knowledge management david rashty. “ we make doors and windows for a room. but it is the spaces...
TRANSCRIPT
Knowledge Management
David Rashty
“We make doors and windows for a room. But it is the spaces that make the room livable. While the tangible has advantages it is the intangible that makes it useful.”
Lao Tzu 600 BC
Contents
• Introduction & definitions
• Building a learning organization
• Technologies
• Example
• CKO
• Conclusions
Questions…
• Is that true that knowledge is an asset of production more valuable than land, labor, or capital?
• Does it make sense to try to manage that asset or is it an area too fuzzy to take in hand?
• How does an organization go about improving its management of knowledge?
Introduction & definitions
…and answers.
• An Ernst & Young research shows that:– Executives describe their
businesses as “knowledge-intensive”.– Knowledge is key to competitive advantage.– Executives believe the greatest pay-off from knowledge
management will be in innovation.– An organization’s knowledge advantage depends most
on people.– The biggest obstacles to knowledge management are
cultural and behavioral.
Introduction & definitions
Knowledge
Culture, custom, values and skills as well as relationships with customers.
Intangible knowledge and capabilities.
The way organizations communicate, analyze situations and come up with novel solutions to problems.
Structured data, software and procedures.
Introduction & definitions
Management
• Management includes all the ways in which a particular asset or process is handled.
• Management includes the work of specialists and often work carried out by people throughout the organization.
• Together they manage the resources based on particular processes, structures and supporting technology.
Introduction & definitions
Knowledge Management
• Conceptualizing an organization as an integrated knowledge system.
• Management of the organization for effective use of that knowledge.
• Emphasis on the conceptual integration of the different types of knowledge.
Introduction & definitions
Important concepts
• Tacit knowledgeThe knowledge, skills, and competencies of people in an organization.
• Explicit knowledgeThe processes, structures, information systems, and patents that remain with a company when employees leave. Structural knowledge.
• Knowledge BaseAn organized structure which facilitates the storage and retrieval of information.
• Core-competenceA company’s distinctive technological expertise and skill, its main differentiation factor, responsible for the company’s competitive advantage.
Introduction & definitions
Building a learning organization
Learning organization
Knowledge creation
Knowledge legitimization
Knowledge sharing
Building a learning organization
Knowledge creation
• The process by which an individual gains some new insight.
• Planned knowledge creation requires group collaboration rather than individual actions.
Building a learning organization
Knowledge creation
• For both the individual and the organization there is the requirement of previous related and unrelated knowledge.
• An insight may come from– learning facts, – the rediscovery of some old
concept or idea, – the creation of a new method
or design.
Building a learning organization
The creative organization
• Focus on what you want to accomplish, not what you want to avoid.
• Train people in creative confrontation or healthy disagreement. Divergent thinking stimulates creative potential.
• Don't ignore deadlines, but give yourself certain time frames where the object is only to "play" with certain ideas that aren't related to problem solving situations at hand.
Building a learning organization
The creative organization
• Let people know that "mistakes" are necessary and part of the creative process.
• While maintaining high standards for performance, do not limit ways in which people can succeed.
• Don't overlook the significance of small improvements.
• Involve employees in strategic planning for the business's future.
Building a learning organization
Knowledge legitimization
• The huge amount of information in the Internet fosters a healthy concern with the origin and legitimacy of information.
• It is not enough for management to announce a strategy. It has to make sure that the organization believes in it’s potential to advance the strategy.
• Strategies improperly supported are rarely followed.
Building a learning organization
Knowledge sharing
• Sharing knowledge is distributing it through the organization.
• Methods:– Internal publications
– Workshops and Seminars
– Email divulgations
– Small talk during lunch
– “Extra-curricular” activities
Building a learning organization
Why People Share Knowledge
• Enablers– High trust– Sharing is rewarded– Team-based work– Process focus– Aligned mission, vision and
values– Open to outside ideas– Time to share– Collaborative work– Local decision-making
• Impediments– Fear and suspicion
– Focus on organization
– Individual effort
– Functional focus
– Too busy to share
– Internal competition
– Compartmentalization
– Central, top-down decision-making
Building a learning organization
Technologies
• Intranet-based – Conferencing system– Team spaces– Communities
• Electronic mail
• Full text search tools for critical information classification and retrieval
Technologies
Relevant software
• Organik - Orbital software:– Creation of online expert
communities. Organik brings people and information together and creates a perfect environment for finding answers, finding peopleand sharing knowledge.
Technologies
Relevant software
• KnowledgeMap - Correlate:– Put content into
context, and easily share it with others using a coherent, intuitive and easy to use visual framework.
Technologies
HP case study
• Open culture that facilitates knowledge transfer;• Employees technically oriented who enjoy learning
and sharing their knowledge;• “Employees migration” between business units
fosters informal knowledge transfer;• But:
– The decentralized organizational structure and mode of operation works against knowledge exchange;
– Although culturally open to sharing, few business units are willing to invest time or money in efforts that do not have an obvious and immediate payback for the unit.
Example
HP case study
• The company promoted a series of workshops on KM.
• Key objectives for the workshops: – Facilitation of knowledge sharing
through informal networking;– Establishment of common language and
management frameworks for KM.
Example
HP case study
• The workshops resulted in:– A discussion database on training topics that
has also become a library of training materials and a means of evaluating training resources;
– A guide is being created to human knowledge resources. The primary content of the database is a set of guides to the expertise of individuals who are knowledgeable on particular topics.
Example
CKO
• A Chief Knowledge Officer might play a valuable role in leading knowledge management efforts.
• Potential duties:– Increasing the visibility of knowledge needs.
– Setting priorities among them.
– Planning the infrastructure to facilitate knowledge transfer.
CKO
Conclusions
• Knowledge management is a new paradigm for dealing with the huge amount of information available today.
• Creation and sharing of knowledge are the fronts in which organizations will position themselves in an increasingly competitive market.
Conclusions
“When minds are one, what is far comes near”
African proverb
Conclusions
References
• www.kmworld.com
• www.kmresource.com
• www.sveiby.com.au
• www.brint.com
• www.knowledgecenters.org
Conclusions