MGMT 650: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

CASE STUDYDELL COMPUTER CORPORATION

A ZERO-TIME ORGANISATION

BY: EWELINA MARUT, ALEXANDER HENRY, WINFIELD WILLIS, EMMANUEL TSELENTAKIS, JOSH UGWUNERI

● Dell, Fortune 500 company at the time of article (no longer Fortune 500 as of 6/2014)

● Founded in 1984● Heavy in the computing/ tech industry● Zero Time organization

Introduction...

IT Systems

● Went from basic process requests to E-commerce site

● FAQ site● Tips & Bug Fix tool

● Configurator*

Employee Integration

● “Zero-Management Gap”● Decentralized● Employee and Customer Interaction● Executive and Employee

Communication● Intranet● Empowering Emails

Dell’s Approach to solving Management issues due to new IT systems

Dell’s CEO push to optimized the supply chain model

The result:

• New IT systems added Business intelligence • Call center were phase out• The company expanded• Customer deliverables and expectation rose

How did Dell’s Management Response?

The Customer Connection grew stronger- To adapt faster than the completion- BI Tracking inventory and purchase

Call center VS the Internet portal- Employees and service restructure- Huge spikes sales

Expansion- Six new plants around the world- 16,000 works were added in Texas alone

How did Dell’s Management Respond...Continued

Customer deliverables and expectations - Guarantee Delivery a custom desktop in 5-7 days- Last minute custom changes- Lower prices without lower quality

Employees also faced issues with IT System

Dell’s Employees had to meet the new demands

The result:

• New role and responsibilities• Increased productivity and quality• The Zero Time organization effect

The Employees Changes

New Tasks- Technical support tool - Breaking down customer surveys- Processing Internet orders

Increased productivity- The optimized supply chain

The Employees Changes..Continued

The power of Knowledge

- Worker have to set up to me customer demands- New hires got 75% of the training budget- knowledge transfer, and learning curve - Less time reduced risk and increased bonuses

Zero time Organization (it can be done now)- Pulling data to meet customer needs- Training favored the educated- Stealth Learning

Working Knowledge concepts

● Values and Beliefs● Information● Turning Employees into experts● Creating Corporate Assets and

Sustainable Advantages

Working Knowledge Concepts

conti...● Limited Knowledge Market Politics● Unique Pricing System● Limited Trade Barriers● Maintained Trust

Working Knowledge Concepts

conti..● Adaptation ● Knowledge Networking

Dell Case Study Weaknesses

● Not much emphasis on the forecast process

● Dependence on other manufactures● How does Dell win their

manufactures and big customers loyalty?

● Information/process was not included in regards to changing data into useful information.

● Failure to mention Demos for new processes and technology systems used.

4 Quadrants

Intellectual Capital•Dell’s Human Capital: individual Capabilities•Dell’s Social Capital: Collaboration, lowers transaction cost, increases quality of knowledge and creates inimitable comp. advantage.•Dell’s Structural Capital•Dell was a Learning corporation•Dell built tangible and intangible assets.

Tacit Knowledge&Unarticulated Needs•Provider Organization- knowing what is possible.•Market place-Knowing what the market needs.•Determining the market for an innovative process and product.•Inquiry , Concept engineering and User customization.•User customization:1.Intangible attribute2.Requirements3.Unarticulated needs.

Knowledge Era•Employee, Customer, Process and Know-how combination for knowledge production.•Dell’s main strengths.•Measuring Capital•Intellectual Capital Management1.Inputs2.Processes and Enablers3.Outputs

•Future Orientation