Knowledge Sharing, Management

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Knowledge Sharing, Management Innovation for
IT Corporations

• Professor Jon Patrick
• Sybase Chair of Information Systems
• Basser Department of Computer Science
• University of Sydney

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Acknowledgment

• Dr Eric Tsui
• Computer Sciences Corporation

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Industry Partners with the Basser Dept of
Computer Science

• Accenture
• Bullant
• Compuware
• Cisco

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Four views of KM

• Document Management
• Expert Systems -KBS AI systems,
  Internet/Intranets, Intelligent Agents
• Organisational Learning Memory, Culture Change
  Processes
• Knowledge Manager - Information Science - Library
  Science

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Common questions for Document Management type KM

• We have dealt with this customer before. Where
  are the contracts and what were the special deals
  with did with them?
• How can we best leverage on past experience and
  be able to further increase customer
  satisfaction?
• How can we transfer existing knowledge better and
  faster to colleagues and new employees?

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Common questions for Expert Systems type KM

• How can an organisation consolidate its expertise
  and experience on product development?
• How can we ensure that we apply all the available
  knowledge when producing a product?

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Common questions for Organisational Learning type
KM

• What kind of knowledge do we actually have within
  the organisation?
• Which knowledge areas must we develop in the near
  future?
• How are we going to develop this new knowledge?
• How can we transfer existing knowledge better and
  faster to colleagues and new employees?

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Common questions for Knowledge Manager type KM

• What is the structure of out Corporate knowledge?
• What access paths do people want to get
  knowledge?
• Can we quickly locate person X who is an expert
  on product Y in industry Z?

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Relevant technologies for a KM system

• Data Warehouses
• Data Mining
• Full-text search engines
• Document Management systems
• Navigation tools
• Collaborative Work Group Tools
• Workflow systems
• E-mail

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Tools for managing knowledge repositories

• Lotus Notes
• Database management, discussion-groups
• Intranets
• Publishing information across multiple
  platforms, multimedia databases, hypertexts

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Relevant AI technologies for Organisational Memory

• Induction
• Case-based reasoning
• Intelligent Agents
• Deductive (Active) databases
• Natural Language front ends
• Knowledge map or ontology
• Intelligent Workflow
• Others

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Perceptions about the Nature of a KMS

• If we want people to share what they have
  learned, we would be wise to create the
  conditions in which sharing is a benefit. Nancy
  Dixon
• Choosing a system depends on
• receiver of knowledge
• task nature - routineness and frequency
• type of knowledge transferred

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Knowledge-transfer Models

• Serial Transfer
• Near Transfer
• Far Transfer
• Strategic Transfer
• Expert Transfer
• Metaphor - not a Warehouse but a Co-operative

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Ansett Case Study

• Photo on The Australian front page 16/4/01 Mr.
  Toomey met by operations chief Trevor Jensen, who
  has handled the crisis in his absence.
• How could KM technology have helped Ansett?
• How can KM technology help Ansett?

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The LIBRA Story (Fin Review, BOSS, April,2001)

• www.libragirls.com.au offers 1-to-1 activities
• aimed at 12-24 year old girls
• 2-day early reminder of period being imminent
• Dear Diary section to record secrets, homework
  and important dates details
• exchange information with friends

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Libra -What is their KM Strategy?

• Detailed customer demographics knowledge
• Deep psychological analysis of market
• High sensitivity to cultural variables
• Individualisation of client interactions

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What is needed to support this strategy

• What technology can support this strategy?
• What staff competencies are needed to support
  this strategy?
• What processes are needed to support this
  strategy?

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A Model of KM Strategies

• Artifact Individual
• Structured Doc Repository Expertise
  Profile
• Unstructured Intranets Discussion Forum
• (Hahn Subrimani, 2000, A Framework for KMS,
  Proc ISIS, pp302-312)

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A Framework of KM Objectives

• Maximise knowledge creation and acquisition
• Maximise knowledge sharing
• (Knowledge managements Social dimension lessons
  from Nucor Steel, A.K. Gupta V Govindarajan,
  Sloan Management Review, Fall, 2000.)

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Maximise Knowledge Creation and Acquisition

• set stretch goals
• provide high powered incentives
• cultivate empowerment and provide slack
  resources
• equip every unit with a well-defined sandbox to
  play in
• cultivate a market for ideas within the
  corporation

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Maximise Knowledge Sharing

• ban knowledge hoarding (discourage
  under-achievers)
• rely on group-based incentives
• invest in codifying tacit knowledge
• match transmission mechanisms to type of
  knowledge

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What is KM?

• The collective experience of all members of the
  organisation gained in carrying out its
  activities, including the organisational memory
  and concomitant learnings from dealing with its
  clients.

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Organisational memory in organisations

• Not commonly recognised as a key corporate asset
• Only being used to support operational decision
  making
• Not used to support tactical or strategic level
  decision making
• Not fully integrated with knowledge acquisition,
  maintenance and distributions

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What is KM?

• The care and development of understanding and
  detailed analysis of the content that is relevant
  to defining the culture and business practices of
  the organisation.

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A Knowledge Management Organisation consists of

• People
• Processes
• Information
• Technology
• A Culture of Knowledge

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Culture of Knowledge

• Content/Information
• Intense Analytical Scrutiny
• Deep appraisal of cultural characteristics
• True KM will not arrive until the C of K is
  adopted by organisations as their modus operandi

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Information Overload

• IO is leading to dumbing down
• Understanding is disappearing

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The Wrong Agenda - KM in Schools

• Research has NOT told us how children learn from
  computers
• Information Literacy is needed not Information
  Technology

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Information is not Knowledge

• The thrill of acquiring or distributing
  information quickly must not be confused with the
  more demanding task of converting it into
  knowledge and wisdom. Regardless of how advanced
  computers become they should (do) not substitute
  for basic human cognitive skills of awareness,
  perception, reasoning and judgement. (Alan
  Bundy, 2000, Information Literacy)

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Information Literacy not IT

• It is time we replace the term IT with IL
  (Information Literacy). IT is mainly about flow -
  movement of information through networks but
  adding information in a time of infoglut and data
  smog can actually interfere with learning and
  understanding . Information Literacy is mainly
  about developing understanding and insight.
  Literacy is about interpretation of information
  to guide decisions, solve problems and steer
  though uncertain complex futures (McKenzie,
  2000)

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What is our Proposal
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Innovation Action Groups

• High Level Synthesiser -scout
• Librarian - corporate repository
• Knowledge Engineer - customer focused
• Knowledge Operator - operational processes
• Culture of Knowledge

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WHAT ARE WE DOING at the University of Sydney

• Created an IS program driven around communication
  and analytical skills
• Created a Bachelor of Arts Informatics -4 year
  Arts and IS majors
• 55 women
• Defined IS from a cultural perspective
• Defined the IS Professional in new terms

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Future Knowledge Workers

• Critically Analyse
• Communicative
• User Friendly
• Lead innovation
• Construct and justify argument

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Critical success factors for knowledge management

• Provide leadership
• Establish cross-functional teams
• Ensure that a process is in place
• Nurture a sharing culture
• Demonstrate measurable benefits of knowledge
  management

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THE END