abc-iar011-11-management of technical knowledge within a road authority

7/26/2019 ABC-IAR011-11-Management of Technical Knowledge Within a Road Authority

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Management of Technical Knowledge within a Road

Authority

John Casey

Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW

Abstract Knowledge Management first emerged during the 1980s from major

enterprises developing a concern for a loss of corporate effectiveness that had

resulted from a decline in organisational knowledge. It was generally accepted

that this decline resulted from evolutionary change in the make up of the

workforce. Within public enterprises such as road authorities, the prime causative

factors affecting knowledge-bleed are seen as an increasing rate of retirement,

redefinition of the role of Road Authorities by government, the demise of the

traditional master apprentice model and changing employee mobility attitudes.

The particular challenge in Knowledge Management is the interchange of tacit or

acquired knowledge. Such knowledge, by its nature is internalised and various

techniques are employed to encourage the sharing of it between employees.

Within the Roads & Traffic Authority (NSW) it was felt that management of

technical knowledge should be awarded a separate, more specifically focussed

approach, rather than it being simply included within a general, organisation-wideinitiative. This has permitted management techniques to be tailored towards the

prevailing attitudes of a sophisticated technical community. In determining a

strategy, a timetable of 5 years was proposed to firstly implement knowledge

management tools, and then progressively achieve a sufficient level of cultural

change. Technical Knowledge Management within the RTA has now passed the

two-year mark. While most initiatives are considered to have worked, some

have proven to be difficult to implement. It is now timely to review progress

against planned objectives.

V. Ponnampalam, H. Madrio and E. Ancich 509

Sustainable Bridges: The Thread of Society

AP-G90/11_115 ABC 2011


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Introduction

Knowledge Management as a unique discipline first appeared in the 1980s. It

was a response to significant operational changes within major corporations as

they faced increased globalisation and competition, coupled with an aging

workforce. These corporations had initially responded to changing market

conditions by streamlining and downsizing operations as well as taking advantage

of advances in computer technology.

However it was found that the increases in efficiency had a downside a loss of

corporate knowledge. That corporate knowledge had been located within the

minds of their workforce. The corporation had gained efficiency but had lost

know-how. From this sense of loss, a new business practice arose Knowledge

Management. Like all such emerging disciplines, Knowledge Management has

been accompanied by an impressive collection of academics and consultants, all

preaching the new message. As a result, Knowledge Management has enjoyed a

mixed reception, with many early adopters feeling that success lay simply with

choosing the right consultant and adopting leading edge computer technology. By

2011, attitudes have matured and organisations are now integrating knowledge

management into operating processes and linking it to the objectives of the

business. This is the key for if knowledge management is to be beneficial, it

must be embedded into the culture of the organisation and the way the

organisation does business.

This paper focuses on the specific knowledge needs and experiences of a technicalcommunity, in this instance, a Road Authority. It can be argued, of course, that a

technical community is merely a subset within the organisation as a whole, and

this is largely true. However, our experience within the New South Wales Roads

and Traffic Authority has shown that a specific technical (or engineering)

knowledge strategy must be tailored and adapted to suit the needs and

characteristics of a technical community. We anticipate that this approach may

also be taken at an individual function level, with standard implementation

processes.

Within this paper, we are attempting to examine the issues faced and assess the

effectiveness of the knowledge tools. In some respects it is a report card on a

work in progress. At this point we cannot claim either success or failure, nor canwe easily identify the most successful (or least successful) knowledge

management initiatives. We are however, putting in place measures to assess

performance against objectives over time.

The bridge we build (or more correctly, series of bridges) is directed at connecting

people with knowledge and the tools to apply that knowledge. We also have a


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Management of Technical Knowledge within a Road Authority 511

sustainability imperative. Technical Knowledge Management is fundamentally a

temporary undertaking that seeks to embed collaborative behaviour and ensure

that knowledge is retained (and sustained) within the organisation for the future.

A knowledge background

Ever since a day some thousands of years ago when a primitive human being

observed a fallen tree across a stream and realised that here was a way of linking

together two sides of a divide, the technology of bridge design , construction and

maintenance has progressed and developed into the sophisticated scientific

discipline that exists today.

That development would not have been possible without the transfer of one vital

ingredient knowledge. Person to person knowledge transfer has been an

important civilising tool through the ages. Primitive man passed on the

knowledge of food sources, even knowledge of the medicinal qualities of plants

through direct person to person contact. It was much later, that we humans

developed writing and record keeping, allowing knowledge to become

information.

It is interesting to note that the value of the retention or holding back of

knowledge was discovered at an early stage also. The recognition of patents or

intellectual property seems to have first been recognised around 500BC and thesaying Knowledge is Power was coined in the 1600s. Thus, any discussion

about knowledge must accept that the sharing of knowledge and the holding back

of knowledge will both appear equally valid, depending on viewpoint of the

individual.

Standing here right now, in the 21st Century, very little has changed. While most

of us are better educated than our forebears, we are still reliant on person to person

transfer of knowledge for our extended or acquired awareness. Generally

referred to as Tacit Knowledge, this is the how-to, the why it does it or the

what if of everyday life. Separate from information, tacit knowledge develops

within each of us as we experience life.

It is the identification of the means for sharing and distributing tacit knowledge

between individuals that occupies much of our attention as knowledge managers.

We must also accept that around us are some who will be reluctant to pass on their

store of personal knowledge. That reluctance can be based on opportunity (the

chance to make money) or based on a need for intellectual (or peer) recognition.


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It is important to accept the validity of such motives, as they will always impact

on our ability to convert knowledge to information.

Our purpose in looking back in history is simply to make the point that

knowledge, whether it exists as an awareness of concrete realities or abstract

ideas, is tied to human behaviour. As knowledge managers, we must seek to

modify or enhance behavioural traits. We desire to facilitate the means of

knowledge transfer between members of an organisation. Ideally, wed like to

take knowledge and describe it in text form or draw a plan of it. The moment we

do that, the knowledge becomes information. Information is a commodity that we

can readily publish, distribute and store.

It has been said that Knowledge is what I know Information is what we know.For better, for worse, much tacit or acquired knowledge will continue to remain an

abstract commodity. Collecting it, saving it and sharing it will always represent

our greatest challenge.

Knowledge Management

Despite the effects of increased globalisation and the growth of expertise within

former third world countries, the more universal concern that has driven the

growth of knowledge management is one that affects every organisation, including

the RTA. That concern is the loss of knowledge stemming from employeedepartures and retirements. We need to accept that while some engineers may

continue beyond age 60 in short term consultative roles, the great majority of

retirees never return.

Another concern stems from the decreasing application of the traditional Master-

Apprentice model. This is at its most obvious in organisations where cadetships

and traineeships opportunities have been reduced. Fortunately, this trend is now

being reversed, as the RTA, no doubt in common with other such entities, is

pursuing more on-the-job training schemes. The important benefit of on-the-job

training is the inter-personal contact where experienced practitioners (masters)

hand down the know-how to the trainee (or apprentice).

On a cautionary note, the seeming trend within organisations to recruit new

graduates is not without its risks. The temptation is to extract maximum leverage

from the newly gained degree or diploma by parachuting graduates into

positions of responsibility. The unintended effect of this practice is a loss of tacit

knowledge as the opportunity for absorption from the master is truncated. The

RTA, no doubt in common with other such organisations, has recognised this


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shortfall and is now actively linking graduates with older mentors. Although it is

not always possible to link up with a mentor having relevant skill set.

Knowledge transfer within a technical environment

the challenges

Whether it be civil engineering or dentistry, structural engineering or zoology,

knowledge sharing and transfer within a technical environment has its challenges.

These challenges should not be mistaken for barriers, as they are not

insurmountable; its simply that they shape the approach and style of our

knowledge management initiatives.

The nature of the information

All science based disciplines are based on precise principles such as the laws of

physics or chemistry. While there is room for a degree of creativity at the design

stage, engineering could not succeed if it did not strictly follow predetermined

principles and rules. This unwittingly leads to an expectation (which may be

subconscious) that all information about a particular subject is in the book. Its

easy to dismiss a younger persons confusion about a particular matter as being

caused by that person not having read the book properly or not having listenedto the lecture that day.

Regrettably, such attitudes can produce some unfortunate traits. The new person

becomes reluctant to ask questions for fear of appearing a fool. The person having

the knowledge understands the subject, but is reluctant to pass it on because that

knowledge, from their perspective, has already been codified, thus solidifying

their own siloing behaviour.

It is interesting to note that anecdotal evidence exists to confirm that generation X

is now finding that baby-boomers are close with their knowledge and experience

and are often reluctant to help younger associates. Perhaps gen X is observing a

technical manifestation of grumpy old men syndrome.

The need for recognition

Another challenge is that of intellectual capital. Innovation within a particular

endeavour will come out of an idea, an idea that someone will desire to be credited


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with. Leaving aside patentable inventions, at the very least, the owner of an idea

will desire peer recognition; perhaps through the publication of a paper in a

journal or at a conference. Even given that the intellectual property resides with

the employer, very few idea originators will want their idea becoming common

knowledge without some personal recognition.

In accepting this need for recognition, we need to ensure that credit is

appropriately awarded and ownership recognised. Our goal is a twin one, firstly,

we need to encourage and reward the originator and, secondly we want to be able

to freely distribute the information to potential users.

Risk and litigation

One of the fundamental rules taught to sales people is, when dealing with

customers, never use words that have a negative connotation. Over the years, this

has spread beyond the sales environment and as a result, we talk about challenges

and issues, never problems and difficulties. Soft subjectivism has replaced direct

description.

In todays engineering world, any use of subjective description is potentially risky.

For example, a concrete slab may be described as having strength of less than so

many kPa, or it can be described as below strength or poor. Such subjective

descriptions, depending on the context, can potentially be turned back against theorganisation, resulting in a restraining of candid assessment.

With knowledge management, we seek to encourage the free exchange of ideas,

we want to encourage candid assessment, yet the more we do this, the more we

unwittingly create situations that can place the organisation at risk. Depending on

the context, a personal opinion or casual observation can be high-risk when it

comes to matters of a technical nature, as many professionals have found over

recent years. Even valid criticism employing subjective judgement can be

misinterpreted and misused in todays tabloid driven world.

Outside of the professional environment, many here will have had some exposure

to an internet forum or review site. If you have, you will have noted that many

contributors are prepared to refer to their peer members in quite an offensive

manner, no doubt taking advantage of the anonymity of their on-line identity.

Given the explicit and offensive expression that has become the norm on such

sites, it is a real and present risk that some individuals may, over time, begin to

inadvertently blur the unspoken boundary between social and professional

comment and so expose the organisation to the risk of litigation.


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It may be just a matter of time before we see training in appropriate workplace

behaviour being augmented with instruction in appropriate on-line behaviour.

Specific challenges within a Road Authority

As stated earlier, this paper, while discussing many broad issues, seeks to

highlight specific experiences within a Road Authority, in this case within the

Roads & Traffic Authority of NSW. The preceding challenges (described as

relating to a technical environment) remain equally relevant to (at least the

infrastructure) environment of a Road Authority. However, we are also able to

identify aspects of a government authority that impact on technical knowledgemanagement practice. These aspects may be described as:

People diversity

Within any Road Authority, there exists diversity both within and across

disciplines. Our approach has been to never convey an attitude of exclusivity.

Interest in a particular subject may come from an engineer or a site supervisor.

Interest in a pavement matter can be shown by a bridge engineer.

Perhaps a minor challenge, but one that serves to remind us that knowledge and itsmanagement must not be rigidly compartmentalised, either in form or distribution.

Regional distribution

This is a challenge that relates more to a country-city divide than to differences

in technology practices. City people have no appreciation of the problems we

face in the country or the reverse Country people have no idea of the pressure

we are under in Sydney are typical of the concerns expressed.

Again, a minor challenge; but one that drives a need for equality of inclusion

within our knowledge management initiatives.


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Community sensitivity

Any government entity remains subject to the less than predictable tides, winds

and storms of community reaction. Todays mere technology can become

tomorrows hot news issue.

The challenge here is the acceptance that, as responsible custodians of

information, we cannot allow that information to be coloured by personal opinion.

Facing the challenges the fundamentals

In facing up to the preceding challenges, within the NSW Roads & Traffic

Authority we are pursuing a number of initiatives. Some are developing rapidly;

others are slower to gain traction.

Comprehensive management of information

By its very nature, engineering is information based. Therefore our starting

point must be to ensure that our collection, storage, indexing and accessing of

codified information) is all-encompassing and highly accessible. Within the

NSW RTA, the primary distribution and presentation medium for technicalinformation is a site on the corporate intranet (named TechInfo). This site is

maintained by the Technical Knowledge Management group in conjunction with

subject matter experts; and is constantly maintained and developed to maximise

access to, and relevance of, codified information. Within this structure, the

engineering disciplines and other functional groups retain ultimate ownership of

their information and the means of presentation.

While our means and methods for the storage and exchange of codified

information are well-developed, we are not resting on our laurels yet there are

still improvements and enhancements available. The more extensive application

of creative web applications such as video animations and CGI presentations

(although technically possible right now) are ultimately dependent on the largescale installation of high speed data networks across the state. Until such

networks are in place, our information will remain in paper form (even though

that paper may be a down loaded on-line Word or PDF document). For the

moment, the challenge will remain the balancing of creative desire against IT and

resource costs.


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Changing the culture

Like it or not, any discussion of organisational knowledge management must face

up to the elephant in the room culture and behaviour change. It is perhaps

significant that most of the available literature tells us that for tacit knowledge

exchange to take place effectively there is a need to change organisational

behaviour patterns. The difficulty here is that while many tools have been

developed to aid this process, there is no tried and true recipe for success.

Within the RTA, our technical knowledge management strategy allowed for tools

to be developed and implemented over a period of two years but five years was

proposed for the execution of cultural change. We are currently passing the two

year milestone and most of the tools are in place, although some future honing of

those tools will be needed over time. Extensive cultural change, for the present,

remains tantalisingly, just beyond our reach.

Our desired goal of transforming the tacit knowledge of individuals into explicit

information able to be codified, collated, stored and distributed still has a long

way to go. There is no quick fix. For the moment we are reliant on individual to

individual sharing for the transfer of that knowledge. We remain, just now, on

the first step of this journey.

Facing the challenges the tools

At its most basic level, knowledge management is about employing tools and

techniques to promote the sharing of knowledge. Many of the tools are not

revolutionary ideas, but rather adaptations of pre-existing activity. Most

organisations have had ongoing development programs in place without ever

realising that what was being pursued was knowledge management.

Some of the tools currently being employed and/or instigated within the RTA

include:

Communities of Practice

The multi-disciplined technical environment of a road authority automatically

lends itself to the formation of Communities of Practice. Such communities are

one of the cornerstones of Knowledge Management as, by their nature, they


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identify specific common-interest groups and encourage the exchange of ideas

between group members.

Within the NSW RTA most, if not all, engineering disciplines and technical

operations have formed a Community of Practice, with an associated discussion

forum. In one particular community, Pavements, the community is further divided

into a number of more specialised sub-communities, referred to as Skills

Networks.

Forums

One appealing approach that is attracting plenty of attention is the use of on-line

discussion forums linking people within skills network and with other interested

associates. Forums, whether face to face or on-line, are simply people talking to

people and we recognise that interpersonal discussion, by its very nature,

encourages mutual understanding and social interaction. These elements form the

foundation of effective knowledge exchange.

Within the RTA, the successful form of forum use is advice-seeking where a

(relatively) junior member of the community seeks advice from more senior

members. It has however, been a little more difficult to convince people that

forums have potential for cross discussion of everyday activity, although, at the

time of preparing this paper, there are some encouraging signs appearing in someforums. One challenge will be developing the various skills networks that

overlap.

As discussed earlier, there remains a risk of robust language as found on many

social forum sites inadvertently creeping into the workplace environment. Our

experience thus far has been that a written code of conduct and peer policing of

acceptable workplace behaviour has prevailed and no decorum issues have been

experienced.

Story telling

A knowledge tool, still to be fully exploited, is story telling. Storytelling, as a

craft, is as old as human habitation. Its effectiveness lies in people relating

experiences and anecdotes, particularly where the story can be recorded. Many

organisations attest to using story telling very successfully. However, our

experience has been that personal inhibitions are a significant limiting factor and

real success is going to take time. As with some other knowledge tools, we are


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continuing to test ways and means of encouraging the exchange of anecdotally

based stories.

After action reviews

Another knowledge initiative offering much promise is more extensive use of

after-action or post-completion reviews. The current RTA approach is somewhat

fragmented and confined mainly to significant projects. This stands in contrast to

organisations such as emergency services, where even minor incidents are

subjected to the review process.

As a knowledge management group, we are encouraging greater use of after

action reviews for knowledge acquisition. We are unable to mandate the practice,

but we continue to encourage. It remains to be seen just how much more

knowledge or information can be extracted by the encouragement of reviews of

more minor events. For learned lessons to be effective, they must be work flowed

into technical documents. The challenge is to expedite this work flows impact on

the delivery of services and product.

Face to face discussion

The primary goal of knowledge management is the person to person exchange of

knowledge and traditionally we do this by simply talking to one another. Various

styles of forums or workshops have been, and continue to be used, going by names

such as Lunchtime Learnings, Brown Bag Tutorials, Tool Box Talks etc. The

long history of some of these encounters does not however, diminish their

effectiveness. In the end, its about turning experiences into lessons that others

are able to relate to.

In pursuing a knowledge management agenda, we seek to encourage and enhance

all existing endeavours. While the use of on-line forums is expected to grow over

time, the demand for face to face forums and their interpersonal contact is unlikely

to ever diminish, It is in fact likely, that the demand for face to face forums will

increase as people who have met on forums develop mutual trust.


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Summary

The preceding recounting of challenges must be seen as a call to arms.

Knowledge management is not made up of ready made, off the shelf, guaranteed

solutions. Even the knowledge management gurus didnt promise a rose garden.

Yet, in many respects, Knowledge Management is like a rose garden. But its a

garden that needs to be tended and cultivated and even occasionally pruned. It is a

garden for the growing of wisdom. Wisdom implies concepts of understanding

and insight. Wisdom cannot be imparted; it has to grow from within. We make

information available and we share knowledge, but the ultimate goal remains the

getting of and applying of, wisdom

Where to from here.

We look at the future of Knowledge Management within our own organisation

through a very misty crystal ball. Workplace behaviour and cultures never remain

static. Within a very few years, the baby-boomers will have all retired. The key

roles in the organisation will be held by Gen-Xers; a new generation of managers

having different workplace attitudes to the preceding boomers.

If todays knowledge management initiatives have been successful, collaborative

working and the sharing of ideas will be the norm. The collection, storing and

distribution of technical information will be well implemented and an effectiveregime of knowledge sharing will be in place. Perhaps we cant put a date on it

yet but in the words of one well known Australian we are moving forward.

Measures of success

Consider this. During the 1980s the big new tool for business was Quality

Management (or TQM or Continual Improvement). Company after company set

up formalised management systems as a response to this next big thing. Yet now,

30 years later, formalised quality management systems exist primarily in

production and construction enterprises only. So, does this mean that QualityManagement was a failure?

Look around any business organisation today and you will see quality

management in action. Documented operating procedures, continual improvement

initiatives, customer satisfaction measures and so on. Quality Management is still


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alive and well, it has simply been seamlessly embedded within organisational

cultures.

At some point in the future, Knowledge Management will likely be integrated

within composite management systems and will become extinct as a distinct

discipline. The gurus and the software peddlers will have moved on to the next

big thing. At that time, a bright young person will ask what was Knowledge

Management? Those in the know will point out a whole raft of everyday practices

and methods that everybody thinks have always been there.

When such an event occurs, our current initiatives will have succeeded.

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