Finally, I explain my ways of data collection. 2.1. Choice of topic These days there is an increasing interest in both knowledge management and information technologies. They both have an important influence on globalization therefore on multinational organizations. Hence, there are a lot of researches performed on knowledge management and IT for multinational organizations. One of the crucial topics in knowledge management is how to use IT to boost effective knowledge sharing. Even though there are many recent literatures focusing on knowledge management and IT, there are still big discussions about if IT can be used effectively in knowledge sharing. Relationship between knowledge management and IT has not been fully explored. This topic is even more interesting for multinational companies for which the environmental conditions are much more complex. During my study, I would like to focus on multinational organizations. The main reason to choose these types of organizations is their complex environment and their high dependence on IT. Multinational organizations basically work across different cultures. They are involved in international projects, which require high level of communication and cross-border knowledge exchange. I am interested to learn more about multinational organizations since I believe it is an important issue for multinationals how to share in the most effective way their existing knowledge base distributed in different locations. IT is very important for multinational organizations to share the knowledge but the effectiveness of IT in this process is not clarified by the recent literature. Therefore, to do a case study in a big multinational company like Siemens in order to see how IT can be used in the most effective way to share a part of the knowledge base is an interesting research question to gain a deeper insight. 2.2. Perspective I believe that this study would result in important conclusions for medium-level managers in multinational organizations who are involved in continuous knowledge exchange process. Therefore during the study I took the perspective of the medium-level managers who have a valuable amount of knowledge and who are deeply involved


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali in knowledge management and exchange. This study would help them to better understand the knowledge management via IT in multinational organizations. 2.3. Preconceptions Previously, I worked for a multinational company for around 1 year and had various experiences and difficulties in knowledge management and effective use of IT. This is one of the primary reasons why my interest in knowledge management in multinational organizations increased. Besides, the increasing amount of criticism in current writings about IT and its effect on knowledge management attracted my attention. I also had many preconceptions about Siemens. I assumed that IT is being extremely used in the most effective way to share knowledge in Siemens. I expected that much of the rules are already in place to facilitate knowledge exchange between international subsidiaries. 2.4. Research philosophy, research approach and research strategy The research philosophy guides knowledge development during a research. Positivism and phenomenology are the two main philosophies. Positivism is trying to generalize the results of a visible social truth to create laws like in physics or in natural science. Phenomenology is against laws for social issues and claims that richness of the social world is mislaid by generalizations. Business cases are the results of a combination of specific conditions and persons therefore they are multifaceted and unique. Therefore the cases cannot be generalized. (Saunders, Lewis, Thornhill, 2003) My study is a phenomenological study since I believe that there is no single correct answer to my research question. Today’s specific conditions might not be the same of tomorrow’s specific conditions for Siemens A&D ET. Today’s employees are different than tomorrow’s employees. Therefore, the result of the study can only be used as a guide. When internal and external conditions change, the answer of my research question might change. Research approach defines whether researcher is clear about the theory at the beginning of the research. Deduction searches the causal relationships between variables and is performed more frequently in a scientific research. The theory is developed first and than tested. The purpose of induction is to gain an understanding of the problem. Theory is developed after data collection. Inductive research allows alternative explanations to the problem. A small sample size is more suitable for an inductive approach. Within a flexible structure of research, the data is collected by various methods and is qualitative to allow the researcher to set up different views. (Saunders, Lewis, Thornhill, 2003)


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali My research approach is an inductive approach. I aim to gain a deeper understanding of the knowledge exchange by use of IT in multinational organizations by using an inductive case study in Siemens A&D ET. My study is inductive in the sense that I try to describe knowledge management of quality control plans by use of IT. I started by reading existing theories about knowledge management with the aim of understanding the topic in a deeper way to set a correct ground for the empirical study. I basically made use of the existing theory to formulate my research question and purposes. Even though I have an inductive approach, I strongly believe that background theory helped me to formulate the empirical study in the correct way. I had a sufficient level of knowledge about the study area before the empirical study. Questions and unstructured interviews used during the case study are aimed at understanding and learning the actual knowledge management process for quality control plans and use of IT in Siemens A&D ET. My research strategy is exploratory. Exploratory research is about finding out “what is happening” or “to seek new insights”. (Saunders, Lewis, Thornhill, 2003, p 96) I am more concerned with the alternative explanations of my context dependent research question rather than generalizing my findings. I aim to describe an effective knowledge management process for quality control plans by use of IT within Siemens A&D ET. 2.5. General Method of Study This research is done to fulfill the requirements of the MBA Program in Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden. The empirical study is performed in Siemens A&D ET by the involvement of international quality managers from various local plants and the quality and IT departments from headquarters. The study will start with the reading of the previous studies in this area by a literature review. Then, a well-grounded theoretical background will be set-up to make an efficient case study. Next the empirical study will be performed. The analysis of the case will be done by the help of theory chapter. Finally, conclusions based on the purposes of the study will be drawn. a. Literature Review The sources, from which I collected the theoretical information, are all from academic journals and books. I only had access to academic journals that are available in Blekinge Institute of Technology Electronic Library. During my search, I used different key words such as knowledge, knowledge management, globalization, information


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali technology and multinational organizations. The background information about Siemens A&D ET is collected both from Siemens Web Site and Siemens Intranet. b. Case study Case study is a research strategy to investigate a specific event in reality. It helps to gain a rich understanding of the event. (Saunders, Lewis, Thornhill, 2003) Steps to be followed during my case study:

1. To understand current flow and management of control plans. For a better understanding, this will be done by analyzing 2-3 different control plans used in different local production units.

2. To understand the problems of the local production plants about quality control. This will be performed by sending questions via e-mail. If required follow up questions might be sent via e-mail or some telephone follow-up might be performed.

3. To learn the current data sharing systems used in Siemens A&D ET with their

advantages and disadvantages by interviewing the employees in different departments mainly quality and IT departments in Siemens A&D ET headquarters at Regensburg, Germany.

4. To check the compatibility of the current data sharing systems with the

management of knowledge on the control plans.

5. To advise a number of feasible solutions by comparing their advantages and disadvantages and draw conclusions about the effectiveness of those alternative solutions.

First it was very important to understand current flow and management of quality control plans and problems concerning exchange of quality control plans. I send out questions and follow-up questions to international quality managers in Greece, Romania, Brazil, Turkey, India and China with the expectation that the analysis of the empirical data would lead first to gain a deeper understanding of how knowledge management is performed currently within Siemens A&D ET and to find out the best solution out of many alternatives to exchange quality control plans internationally. Moreover, 3 quality control plans from three different production units namely from Germany, India and Turkey, will be analyzed to compare and contrast the similarities and differences in each quality control plan. Quality control plans from these locations are chosen basically due to the language constraints. I speak English, German and


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali Turkish therefore I have chosen respective countries. The other locations would not be easy to study. Second, it was also very important to learn the current data sharing systems used in Siemens A&D ET with their advantages and disadvantages in order to check the compatibility of the current data sharing systems with the management, update and sharing of the quality control plans. For this, I am holding unstructured interviews with quality and IT departments at headquarters. One of the greatest constraints to study the topic in deep is the language diversity within Siemens A&D ET. Most of the data available in Siemens A&D ET is in German. Moreover, each factory is using the local language for their internal communication. This makes it difficult to collect and compare some information. 2.6. Primary data collection Due to variety of production locations, it was impossible to do face-to-face or telephone interviews with all the quality managers in different locations, therefore I decided to send my questions in written form to them. Questions sent by e-mail were used as a means of primary data collection. (Appendix 1) Moreover, unstructured interviews were held with quality and IT departments in headquarters to learn about the data management systems within Siemens A&D ET. In an exploratory study, unstructured interviews might help to understand “what is happening” and to gain new insights into the research question. Unstructured interviews grant an occasion to look into answers of the interviewees by explaining their replies. (Saunders, Lewis, Thornhill, 2003) I believe that unstructured interviews with quality and IT departments lead me into new areas that I did not consider before which are important for the understanding of my research question in depth.


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CHAPTER 3 THEORY This chapter starts with the definition and classification of knowledge. Then, I continue with knowledge management. Next, comes knowledge management and information technologies and I finish the chapter by knowledge management by use of Information Technologies in multinational companies. 3.1. What is knowledge? To define the knowledge it is necessary to differentiate between data, information and knowledge. There is direct relation between data, information and knowledge. Roberts (2000) clarifies this relation. Data are results of observations, measurements, or facts presented as numbers, words, sounds and/or images. They don’t have a meaning, but they are the bases for information generation. Information is the meaningful arrangement of data which results from the analysis of the data and it is presented as report or charts or graphs appropriate for a particular use. Knowledge is the application and fruitful use of combination of information, thoughts, procedures, and insights. Knowledge incorporates experience, familiarity and learning. (Roberts, 2000) Therefore, data is the raw material for information and knowledge. The starting point to generate the knowledge is the data, which can be arranged and analyzed for the creation of information. Information has more meaning than data and can be presented in various forms. Then, knowledge is the applied information and it is dependent on the people who are using the information. The personal experience and insights shape the final knowledge based on the same data and information. 3.2. Classification of knowledge Knowledge is categorized by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) in two different categories as explicit and tacit knowledge. The distinction between explicit and tacit knowledge is important. Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), state that explicit knowledge can be codified in a tangible form, whereas tacit knowledge is possessed by people and is inexpressible. Knowledge is codified when it is recorded or transmitted in the form of symbols or in a tangible form whereas tacit knowledge is non-codified which is acquired by informal learning. Tacit knowledge is rooted in a social and cultural milieu whereas codified knowledge is context-dependent. (Roberts, 2000) Symbols can be used to formulate explicit knowledge. The transfer of explicit knowledge is thus easier. Tacit knowledge is rooted in practice and is meaningful within specific circumstances. Tacit knowledge is more difficult to transfer. Tacit knowledge is non-codified, intangible know-how acquired by learning by doing. Tacit knowledge


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali does not entail the creation and gaining of tangible elements. It is totally alive in the people, based on practice and experience. (Johannessen, Olaisen, Olsen, 2001) ‘Explicit knowledge represents the knowing about (the objective knowledge), while tacit knowledge the knowing how (or the subjective knowledge)’. (Bolisani and Scarso, 1999, p210) Explicit knowledge is based on the rationalization of information and can be codified in different shapes such as formulas, designs, reports etc. resulting in relative easiness to acquire, convey, and store. However, tacit knowledge is directly associated with ideas, observations and practice. (Bolisani and Scarso, 1999) Explicit knowledge is assumed to be developed free from personal bias. Embedded in principles and assumptions of the owner, tacit knowledge is highly subjective, however, explicit knowledge can be purely and objectively solidified. Explicit knowledge is assumed to be independent of people and it exists in different shapes like documents and diagrams. (Hislop, 2002) The classification of the tacit and explicit knowledge is clear to the authors. Even though they define tacit and explicit knowledge in different ways, they make a clear distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge. The table on page 12 summarizes the differences between tacit and explicit knowledge.


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Explicit Knowledge

Tacit Knowledge

Independent of people, free from

personal bias, based on the rationalization of information

Objective Context-dependent Codified in a tangible form Recorded or transmitted in the form of

symbols Exists in different shapes such as

formulas, designs, reports, documents and diagrams

Easily transferred Relatively easy to acquire, convey, and

store

Dependent of people, associated with

ideas, observations and practice, inexpressible

Subjective Rooted in a social and cultural milieu Non-codified, intangible know-how Acquired by informal learning,

learning by doing Rooted in practice and is meaningful

within specific circumstances, alive in the people, based on practice and experience

More difficult to transfer More difficult to acquire, convey and

store

Table 1: Summary of comparison for tacit and explicit knowledge From my point of view explicit knowledge is the raw knowledge similar to information. I believe the definition of information is very close to explicit knowledge. Information and/or explicit knowledge is the basis of tacit knowledge. For the authors mentioned above the different levels of knowledge is as follows:

1- Data 2- Information 3- Knowledge (Both tacit and explicit)

This means that they treat the explicit and tacit knowledge at the same level. However, I would suggest adding another level as below:


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1- Data 2- Information 3- Explicit Knowledge 4- Tacit Knowledge

Therefore, I would clearly separate the levels of explicit knowledge from tacit knowledge. The highest level is the tacit knowledge. Data is the basis for information, information is the basis for explicit knowledge and explicit knowledge is the basis of tacit knowledge. A parallel discussion is held by Hislop (2002) referring to Tsoukas (1996) to state two different perspectives about knowledge. Objectivist perspective separate completely tacit and explicit knowledge and epistemology of practice perspective argues that tacit and explicit knowledge are indivisible and are jointly formed. Hislop (2002) is against a strict classification between tacit and explicit knowledge stating that tacit and explicit knowledge are not at the end of a spectrum. He criticizes arguments which state that tacit and explicit knowledge possess totally different characteristics and are shared in totally different ways. Roberts (2000) also emphasize that ‘even when knowledge is codified, much of the tacit element remains uncodified’. Codes like foreign language or a technical jargon should be learned to make sense of knowledge. According to Hislop (2002) without an understanding of its language any text will be random series of letters, numbers and images to the reader. Therefore, knowledge is tacit, or based on tacit knowledge. He refers to Clark’s (2000) ‘explicit knowledge’ who symbolizes the indivisibility of tacit and explicit knowledge. Hislop support my new classification with his argument that the knowledge cannot be divided totally into tacit and explicit knowledge. As my new classification suggests, the explicit knowledge is the basis for tacit knowledge and tacit knowledge is the highest level of knowledge incorporating explicit parts. 3.3. Knowledge Management Knowledge management can be described as the way organizations collect, increase and organize knowledge for their specific actions and within their specific cultures to increase organizational efficiency. It is the ability of an organization to retain or improve organizational performance with experience and knowledge. (Pan and Scarbrough, 1999) Hislop (2002), states that management of knowledge is not ‘simply combining, sharing or making data commonly available.’ Knowledge management is based on the transfer


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali or exchange of knowledge. Roberts (2000) names knowledge transfer as the diffusion of knowledge from one individual to others. Knowledge transfer occurs as a result of socialization, education and learning. Epistemology of practice perspective and suggests that, to be useful, knowledge sharing necessitate people developing a positive reception of its tacit statements on which it stands. Hislop (2002) refers to Bolisani and Scarso’s (2000) ‘language game’ model which states that dialogues and language are very important to transfer knowledge. Johannessen, Olaisen, Olsen (2001) refers to Nonaka (1994) stating that organizational knowledge is the result of interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge. Therefore tacit knowledge cannot be understood without the explicit part of the complete knowledge base. They argue that the challenge for companies is to make tacit knowledge of people explicit in the organization and that tacit knowledge based on personal experience can be made explicit in the organization through relationships based on thrust. Roberts (2000) underlines the importance of trust for exchange of knowledge. Trust is subject to social environment, differs from cultures to cultures and nations to nations. Cross-border exchange of knowledge requires high level of trust which can be only a result of socialization therefore intense face-to-face relations. Face-to-face contact compensates difficulties occurring due to cultural and language differences. Hislop (2002) emphasizes the social construction and cultural embedness of knowledge. Knowledge is not shaped by passive perceiving but by interaction with social groups. He further states that effective sharing of knowledge is directly related with wide social interactions since tacit knowledge can be only shared by high social interactions. Organizations need to manage their knowledge base to be able to reach organizational efficiency. The most important challenge is the management of the highest level of knowledge which is tacit knowledge based on explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is highly dependent on the social environment and on the organizational culture. Therefore, knowledge management requires more than commonly available databases. Since tacit knowledge is alive in people, tacit knowledge can be only transferred by socialization under high level of trust. Therefore face to face communication is the most important means of tacit knowledge transfer. 3.4. Knowledge Management and Information Technologies IT systems format, filter and summarize data to convert them into appropriate information, playing an important role for knowledge exchange. (Bolisani and Scarso, 1999) IT facilitates the rapid collection, collation, storage, and distribution of data,


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali which assists knowledge creation and transmission. IT facilitates knowledge transfer by data exchange. (Roberts, 2000) IT communication is likely to be more flourishing between people sharing common social, cultural and linguistic backgrounds. It is likely to be less valuable between people from various backgrounds. (Roberts, 2000) Hislop (2002) discuss the role of IT to share the knowledge. Face-to-face communication can only be replaced by electronic-communication, when the people are not important, when the conditions are definite and, when the necessary actions are ordinary and regular. In the recent literature there is a sharp discussion about IT role to transfer different types of knowledge. Hislop (2002) states that due to the characteristics of tacit knowledge it is difficult to share it via IT, however explicit knowledge is electronically more simply shared. The most important aspect weighing in knowledge-sharing is the degree of tacitness. IT is mostly useful when knowledge is explicit. However, fully explicit knowledge does not exist. Therefore, knowledge sharing is likely to be more effective when it is supported not only by IT but also some other means. (Hislop, 2002) Tacit knowledge transfer and creation is enhanced by IT however, IT fails alone to supply all the conditions required to share tacit knowledge successfully. (Roberts, 2000) Bolisani and Scarso (1999) emphasize the difference of storing data from the transfer practical experience. According to Hislop (2002) sharing of tacit knowledge via IT is very difficult. The basic difficulty is to express tacit knowledge in an explicit and objective form which prevents its effective sharing by IT. Therefore, the use of IT to share the knowledge is limited. He argues that it might be physically possible to use IT to transfer partially explicit knowledge, without its tacit elements, however it will not be impossible to develop a full meaning. Roberts (2000) states, that IT is more suitable to the transfer codified knowledge therefore less appropriate for tacit knowledge transfer. Internationally distributed teams are exchanging both codified and tacit knowledge. This exchange requires high level of communication. Effective electronic communication requires confidence and trust between the distributed teams and they should be willing to share information. Effective knowledge sharing requires people’s willingness to share their knowledge and it is based on the trust between people. Without trust and with limited social contact, people may be unenthusiastic to share their knowledge by means of IT. (Hislop, 2002) Moreover Hislop (2002) argues that another important aspect the common knowledge shared between parties involved in knowledge sharing. He refers to Brown and Duguid


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali (1998) and Leonard and Sensiper (1998) stating that participants develop common knowledge by working together and in this case knowledge sharing is more simple. As a result, IT has a greater potential when higher level of common knowledge between parties exist. Johannessen, Olaisen, Olsen (2001) are warning organizations against unilateral IT investments. They state that the focus for an IT investment might be more on explicit knowledge which can be easily communicated as information. However, tacit knowledge is the determinant of competitive advantage. Therefore IT investment without any emphasize on tacit knowledge will fail to success. They refer to Clemons (1988) and Powell & Dent-Micallef (1997) and state that firms cannot expect IT alone to produce sustainable competitive advantage. Johannessen, Olaisen, Olsen (2001) criticize the conservative approach for applying IT. It is used only for the automation of the existing processes assuming that the original process is satisfactory. IT has only an amplifier effect since its role is mainly to create operational efficiency. They further mention about ‘productivity paradox of information technology’ where there is an expectation that investment in IT should result in higher profits, which is not true when it is not supported by other mechanisms. They state that mismanagement of IT is directly related with the lack of understanding of tacit knowledge, and the relationship between tacit knowledge and IT. IT transfer effectively only explicit knowledge. Theerfore, tacit knowledge should be emphasized in the IT usage. Bolisani and Scarso (1999), state that having a sophisticated IT system does not promise effective understanding, absorption, and application of knowledge. When tacit knowledge is concerned, it is impossible to entirely describe languages, rules, and procedures in advance, and knowledge transfer relies on the “social context” of the interrelated organizations. However, it is apparent that IT can notably cultivate knowledge exchange by assisting long distance communication. It is clear that IT has positive effects on knowledge management by facilitating the transfer of data, information and explicit knowledge. However it is more effective when knowledge exchanging participants have similar backgrounds. The characteristics of tacit knowledge make it difficult to share it via IT. IT alone cannot provide all the necessary conditions for the successful sharing of tacit knowledge. Therefore for an effective knowledge sharing IT should be supported by other means. Confidence and trust between the participants and willingness to share the knowledge is necessary. As a result IT is only effective when there is a high degree of common knowledge, trust and willingness to share the knowledge between participants of the knowledge sharing process. The most important factor is the degree of tacitness of the knowledge. When


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali knowledge has highly explicit components, the use of IT will likely to be more successful for knowledge sharing. IT is less suitable for the transfer of tacit knowledge. However, for organizations it is the effective management of tacit knowledge which determines the degree of competitive advantage. Therefore, IT investments should have an emphasize on tacit knowledge. Since IT transfers effectively only explicit knowledge, it is important to understand the relationship between IT and tacit knowledge therefore IT should be supported by other mechanisms for an effective knowledge management. 3.5. Knowledge management in multinational companies by use of IT Ives and Jarvenpaa (1991) refer to Carlyle (1988) stating that as reaction to increasingly competitive global markets, companies started to implement globally integrative strategies. There are pressures such as global economies of scale and scope search, global products development, and growing need to please the desires of international customers. As a result the need for worldwide coordination and control is increased, which raises the demand on information and communication between headquarters and subsidiaries. Cavaye (1997) states, that economic and public order is highly internationalized. Internationalization is an ongoing and growing fashion and is not a short-term or irregular issue. Internationalization has increased the interest in and demand for information systems surpassing national limits. He calls this as “transnational information systems”. “A global information technology application contributes to achieving a firm’s global business strategy by using information technology platforms to store, transmit, and manipulate data across cultural environments.” (Ives and Jarvenpaa, 1991, p 34) Business drivers for Global IT are global consumer/customer, global product, rationalized operations, flexible operations, joint resource, duplicate facilities, scarce resources, risk reduction, legal requirements and economies of scale for systems. (Ives and Jarvenpaa, 1991) Ives and Jarvenpaa (1991) state that global scale IT reduces time and space and allows the duplication and sharing of limited corporate knowledge. These capabilities result in opportunities to pull advantages in market size and geographical scope since they supply the ways to quickly react to the specific needs of national markets. Cavaye (1997) refers to Deans and Kane (1992) stating that the development of transnational information systems is not just a technological concern. Other topics include the legal, economic and cultural aspects. Cultural aspects comprise evident diversity in language, currency and national symbols.


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali There are a number of issues affecting inter-organizational development that are also relevant to transnational information systems. Importance of creating interest in and commitment for the system, trust, type of interdependence, standardization and political & cultural environment in which the system will operate are important points to be underlined. (Cavaye, 1997) Ives and Jarvenpaa (1991) state that global scale IT brings management problems that are quite difficult than those problems came across sharing systems in domestic divisions. They refer to Cash et al. (1998) who noted “problems related to language, currency, culture, national infrastructure, availability of IT staff, data export control, and trade unions.” (p. 34) Besides, hardware, software, communications costs and availability bring other problems. Ives and Jarvenpaa (1991) mention the key issues for cultural environment. First, it is critical to identify vital systems applications or competencies of subsidiaries. Then, opportunities for global organizational learning in relation with these core competencies should be provided. Next, the sensitivity of foreign subsidiaries to imposed solutions should be recognized in order to search jointly acceptable options. Lastly, managers sent abroad should learn to be more sensitive to cultural differences. Cavaye (1997) refers to Grover and Teng (1994) further to state that management and users’ commitment from participating organizations is very important for the success of inter-organizational systems. Different parties affected should feel involved in the system. This can be achieved by keeping the participants informed, by giving them the opportunity to take part in the development and by training and preparing them appropriately. Cavaye (1997) refers to Meier (1995) stating that the participants should trust each other for an inter-organizational systems development project. As long as the benefits of the system for different participants are clear, trust would be enhanced. Therefore a win-win situation is necessary for an inter-organizational system to serve in the best way. The interdependency between participants linked by a system is another subject to be underlined. Interface systems linking local and central organizations are simpler to coordinate and integrate and they hardly result in conflict between participants. However, fully integrated networked systems necessitate more complex coordination methods and they might more often result in conflict. It is very important to have a coordinating body to manage and go on with the development of the system. The challenge comes from participants possessing different abilities and different levels of IT penetration. (Cavaye, 1997)


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali There is a need to control and coordinate the subsidiaries of multinational companies due to several reasons. There are numerous product lines being produced by complex processes in different locations. The value chain activities are detached or intense, and subsidiaries are focusing usually on small parts of the complete value chain. There is agency problem of harmonizing multinational corporation interests with its subsidiaries. The subsidiaries might be unaware or unwilling to follow overall corporate objectives. Undesired duplication and overlap in different locations should be minimized. There are contrasting mindsets in relation to work and expectations. There is a need to have continuous and quick learning all over the corporation about different activities distributed in different locations. Global competition is hard which makes pressure on the multinational companies. Geographical distribution, language differences and cultural variety may shape subsidiary managers’ decisions in different ways than the headquarters. There are various host governments which are imposing different types of pressures on the subsidiaries. The international financial system is instable. Locally responsiveness and global competitiveness is required to transfer competitive advantage. (Finnegan and Longaigh, 2002) IT might have a controlling role. In multinational companies Networks, e-mails, corporate databases and Group Ware is used to receive decision-relevant data from subsidiaries. By use of IT data transfer is more rapid and data is received in a standard format which makes the handling of data easier in headquarters. Moreover, data is concise and complete and IT helps to transfer vast amount of data. As a result, higher quality information is available to headquarters for global decision making. (Finnegan and Longaigh, 2002) IT is also used for formalization. Timely accessible data is available to headquarters and subsidiaries. Data is stored conveniently therefore the access is quick and easy. This enhances headquarters’ ability to enforce standards and global policies. (Finnegan and Longaigh, 2002) Besides, IT helps monitoring. Data receiving speed of headquarters increases and data arrives at headquarters from various sources in ready-to-treat format. There is one standard version of data for the overall organization. As a result, headquarters can rapidly get a global perspective of its operations and is directly attentive to undesired actions in the subsidiaries. (Finnegan and Longaigh, 2002) IT has also a coordination role by enabling rapid data and information sharing for decision making. By use of IT data and information transfer becomes more reliable and concise. IT allows streamlined decision making by reducing time and spatial dependence. Moreover, IT reduces the necessity of traveling for common decision making. IT reduces the data redundancy and information coming from different locations can be compared before any decision is made. (Finnegan and Longaigh, 2002)


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali Last but not least, IT functions as a central information pool and makes some coordination activities automatic. IT turns some activities more transparent to subsidiaries which operate on the data or information derived in other subsidiaries. IT enables subsidiaries in synchronization of activities and in taking group-wide decisions. (Finnegan and Longaigh, 2002) The procedure for an inter-organizational IT system suggested by Cavaye (1997) is as follows. First, it is necessary to identify a system’s need and an accord must be reached for a system development. Second, exact requirements of the system should be made clear and the system should be designed. Next, the physical building of the system should be completed together with programming and networking. Then, the new system should be implemented and should become operational in daily tasks. Lastly, the system should be maintained and ongoing development of the system should be ensured. Ives and Jarvenpaa (1991) mention the key issues for international data sharing. It is important first to understand the desirability of transborder data sharing and standardizing which is against the needs of local flexibility and then the responsibilities, limitations, and exposures for transborder data sharing. Next responsibility for data standardization should be assigned and subsidiaries should be involved in the standardization of common data names and data modeling actions. Then, a global data construction should be designed and developed in conformity with the global business objectives. Lastly, databases should be physically located based on business necessities, legal concerns, relative expenditures, supplier support, organizational policies etc. Cavaye (1997) refers to Picot et al. (1993) to state that it is also important to standardize data and procedures is also crucial for many inter-organizational systems and it depends on the applications used for communication between participants. Ives and Jarvenpaa (1991) underline the importance of well-defined and standard data definitions since users of global applications have an access to a common worldwide database and data from different locations are shared. Therefore, global applications bring many data management problems. Moreover, global IT applications should be developed for and operate in a mixed cultural milieu. The current and long-term fashion of internationalization has changed the rules of the game for organizations. Due to increasing competition in global markets, there is a need to have competitive advantages to succeed. Competitive advantage is based on tacit knowledge which should be managed efficiently. IT systems play an important role for the knowledge management of multinational organizations. Global coordination and control is vital to multinational organizations which are facilitated by international IT systems. Even though global IT systems have many


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali advantages for multinational organizations, it is important to remember the previous discussion of the limitations of IT in the management of knowledge, especially of tacit knowledge. Moreover, for multinational organizations environmental and social conditions are more complex. Commitment of participants and trust between them is very important for the success of global IT systems. Another challenge for multinationals is the different abilities and different levels of penetration of participants to the global IT system. Therefore, with its advantages and limitations IT should be carefully studied for knowledge management in multinational organizations. There are many challenges to overcome by multinational organizations for a successful management knowledge using global IT systems and it is important to remember the human factors in tacit knowledge transfer therefore global IT systems should be supported with other mechanisms.


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CHAPTER 4 EMPIRICAL STUDY This chapter starts with the background information about Siemens A&D ET and the definition of the case study. Then the results of the questions and follow-up questions sent to local production plants are presented. Finally, current IT systems used in Siemens A&D ET to exchange knowledge have been studied. 4.1. Background information about Siemens Automation & Drives Electro-installation Technology (Siemens A&D ET) “Siemens, headquartered in Berlin and Munich, is one of the world’s largest electrical engineering and electronics companies. Siemens provides innovative technologies and comprehensive know-how to benefit customers in 190 countries. Founded more than 150 years ago, the company is active in the areas of Information and Communications, Automation and Control, Power, Transportation, Medical, and Lighting.” (www.siemens.com ; 15 March 2006) “The Automation and Control business area – comprising the Automation and Drives Group, the Industrial Solutions and Services Group, and the Siemens Building Technologies Group – supplies products, systems, solutions and services for industrial and building automation and for airport and postal logistics.” (www.siemens.com; 15 March 2006) A&D ET Division is responsible for any business concerning electrical installation equipment and systems. Siemens A&D ET headquarters is located in Regensburg, Germany. The division has different factories around the world in Germany, Brazil, Turkey, India, China, Greece, Romania, USA and Canada. (Siemens A&D Intranet; 15 March 2006) The division is involved more specifically in the following worldwide business fields: Circuit Protection, Distribution Board, Wiring Accessories, Network Based Building Control. Circuit Protection includes line protection switches, residual-current devices, switchgear and control devices, fuse systems, over- voltage protection; Distribution Board includes wall-mounted and floor-mounted distribution boards, small distribution boards, meter cabinets, terminal blocks; Wiring Accessories includes switches and socket outlet systems, electronic products; BC includes building management systems, radio products. (Siemens A&D Intranet; 15 March 2006)


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http://www.siemens.com/

http://www.siemens.com/

Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali 4.2. Definition of the Case Study: Quality Control Plans in Siemens A&D ET The main problem in Siemens A&D ET is that there is no IT system providing direct access to the control plans to the headquarters as well as to the other local manufacturing plants. When a new product is designed in central R&D unit in Regensburg and made ready for production, the technical drawings together with the initial control plans are sent to international plants responsible for manufacturing this product. Once the product is transferred to local manufacturing plants, the responsibility of updating the quality control plans lies in local production units. However, the headquarters and the other locations are not informed about the revisions on the initial quality control plans. Moreover, centralized R&D and decentralized manufacturing increases communication workload and inefficiencies occur during the exchange of information regarding control plans. Siemens A&D ET is looking for a feasible and easy to use solution to share revised quality control plans, to ensure product quality globally and to decrease design, manufacturing and quality control efforts and costs by preventing duplication of work in different production locations of Siemens A&D ET. The aim of the study is to help Siemens A&D ET, to decide on the available options. 4.3. Results of the questions The below study is the result of the questions sent to quality managers of local production plants of Siemens A&D ET to understand the current flow of quality control plans in Siemens A&D ET. The questions list can be found in Appendix A. 1. When or in which frequency are you revising the quality control plans? What are

your criteria to revise a control plan? China: Getting the new national or international standards; Getting the new testing plans from A&D ET Regensburg; Changing of manufacturing process, supplier, drawings etc.; Existing working instruction to introduce the way to revise the control plan. Greece: When exists some serious qualitative problem. India: Any change in material specification, test parameter, any change in ref. drawing or I&T schedule; Customer complaints if it demands for change; We revise it every year for correctness.


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali Brazil: If they are modifications in products or process or new requirements concerning the material; System audits are good motivations too. Romania: We revise our control plans when drawings are changed. Turkey: Revision of quality control plans have been conducting dynamically; We don’t have a certain defined period; We decide according to results and variation of inspected deliveries and write it down on each control plan; In the case of any requirement (drawing revision, unforeseen results,…) revision is done without waiting next revision time. 2. Are there differences between quality control plans for internally produced and

externally bought material/ parts/ products? China: There are same. Greece: No India: No. Brazil: No. Romania: We don’t perform incoming inspection. Turkey: No. The systematic is the same. But control criteria are set according to the requirements of each material/part/product. For internal parts/products we have different control types (i.e. initial part control, in process control, self control, delivery control) But for purchased parts/materials we don’t have and don’t need such a separation. 3. In which language are you revising the quality control plans?

China: Normally in Chinese, English if required. Greece: Greek India: English Brazil: Portuguese Romania: German and Rumanian Turkish: Turkish and for exported products in German.


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali 4. Do you think an easy access to the control plans of other factories for the

products/parts that you are manufacturing is helpful and important for your internal usage? If yes, in which frequency would you need to see the other factories’ quality control plans? Do you think the sharing of this knowledge would create a synergy effect?

China: We are thinking about how to share the Quality Management documents, files to related colleagues by intranet, but we did not released till now. The sharing of knowledge is very important and helpful.

Greece: This is a very good idea. However the basic problem is the language. India: Yes, it would be great help to have easy access to control plans (preferably in English language) of other factories. At least once in a year or whenever there is an amendment It would help us in knowing the reason and purpose for change and help us to take possible preventive actions to avoid failures. Brazil: Some factories buy parts from the same supplier. To have the same requirements and checkpoints it’s helpful to use the same control-plans. Presently we are introducing the incoming inspection. If we had pre-defined plans we can save a lot of time. Locally detected problems should be communicated to other factories. Updates are only necessary, if there are modifications. If there are special items, the direct contact from Quality Manager to Quality Manager is easier and quicker, as a well organized data-transfer. Common databases with shared worldwide access are good!

Romania: Yes.

Turkey: Yes. Sharing such information would be very useful. We would like to access at any time we need.

5. What are the current problems that you are having regarding the quality control

plans? Please make a short list. China: The testing methods and testing equipments, which we do not know or do not have. Greece: We do not have concrete problem. India: No proper tool available. (We prepare it either in XL or Word format and monitor manually) Brazil: No special problems. We need a good software!


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali Romania: In principle no problems. Turkey: We have excel and macro solutions for control plans. Instead, a professional CAQ software would be easier and more useful. 6. Are there any problems or difficulties regarding the communication with

Regensburg R&D and Quality departments? If yes, what are they and how do you think they might be solved?

China: We have the clear interface and contact person. Greece: The communication is perfect. India: Language- Regensburg control plans are in German language. If the language used is English, it would help us in understanding. If any tool like prepare is there it would help us in timely update of the latest control plans. Brazil: We need a direct contact with Regensburg.

Romania: No.

Turkey: In the case of any request, there is an efficient reaction and communication. In addition to this, we would expect more efficient information regarding new improvements and applications in Regensburg.

7. Roughly how many quality control plans do you have in your current manufacturing

process?

China: 300 Greece: We have 3.759 parts and products to controlling. There are quality control plans which are used for the inspection more than one parts or products. India: Approx. 200 Brazil: Approx. 100

Romania: 12

Turkey: Approx. 500


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali 8. Is there an up to date quality control plan for each part/ assembly/ product

currently manufactured? China: No. But we do it case by case. Greece: Yes. India: Yes. Brazil: Yes. Romania: Yes. Turkey: Yes. 9. Do you use an internal database or a specific software to collect and retrieve the

revised quality control plans? If yes, which database/ software do you use? China: We use the MS office Excel and Word. Greece: No. India: No data base or software available, we use either XL or Word to create control plans. Brazil: Our database is a closet full with paper-filled folders. The digitalized raw-control-plans are stored in a network-folder. Romania: No. Turkey: Currently we have excel and macro solutions. 4.4. Results of the follow-up questions The below study is the result of the follow-up questions sent to quality managers of local production plants of Siemens A&D ET to fill in the gap for the required information that was missing from the first questions to understand in a better way the current situation about the quality control plans in Siemens A&D ET. The follow-up questions list can be found in Appendix B.


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali 1. Do you see or understand easily the functional/critical measurements on/from the technical drawings or on/from the quality control plans sent by Regensburg? China: Yes, but not all. Because, sometime words and sentences are in German. Greece: Yes, without problems. India: Yes. Brazil: Yes. Romania: Yes. Turkey: Yes. 2. Which common language is more suitable for you to share the quality control plans? German or English? China: English. Greece: German. India: English. Brazil: German. Romania: German. Turkey: German. 3. In which language do you prefer to receive the first original technical drawings and quality control plans? China: English, if possible Chinese. Greece: German. India: English. Brazil: German. Romania: German.


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali Turkey: German. 4. What do you think about preparing the quality control plans in two different languages? The first language would be the common language chosen (German or English) and the second would be your local language. China: English and Chinese. Greece: Positive. India: It would save translation time and possible error during translation. This should be good idea. Brazil: Three languages are the best-case: German, English, Portuguese Romania: We must prepare our quality control plans in two different language: German and Rumanian Turkey: Preparing quality control plans would cause a serious amount of additional work in application. 5. Do you have an easy everyday access to internet? China: No. Greece: Yes. India: Few time speed is the problem. Brazil: Yes. Romania: Yes. Turkey: Yes. 6. Do you have an access to Siemens Intranet? China: Yes. Greece: Yes. India: Yes.


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali Brazil: Yes. Romania: Yes. Turkey: Yes. 7. Do you use any type of common database or secure internet data exchange folder or any type of web client to share data with Regensburg headquarters? If yes, please make a short list. China: Yes, we have an application to share quality reports with Supplier Quality Department on Intranet. Greece: No. India: Yes. Prepare and Encryption. Brazil: Read-only access to Quality Reports on Intranet. Romania: No. All information exchange with Regensburg headquarters are via e-mail. Turkey: Currently we only have been using “Workspace” on intranet for Quality Reports data input. And in the future Puma-Web is being planning to be used. 4.5. Current IT Systems used in Siemens A&D ET to exchange knowledge It is important to study the current IT applications used in Siemens A&D ET in order to check their compatibility with the project. This part of the study is the result of the unstructured interviews with the IT and quality department in Regensburg Headquarters. It takes into consideration not only the IT applications used in quality department but also all the other departments in Siemens A&D ET. Currently there are many IT applications used for knowledge exchange in Siemens A&D ET. The basic applications can be listed as follows.

1. E-mails 2. SAP

3. Siemens A&D Intranet

4. Siemens A&D Web Site


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5. Secure Data Exchange Folders 6. SharePoint 7. ET Cadim 8. Qvbas

It is not surprising that e-mails are extremely used in day to day knowledge exchange in Siemens A&D ET. E-mails are used as a communication mean between various departments at headquarters as well as between different production units abroad. SAP is also broadly used for knowledge management within Siemens A&D ET. SAP is used coordinate all the operational activities in the headquarters. Some of the local production units also use SAP. However, SAP used in Regensburg headquarter is not exactly the same that is used in local production units. SAP is modified according to the needs of the plants. The language used in SAP is the local language for each plant. Siemens A&D ET Intranet is also used to distribute information within the group. There is an access to many different types of data regarding purchasing, quality reports. There are also databases shared via Intranet such as Siemens Corporate Directory to find the contact information of the employees of Siemens all over the world. There is also current and up to date information about the projects hold within Siemens A&D ET. Siemens A&D ET Intranet is connected to Siemens global intranet. Therefore all the business units have access to the other business units intranet as well. Siemens A&D ET Web Site is also extensively used to share some information with customers, employees all around the world etc. There is up to date news in the web site about the developments, technical achievements in Siemens A&D ET. Secure Data Exchange Folders are also used to share information between some local production units and headquarters. This type of folders are mainly used for some project work. SharePoint is for example used to share quality reports with supplier quality department on intranet between local production units and headquarters. There are other departments that are also using SharePoint for other data sharing purposes. Currently in Siemens A&D ET, ET CADIM is used as the database for the technical drawings of parts, assemblies, sub-assemblies and products as well as 3-D models. ET CADIM is installed only in headquarters. The other locations don’t have an access to ET CADIM. Meanwhile there is a project inside Siemens A&D Group to have a


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali common database for all business units. This database is called A&D CADIM. It has been planned to migrate all the existing technical drawings to A&D CADIM, to a common database for overall A&D business units in September 2006. This database will be fully available in headquarters in Germany. The abroad locations will only have a limited access via web-client. Qvbas is used as the database for quality related documents. Currently Quality Control Plans are also stored and shared via Qvbas. Qvbas is only used in Regensburg headquarters and is not installed in local production units. However, there is plan to migrate all the quality related documents in SAP Q until the end of 2006.


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CHAPTER 5 ANALYSIS This chapter starts with the analysis of the questions and follow up questions sent to local production plants of Siemens A&D ET. It then continues with the analysis of alternative IT solutions. A final analysis combines the overall study. 5.1. Analysis of the questions The criteria to revise the control plans for each factory are more or less the same. It can be seen from the answers that the revision of the control plans is conducted dynamically from each local plant. Even though there are not some predefined periods for revisions, there are cases where one revision is performed every year to ensure the correctness of the quality control plans. This means that in general the revision of control plans is reactive but there are also some preventive revisions, in which the factories make their revisions before any problem or any need occurs. The headquarters needs to make sure that the revisions are done in time to ensure the products quality worldwide. This is one of the main reasons that headquarters would like to have a common database to see each times the updates of the quality control plans. There is no differentiation between quality control plans for internally produced and externally bought material/parts/products. The systematic is the same for both types of quality control plans. The control criteria are set according to the requirements of each material/product/part. For internal parts or products there are different control types like initial part control, in process control, self control and delivery control. For purchased parts/products/material there is no differentiation of controls, the only control performed is incoming inspection. This implies that there is no need to differentiate between quality control plans. One common solution would be enough. The language seems to be the biggest barrier to manage and share the quality control plans. The revisions of the quality control plans are made in Chinese, Greek, English, Portuguese, German, Rumanian and Turkish. It is very important to find a common language of revision for control plans. English or German might be a suggestion. However, the local plants require also the control plans in local language as well since these control plans are basically used in the manufacturing. It should be carefully noted that in manufacturing, most of the workers do not speak English or German and the local language is a necessity for the control plans. If a common language would be proposed then the duplication of the work will occur in order to revise the control plans both in local language and in English or German. All the local factories think that an easy access to the control plans of other factories is helpful and important for their internal usage. They believe that the sharing of knowledge is very important and helpful. They were already thinking about some


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali possible solutions to share Quality Management documents by intranet. They have underlined that the basic problem is the language. India proposed English as a common language. The frequency of need to see the other factories’ quality control plans is not well specified. However, at least once a year or when there is an amendment they might require to check the other control plans or any time they need. However, any IT system would require an investment of time and money. To check the quality control plans of other plants once a year is not enough to invest into a new system. Local plants believe that this sharing of knowledge cerate synergy effect and the reason and purpose of change on the control plans would help them to take possible preventive actions in order to avoid failures. It is also important to have the same control plans in order to have the same requirements and checkpoints. It might also help to save time in case a new inspection introduction when they see pre-defined control plans of other factories. Control plans can also be used to communicate locally detected problems. The sharing of control plans makes it easier and quicker to contact directly between quality departments and the data transfer becomes more organized. They all believe that common databases are good. There are no serious problems stated regarding control plans. China has problems regarding the testing methods and testing equipments that they don’t have. India states that they don’t have proper tool available. They use Excel or Word or Macro Solutions to prepare the control plans and they monitor manually. They agree that hey need a good professional Computer Aided Quality Software for quality control plans. The different software (Word, Excel, Macro Solutions etc.) used by different local factories is another problem to be solved and need a standardization before an IT system is in place. In general the local factories believe that there is no problem of communication with Regensburg headquarters and Quality departments. They believe that they have clear interface and contact person. In case of any request there is an efficient reaction and communication. One problem is language. The control plans prepared by Regensburg are in German. India believes that English would be better for a better understanding. Also a special tool/software to prepare control plans would help to update the latest control plans in time. There is also a need to be kept informed about new improvements and applications in Regensburg. The number of quality control plans varies from 12 to approximately 500. A common language or a new database or new software does not bring a problem to the factory which has a low number of control plans. However, when the number of control plans is increasing the workload to transfer the information into a new system is increasing. Therefore, it is important to find a solution which does not bring a heavy workload to the factory with high number of quality control plans.


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali In general there is an up to date quality control plan in local production units, only China does not have an up to date control plan for each part/assembly or product. There is no special software or database used to collect and retrieve the quality control plans. The software used to prepare the control plans varies from Word to Excel and Macro Solutions. There might be both digital network folders and paper-folders to collect and retrieve the quality control plans. This shows again the need of standardization. Only after the standardization of the template used to prepare and update the control plans, a common database can be more effective. 5.2. Analysis of the follow-up questions All the countries have no problem of understanding the functional/critical measurements on/from the technical drawings or quality control plans. The only exceptional case is China, which sometimes they don’t understand some German words. Only functional/critical measurements can cause big quality problems. The nonfunctional measurements are not critical and they might vary from plant to plant since the production equipment is not the same. Some factories are fully automatic some factories are based on human force. This brings differences in measurements. For headquarters the only important measures to be closely controlled are the functional measures which affect the functional quality of the products. Therefore headquarters need to make sure that the functional measurements are controlled via quality control plans. For China and India English is the preferred language to share the quality control plans. For the other countries, German is the preferred language. English is again the preferred language for India and China to receive the first original quality control plan from Regensburg headquarters. However Chinese is also preferred if possible by China. All the other countries prefer German. In general the answers about preparing the quality control plans in two different language are positive. This would help to save translation time for local plants from German to local language or vice versa. However this would cause a serious amount of additional work in application. Besides China all the countries have an easy everyday access to internet which might support any solution that would use the internet as the base. All the countries have an access to Siemens Intranet, which might support any solution that would use the intranet as the base.


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali Greece and Romania has no experience of sharing data via a common database. However, all the others have this type of data sharing experience. 5.3. Analysis of alternative IT solutions Even though there are many current IT systems used for knowledge management in Siemens A&D ET, I would like to concentrate on some of them for my case study. From the empirical study done about the current IT systems in Siemens A&D ET, only 4 have been chosen as the possible solution for quality control plans. These are Secure Data Exchange Folders, SharePoint, A&D CADIM Web Client and SAP Q. After my study, I found that these 4 solutions are the most suitable for knowledge management on quality control plans in Siemens A&D ET. There might be other solutions that don’t exist in Siemens A&D ET current system but these are out of the scope of my study. a. Secure Data Exchange Folders

Secure Data Exchange Folders can be used to share knowledge between local production units and headquarters. A Secure Exchange Server can be used to store, send, and receive quality control plans. Since the files are stored in public folders, and transmitted via external Internet connection, there is a need to secure them. Public Folders can be protected by setting user access permission for each folder. Moreover, different types of user permissions can be assigned. The users can have a read-only access or they might have the permission to edit the folders and the files inside. Secure Data Exchange Folders allows user to create new items, to read items and to create subfolders. Access to public folders can be controlled by distribution lists, an easy mechanism to assign permissions to different user.

Since all the countries have an internet or intranet access, a common folder for quality control plans on the internet can be defined and this common folder might have sub folders for each country. Then each country might have sub folders for the products that are produced locally. This solution is an easy and very practical to start. The investment is not so high for this solution. From knowledge management point of view, as the names implies it is an data exchange folder. Therefore, the knowledge is in form of raw data. This system does not support tacit knowledge management. b. SharePoint SharePoint facilitate collaboration within an organization by easily creating, managing, and building collaborative Web sites and making them available in overall organization. SharePoint is an integrated portfolio of collaboration and communication services designed to connect people, information, processes, and systems both within and


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali beyond the organizational firewall. SharePoint can also be used as a development platform for creating collaboration and information-sharing applications. The basis for this solution is either Intranet or Internet. Since all the countries have an access to the Siemens Intranet, similar to Secure Internet Data Exchange Folder, a common folder might be defined for quality control plans under the SharePoint Application. Similar sub folder system is applicable here as well. This solution is also an easy and very practical to start. SharePoint is similar to Data Exchange Folders from knowledge management point of view. The raw data can be transmitted rather than tacit knowedge. c. A&D CADIM Web Client A&D CADIM solution might be considered as a future solution since A&D CADIM will be used only in Regensburg at the beginning. The installation of A&D CADIM in local plants is not planned however there will be a simple solution to use the Web Client of A&D CADIM in local plants. There are two versions of the Web Client; first read-only access, second read and write access. The first solution is not suitable for our project. The second is more suitable since the local plants are responsible for the update and upload of the revised quality control plans into the database. This solution does not require the installation of the complete A&D CADIM program to local plants. Therefore the costs are relatively lower. The main advantage of A&D CADIM Web Client is that it gives access to the technical drawings of the parts and products. The quality control plans becomes more meaningful when they are seen together with the respective technical drawings. With this solution, it is possible to have access to all related documents for a particular part or product at the same time which results in time efficiency. In this case the raw data becomes more meaningful when it is seen together with the related documents such as technical drawings and 3-D models. This support limited tacit knowledge exchange. d. SAP Q

Currently there is also a migration of all quality related documents to SAP Q in Regensburg Headquarters. However, there are no plans to introduce SAP Q in local plants. This solution is the least possible solution for our project and the most costly solution. SAP has the most information available about the parts and products. Therefore it is a compact combination of data, information and knowledge. SAP also supports limited tacit knowledge exchange. Even tough it is the least possible solutions considering the current conditions, it might be interesting to write this solution here and keep it in minds for future study.


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali Table 2 on page 39 makes a summary of advantages and disadvantages of all alternative solutions for a quick comparison. For this comparison I took into account the easiness of initiation, time to initiate, the costs, easiness of usage, requirement of trainings, requirement of software installation, requirement of internet/intranet access. Finally, to return back to the knowledge management I also considered if the alternative IT system supports tacit knowledge exchange.


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali Alternative Solution Advantages and Disadvantages

Secure Data Exchange Folders

Easy to initiate Quick initiation Low cost Easy to use Does not require initial training Does not require any installation of software Requires internet/intranet access Does not support tacit knowledge exchange

SharePoint Easy to initiate Quick initiation Low cost Easy to use Does not require initial training Does not require any installation of software Requires only internet/intranet access Does not support tacit knowledge exchange

A&D CADIM Web Client

Relatively hard to initiate Relatively long time required for initiation Relatively higher costs Relatively more difficult to use Does require at least some amount of initial training Does not require installation of the complete software

but web client component Requires internet access Supports limited tacit knowledge exchange

SAP Q Hard to initiate Very long time required for initiation Very high costs Most difficult to use Requires a great amount of initial training Requires the installation of the complete software Requires intranet/internet access Supports limited tacit knowledge exchange

Table 2: Comparison for alternative IT solutions


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali 5.4. Overall analysis Quality control plans at the first sight seem to be pure explicit knowledge since they are all expressed in written forms and they are digitalized. Therefore, the exchange of quality control plans seems straight forward. However, as seen from the empirical study, this is not a simple task. The tacit parts of the knowledge on the quality control plans can not be neglected. Product differences are one of the reasons that there is tacit knowledge involved within the quality control plans. There are same products manufactured in different countries. Even though the products are the same, there are slight differences of the products specifications from country to country. The differences in product specifications might result from requirements of local market. Therefore, the quality control plans cannot be exactly the same even for the same product manufactured in two different countries. To be able to understand the quality control of a special product of a production location, there is also a need to see at least the corresponding technical drawings. Second reason for tacit parts in quality control plants is the production system differences of different manufacturing plants. Even if the products are completely identical, production systems are different which results in different quality control plans. Some of the production plants are working with highly automatic equipment and machinery, some production plants are using hand tools and machines. This results in a great difference of production process, and difference in production process requires different quality control plans. Since the production system in each local plant is different, measurements to facilitate the production are not universal and they are most of the time subject to change on the location. The initial quality control plans sent by headquarters are usually changed to optimize the production process. Even though there is a low probability, wrong interpretation of the technical drawings and functional measurements might cause product failures or quality defects. There is a need to ensure that the technical drawings are correctly interpreted by the local plants and control plans are revised accordingly. However, the production process can only be understood by closely working in the process. The production process cannot be expressed in the forms, since the knowledge about specific production processes is highly tacit. Therefore, these differences cannot be expressed in quality control plans, which make it difficult for the reader to interpret the knowledge inside without knowing the production process. Another problem is the language used to update the control plans. Central R&D prepares the control plans in German and each local plant translate the control plans to the local language. Local plants also use their local language to update the control plans which makes their sharing difficult. For example, China factory uses Chinese to update the original control plans which makes impossible to share it with other factories and


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali headquarters. Language is also seen as a tacit component of knowledge. In case, a second common language would be used for quality control plans, there is no consensus about if English or German is the best solution. Moreover, the language problem depends on the recruiting policy of local plants. Since most of the knowledge exchange is held in German between headquarters and local production units for example Turkey, Greece, Romania factories recruited German speaking employees. Therefore, for those plants English is not the best solution. However, due to difficulties in recruiting German speaking people, India and China plants recruited English speaking employees. However, in 10 years this picture might be completely different. China and India factories might recruit more German speaking employees and the other factories might recruit more English speaking employees depending on the language policies of the headquarters. Currently, in Regensburg headquarters German is the official language and all the documentations are prepared in German. When we look to the other business units of Siemens, there are some business units which have English as the official language. Siemens AG might decide in the future that English is the official language for all business units, then the language problems might be solved in future. Efficient knowledge exchange also depends on the common knowledge base of different parties. It is clear that highly automatic factories knowledge base is different than manually working factories. Moreover, for how long one factory is a Siemens subsidiary is another important factor. It cannot be expected that 3 years factory has the same knowledge base as 30 years factory. Tacit knowledge will be accumulated in time with experience. Therefore, there are differences of tacit knowledge base in different factories. This makes the sharing of knowledge more difficult. For examples, in China factory the quality control plans are not revised in time due to lack of experience. Therefore whether the quality control plans are shared or not does not bring any difference for China location. When we comes to the IT solutions, Secure Data Exchange Folders and SharePoint are both easy to start and they don’t require a high level of investment. They are both easy to use and they don’t require an initial training. A&D CADIM Web Client and SAP Q solutions are relatively hard to start, it requires longer time for initiation and the investment is relatively higher especially for SAP Q alternative. From the alternative IT solutions, it is clear that no solution support the exchange of tacit knowledge. However, A&D CADIM Web Client solution allows the users to see the technical drawings of the respective parts and products, which allows a more clear interpretation of the quality control plans. This might be interpreted as limited support for tacit knowledge exchange. The last point about knowledge management is the standardization. For all solutions there is a need to standardize the software in which quality control plan is prepared. To


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali understand the needs on different control plans of different locations, I studied 3 different quality control plans in Regensburg headquarters, in Turkey plant and in India plant. Those studied sample quality control plans from locations can be seen in Appendix C. After this study, I suggested a new quality control plan which brings a common solution to all plants. I prepared this control plan in English by using MS Excel. This is a low cost solution for all the plants since in all locations MS Excel is already installed. This sample quality control plan can be seen in Appendix D.


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CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS In this chapter I try to summarize the study and give the conclusions about my study. Then, I give recommendations and suggestions for further research. With the research question in mind “How IT can be used in the most efficient way in Siemens A&D ET to share knowledge internationally about quality control plans?”, there are several conclusions to be made. It is clear that the answer is not simple and there are various points to be considered for an efficient IT solution in knowledge management. From technical point of view the solution seems to be simple. It is technically easy to design an IT solution to share, manage, update and coordinate the quality control plans within Siemens A&D ET. The main points to be taken into consideration about the technical aspects are the easiness of access by headquarters as well as by all international plants. It is important to keep the system simple for the ease of use. All the international factories should be able to update control plans on this system and these updates should be available to the headquarters and to the other factories. As the overall analysis shows all 4 chosen IT alternatives can be a solution for Siemens A&D ET. Especially, since Secure Data Exchange Folders and SharePoint are very easy to initiate and the required level of investment is relatively low, they might be used as a short term temporary solution. A&D CADIM Web Client and SAP Q solutions are relatively hard to initiate and the required level of investment is higher. Therefore, those solutions are suitable as permanent and long term solutions. However, as the study shows the main problem starts with the tacit part of the knowledge about quality control plans. The real challenge starts when human factors are involved into the question. Two aspects of human factors are clear in knowledge management via IT. First factor is the tacit knowledge embodied in people. Second, the continuity and efficiency of the IT systems depends on the level of commitment of the people using the system. There are some very important points to remind about those two aspects based on this case study. For the tacit part of the knowledge, the differences of the knowledge base between different factories are an important barrier to share knowledge about quality control plans around different locations. Moreover, language seems to be one of the most important barriers in the successful implementation of any IT solution to share knowledge on quality control plans. The standardization is also very important for an efficient application. For the commitment from the locations, it is important to make a forecast of the efficiency of the system by seeing the ratio between time and money investment for the system and the expected outcomes. Due to the workload that any new


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali IT system would bring to each location and due to low need for such a system in locations, the commitment of the locations seems to be very low. This result can be drawn based on the answers of the empirical study that the locations would only use this system once or twice per year. This makes clear that the efficiency is not very high. No matter which solution is in place, all of them require a high level of commitment from the participants. All solutions bring an extra work to the participants mainly due to the necessity of preparing the quality control plans in two languages and make them available in the new IT system. If Siemens A&D ET is willing to put one of those solutions into application, it is clear that all systems require other mechanisms to support the efficient knowledge exchange. Face to face communication is one of the most important supporting mechanisms. For example, workshops by the involvement of the quality managers can be held frequently in different locations to facilitate knowledge exchange. With this conclusion I believe the secondary purpose of this study is “to give some advices about how knowledge on quality control plans could be shared in between different locations by use of IT within Siemens A&D ET” is fulfilled. About the primary purpose of the study “to gain a deeper understanding of the effects of IT in knowledge management process in multinational companies” what I can conclude is that there is a high dependence on IT for knowledge sharing in multinationals and the expectations from IT is high. The risk to fall into the trap of investments for expensive IT solutions is very high for multinational companies. Multinational companies possess dispersed knowledge all around the world and it is important to recognize that most of the part of this knowledge is tacit. Therefore even though IT facilitate the knowledge management and sharing between different units of multinational companies, it is crucial to develop other means to share the tacit part of the knowledge base. Ives and Jarvenpaa (1991) state that management must realize the expensiveness of global IT applications and difficulties to develop and operate them. It is important to understand the similarities and differences in the underlying business processes across countries as well as the cultural factors and the tacit part of the knowledge base. Moreover there are differences between global and local requirements and to make the system alive there is a need of local user involvement and commitment. IT is an important tool but cannot do everything alone. Investments by expecting too much from IT would fail to success. Therefore even I believe IT is very important for multinationals, I take pessimistic view on IT. It is easy to come up with a technical solution but no matter which solution is put into place, multinationals should always remember the human factor. IT systems are highly dependent on people to be continuous. If local units are not committed to the system, they won‘t put the required updates on time. Moreover, it is impossible to share the knowledge completely via IT


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali due to its tacit components which are incorporated in people. Multinationals should be careful not to fall into the trap of productivity paradox of IT. IT does not bring the solution alone; it needs to be supported by other mechanisms to be efficient. This study gives an idea to the reader how knowledge management can be a complicated issue for multinational companies based on a case. For this case, it is interesting to study further how other business units of Siemens solved similar problems. This might give other alternative solutions to the reader, by seeing the differences between different business units in the same multinational company. Moreover, since tacit knowledge is incorporated in people, it might be very interesting to study how the employee turnover rate affects the knowledge transfer in companies and how IT systems secure the knowledge transfer in case there are high employee turnover rates.


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REFERENCES Bolisani E., Scarso E., “Information Technology management: a knowledge-based

perspective” Technovation, 1999-19, 209-217. Cavaye A.L.M., “Challenges During the Development of Transnational Information

Systems”, Journal of Information Technology, 1997-12, 99-106. Finnegan P., Longaigh S.N. “Examining the effects of information technology on

control and coordination relationships: an exploratory study in subsidiaries of pan-national corporations”, Journal of Information Technology, 2002-17, 149-163.

Hislop D., “Mission Impossible? Communicating and sharing knowledge via

information technology”, Journal of Information Technology, 2002-17, 165-177. Jarvenpaa I., “Applications of Global Informaton Technology: Key Issues for

Managament”, MIS Quarterly, Mar 1991. Johannessen J.A., Olaisen J., Olsen B., “Mismanagement of tacit knowledge: the

importance of tacit knowledge, the danger of information technology, and what to do about it”, International Journal of Management, 2001-21, 3-20.

March S.T., Bubenko J. Jr., “Information Technologies in Support of Business

Processes”, Information Technology and Management 2000-1. Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H. (1995) The Knowledge Creating Company, Oxford

Universuty Press, Oxford. Pan S.L., Scarbrough H., “Knowledge Management in Practice: An Exploratory

Case Study”, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, Vol.11, No.3, 1999. Roberts J., “From Know-how to Show-how? Questioning the Role of Information

and Communication Technologies in Knowledge Transfer”, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management; Vol. 12, No. 4, 2000.

Siemens A&D Intranet www.siemens.com


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APPENDIX A

QUESTIONS

FOR INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION PLANTS

SIEMENS A&D ET


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali Those questions are prepared by Asli Morali to collect data for the Master Thesis “Knowledge

Management via Information Technology Case Study: Quality Control Plans in Siemens A&D

ET” The questions should be answered by the quality departments of the International

Production Plants.

Please write your answers in the right column of each question. There are 9 questions. Please

send your answers back to Asli Morali ([email protected]) until 5 May 2006.

1. When or in which frequency are you

revising the quality control plans? What are

your criteria to revise a control plan?

2. Are there differences between quality

control plans for internally produced and

externally bought material/ parts/ products?

3. In which language are you revising the

quality control plans?

4. Do you think an easy access to the control

plans of other factories for the

products/parts that you are manufacturing

is helpful and important for your internal

usage? If yes, in which frequency would

you need to see the other factories’ quality

control plans? Do you think the sharing of

this knowledge would create a synergy

effect?

5. What are the current problems that you are

having regarding the quality control plans?

Please make a short list.

6. Are there any problems or difficulties

regarding the communication with

Regensburg R&D and Quality

departments? If yes, what are they and

how do you think they might be solved?


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mailto:[email protected]


7. Roughly how many quality control plans do

you have in your current manufacturing

process?

8. Is there an up to date quality control plan

for each part/ assembly/ product currently

manufactured?

9. Do you use an internal database or a

specific software to collect and retrieve the

revised quality control plans? If yes, which

database/ software do you use?


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APPENDIX B

FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS

FOR INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION PLANTS

SIEMENS A&D ET


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Blekinge Institute of Technology MBA Thesis Spring 2006 Asli Morali These follow up questions are prepared by Asli Morali to collect further data for the Master

Thesis “Knowledge Management via Information Technology Case Study: Quality Control Plans

in Siemens A&D ET” The questions should be answered by the quality departments of the

International Production Plants.

Please write your answers in the right column of each question. There are 7 questions. Please

send the answers back to Asli Morali ([email protected]) until 19 May 2006.

1. Do you see or understand easily the

functional/critical measurements on/from

the technical drawings or on/from the

quality control plans sent by Regensburg?

2. Which common language is more suitable

for you to share the quality control plans?

German or English?

3. In which language do you prefer to receive

the first original technical drawings and

quality control plans?

4. What do you think about preparing the

quality control plans in two different

languages? The first language would be

the common language chosen (German or

English) and the second would be your

local language.

5. Do you have an easy everyday access to

internet?

6. Do you have an access to Siemens

Intranet?

7. Do you use any type of common database

or secure internet data exchange folder or

any type of web client to share data with

Regensburg headquarters? If yes, please

make a short list.


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mailto:[email protected]


APPENDIX C

SAMPLE QUALITY CONTROL PLANS

FROM SIEMENS A&D ET INTERNATIONAL LOCATIONS


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APPENDIX C1

SAMPLE QUALITY CONTROL PLAN

LOCATION TURKEY


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APPENDIX C2


LOCATION INDIA


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APPENDIX C3


LOCATION GERMANY


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APPENDIX D

SAMPLE QUALITY CONTROL PLAN IN ENGLISH


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