Lecture 4 The Human Factor

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Lecture 4 The Human Factor
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Learning Outcomes

• Uncover factors supporting introduction of KM in
  organisations
• Realise barriers to KM implementation
• Investigate the role of the KM Leader

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KM - An approach for organisational change

• World of radical, discontinuous change with
  global implications
• Revolutionary (unplanned) change programmes
• Continuous improvement - cannot precisely define
  direction or end-point to change initiatives
• Re-engineering, restructuring and innovation
  required
• Knowledge Management will change the business
  landscape beyond recognition
• Handy, 1989

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KM - Changing the organisation culture

• Boot et al., (1994), Peters (1992), and Brooking
  (1997) identify two types of emerging
  organisations
• Those whose sole assets are their intellectual
  property, namely, employees e.g. McKinseys
  Consultancy
• The knowledge-based organisation which recognises
  the value of knowledge e.g. ABB

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Two ways of approaching KM

• As an ASSET
• Knowledge can be extracted from wherever it
  resides and put onto a system as a discrete asset
  to be managed
• As a way of DOING things
• Using knowledge as a means of judgement - this
  approach has the most value and derives the
  fastest benefits, however this approach is more
  difficult to achieve

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Consider

• Structure
• Strategy
• Culture
• Future

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Knowledge-based Organisational Structure

• Scientific and Social knowledge recognised
• Consider themselves as brokers of knowledge
• Emphasise decentralisation and virtualisation
• Exhibit network structure
• Flexible boundaries

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Organisation Strategy

• Managers need to reject the temptation to look
  for one dimensional external answers and need to
  look within the organisation where the answers
  lie in learning and insight, skills and
  perspectives
• Noer, 1997
• Considers organisational and operational
  compatibility, symbolised by shared philosophies,
  strategies, end-goals across the whole
  organisation
• Everyone aware of organisation mission and the
  contribution their role makes
• Everyone singing from same song sheet

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Organisation Culture

• Changing a culture is not a matter of teaching
  people a bunch of new techniques, or replacing
  their behaviour patterns with new ones. It is a
  matter of exchanging values and providing role
  models. This is done by changing attitudes
• Crosby, 1986
• Recruitment, education and training, leadership,
  reward and recognition, etc.

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Culture in the Knowledge-based Organisation

• hire smart people and let them talk to each
  other
• Davenport Prusak, 1998
• Dedicate resources to knowledge programme
• Encourage knowledge sharing and social
  interaction
• Build a culture of trust, confidence, mutual
  respect and support
• Encourage risk-taking, a no-blame culture

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Knowledge SharingDedicated knowledge worker
roles

• Chief Knowledge Officers (CKO)
• Chief Information Officers (CIO)
• Chief Learning Officers (CLO)
• Community of Practice Co-ordinators
• Knowledge Authors and Brokers
• Information Publishers
• Web Masters
• Project Managers, etc.

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Knowledge Sharing Dialogue

• create a trusting and meaningful relationship
  between those in dialogue to ensure the maximum
  possible knowledge is transferred
• Phillips, 1994
• apply the principles of dialogue to facilitate
  processes directed at the creation, questioning
  and development of knowledge in organisations
• Burgoyne Jackson, 1997

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Learning Networks

• Learning Networks Porter, 1990 are groups of
  people within the organisation who are brought
  together for a period of time, either physically
  or electronically, to construct, embody and
  disseminate knowledge on a specific issue.
  Learning Network combine specialists (who develop
  and maintain the group) from various disciplines
  to disseminate knowledge widely through the
  organisation. Highly valued by the organisation.

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Communities of Practice

• the Community of Practice CoP is united by
  shared knowledge and shared ways of knowing which
  are created by people being involved with each
  other in action
• Drath Palus, 1994
• Emphasis is on learning interaction and transfer
  of knowledge within the community, rather than
  wider organisation. Usually involve people with
  same professional interest, concerned with
  disseminating knowledge to CoP only

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Supporting Knowledge Communities

• Self-organising
• Leader and co-ordinator
• Building relationships
• Investing in structural capital
• Facilitating global connectivity

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Collaborative Practices

• If HP knew what HP knows, we would be three
  times as profitable
• Platt, CEO Hewlett-Packard
• CONK - Cost of Not Knowing
• Reduction of Knowledge Silos Offsey, 1997
• Create Corporate Memory Quintas et al., 1997
• Eliminate Re-invention of the Wheel
• Record lessons learned not glory stories
• Facilitate ceaseless innovation Demerest,
  1997

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Managing Professional Intellect

• The capacity to manage human intellect and to
  convert it into useful products and services is
  fast becoming the critical executive skill of the
  age.
• A flurry of interest in intellectual capital,
  creativity, innovation, the learning organisation
  and knowledge management
• Little attention has been given to managing
  professional intellect - surprising as
  professional intellect create most of the value
  in the new economy.

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What is IC?

• Intellectual Capital (IC) is an asset such as
  knowledge, collective expertise, good will, brand
  value, or a patent that cannot be measured by
  traditional accounting methods but can be used by
  a company to its advantage. Skilled people,
  their competencies, market positions, good will,
  recognition, achievements, patents, contacts,
  support, collaborators, market innovation
  leadership, a repeat customer base, and
  reputation represent various facets of IC.

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Four levels of Prof Intellect

• Cognitive knowledge (know-what) is the basic
  mastery of a discipline that professionals
  achieve through extensive training and
  certification.
• Advanced skills (know-how) translate book
  learning into effective execution. The ability
  to apply the rules of a discipline to complex
  real-world problems is the most widespread
  value-creating professional skill level.

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• Systems understanding (know-why) is deep
  knowledge of the web of cause-and-effect
  relationships underlying a discipline. It
  permits professionals to move beyond the
  execution of tasks to solve larger and more
  complex problems.
• Self-motivated creativity (care-why) consists of
  will, motivation and adaptability for success.
  Highly motivated and creative groups often
  outperform groups with greater physical or
  financial resources. Without self-motivated
  creativity, intellectual leaders can lose their
  knowledge advantage through complacency.

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• Intellect clearly resides in the brains of
  professionals.
• Levels 1-3 can also exist in organisations
  systems, databases or operating technologies
• Level 4 often found in culture.
• The value of intellect increases as one moves up
  the intellectual scale from cognitive knowledge
  to self-motivated creativity.

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Organisational Risks

• Companies focus virtually all training attention
  on developing basic rather than advanced skills
  and little or none on systems or creative skills.
• Members of every profession tend to look to their
  peers to determine codes of behaviour and
  acceptable standards of performance.
• Professionals tend to surround themselves with
  people who have similar backgrounds and values,
  this leads to risk of cocoons which quickly
  become inward-looking bureaucracies that are
  resistant to change and detached from customers.

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Developing Professional Intellect

• Recruit the best
• Force intense early development
• Constantly increase professional challenges
• Evaluate and Weed

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Leveraging Professional Intellect

• Boost professionals problem solving abilities by
  capturing knowledge in systems and software
• Overcome professionals reluctance to share
  information
• Organise around intellect

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Knowledge Leadership

• Leader as a sponsor of social collaboration
• A person who .
• Supports
• Promotes
• Encourages

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Characteristics of Knowledge Leadership

• Linking the knowledge idea to our personal
  experience
• Connecting to a tradition of leadership theories
• The challenge of creative collaboration

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New Challenges for Business Leaders

• Take on the Intangibles
• Put people first, technology second
• Audit your knowledge base
• Reward knowledge-sharing
• Build on success

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An Internal Strategy

• Intentional Strategy Create a Knowledge Vision
• Develop a Knowledge Crew
• High Density interaction field
• Piggyback new product development
• Adopt middle-up-down management
• Switch to a hypertext organisation
• Construct external knowledge network
• Nonaka Takeuchi, 1995

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Create a Knowledge Vision

• Provides meaning and direction as to what kind of
  knowledge should be sought or created
• Deliberately equivocal and open-ended to offer
  space for creative thinking
• Thinking beyond artefacts, products and
  boundaries connective concepts
• Top level person looking through Knowledge eyes

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Knowledge CrewSetting up product teams

• Highly subjective insights, intuitions and
  hunches are at the root of knowledge creation and
  innovation
• Diversity and variety of people
• Diverse career ladders for diverse people
• Allow meaningful failures

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High Density InteractionFront line employees

• Regular open space sessions for thinking aloud
• A place for dialogue and the fostering of
  collective intelligence
• Ethos of free and non-stylised conversation
• Channel for tacit knowledge drawn from market
  interactions

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Piggyback New Product Development

• Recognise new knowledge a spin-off product
  development
• Recognise chaotic nature of new product
• Trust self-organising process allow order to
  arise dynamically foster start-up company
  ethos
• Tolerate non-expert contributions, challenges and
  mistakes

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Adopt Middle-Up-Down Management

• Value middle managers not organisational fat
  but possessors of immense observational
  experience of the coalface and the boardroom
• Knowledge of those who absorb the hype and work
  with the rough material of reality
• Threads of the network, flow cross-over points

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Switch to a Hypertext Organisationvaluing the
old and the new

• Hierarchy gathering, storage and exploitation
  of explicit knowledge (needs command structure)
• Task force creation of new knowledge working
  on tacit ground (needs chaotic structure)
• Knowledge base ground for tacit and explicit
  knowledge (culture, vision, technology),
  cognitive organising
• Think windows

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Network with Outside World

• Face-to-face interaction with customers assume
  their needs are tacit dont rely on
  questionnaires
• Take prototypes to potential customers get
  off-the-cuff responses (software engineering)
• Try to identify opinion-formers in customer groups

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An Agenda for Knowledge LeadersPulling it all
together (1)

• Personal commitment to learning and knowledge
  creation
• Value learning from experience self-reflective
  learning to foster perspective
• Challenge linear, rational critical path
  engineering mindset
• Explore poetry, music, storytelling and other
  arts encourage metaphorical thinking

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An Agenda for Knowledge LeadersPulling it all
together (2)

• Set up an architecture for learning
• Value hierarchy and middle managers
• Learn new collaborative skills (facilitation,
  action learning)
• Actively encourage diversity in teams
• Sponsor and tolerate some chaos
• Treat mistakes sincerely as a learning investment

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Cultural Blockers

• Not Invented Here (N.I.H.)
• Time is money
• Knowledge is Power
• Technophobia
• Valuing Intangibles
• Information Overload

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New World Office Environment

• No barriers
• Meeting Space
• Quiet Rooms
• Coffee Lounges
• Rendezvous facilities
• Flexibility

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Future .

• Where people learn from the application of
  information and share the results
• Where processes are in place to support sharing,
  effective resourcing and people capability
  development
• Providing the most effective collaborative
  environment
• With appropriate management systems, values and
  behaviours