KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

(KM)

DEFINED AS…. An attempt by an organization to

explicitly manage and control the knowledge of its workforce for reuse of knowledge and thereby creating value.

TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE

Explicit: Objective, technical, formal, structured and easy to codify (to document or systematically record).Examples: Knowledge gathered from formal education, training or research.

Tacit: Subjective (personal) and experiential knowledge gathered over time and difficult to codify. Examples: Understanding, interpretations, insights, trade secrets, know-how, wisdom etc

STRATEGIES OF KM Codification: Based around the use of IT systems

where people codify their own knowledge and use the knowledge repository to search for any knowledge they do not possess. It is mainly aimed at extracting explicit knowledge of the workforce.

Personalization: Based on sharing of tacit knowledge through meetings, communications in teams, and in informal social events.

Hybrid: Capturing and sharing both explicit and tacit knowledge

Example: Tata Steel: Project Knowledge Manthan addressed the explicit knowledge sharing and project MASS aimed at tacit knowledge from grass root to top management through brainstorming.

USE OF KM People don’t have to spend as much time looking for

answers. Everyone knows in the organization as to who knows

what; help is handy during crisis. Expertise of the workforce can be better utilized

without looking for outside consultancy Share best practices within the organization Better decision making with low costs Each worker creates prospects for career growth once

his knowledge base is made public. A world wide exposure of his talents is made through IT based knowledge repository.

A worker can secure right to his intellectual property if his skills and approaches are original and novel. IPR is possible only when he goes public with his innovations.

BARRIERS TO KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Psychological: People generally are unwilling to share

knowledge as it is assumed that knowledge is Power and sharing it may mean “giving away” one’s value and indispensability in the oganisation.

BARRIERS TO KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENTOrganisational: Inter departmental rivalry Loss of autonomy felt by supervisors due to greater levels of

standardization of work procedures Lack of interpersonal trust (between employer and employees

and between employees) Workers fear that their labour will be wasted/ stolen if organization does not protect his right over that knowledge.

Nature of employment relationship: permanent workers are less resistant to share knowledge.

Lack of leadership examples( people in leadership positions do not actively share knowledge even if they champion the idea of KM)

Lack of facilitating environment: Mechanism to share knowledge may not be user-friendly;

If supervisors do not encourage knowledge sharing; lack of reward and recognition for steps taken to share and access knowledge.

HRM POLICY AREAS OR STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Training and Development Performance Appraisal Pay and Reward

 

SOME CONTRADICTIONS OF KM

Resource: Unlimited and available, but difficult to extract

More you spend, more it grows, yet difficult to convince people

Knowledge is power, still we expect people to share it with others.

Improves productivity, but still we find difficult to spare sometime

Benefits of KM are difficult to quantify, but return on investment is warranted.

Meant to be shared at the same time has to be protected (IPR)

 

KM IS ESSENTIAL FOR ALL ORGNS. Not only Education and research sector,

corporate houses today realize that KM actually increases revenue in the long run through sharing of best practices and reuse of knowledge and experience by the workforce.

Companies see KM as a means of securing competitive advantage and thus, KM is regarded as an important HRM practice.