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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management Professor Dr. Ahmad Zaki Abu Bakar

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 1

Professor Dr. Ahmad Zaki Abu Bakar

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2 / Siri Syarahan Perdana Profesor

SIRI SYARAHAN PERDANA PROFESOR

VIRTUAL INTELLIGENCE

AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

The Key to Success in

the Knowledge Based Economy

Professor Dr. Ahmad Zaki Abu Bakar

KERANA

TUHAN UNTUK MANUSIA

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOG

I M

ALAYSIA

Penerbit

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

2003

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 1

SIRI SYARAHAN PERDANA PROFESOR

VIRTUAL INTELLIGENCE

AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

The Key to Success in

the Knowledge Based Economy

by

Professor Dr. Ahmad Zaki Abu Bakar

INTRODUCTION

We currently live in a turbulent and chaotic era. Only a few initial

years into the new millennium and already, we have experienced so

many natural calamities: an economic downturn, global wars, vio-

lence and terrorism at a global scale, a new imperialism, and a glo-

bal biological outbreak more serious than AIDS. The Severe Acute

Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has claimed hundreds of lives, with

thousands of people infected around the world. Its impact on tour-

ism and the world economy is phenomenal.

All these factors are bad for any national economy, more so

for a new economy based on knowledge, as embraced by nations

such as Malaysia. Under these pressures, do we retreat to the old

economies based intensively on labour, agrarian, or production, or

boldly charge forward to emerge victorious as a fully developed na-

tion in its own mould, as envisioned in Malaysia’s Vision 2020?

We actually do not have many choices when confronted with

such questions. Even before the natural and made-made disasters,

there were already many forces shaping business around the world

and forcing us to rethink our current economy and business prac-

tices. Some of these forces are due to the effects of globalization

and the advancement of Information and Communication Techno-

logy (ICT).

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Pervasive internet and multimedia technologies have transformed

the way we do business, life style, and even the way we think. Our

businesses have also moved from focusing on accuracy to effective-

ness and now on to efficacy. Interestingly, from fierce competition,

our businesses have been forced to work on smart partnerships in

the form of cooperation.

The world has also become relatively small and borderless.

Global and local markets are now easily assessable to any dot com

entrepreneur operating from any part of the world. ICT and globali-

zation has made it possible for us to now conduct any business at

any time, any place, and by any form. Virtual work places and

telecommuting are becoming more popular and the time and efforts

saved from traveling and commuting through busy traffic have sig-

nificantly benefited our social, family, the arts, entertainment, and

tourism industry.

In the global markets, information has become strategically

important for competitive advantage. It is thus pertinent for any or-

ganization to be able to manage information as a key resource be-

side the traditional financial, physical and human resources. How-

ever, in the last decade, we have come to realize once again that

knowledge is more important than information or data and that hu-

man capital is the most important asset for any organization. Gordon

Bell (1991) aptly said it in High Tech Venture, “If location, location

and location are the three key success factors for the Real-Estate

business, then people, people and people are the three key success

factors of the knowledge-based business.”

This paradigm shift has launched a new economy based on

knowledge and moved us up another step in the technology ladder

through the creation of Knowledge-Information Communication Tech-

nology or K-ICT.

THE NEW ECONOMY

The new economy is definitely here to stay and is set to change the

nature of human civilization. In this new economy, based on know-

ledge and characteristically digital where communications and mar-

ket processes are interactive and immediate, the players and rules

of business have been forced to change dramatically. An Internet

magazine Internet Business 2.0 at http://www.business2.com/, in its

inaugural issue in 2000 published the following comments:

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 3

The New Economy is being driven by a profound develop-

ment: Individuals and companies worldwide are being elec-

tronically linked, a process as significant as an organism

developing a nervous system. So it is no surprise that the

rules of the game are changing. Many of these principles

have been stated before. But taken together they constitute

a revolution in the rules of business.

From the traditional brick and mortar businesses, the new

economy gave rise to new click and mortar electronic businesses or

e-businesses which are global in nature and extensively web-based.

Electronic business is termed here as any process that a business

organization conducts over a computer-mediated network. Brick-and-

mortar businesses here refer to businesses that have only a physical

presence while click-and-mortar businesses refer to businesses that

have both an online and an offline presence. Business here also

does not imply just commercial businesses but also include all busi-

nesses including those in the academic and governmental adminis-

trations.

E-business uses Web technology to help businesses stream-

line processes, improve productivity, and increase efficiencies. E-

business will enable companies to easily communicate with part-

ners, vendors and customers, connect back-end data systems and

transact commerce in a secure manner.

There are certainly many benefits of venturing into e-business.

An e-business can provide high personalization, high quality cus-

tomer service, and better supply chain management compared to a

traditional brick and mortar business. Above all, high efficiency pro-

ductivity at reduced costs and very low overheads meant big profits

for any company willing to venture into the new electronic business.

They are also low entry barriers to start an electronic business. An

idea, a computer and connection to the Internet is all that is thought

to be needed to start selling on the Net. With such an alluring attrac-

tion, no wonder many ‘dot com’ companies were formed world-wide

to cater for various types of e-commerce and e-business.

Unfortunately for the unwary, the new economy also spells

intense competition from local as well as big global players. Com-

pared to the old production-based economy or P-economy which

relies on mass production for economy of scale, the K-economy is

about delighting the customer through mass personalization and

extensive customer relationship management or CRM programs.

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To survive, do well, be profitable and to achieve the organization’s

objectives, businesses must adjust to new technologies and imple-

ment new systems to improve their customized production and ser-

vice capabilities. To fulfill global and local demands and to stay ahead

of the global competition, their business systems must be reliable,

fast, functional, secured, accessible, innovative and user friendly 24

hours a day and 7 days a week. But that is not the end of the story.

Due to the rapid advances of technology and the changing life style

world-wide, the market is also changing rapidly. As such, businesses

in fast changing markets must depend on constant renewal through

innovation.

With such a technology intensive business process and ra-

pidly changing markets, what kind of people should be operating e-

businesses? Christopher Lochhead, a leading authority on e-busi-

ness and chief marketing officer of Scient, a professional services

firm focused solely on building e-businesses in the United States,

has this interesting opinion on how the transformation to e-business

has changed an organization’s staff requirements. According to

Lochhead, in an article titled, “The E-Business Emergency,”

published at www.scient.com in 2000:

People that work in e-business are different. Speed of inno-

vation and the ability to accelerate innovation is what drives

success in e-business. People who are going to succeed in

e-business are people who are comfortable doing things

quickly. They also need to be people who not only are com-

fortable working inside of incredible uncertainty but thrive in

it. The other thing we always tell people is to hire and culti-

vate “brainiacs”—maniacs with brains. Building e-business

is about internal transformation. You have to be very smart

and creative, and you also have to be a bit of a nut, because

you’re doing something that is so new. You have to be will-

ing to act—not irresponsibly, but if you take everybody’s fear

and concern into consideration, you’re never going to build

an e-business.

THE PETER PRINCIPLE

If the staff of an e-business organization is to comprise of ‘brainiacs’,

then what about its managers? Who are managing or should be ma-

naging these complicated new K-ICT-intensive processes as well as

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 5

its specialized staff members? There is a significant difference be-

tween who are and who should be managing the organization in terms

of future and current operations. Before we answer this question, let

us first explore the term management.

Management is a process by which organizational goals are

achieved through the use of resources. A typical organization is tra-

ditionally structured as a pyramid and divided into management and

non-management components. There are three management levels

in a typical pyramidal organization: Strategic, Tactical, and Opera-

tional.

At the Strategic Level, senior managers such Presidents, Chief

Executive Officers, Managing Directors, and Senior General Mana-

gers, are to provide the organization with overall direction and guid-

ance. At the Tactical Level, Middle Managers are to develop the goals

and strategies outlined by strategic management. At the operational

level, Operation Managers manage and direct the day-to-day opera-

tions.

In such a traditional hierarchy, the question who actually per-

forms the work is normally unavoidable. It is obvious that the Non-

Management Level is where the workers are and they are the people

who actually perform the daily activities.

In the knowledge era where knowledge is power and intellec-

tual capital is guarded fiercely, the head of an organization cannot

be a mere manager but need to be information technology literate

and knowledgeable in diverse fields as well as possess many com-

petencies to be able to perform his function effectively. To be able to

deploy his organizational horsepower effectively and tap his organi-

zational intelligence, he must have the respect from his multicultural,

multilingual, virtual and borderless knowledge workers to lead the

organization successfully through challenging and highly competi-

tive ventures.

In such situations, leadership plays a central role in the deve-

lopment and transformation of the people in an organization to be

an effective, competitive, productive, and powerful force. All organi-

zations typically have two main corresponding tasks: first, to deliver

existing products and services, and second, to create new products

and services with efficacy. Leadership is associated with the latter

while management with the former. Leaders devise new directions,

new ways of doing things; managers execute existing direction. The

one essential characteristic of all leaders is striving to achieve at the

highest level and this leads others to want to follow their example.

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However, contrary to the current trends, in the knowledge-based

economy, where self-management is the norm, such leaders are

unfortunately in short supply and needed urgently. How is this so?

Dr. Lawrence J. Peter (1969) in his book The Peter Principle:

Why Things Always Go Wrong offers hints to the above problem. His

Peter Principle states that:

In a hierarchy structure, every employee tends to rise to his

incompetence

Simply stated, this means that people who perform compe-

tently at lower levels tend to be promoted. As they are promoted,

their jobs tend to become progressively more difficult. As this diffi-

culty level increases, they are less able to perform the tasks required

of them. At some point they find the demands of their position greater

than their personal resources and capability. In short, they are no

longer capable of doing their jobs or are deemed to be incompetent.

If we use a donkey as a metaphor for incompetence, as we rise up

the organizational hierarchy, we tend to become a bigger donkey as

shown in Figure 1.

Before Dr. Laurence J. Peter’s death in 1988, he was a profes-

sor of education at the University of Southern California and at the

University of British Columbia. The Peter Principle: Why Things Al-

ways Go Wrong was published in 1969 and many people including a

web site on the Boomer Years at http://www.bbhq.com/boomeryr.htm

Figure 1 A Pyramid of Incompetence

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 7

thought The Peter Principle was a significant milestone of that era

and an event of the year for 1969.

The Peter Principle is actually a serious book about corporate

management, but Dr. Peter often used humor in his writing to make

a point so much so that many publishers during his time rejected the

satire. According to Andy Andrews (1991), author of the book Storms

of Perfection, Dr. Peter’s book was finally accepted in 1964 by a pub-

lisher called William Morrow & Co. after being submitted to thirty one

different publisher. The book sold more than 200,000 copies in its

first year and remained on the New York Times best-seller list through

1970. Today, more than 34 years later, Dr. Peter’s book has been

translated into thirty-eight languages and is still selling well.

The Peter Principle is a universal and evergreen concept which

quickly entered the curricula of many management programs as well

as other disciplines including the military. Many might not know that

The Peter Principle is also popular and a ‘must read book’ in Com-

puter Science along with other classics such as Alice in Wonderland.

A review of the book could be found in The Softpanorama Bookshelf

of the Open Source Software Educational Society Website at http://

www.softpanorama.org/Bookshelf/index.html. The review below

clearly shows The Peter Principle has also some relevance to Soft-

ware Engineering and Information Systems:

Along with Parkinson’s Law by C. Northcote Parkinson this

is a “satirical sociology” masterpiece. It is a rather short easy-

to-read book that consists of fictional stories about results of

promotions in typical administrative and business hierarchies.

A must read for any programmer or system administrator

with more than two year experience. Originally published in

1969, it coined the famous “The Peter Principle”

In a Hierarchy, Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of

Incompetence.

This is pretty disturbing concept since the principle is appli-

cable to ourselves and means that we all tend to all rise to

our own level of incompetence. The end result is that stable

companies are more likely to have incompetent employees

at many levels of the organizational structure whereas fast

growing companies may avert some implication of this prin-

ciple at least temporary. “Employees”, as the author points

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out, “do not want to be incompetent”, but when manage-

ment offers promotions that put the employees into their level

of incompetence, the employees have no way of knowing

that ahead of time. After all, if the offer is made it is because

management “knows” the employee can do the job compe-

tently on his/her present level. But the interesting side effect

is that such decision might be made by managers who are

already at their level of incompetence (Dilbert’s PHB).

Some of the short stories are not only funny; they might well

be based on true events. Actually the message of some sto-

ries is dead serious: pyramid climbing is a dangerous sport

and that is exactly true in computer programming. Incompe-

tent IS managers is too serious problem to ignore. This book

is essentially a cornerstone for Dilbert series and as such

should be considered to be a classic. The book helps you to

withstand the pressure and the absurd of the software de-

velopment and IS in general.

The Peter Principle also turned out to have such widespread

applicability to other areas that it became part of corporate folk know-

ledge. Many people quickly grasped the principle because they could

recognize that their own boss was an example of the principle in

action. There were also many commotion and incidents as people

reacted, and overreacted to Dr. Peter’s great insight. It also inspired

many management jokes as shown in the following example which

was circulated via e-mails:

A Management Joke

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced

altitude and spotted a man below. He descended a bit more

and shouted, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a

friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where

I am.”

The man below replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon hovering

approximately 30 feet above the ground. You’re between 40

and 41 degrees North latitude and between 59 and 60 de-

grees West longitude.”

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 9

“You must be an engineer,” said the balloonist.

“I am,” replied the man, “How did you know?”

“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is

technically correct, but I’ve no idea what to make of your

information, and the fact is I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not

been much help at all. If anything, you’ve delayed my trip.”

The man below responded, “You must be in Management.”

“I am,” replied the balloonist, “but how did you know?”

“Well,” said the man, “you don’t know where you are or where

you’re going. You have risen to where you are due to a large

quantity of hot air. You made a promise which you’ve no idea

how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve

your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same posi-

tion you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it’s my

fault.”

Dr. Peters went on to write more books such as Peter’s Quo-

tations: Ideas for Our Times and a sequel to The Peter Principle in

the form of The Peter Pyramid: Or Will We Ever Get the Point?, which

he managed to complete before his death. His “principle” in The

Peter Pyramid is:

Systems start small and grow to occupy all our time and

space.

The Peter Pyramid attempts to do for organizations what The

Peter Principle did for individuals, namely, to show that whole sys-

tems are capable of reaching their levels of incompetence or use-

lessness.

THE PITKIN’S PIKER

We are now in the knowledge-based economy and surely Dr. Peter’s

principles in The Peter Principle and The Peter Pyramid are now ob-

solete. Unfortunately, this is not the case. In fact, many other authors

saw the significance of The Peter Principle and even improve on it.

Professor Edward T. Pitkin published an article titled, The Pitkin’s

Piker in the September 1997 edition of the Energy Advocate. Where

he saw an inadequacy in The Peter Principle and proposed what he

called the Pitkin’s Postulate:

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If somebody approaches his level of incompetence, with

enough speed he will tunnel through the barrier, and there-

after encounter negative resistance

Professor Pitkin was essentially trying to explain how people

get beyond their level of incompetence. The Peter Principle applies

to a great many people, but to relatively static jobs. Pitkin’s Postulate

is the dynamic extension to the Peter Principle; it includes the most

“important” jobs, those whose holders are in a position to do a co-

lossal damage.

Mere incompetence could hardly be the explanation for the

numerous department heads, deans, associate deans, directors,

provosts, presidents, vice presidents, and assistants-to in his ac-

quaintances. According to Dr. Pitkin, the sooner an individual or what

he termed as a Pitkin’s Piker shows his incompetence, the sooner

he is given an impressive letter of recommendation for yet a higher

salary in a new job somewhere else. Once his above his level of

incompetence, rising higher becomes a routine reward.

A committee that hires a Pitkin’s Piker reads the impressive

letters of recommendation. Unfortunately, they never have the sense

to enquire at the candidate’s previous places of employment. They

will offer a premium salary and contract stipulating that in the event

of termination, the candidate is entitled to a generous separation

package such as a year’s salary and benefits. Obviously, no hiring

committee would offer a salary package less than that already earned

by a promising individual with such marvelous letters of recommen-

dation.

The Pitkin’s Piker starts work at a comfortable office. True

enough, his incompetence finally shows and he inevitably fails at his

job. Unfortunately, terminating a Pitkin’s Piker is an expensive exer-

cise not willingly undertaken by the organization’s management.

Besides, it reflects poorly on the judgment of the hiring committee

(who might be Pitkin’s Pikers themselves) who hired the Pitkin’s Piker.

It is thus much cheaper and safer to ask the Pitkin’s Piker to write a

letter of resignation with promises of glowing letters of recommen-

dation to assist him find a new job elsewhere. Now that the Pitkin’s

Piker is out of the door, the organization however can not resume

business as usual because the damage caused by the Pitkin’s Piker

has been done.

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 11

Professor Pitkin says that the world is littered with Pitkin’s

Pikers who have loused up at his institution and moved on to better

jobs at higher pay, even up the ladder or elsewhere — where they

have subsequently failed and moved on to fail at yet higher salaries.

CRAZY AND DYSFUNCTIONAL WORKPLACE

A more alarming evidence that The Peter Principle is still alive and

having devastating impacts on organizations around the world is

found in a recent book, When Smart People Work for Dumb Bosses:

How to Survive in a Crazy and Dysfunctional Workplace by William

Lundin and Kathleen Lundin (1998).

The authors offer the working man and woman valuable

insights, letting them know that stupidity is rampant in the new, glo-

bal workplace, and that there is no truly safe haven from the idiotic

behavior of the powers that be. The book gives equal treatment to

incompetent or dumb individuals, organizations, and those that must

suffer them. The book also indirectly teaches the reader how to rec-

ognize the underlying dysfunction in crazy workplaces. Environments

rife with mistrust, egomania, and insensitivity characterize all dumb

organizations. Such organizations allow management to make gross

errors in judgment and expend vast resources to shield upper ma-

nagement from the terrible consequences of lower management’s

mistakes. The dumb organization not only condones, but also en-

courages counter-productive behavior, openly impedes and

squelches alternative courses of action and the flawed opinions of

one individual substitute for the rational, informed consensus of the

group. Dumb individuals, groups, and organizations fail to grow pro-

fessionally, intellectually, and personally. Over time, these organiza-

tions in fact devolve as time progresses. Dumb people and organi-

zations feel that they already know everything there is to know, they

simply fail to learn.

ROLE OF LEADERS AND WORKERS

How do we stop The Peter Principle and Pitkin Postulate becoming

rampant and making organizations a crazy and dysfunctional Peter

Pyramid? The answer actually lies in the attitude and aspiration of

the members of the organization. It is up to them whether they co-

llectively want the organization to be successful or be oblivious to

whatever happens as long as they are all right.

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As mentioned earlier, leadership plays a central role in the

development and transformation of the people in an organization. At

the strategic level, the senior managers are supposed to know where

to go and how to get there so that they can lead from the front. The

thinking is supposedly to be done by the managers and the workers

are to be passive and do as ordered without questions. Thus, the

term kakitangan which literary means hands and legs is most appro-

priate since the workers are supposedly expected to leave their brains

outside the organization. Organizations today, especially the ones

already in a knowledge driven world, need everyone to think about

new directions to pursue and how to get there. Staff members are no

more brainless workers but are now intelligent knowledge workers.

Their job scopes include the creation, classification and storage,

analysis, distribution and exploitation of knowledge.

No one person can now lead effectively from the front unless

he has support. Future leadership depends on complex knowledge

and innovation from all. Rather than struggle alone, leaders actually

have at their disposal many resources in and outside the organiza-

tion. For example, each member of the organization has intelligence

which the leader can tap to.

INTELLECTUAL INTELLIGENCE

Traditionally, human’s mental capability is shown through his or her

Intellectual Intelligence (II). In our lives, we have taken many exami-

nations and tests. We are then classified based on the results of the

evaluation. Most of these tests are more technically oriented and the

results are to show our thinking capability or more simply put, what

is inside our brain.

II is measured through a written test to determine the Intellec-

tual Quotient or IQ of the person. The higher the IQ score, the smarter

the person is. A person with a very high IQ score like Albert Einstein

is even called a genius, a medium score is clever, and a low score

will have to be called stupid. The standard IQ test measures rational

intelligence—the skills we use to solve logical or strategic problems.

For a long time, IQ results were considered the best measurement of

a person’s intelligence and potential for success

However, through out our lives, we have seen many people

who are classified as not so clever are able to achieve great success

in life and in their undertakings. This means there are other variables

beside brain power in the equation for success.

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 13

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

In the early 1990s, Daniel Goleman pointed out that success is also

dependent on Emotional Intelligence (EI)—the thinking that gives us

empathy, compassion, and the ability to respond appropriately to

pain or pleasure. Emotions as described by Daniel Goleman in his

book Emotional Intelligence (1996) have radically altered common

understanding of what “being smart” entails. The term emotional in-

telligence encompasses the following five characteristics and abili-

ties:

1. Self-awareness–knowing your emotions, recognizing feelings

as they occur, and discriminating between them.

2. Mood management–handling feelings so they are relevant to

the current situation and you react appropriately.

3. Self-motivation–”gathering up” your feelings and directing

yourself towards a goal, despite self-doubt, inertia, and im-

pulsiveness.

4. Empathy–recognizing feelings in others and tuning into their

verbal and nonverbal cues.

5. Managing relationships–handling interpersonal interaction,

conflict resolution, and negotiations.

Emotional Intelligence is a master aptitude, a capacity that

profoundly affects all other abilities, either facilitating or inter-

fering with them.–Daniel Goleman,(1996) Emotional Intelli-

gence, p. 80.

Emotional Intelligence is critical for organizations. Research

in brain-based learning suggests that emotional health is fundamen-

tal to effective learning. The most critical element for a student’s suc-

cess in school is an understanding of how to learn. The key ingredi-

ents for this understanding are confidence, curiosity, intentionality

self-control, relatedness, capacity to communicate and ability to co-

operate. These traits are all aspects of Emotional Intelligence. Basi-

cally, a person who learns to learn is much more apt to succeed.

Emotional Intelligence has proven a better predictor of future suc-

cess than traditional methods like the GPA, IQ, and standardized

tests marks. Hence, the great interest in Emotional Intelligence world

wide.

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Researchers have concluded that people who manage their

own feelings well and deal effectively with others are more likely to

live content lives. Furthermore, happy people are more apt to retain

information and do so more effectively than dissatisfied people. The

inclusion of Emotional Intelligence in training programs has helped

employees cooperate better and motivate more, thereby increasing

productivity and profits. Emotional Intelligence is measured by the

Emotional Quotient or EQ. It is a measure of our psychological func-

tioning and interpersonal skills. EQ is not permanently fixed and is

open to lifelong improvements.

SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE

Beside EQ, another kind of intelligence has surfaced recently. At the

end of the 20th century, authors Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall claim

that there is another important Q to consider—the SQ, otherwise

known as Spiritual Intelligence. Spiritual Intelligence is the ability to

use a multisensory approach to problem solving and learning to lis-

ten to your inner voice. As authors of an earlier book The Quantum

Self, Zohar and Marshall attempt to conceptualize the spiritual state

of “higher consciousness” within the realm of quantum physics. De-

veloping higher consciousness and using inner-knowing will point

the way toward greater fulfillment in our lives.

Similar to Intellectual Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence,

Spiritual Intelligence has its Spiritual Quotient or SQ. However, the

authors point out, the concept of SQ is currently not quantifiable.

The authors also contend that while even computers can have IQ

and animals can have EQ, it is SQ that sets humans apart. SQ is not

necessarily connected to religion, although it can be. It is about whole-

ness, flexibility, self-awareness, compassion, creativity, the ability to

ask why, and the like.

Although Danah Zohar and Marshall published their book

Spiritual Intelligence in 1997, the idea of being guided by universal

principles and beliefs is not new and has been with mankind since

Adam and Eve. Revealed knowledge from heaven such as found in

the Quran is not disputed by believers of the religion of Islam as is

the Bible for the Christians. The teachings of the religion become the

basis for conscious actions.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Unlike the three types of intelligence discussed above, the fourth

intelligence has been around for some time and is external to human

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 15

beings. Artificial Intelligence or A.I. is a technology to provide com-

puters with the ability to think on their own. Strong Artificial Intelli-

gence states that a computer with the right program would be men-

tal while Weak Artificial Intelligence just aims to solve problems, not

necessarily to be mental or model human behavior. Knowledge-based

systems or expert system are computer systems with the ability to

store and utilized knowledge about a specialized problem domain

to solve a certain problem or achieve a certain objective.

Although the author has been involved extensively in A.I.,

specifically through research, development and commercialization

in Natural Language Processing and Machine Translation, no further

elaboration will be given due to the fact that A.I. is an established

field of study and there are much information related to it as well as

an extensive body of knowledge.

VIRTUAL INTELLIGENCE

The fifth intelligence at the disposal of human is Virtual Intelligence.

This concept was first discovered by the author on Saturday 2nd

November 1997 (1st Rejab 1418) when conducting research on the

Bendahara Management for applications to Knowledge Management

at the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Systems.

Virtual Intelligence is defined as follows:

Virtual Intelligence or VI, is intelligence which is actually not

present in a person but whose essence exists due to contri-

butions by Knowledge Agents because of his position in a

hierarchy.

In simple terms, Virtual Intelligence is not physically attri-

buted to an individual but is a collective intelligence accumulated by

the organization through contributions from various people and sys-

tems in and outside the organization. This intelligence is only avail-

able and accessible when the person is in office and will be lost

once he leaves his position in the hierarchy.

A good example of the presence of Virtual Intelligence is in

the case of a Government Minister. In a day, the Minister has to at-

tend many functions and give many speeches at different locations.

If a foreigner follows the Minister in his daily schedule, he would be

very impressed by the great intelligence possessed by the Minister.

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From his speech, he is able to show great understanding of the cur-

rent problems faced by the attendees and give various solutions,

actions, recommendations and credible answers to the various prob-

lems and situation.

The impression or illusion of expertise in various fields is of

course directly contributed by his Virtual Intelligence. In the back-

ground, unseen by the public, the Minister’s knowledge agents work

hard to understand the current scenario and problems to prepare a

good speech that will give credibility to their leader. If they do not

have the information needed, they will contact other knowledge

agents in their network for support. Hence, the quality output is a

good indication of the Virtual Quotient or VQ of one’s Virtual Intelli-

gence.

So as not to be confused by the reference to virtual computer

networks which also use the term virtual intelligence, Human Virtual

Intelligence or HVI maybe is a more appropriate name for this con-

cept. HVI is part of the corporate organizational intelligence. This is

the capacity of a corporation as a whole to gather information, to

innovate, to generate knowledge, and to act effectively based on the

knowledge it has generated. Organizations leverage knowledge

through networks of people who collaborate, not through networks

of technology that interconnect.

The contributors to this virtual mass of intelligence are know-

ledge agents who can be staff members, family members, advisers,

consultants, friends, foes, customer, competitors, suppliers, autho-

rity, superiors, information systems and intelligent software agents.

Since an individual has five intelligences, i.e, spiritual, emo-

tional, intellectual, artificial and virtual as in Figure 2, each know-

ledge agent thus contributes his five intelligences to the virtual intel-

ligence of his superior or leader to create a synergistic corporate

intelligence. This intelligence is a capacity which is inherent in a sys-

tem of organization. It is greater than the sum of the intelligence,

information, and knowledge of each individual in that organization.

This arrangement is perhaps what Dr. Marvin Minsky (1985),

an Artificial Intelligence guru from MIT called in his book, The Soci-

ety of Mind as in the following quotes:

I’ll call ‘Society of Mind’ this scheme in which each mind is

made of smaller processes. These we will call Agents. Each

Mental Agent by itself can only do simple thing that needs

no mind or thought at all. Yet when we join these agents in

societies- in certain very special ways- this leads to true in-

telligence.

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 17

The knowledge contributed to the virtual intelligence can be

in various forms and is dependent on the demand or emphasis of

the leader. Examples are news, information, ideas, opinions, advises,

domain expertise, solutions, answers, humor, stories, and draft

speeches.

The size of the virtual intelligence varies in terms of size and

content on theindividual at the helm. In a very mechanistic struc-

tured organization such as in the Armed Forces, formal rules and

regulation as well as discipline will force members of the organiza-

tion to contribute their knowledge.

However, a different approach in the form of reward and a lot

of coaxing and convincing have to be carried out to motivate staff

members and other knowledge agents to contribute their precious

knowledge to an organic organization.

Mechanistic organizations are normally more formal, bigger,

sluggish and bureaucratic while organic organizations are more dy-

Artificial

Intelligence

Spiritual

Emotional

Intellectual

Virtual

Intelligence

SELF

Figure 2 Human Five Intelligences

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namic, small and entrepreneurial. In mechanistic organizations, di-

rection can be deliberately decided and planned. In the organic case,

direction evolves or emerges through trial and error learning. Direc-

tion is also discovered rather than decided in an organic organiza-

tion. As such, the virtual intelligence of a mechanistic organization

tend to be bigger due to the proper planning and better resource

allocation compared to a more ad hoc approach in the organic or-

ganization.

THE ZAKI PRINCIPLE

Before dwelling on how to implement the virtual intelligence, it is

more appropriate to see the significance of its discovery. As will be

shown shortly, HVI is an effective mechanism to minimize the effects

of the Peter Principle and the Pitkin’s Postulate. If The Peter Principle

states that, “In a hierarchy structure, every employee tends to rise to

his incompetence” then The Zaki Principle states that:

Virtual Intelligence tends to increase with rise of position and

power in a hierarchy.

Rather than looking negatively at the effects of promotion in

propagating incompetence, a more positive approach is to ensure

that who ever gets promoted will have a big virtual intelligence at his

disposal to compensate for whatever shortcomings the person might

have prior to his new appointment. The onus is on the management

and all stake holders of the organization to ensure that a virtual intel-

ligence knowledge management system is in place to support the

leaders of the organization. Rather than letting mediocrity prevail, it

is of prime importance to ensure a culture of excellence and learning

is the norm. Good and strong leadership is a key success factor

here.

Using a light bulb as a metaphor for talent and performance,

if everyone contributes and performs well for the organization then

each light bulb in the pyramid will shine brightly. The effect is a brightly

lit Christmas tree as shown in Figure 3. To ensure that the organiza-

tion’s name and image shines brightly, then everyone in the organi-

zation must support each other, and not dwell in petty organizational

politics. Here, everyone wins regardless of his or her position in the

hierarchy.

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 19

VIRTUAL INTELLIGENCE IN ACTION

The effects of The Peter Principle are sometime not intentional but

can happen due to an opportunity arising. An example is in the case

of the appointment of YAB Dato’ Seri Dr. Mohd. Khir Toyo as the

Chief Minister of the State of Selangor on 18 August 2000. The op-

portunity arises due to the resignation of Datuk Seri Abu Hassan

Omar as the Chief Minister. In an unprecedented move, Prime Minis-

ter YAB Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, appointed a newly elected

State Assembly man for Sungai Panjang and previously a dentist to

be the Chief Minister of the most developed state in Malaysia. Being

a young man and a newcomer, he was catapulted to the highest

political post in the state by virtue of having the cleanest record at

that time amidst heavy politics. He was not prepared for the post that

soon and certainly suffered from The Peter Principle. As a Chief Mi-

nister, Dr. Khir was expected to function as Menteri Besar minutes

after his appointment.

Figure 3 Virtual Intelligence Tree Structure

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To be able to perform his duties effectively and immediately, a

newly appointed leader like Dr. Khir does not have the time and luxury

to ‘learn the rope’ or processes in the traditional way but must quickly

have a support system in place to be immediately deployed to assist

him. If given ample time, Dr. Khir would require a few years to fill-in

the vacuum between his current competency and that expected of a

Chief Minister of a developed state like Selangor. The standards set

were also high because Selangor had previous charismatic Chief

Ministers like Tan Sri Mohamad Taib. In cases like this, Virtual Intelli-

gence can assist to reduce the learning curve drastically if it was put

in place and important stake holders in Selangor are willing to con-

tribute generously to Dr. Khir’s Virtual Intelligence as shown in

Figure 4.

BUILDING A VIRTUAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM

A Virtual Intelligence System is basically a Knowledge Management

System (KMS). As such, KMS technology could be utilized to cap-

ture, share and exploit the knowledge from Knowledge Agents as-

sociated to the leader of the organizations. However, the driving val-

ues for capturing and sharing knowledge may differ depending on

the context.

For some organization, the driving value is knowledge of cus-

tomers. For another, the emphasis might be on building knowledge

Figure 4 Shortening Learning Curves

Productivity can be increased

if the learning curve

can be shortened

Ideal Case

Virtual Intelligence

in place

Expected

Level

Current

Level

0 t1 t2

Time

Natural Progression

C

o

m

p

e

t

e

n

c

y

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 21

capital, while for another organization, it could be commitment to

learning through sharing best practices for continuous improvement.

What ever the emphasis, the common element at the core of

these different approaches is knowledge as its most strategic asset.

As such, knowledge leadership is taken very seriously and under-

standing knowledge is the first step to managing it effectively. Verna

Allee (1997) listed a dozen characteristics of knowledge, and some

tools and approaches for making the most of the knowledge assets

in a knowledge-based organization. The characteristics are as fol-

lows:

(i) Knowledge is messy. Because knowledge is connected to

everything else, you can not isolate the knowledge aspect of

anything neatly. In the knowledge universe, you can not pay

attention to just one factor.

(ii) Knowledge is self-organizing. The self that knowledge or-

ganizes around is organizational or group identity and pur-

pose.

(iii) Knowledge seeks community. Knowledge wants to happen,

just as life wants to happen. Both want to happen as commu-

nity. Nothing illustrates this principle more than the Internet.

(iv) Knowledge travels via language. Without a language to de-

scribe our experience, we can not communicate what we know.

Expanding organizational knowledge means that we must de-

velop the languages we use to describe our work experience.

(v) The more you try to pin knowledge down, the more it slips

away. It is tempting to try to tie up knowledge as codified

knowledge-documents, patents, libraries, databases, and so

forth. But too much rigidity and formality regarding knowledge

lead to the stultification of creativity.

(vi) Looser is probably better. Highly adaptable systems look

sloppy. The survival rate of diverse, decentralized systems is

higher. That means we can waste resources and energy try-

ing to control knowledge too tightly.

(vii) There is no one solution. Knowledge is always changing.

For the moment, the best approach to managing it is one that

keeps things moving along while keeping options open.

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(viii) Knowledge does not grow forever. Eventually, some know-

ledge is lost or dies, just as things in nature. Unlearning and

letting go of old ways of thinking, even retiring whole blocks

of knowledge, contribute to the vitality and evolution of know-

ledge.

(ix) No one is in charge. Knowledge is a social process. That

means no one person can take responsibility for collective

knowledge.

(x) You cannot mpose rules and systems. If knowledge is truly

self-organizing, the most important way to advance it is to re-

move the barriers to self-organization. In a supportive envi-

ronment, knowledge will take care of itself.

(xi) There is no silver bullet. There is no single leverage point or

best practice to advance knowledge. It must be supported at

multiple levels and in a variety of ways.

(xii) How you define knowledge determines how you manage

it. The “knowledge question” can present itself many ways.

For example, concern about the ownership of knowledge leads

to acquiring codified knowledge that is protected by copy-

rights and patents.

Chan and Mauborge (1997) pointed out that, “Creating and

sharing knowledge are intangible activities that can neither be su-

pervised nor forced out of people. They happen only when people

cooperate voluntarily”. Organizations that are serious about know-

ledge often create formal knowledge-management functions to fa-

cilitate knowledge creation and sharing. A knowledge leader sets

the course and attends to the knowledge creation process. A con-

cern about knowledge sharing emphasizes communication flow and

documentation. A focus on knowledge competencies leads to seek-

ing more effective ways to create, adapt, and apply knowledge.

As on a sea voyage, managing knowledge requires appropri-

ate tools. Verna Allee (1997) further suggests the following tools:

(i) A north star. A north star represents the purpose, sense of

identity, and core principles that guide an organization. Know-

ledge self-organizes around organizational purpose. Without

a north star for knowledge, it is impossible to focus on what is

needed.

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 23

(ii) A compass. An organizational compass consists of guiding

principles and strategy. Best-practice companies in knowledge

provide a way to expand knowledge by taking an integrated,

multimodal systems approach.

(iii) The crew. Knowledge is embodied in people. It is impossible

to talk about knowledge without addressing the way people

work together, learn together, and grow in knowledge indi-

vidually and collectively. Companies that are serious about

knowledge, foster an environment and culture that support

continuous learning.

(iv) Maps and guides. Knowledge-based organizations seek

guides, maps, and pathways for building knowledge across

multiple performance levels. They understand the processes

that support the creation, acquisition, sharing, and renewal of

knowledge. Companies that value knowledge want to know

how and where to access it.

(v) Sound vessels. There must be vessels or vehicles to support

knowledge exploration. They include:

• technology support (information systems, databases,

communication technologies, Web technologies, and e-

mail)

• equipment (groupware, whiteboards, video conferencing

equipment, and flexible manufacturing systems)

• tools (job aids, knowledge maps, and computer-based

performance support)

• physical structures (learning centers, libraries, meeting

rooms, and executive strategy rooms).

One of the most popular technologies for knowledge sharing

is a corporate intranet and extranet. An intranet is a central-

ized electronic repository of information (typically accessed

via computer on a company’s network with a browser based

for interface).

There is unlimited potential for the uses of intranets in-

cluding access to static information and online resources, as

well as interactive tools for learning, collaborating, etc. Intranet

has been proven to significantly improved productivity, proc-

ess efficiency, and workflow; enhanced knowledge capital;

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strengthened teamwork across boundaries, and increased

employee satisfaction.

An extranet, on the other hand, is a centralized electronic re-

pository of information (typically accessed via computer from

a company’s web site). The users are specific clients who want

an immediate tie to the company, the information it has, and

their work with the company. There is unlimited potential for

the uses of extranets including access to static information

like advertising, newsletters, client specific work product, and

online resources. There are also applications for interactive

tools for collaborating and etc. An extranet is frequently a por-

tion of a company’s web site that is password protected for

use by authorized clients.

(vi) Feedback and measurement. There must be ways to assess

whether you are on course. Measurements help gauge and

manage knowledge assets, and support continuous improve-

ment.

KMS ARCHITECTURE FOR VI

Following from Verna Allee’s tools, what are the components that

make up a knowledge management system for Virtual Intelligence?

Given an organization’s business strategy and approach to know-

ledge management, what technologies do the people in the organi-

zation need to find, create, assemble, and apply knowledge in timely

and cost-effective manner?

The technology components should be designed to do the

following:

• Assist people in creating and acquiring knowledge by

interacting, recording failures and documenting suc-

cesses.

• Support efforts to convey tacit knowledge into explicit

knowledge.

• Identify and remove hurdles to best practice and skills

transfer.

• Support the rapid delivery of the right knowledge to the

right person at the right time (If it is possible).

• Assist with the indexing, screening, classifying, aggre-

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 25

gating, synthesizing, cataloging, and otherwise organi-

zing of knowledge.

• Enable the package, delivery, and storage of knowledge.

• Support the importation of knowledge from outside the

firm.

• Support communication and networking among employ-

ees.

• Assist with what-if analysis

As for many computer systems, this question is best answered by

first looking at its architecture. In this case, the simplest architecture

for a knowledge management system was provided by Applehans

et al., (2001). According to Applehans et al., key components in a

knowledge management systems comprises of:

(i) People: Those who produce and those who use knowledge

that will be the basis for action.

(ii) Content: The flow of data, information, and knowledge im-

portant to the success of the business.

(iii) Technology: The technical infrastructure that enables the cap-

ture, storage, and delivery of content to those who need it

when they need it.

Many other researchers also include Process as a fourth ele-

ment. Another promising knowledge management system architec-

ture is by Borghoff and Pareschi (1998) of Xerox. They utilized a ge-

neral framework for information technology to support organizational

knowledge management through a number of technological com-

ponents which they referred to as the Knowledge Management Ar-

chitecture. The Knowledge Management Architecture comprises of

four components:

(i) The flow of knowledge: Using knowledge, competencies and

interest maps to distribute documents to people. e.g. know-

ledge attic and knowledge pump.

(ii) Knowledge cartography: Knowledge Navigation, Mapping,

and Simulation. These are tools to map communities of prac-

tice, work process simulation, domain specific concept maps,

maps of people’s competencies and interests (yellow pages),

design and decision rationale.

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(iii) Communities of knowledge workers: Awareness services,

capture and access, Shared workspace, Knowledge work

process support, Experience capture.

(iv) Knowledge repositories and libraries: Search, Heteroge-

neous document repository, access, integration, and manage-

ment, Directory and links, Publishing and documentation sup-

port.

The four technological components are to answer questions such

as:

• What kind of information technology can contribute to

make knowledge flow, supporting its conversion as from

explicit to tacit and from tacit knowledge to explicit?

• What kind of information technology can best support the

explicit knowledge that an organization has about itself?

• What kind of software is needed to support the exchange

of tacit knowledge in organizations of knowledge work-

ers?

• How can we manage through ICT the bulk of explicit

knowledge contained in the collections of documents of

an organization?

Interestingly, another knowledge management architecture

was provided by Amrit Tiwana (2000). In his book, The Knowledge

Management Toolkit, Tiwana notes that many of the technologies

that support knowledge management have been around for some

time and such organizations should be seeking to leverage on such

as the following:

(i) Knowledge Flow Technologies

Similar to one in the Knowledge Management Architecture of

Borghoff and Pareschi, these are technologies that facilitate

the flow of knowledge in organizations. Examples include the

following:

• Collaborative environments and groupware tools such as

Lotus Notes, Netscape Collabra, Microsoft’s Netmeeting,

etc.

• Intranets (internal company Internet) and extranets

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 27

(intranets extended to include the company’s allies, part-

ners, suppliers, and major customers).

• Pointers to expertise or electronic yellow pages that pro-

vide searchable directories of persons inside and outside

the company with specific skill sets or expertise

(ii) Information or Document Mapping Technologies

These are technologies that support versioning control, scan-

ning/electronic formatting, indexing and retrieval, and auto-

matic database creation.

(iii) Information Source Technologies

These are technologies that feed information into the know-

ledge management system. Examples of these include project

management tools and multimedia technology.

(iv) Information and Knowledge Exchange Technologies

These are technologies that assist people in sharing and ex-

changing knowledge. Examples include telephone, fax ma-

chine, Internet conferencing systems, video conferencing tools

and electronic chat rooms.

(v) Intelligent Agent/Network Mining Technologies

These are technologies that help people locate and extract

information. They include search engines, intelligent decision

support systems, case based reasoning systems, and con-

textual information retrieval systems that support filtering, ed-

iting, searching and organizing knowledge. Since Virtual In-

telligence relies on many intelligent software agents, this tech-

nology is a key element for a successful KMS for VI.

Boyett and Boyett (2001) acknowledged Tiwana’s knowledge

management system as being made up of seven layers as follows:

(i) Interface layer. This layer connects people to the knowledge

management system to create, expedite, use, retrieve, and

share knowledge. It is the part of the system that users sees

and works with. For many companies, this interface layer is

the home page the user accesses over the company intranet.

(ii) Access and Authentication layer. This is the layer that au-

thenticates valid users, provides security, and provides back-

ups and disaster recovery.

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(iii) Collaborative Filtering and Intelligence layer. This layer con-

tains the tools for content personalization, searching, index-

ing, etc.

(iv) Application layer. This layer contains skill directories, yellow

pages, collaborative work tools, video conferencing hardware

and software, digital whiteboards, electronic forums, etc.

(v) Transport layer. This layer includes the technology for TCP/

IP connectivity, web servers, POP3/STMP or MAIL servers, sup-

port for streaming audio and video, etc.

(vi) Middleware layer and Legacy Integration layer. Legacy sys-

tems are mainframe and other customized and/or retired com-

puter systems. Middleware provides the connectivity between

old and new data format.

(vii) Repositories. This layer consists of the operational databases,

discussion database, Web-forum archives, legacy data, docu-

ment archives, and other databases that represent the foun-

dation of the knowledge management system.

IMPLEMENTING THE VI KMS

How do we implement the VI knowledge management system? In-

terestingly, Amrit Tiwana (2000) also provides a ten-step road map

on how to implement a knowledge management system in his book,

The Knowledge Management Toolkit which can be a good guide to

implement a KMS for VI.

The ten steps are:

(i) Analyze the existing infrastructure

(ii) Align knowledge management and business strategy

(iii) Design the knowledge management infrastructure

(iv) Audit existing knowledge assets and systems

(v) Design the knowledge management team

(vi) Create the knowledge management blueprint

(vii) Develop the knowledge management system

(viii) Prototype and deploy

(ix) Manage the change, culture, and reward structures

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 29

(x) Evaluate performance, measures ROI (return on investment),

and incrementally refine the knowledge management system.

Finding the optimum match between rapidly evolving infor-

mation needs and a fast changing technology is not an easy task.

Where should we start? Should we build on what is already in place?

What can the business afford and what will be lost if we do not adopt

the latest technology? How do we wish to position ourselves? What

strategic role will knowledge play? None of these are easy ques-

tions. In contrast to Tiwana, Denham (1999), lists a few guidelines

on how to assess the knowledge needs, how to classify the know-

ledge types, how to model the evolution of knowledge within an or-

ganization or group, and how to select a technology that fits the

industry or local culture.

Technology choice is not all about functionality; it is about

risk, strategic positioning, user buy-in, vendor commitment, migra-

tion paths. Finding the right combination of technology for the infor-

mation and knowledge management is an arduous task. A series of

broad steps is recommended by Denham as follows:

• The first step should be to list in detail the present tech-

nology with the entity. A proper documentation has to be

made of the same.

• Then the organization need to firm up its views on what

would the entity like to be in future that is the shortcom-

ings of the present systems and the technology needs

which would add to the entity’s improved performance.

• The next step would be to locate the vendors who would

be able to suit the organization requirements and supply

the necessary technologies within the budget and

optimize the costs.

• The selection of vendors should be with an eye on future

such that only those vendors who would satisfy the or-

ganization future maintenance requirements are selected.

• The entire process should be time bound to reap the bene-

fits.

WESTERN AND EASTERN KM APPROACH FOR VI

Is there any difference in approach or technology between a knowl-

edge management system from the East and the West? The answer

is certainly, yes. For example, Hirotaka Takeuchi (1998) wrote:

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“As we have seen, the focus in the West has been on (1)

explicit knowledge, (2) measuring and managing existing

knowledge, and (3) the selected few carrying out knowledge

management initiatives. This bias reinforces the view of the

organization simply as a machine for information process

ing. What Western companies need to do is to “unlearn” their

existing view of knowledge and pay more attention to (1)

tacit knowledge, (2) creating new knowledge, and (3) hav-

ing everyone in the organization be involved. Only then can

the organization be viewed as a living organism capable of

creating continuous innovation in a self-organizing manner.”

Takeuchi elaborates “that the distinction between explicit

knowledge and tacit knowledge is the key to understanding the dif-

ferences between the Western approach to knowledge (knowledge

management) and the Japanese approach to knowledge (know-

ledge creation). The West has placed a strong emphasis on explicit

knowledge and Japan on tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge can

easily be “processed” by a computer, transmitted electronically, or

stored in databases.

But the subjective and intuitive nature of tacit knowledge

makes it difficult to process or transmit the acquired knowledge in

any systematic or logical manner. For tacit knowledge to be commu-

nicated and shared within the organization, it has to be converted

into words or numbers that anyone can understand. It is precisely

during the time this conversion takes place - that is, from tacit to

explicit - that organizational knowledge is created. The reason why

Western managers tend not to address the issue of organizational

knowledge creation can be traced to the view of knowledge as nec-

essarily explicit. They take for granted a view of the organization as a

playing field for “scientific managements and a machine for “infor-

mation processing”. This view is deeply ingrained in the traditions of

Western management from Frederick Taylor to Herbert Simon.

Knowledge management systems include a combination of

groupware, e-mail, intra, extranets, document management, data-

base, video-conferencing, voice capturing devices, and others. West-

ern knowledge management systems are normally insensitive to the

diversity of culture and languages of the world. Most knowledge

management systems are monolingual and are in English as well as

biased towards the American culture. For many Asian communities

with their own native languages and distinct culture, this is unac-

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Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 31

ceptable. If the knowledge management system is to be widely uti-

lized by native knowledge workers then the system should be able

to lift the language and cultural barriers.

In such as situation, computer translation systems and other

natural native language-based interfaces are technologies more avail-

able in Eastern knowledge management systems. Search engines

based on native languages are also useful tool to find documents in

a database or repository by using key words or indexed topics. Even

for the modern Malay language which uses the Latin alphabet, to

search for Malay contents, an English-based search engine will be

less effective compared to a Malay language-based search engine.

As such, the knowledge management system architecture for

Virtual Intelligence must include cultural and language components

to be successful and effective in a truly global environment.

DISCUSSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

Many of the ideas in this lecture have been discussed by the au-

thor’s students taking the Information and Knowledge Management

Subject at the Masters’ level and professional courses attended by

Middle and Senior Managers. A thesis for a Masters in Computer

Science and two theses for a Masters in Information Technology were

completed and submitted with implementation on some of the ideas

put forth in this lecture. There are still many issues that have not

been tackled. Unfortunately, as a Masters thesis, the implementa-

tions are considered just toy systems and are very limited in many

aspects. It would be interesting if a actual and complete full blown

knowledge management system for Virtual Intelligence can be im-

plemented at a willing organization and the performance of the lea-

ders there be measured to see whether the VI KMS improves the

organization significantly.

Leadership is an important issue for many organization in the

knowledge-based economy and any research or study to improve it

is certainly very much welcome. This lecture looks at the five intelli-

gences available to a human being and it would be great if some

work could be carried out to compare it with Howard Gartner’s Mul-

tiple Intelligence. Starting from seven, there are now eight intelligences

in his Multiple Intelligence set; being verbal/linguistic; logical/math-

ematical; spatial; bodily/kinesthetic; musical; interpersonal;

intrapersonal; and naturalistic.

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Swarm intelligence may also have interesting applications for lead-

ership and followship. Instead of seeing ourselves only as a leader,

we should also focus on encouraging leadership in others. If our

organization allows employees to behave entrepreneurially - to strike

out in new directions with our support - then they are also leaders. To

exhibit leadership we should start by developing a compelling idea

for changing the substantive direction of our organization.

CONCLUSION

This lecture has attempted to show that Virtual Intelligence can be

utilized to minimize the effects of The Peter Principle in organizations

in the knowledge-based economy. Instead of becoming incompe-

tent after a promotion as stated by The Peter Principle, The Zaki

Principle will be able to make leaders more credible through a big-

ger Virtual Quotient. To have access to Virtual Intelligence, a knowl-

edge management system with the ability to capture, share, exploit

and distribute knowledge from knowledge agents, must be imple-

mented. UTM can certainly play a big role in this endeavor.

Some of the implementation issues especially relating to the

technology architecture were described at great lengths. There are

definitely many other issues that were not covered due to the con-

straints of time and space. One of it is the exploration of strategies

on how leaders could motivate their knowledge agents to contribute

to their Virtual Intelligence. Let us reserve some of these thoughts for

another lecture.

ACKNOWLDEMENTS

The author would like to express his sincere appreciations to various

parties for their support and invaluable knowledge as well as contri-

butions on the various topics:

Three Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) winners,

namely Schlumberger, Infosys International and HP Malaysia con-

tributed greatly by sharing with the author their ideas, strategies and

implementation on knowledge management.

This work was carried out with support from the IRPA grant

for the development Technopreneurship Toolkit and assistance from

Yayasan Pelajaran Johor. My Masters students Junaidah, Ling and

Seow implemented some of my ideas into actual agent technology

system and knowledge management systems.

Page 35: biodata pengarang

Virtual Intelligence and Knowledge Management / 33

Thank you also to students who took the Information and

Knowledge Management System subject and the seniors managers

who took the Executive Module on Knowledge Management. All of

you contributed to the body of knowledge for Virtual Intelligence

through your assignments, discussions and comments.

YM Dr Raja Malik of MAMPU deserves a special thank you for

his strategic view of knowledge management; Datuk Professor Ir. Dr.

Mohd. Zulkifli for sharing many of his insights on good management

practices and showing examples of good leadership through our

many encounters; Professor Azman Awang for his conceptual views

on good management and leadership, his office and Ismaal for be-

ing patient with me.

Lastly, my big family at the Faculty of Computer Science and

Information Systems and friends like Rose Alinda, Shamsul, Haji

Hashim, Zaidi, Harrie and Jay for their ideas and support in my many

initiatives on knowledge management at the faculty and university.

Finally, my family, and especially my wife Zan, for their love, under-

standing and indulgence in having a philosopher and writer in the

house.

Page 36: biodata pengarang

34 / Bibliography

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Biodata/ 37

Profesor Dr. Ahmad Zaki Bin Abu Bakar telah dilahirkan 46 tahun lalu

di Alor Star, Kedah pada Subuh 29 Mei 1956. Anak kedua kepada

Allahyarhamah Ustazah Hajjah Norwati Bt Noh dan Allahyarham Ustaz

Abu Bakar Hj Mohd Fadzil @Abu Zaky Fadzil, seorang wartawan,

penulis, sasterawan dan ahli angkatan ASAS 50. Profesor Zaki banyak

mewarisi bakat ibu bapa beliau sebagai pendidik, penulis dan

pemimpin. Beliau kini bertugas sebagai profesor dan Dekan di Fakulti

Sains Komputer dan Sistem Maklumat (FSKSM), Universiti Teknologi

Malaysia (UTM).

Profesor Zaki mempunyai pengalaman luas dalam bidang

Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi atau Information Communica-

tion Technology (ICT) setelah berkecimpung dalam bidang tersebut

selama 26 tahun semenjak tahun 1977. Beliau adalah penerima

anugerah MNCC National 1999 Excellent Information Technology

Teacher Award pada tahun 2000.

Profesor Zaki mendapat pendidikan awal di Sekolah Rendah

Jalan Gurney (Dua), Kuala Lumpur dari 1963 sehingga 1968 dan

kemudian di Sekolah Menengah Lelaki Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur

dari tahun 1969 sehingga 1973. Beliau menduduki Tingkatan Enam

Bawah di St. Johns Institution, Kuala Lumpur pada tahun 1974. Cita-

cita beliau untuk menjadi jurutera menyebabkan beliau meninggalkan

St. Johns Institution lebih awal lagi untuk ke menara gading.

Profesor Zaki bukanlah orang asing di UTM. Hubungan beliau

dengan UTM bermula apabila diterima oleh Institut Teknologi

Kebangsaan (ITK) pada tahun 1974 untuk mengikuti kursus Diploma

Profesor Dr. Ahmad Zaki bin Abu Bakar

Dekan, Fakulti Sains Komputer dan

Sistem Maklumat

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Page 39: biodata pengarang

38 / Biodata

Kejuruteraan Elektrik (Perhubungan). Beliau lulus kursus tersebut

pada tahun 1977 dengan Kelas Pertama dan sebagai Pelajar Terbaik.

Setelah bertugas sebagai Pembantu Teknik di Jabatan Telekom untuk

beberapa bulan, beliau telah dijemput untuk menyertai staf akademik

sebagai Penolong Pensyarah B di Jabatan Perhubungan, Fakulti

Kejuruteraan Elektrik. Beliau telah dinaikkan pangkat ke jawatan

Pensyarah pada bulan Ogos 1984 dan Profesor Madya pada 14

Oktober 1991. Apabila Fakulti Sains Komputer dan Sistem Maklumat

ditubuhkan pada tahun 1992, beliau bersama beberapa orang rakan

dari Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektrik yang mempunyai kelayakan

Kejuruteraan Komputer telah dipindahkan ke fakulti baru tersebut.

Semenjak itu, Profesor Zaki terus mendaki kerjaya akademiknya

sehingga akhirnya dilantik sebagai Profesor pada tahun 2000 dan

kemudianDekan FSKSM pada bulan Mei 2001.

Dari segi kelayakan akademik, selain daripada Diploma

Kejuruteraan Elektrik (Perhubungan) Kelas Pertama daripada UTM

pada tahun 1977, Profesor Zaki telah dianugerahi ijazah Bachelors

of Science (Honours) in Electronic Engineering dari University of Es-

sex, England pada tahun 1981. Beliau juga memiliki ijazah Masters

of Engineering (Computer Engineering) dari California Polytechnic

State University (Cal Poly), Amerika Syarikat pada tahun 1984 dan

ijazah Doktor Falsafah Kejuruteraan Elektrik pada tahun 1989. Beliau

merupakan penerima sulong ijazah Ph.D. UTM.

Bidang kepakaran Profesor Zaki adalah Multilingual Informa-

tion Technology (MLIT) yang mencakupi tiga unsur utama iaitu

bahasa, budaya dan teknologi. Bidang-bidang utama yang dikaji

dalam MLIT adalah penterjemahan berkomputer, linguistik

pengkomputeran, pemprosesan bahasa tabii, kecerdasan buatan,

sains kognitif, pengurusan pengetahuan, leksikografi, peristilahan,

pemasaran dunia tanpa sempadan dan pengurusan antara budaya.

Profesor Zaki mula menceburi bidang MLIT melalui penyertaan dalam

Projek Komputer Jawi UTM pada tahun 1982. Projek ini berjaya

menghasilkan komputer Jawi pertama di dunia. Berbekal minat awal

ini, Profesor Zaki kemudian menjadi penyelidik pertama di Malaysia

di bawah program JSPS-VCC untuk melakukan penyelidikan di

Universiti Kyoto, Jepun pada tahun 1985 dalam bidang pemprosesan

bahasa. Sejak itu penglibatan beliau dalam bidang MLIT semakin

menyerlah, lebih-lebih lagi apabila membuat kajian untuk Ph.D beliau

dan terlibat dalam Projek Penterjemahan Berkomputer anjuran

Kerajaan Jepun bernama Projek KANTA (Kerjasama Antara Negara

dalam Terjemahan Automatik). Projek KANTA memakan masa hampir

Page 40: biodata pengarang

Biodata/ 39

10 tahun (1986 - 1995) dan melibatkan 10 bidang kajian besar,

bilangan penyelidik yang ramai dari Jepun, Malaysia, Thailand,

Republik Rakyat Cina dan Indonesia serta belanjawan melebihi RM

60 juta yang disumbang oleh Kerajaan Jepun dan Kerajaan Malay-

sia. Projek antarabangsa ini berjaya menghasilkan tiga prototaip

sistem penterjemahan berkomputer generasi ketiga pertama di dunia

yang mampu menterjemah ayat pelbagai bidang dalam bahasa

Jepun, Malaysia, Thai, Cina dan Indonesia. Projek ini juga

menyumbang kepada penambahan tenaga pakar dalam bidang ini

di samping penghasilan laporan teknikal, kertas kerja antarabangsa,

seminar, bengkel, persidangan, software patent dan linguistic ware

bagi perkamusan, peristilahan, analisis dan penjanaan bahasa.

Kejayaan fasa pertama projek ini telah mendorong Majlis UTM

menubuhkan Unit Penterjemahan Berkomputer dan melantik Dr. Zaki

sebagai pengarahnya pada bulan November 1989. Kejayaan besar

projek R&D ini dan kemampuan Unit Penterjemahan Berkomputer

UTM menjadi pusat rujukan antarabangsa dalam penterjemahan

berkomputer, telah menyebabkan Kerajaan Malaysia mengambil unit

dan projek yang diketuai Dr. Zaki untuk dijadikan asas kepada Institut

Terjemahan Negara Malaysia (ITNM). Institut Terjemahan Negara

Malaysia telah ditubuhkan secara rasmi oleh Kementerian Pendidikan

pada tahun 1993 dengan Prof. Zaki sebagai Pengarah Urusan

pertamanya. Beliau berkhidmat di ITNM selama tiga tahun dari 1

Julai 1993 sehingga 30 Jun 1996. Banyak pengalaman dan cabaran

yang telah dilalui dalam tempoh masa tersebut untuk mematangkan

Profesor Zaki dari pelbagai segi.

Profesor Zaki merupakan seorang pakar pelbagai bidang.

Selepas tiga tahun berkecimpung dalam dunia korporat dan

perniagaan, apabila kembali ke UTM beliau menyertai Business &

Advance Technology Center (BATC) sebagai perunding pembelajaran

dan pengurus kepada program Integrated Graduate Development

Scheme (IGDS). Profesor Zaki juga terus mendapat pengiktirafan

negara apabila dipilih oleh SIRIM untuk mewakili Malaysia dalam

forum MLIT pertama yang disertai oleh negara-negara Asia pada

tahun 1997. Beliau kemudian telah dilantik sebagai wakil rasmi Ma-

laysia dalam gerakan Global Information Infrastructure for Equal Lan-

guage Opportunity. Sebagai pakar MLIT Malaysia, beliau mewakili

negara dalam persidangan tahunan MLIT yang dianjurkan di merata-

rata tempat di Asia. Oleh kerana bidang MLIT sangat penting kepada

Malaysia dan pembangunan Koridor Raya Multimedia, apabila

Jawatankuasa Induk Standard Teknologi Maklumat Kebangsaan

Page 41: biodata pengarang

40 / Biodata

dirombak pada April 1998, sebuah jawatankuasa MLIT telah

ditubuhkan dengan Profesor Zaki sebagai pengerusinya. Selaras

dengan perkembangan teknologi semasa, apabila jawatankuasa

standard kebangsaan dirombak semula pada bulan Disember 1999

untuk menjadi Jawatankuasa Induk Standard bagi Information Com-

munication Technology & Multimedia (ICTM) maka Profesor Zaki telah

dilantik sebulat suara untuk menjadi Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Stan-

dard Teknologi Maklumat Kebangsaan. Pada bulan Mac 2003,

Profesor Zaki telah dilantik pula sebagai Pengerusi Jawatankuasa

Standard E-Dagang.

Apabila dipindahkan ke UTM Skudai pada tahun 1998, Dr.

Zaki telah diberi tanggungjawab untuk menggerakkan suatu pro-

gram baru iaitu Program Sarjana Keusahawanan Teknologi Maklumat

UTM-MARA. Program ini berjaya meningkatkan imej UTM yang kini

muncul sebagai pusat pembangunan teknousahawan di Malaysia.

Kejayaan program ini juga telah mendorong program-program

keusahawanan lain di dalam dan luar UTM dicadangkan dan Profesor

Zaki telah diminta menjadi pakar rujuk. Beliau telah dilantik sebagai

Advisory Council Member bagi Internationalizing Entrepreneurship

Eduaction and Training (IntEnt) yang berurusetia di Jerman selepas

UTM berjaya menghoskan persidangan antarabangsa IntEnt2002

yang pertama di Asia pada bulan Julai 2002. UTM telah dijanjikan

kerusi keusahawanan MARA oleh Y.B. Menteri Pembangunan

Usahawan ketika persidangan tersebut.

Profesor Zaki juga aktif dalam pelbagai persatuan profesional.

Antaranya, sebagai ahli dan bekas Timbalan Presiden kepada

Malaysian National Computer Confederation (MNCC) iaitu persatuan

iktisas untuk profesional bidang komputer, MINDS, ahli jawatankuasa

Persatuan Penulis Skrip Malaysia, ahli seumur hidup Persatuan

Linguistik Malaysia, ahli seumur hidup Persatuan Penulis Nasional

(PENA) dan ahli seumur hidup Persatuan Penterjemah Malaysia.

Beliau juga merupakan Ahli Panel Penilai bagi Lembaga Akreditasi

Negara (LAN) sejak 2001 dan Ahli Jawatankuasa Kelayakan Sains,

Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) sejak 2001.

Profesor Zaki merupakan seorang jurutera ICT yang

mempunyai minat mendalam pada bahasa, terjemahan dan

penulisan. Profesor Zaki juga terkenal sebagai penulis gigih pelbagai

genre. Nama pena Tok Pepijat dan Dr. Z cukup popular satu ketika

dahulu apabila ruangan komputernya muncul setiap minggu di

Utusan Malaysia. Profesor Zaki juga berjaya dalam penulisan kreatif

apabila muncul sebagai novelis siber pertama Malaysia. Novel beliau

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Biodata/ 41

bertajuk Dendam Siber terbitan Pustaka Cipta diiktiraf sebagai novel

siber pertama dalam bahasa Melayu oleh Malaysian Book of Records

pada 22 April 2001. Novel siber keduanya yang bertajuk Wira Per-

sona Avatari pula, telah memenangi Hadiah Sastera Utusan Melayu-

Public Bank 1999 untuk novel remaja pada September 2001. Puisi

siber beliau bertajuk Cyberfriendship pula telah berjaya memasuki

pertandingan akhir antarabangsa dan diiktiraf sebagai salah satu

daripada 33 puisi terbaik di dunia bagi tahun 2001 oleh The Interna-

tional Society of Poets.

Sebagai pakar berpengalaman dalam pelbagai bidang yang

mempunyai pendedahan industri, akademik dan perniagaan di

peringkat antarabangsa, Prof Zaki tertarik untuk mengkaji dan

menyelidiki bidang Pengurusan Pengetahuan lebih-lebih lagi

bagaimana ia boleh membantu kepimpinan sehingga tercetus idea

Kecerdasan Maya atau Virtual Intelligence pada 2 November 1997.

Idea ini telah dikaji dan dibincangkan dengan mendalam oleh pelajar-

pelajar Sarjana Teknologi Maklumat FSKSM yang mengambil mata

pelajaran Information & Knowledge Management dan diterapkan ke

dalam bentuk pelaksanaan oleh beberapa orang pelajar pasca ijazah

melalui tesis Sarjana mereka. Dengan penyertaan Malaysia dalam

ekonomi berasaskan pengetahuan, teknologi pengetahuan menjadi

semakin penting. Oleh itu, tentu amat menarik untuk melihat

bagaimana Kecerdasan Maya boleh digunakan dalam konteks ini

untuk menjayakan K-ekonomi.