Knowledge Management

A Concept of A Concept of Implementation Implementation

Knowledge Knowledge Management (KM) in Management (KM) in

Organization Organization

ContentsContents

Introduction

Concept of Knowledge Management

Challenges in Knowledge Management

Strategy of Knowledge Management

IntroductionIntroduction

“Knowledge has become the key asset.., The ability to collect, integrate and apply specialized knowledge of an organization’s members is fundamental to a firm’s ability to create and sustain competitive advantage. …we need systematic work on the quality of knowledge and the productivity of knowledge … the performance capacity, if not the survival, of any organization in the knowledge society will come increasingly to depend on those two factors” [Drucker,1994

KM DefinitionKM Definition

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT” describe “a set of practices that help improve the use and sharing of data and information in decision-making.

KMKM is the explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge and its associated processes of creating, gathering, organizing, diffusion, use and exploitation. (Skyrme, 2003)

Cont..

“DOING WHAT IS NEEDED”

KM is a group of systems and practices for identifying, capturing, storing and disseminating information.

Not just one system All types of information

.

Why KM is Important?Why KM is Important?

Knowledge Management Systems help in creating, sharing and using the collective knowledge of its products, processes and people to increase workplace productivity and reduce activities that ‘reinvent the wheel’ (Fontaine 2002)

Cont..

KM can be seen as; a way to improve performance (Ostro, 1997;

Bassi, 1997), productivity and competitiveness (Maglitta,

1995), a way to improve effective acquisition, sharing

and usage of information within organisations (Maglitta, 1995),

a tool for improved decision making (People Management, 1998; Cole-Gomolski, 1997a, 1997b).

KM is important for organizations that continually face downsizing or a high turnover percentage due to the nature of the industry.

Role of KM in Today’s OrganizationRole of KM in Today’s Organization

Reason for Implementing KMReason for Implementing KM

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Globalization and CompetitionGlobalization and Competition

Restructuring and DownsizingRestructuring and Downsizing

Sharing of Best PracticesSharing of Best Practices

Successful InnovationSuccessful Innovation

Cont..

Understanding Knowledge Management requires an understanding of knowledge and differentiate between data vs information vs knowledge.

What is Knowledge ?What is Knowledge ?

Knowledge BasicKnowledge Basic

The Pyramid

data• information

– knowledge

Information that changes something or somebody becoming grounds for action by making an individual, or institution capable of different, more effective action. (Drucker, The New Realities)

KnowledgeKnowledge

Data

Information

Knowledge

Wisdom/Intelligence

Codifiable, explicitEasily transferable

Human, judgmental, insight

Contextual, tacitTransfer needs learning

DataData vs InformationInformation vs KnowledgeKnowledge

DATA:DATA:represents a fact or statement of

event without relation to other things.

Example: It is raining.

INFORMATION:INFORMATION:embodies the understanding of a

relationship of some sort, possibly cause and effect.

Example: The temperature dropped 15 degrees and then it started raining.

KNOWLEDGE:KNOWLEDGE:represents a pattern that connects

and generally providing a high level of predictability as what is described

or what will happen next.

Example: If the humidity is very high and the temperature drops substantially the atmosphere is often unlikely to be able to hold the moisture so it rains.

Cont..

The Transformation Of:•Data•Information•Recorded Knowledge

IntoDigital Form

Has Precipitated Organizational Change

Characteristic of KnowledgeCharacteristic of Knowledge

Knowledge cannot easily be stored

Knowledge should be studied in context

knowledge is ineffectual if it is not used

Information has little value and not become knowledge until it is processed.

Tacit – Data and information in people’s heads

Type of KnowledgeType of Knowledge

Tacit Knowledge;

•Personal•Context-Specific•Difficult to formalize•Difficult to communicate•More difficult to transfer

Cont..

Explicit – Discrete data and information

Explicit Knowledge;

•Packaged

•Easily codified

•Communicable

•Transferable

Type of KnowledgeType of Knowledge

Domain of KMDomain of KM

Peop

le Technology

Process

80% - Organizational processes and human factors20% - Technology

Cont..Cont..

Technology

Process

People

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The Key Realms of Knowledge Management1

ProcessesTechnologies

Knowledge Management

People

The Knowledge Management ApproachHas 3 “core organizational resources”

PeoplePeoplePeople manage the system and processes.Need is to convince people about the benefits of strategic knowledge management.

ProcessesProcessesCareful management of the alignment of strategies, principles, processes and practices needs to be done.

TechnologiesTechnologies

Contributor to the health and effectiveness of the organization.

Knowledge Management ContinuumKnowledge Management Continuum

“The Knowledge Management Continuum” is comprised of

Data

» Information

Knowledge

Cont..

Information

Knowledge

Data

Data is the first key step in making important decisions that shape administrative services or academic programs

• Information is data that is processed.

• Information deals with the way that data is related.

• Knowledge is information that is modeled to be useful

• Knowledge examines the patterns within a set of information.

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3

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1 Collecting InformationCollecting Information

Making Information AvailableMaking Information Available

Use of InformationUse of Information

Storing InformationStoring Information

Stages Of Knowledge ManagementStages Of Knowledge Management

Knowledge Creation ProcessKnowledge Creation Process

Knowledge Transfer ProcessKnowledge Transfer Process

Knowledge Embedding Process

KM life CycleKM life Cycle

Challenges in KMChallenges in KM

1. Developing a working definition of

knowledge

Not developing a working definition of knowledge is a critical error contributing directly to many errors and failures in the knowledge-management process (Fahey and Prusak, 1998).Management should encourage social interaction and dialogue in the organization.


2. Dealing with Tacit Knowledge and Utilization of ITVery difficult to articulate tacit knowledge- highly situated in the context and to abstract it from its context of application would mean to lose much of its intrinsic meaning and value (Kakabadse et al., 2001).Managerial incentives might helpful for effectively sharing and dealing with tacit knowledge especially in case of critical knowledge projects.


3. Adaptation to Cultural Complexity

Inappropriate culture is generally regarded as the key inhibitor of effective knowledge sharing (McDermott and O’Dell, 2001).

Developing an organizational culture geared towards knowledge management and innovation should be one of the main concerns of top management.


3. Attention to Human Resources

Success of any KM initiative is critically dependent on having competent and suitably motivated people taking an active role in the process (Robertson and O’Malley Hammersley, 2000; Hislop, 2003). Effective human resources management policies must be implemented.


4. Developing New Organizational Structures

Developing a new organizational structure must be balanced with the crucial need for business continuity.New structures may be developed to be valid for some parts of the organization or to be limited with a specific time constraint the knowledge management initiative imposes.


5. Coping with Increased Competition

Intense worldwide competition forces the firms to take new actions responding to environmental demands, pressures, and challenges almost day to day.

Specific knowledge management programs should be designed as flexible as possible.

Strategies in KMStrategies in KM

1. The importance of KM The importance of KM

What benefits does the organization expect to gain from their work with KM?

How will it affect the employees' work?


2. The Importance Of Support From Top Management

Top management encourage processes KM, includes helping to set up, fund knowledge networks, as well as defining and developing the skills of learning from other people (Mayo, 1998).


3. The Importance of Communication

A large proportion of the organizations failed to implement the strategies because of a lack of communication.


4. The Importance of Creativity

The implications of business creativity will depend upon the type of fusion created between KM and the basic skills of creativity management (Kao, 1997).


5. The Importance of Culture and People

It is the difficult task of overcoming cultural barriers, especially the sentiment that holding information is more valuable than sharing it (Warren, 1999; Anthes, 1998).


6. The Importance of Sharing Knowledge

“When people leave, the HR department asks for their company car keys and so on. Why not conduct a recruitment interview in reverse to retrieve information?”(Mayo,1998)


7. The Importance of Incentives

To improve this process it is crucial to reward employees that contribute their expertise and to make sure employees understand the benefits of KM (Cole- Gomolski, 1997b).


7. The Importance of Time

The greatest enemies of knowledge sharing are the time that is required to input and access information and the lack of motivation among potential users (Mayo, 1998).


8. The Importance of Evaluation

The evaluation system can made to use KM.

``Best practice'' is shared within the firm, or to the use of far more sophisticated tools to measure the outcomes.

ConclusionConclusion

Knowledge management is more than creating a knowledge archive and invoking retrieving mechanisms.

However, it may not be easy to design and implement a knowledge management policy that serves an organization’s needs in full.

Sometimes knowledge is clearly defined in the original source, but too often it is not.

Thus a need for clarification of what we are talking about whenever the word ``knowledge'' is Used.

Knowledge Management

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