All Aboard! Take a knowledge journey

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All Aboard!Take a knowledge journey
Dr. Nick Bontis, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of
Strategic Management, McMaster University Director
, Institute for Intellectual Capital
Research Associate Editor, Journal of
Intellectual Capital Chief Knowledge Officer,
Knexa.com Hamilton, Ontario, Canada nick_at_bontis.c
om www.Bontis.com
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Presentation Agenda

• Phase I Introduction
• understanding the knowledge era
• recognizing different perspectives
• Phase II Organizational knowledge framework
• levels of analysis, types of knowledge
• stocks flows
• Phase III Future direction
• best and worse practices
• where can we go? what can we do tomorrow?

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Entering a New Era?

• Agricultural Era
• Land as a scarce resource
• Industrial Era
• Natural resources as scarce resources
• Knowledge Era
• Knowledge as an abundant resource
• Cumulative codification knowledge base
• Industry displacement

4
Internet Research

• Internet users 30 to 300 million in 2001
• Internet traffic doubling every 70 days
• Canadian usage 50 by year 2001
• E-commerce 1.3 trillion by 2002
• PCs surpass TVs in of units sold in 1997
• 50 current storefronts closed in next 6 years

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KM Research Highlights

• Ipsos-Reid 91 see KM impact on org.
  effectiveness
• FORTUNE 500
• 80 have KM initiatives in place
• 25 have CKOs, 53 have KM staff
• 6 have KM initiatives company-wide
• 60 will have within 5 years
• KM owned 32 Sr. Mng, 25 HR, 16 IT
• Government at all levels
• Institute for Intellectual Capital Research Inc.
• CKOs from 40 HR, 40 IT, plus other
• IICR, Accenture, Saratoga Institute Study
• Turnover, satisfaction, leadership drivers

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The Perspectives

• Human Resources absorptive capacity
• Economics the multiplicative effect
• Accounting disclosure of intangibles
• Training and Development ROI collateral
• Technology evasiveness of codification
• Finance Tobins q
• Organizational Behaviour telecommuting
• Strategy business process and economic value

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Importance of Phenomenon

• Fitz-enz (2000), Choo and Bontis(2001)
• Max Boisot (1998), Choo (1998)
• Knowledge Assets, Knowing in Organizations
• Sveiby (1997), Stewart (1997), Roos et al. (1997)
• Organizational Wealth and Intellectual Capital
• Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995)
• Druker (1993), Toffler (1990), Handy (1989)

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Tracing KMs History

• Egyptians, Greeks, Monks, Knights
• Taylor (1911)
• Evidence of codification of knowledge
• Simon (1945)
• Cognitive capacity bounded rationality
• Schumpeter (1952)
• Innovation from new combinations of knowledge
• Penrose (1959)
• Organization is a knowledge repository

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Distinguishing the Terms

• Intellectual Capital
• Stock of knowledge at one point in time
• Knowledge Management
• Flow of knowledge from stock to stock
• Organizational Learning
• Stock and flow system
• Action to convert knowledge into behavioural
  changes

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Danger of KM

• Devils advocate says we are too busy
• Attention is still the scarce resource
• Balance between achievement oriented and
  paternalistic organizations
• Institutionalize organizational slack
• Must send message from above that knowledge
  codification is important and necessary

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Level of Analysis Individual

• Recruitment
• Building competencies
• Assessing weaknesses
• Retention
• Compensation
• Satisfaction
• Level of individual knowledge organizations
  actually leverage is too low

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Level of Analysis Group

• Sports analogies
• Concerted team action
• Collectively aligned mind sets
• Individual feedback loops
• Shared perception of the business environment

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Level of Analysis Organization

• Strategy, Continuous Improvement, Systems,
  Technology, Leadership, Structure
• Culture collective values
• Trust knowledge sharing versus hoarding
• Spiritual Soul of an organization
• WE versus I

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IC Conceptualization

• 2nd order construct, multi-dimensional
• 3 sub-domains
• human capital, structural capital, relational
  capital
• Drivers
• Trust, culture, leadership

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Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995)

• Tacit to Tacit Socialization
• Tacit to Explicit Externalization
• Explicit to Explicit Combination
• Explicit to Tacit - Internalization

Explicit
Tacit
Tacit
Socialization
Externalization
FROM
Explicit
Combination
Internalization
TO
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Metaphors and Analogies

• Stocks and flows
• Production system
• Manufacturing process
• Capacity utilization, Throughput time,
  Bottlenecks
• Bathtub analogy
• Tap and leak (knowledge flow)
• Water level (knowledge stock)
• Water system (organizational learning)

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Measure, Test and Evaluate

• Multi-method approach (qualitative and
  quantitative)Knowledge Audit survey design
  (Likert-type)
• Objective proxies (www.Saratoga-Institute.com)
• E-mail direction (IICR eFlow Audit)
• Knowledge sweeping (Tacit.com)
• Other tools to check out
• SmartShadow.com, BrassRingSystems.com,
  Chrontech.comDomainKnowledge.com, Appareo.com,
  OpenText.comTalent websites
• Tango Simulation www.Celemi.se, www.tangonow.net

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HC Conceptual Model
0.506
ManagerialLeadership
Retention of Key People
0.442
R2 68.2
0.530
0.326
0.360
Education
Human Capital
Relational Capital
Human Capita Effectiveness
0.307
R2 28.5
0.358
- 0.337
Structural Capital
0.475
BusinessPerformance
0.751
Knowledge Generation
0.491
0.734
Employee Satisfaction
Employee Commitment
0.327
0.543
R2 44.1
0.439
0.456
0.429
Knowledge Integration
Process Execution
- 0.372
Employee Motivation
0.394
0.262
0.430
ValueAlignment
Human CapitaDepletion
Knowledge Sharing
0.285
- 0.233
R2 28.5
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What can you do tomorrow?

• Conduct a knowledge audit
• Tie KM into HR and performance evaluation
• Recruit and hire a leader responsible for
  intellectual capital knowledge management
• Classify your intellectual portfolio with a
  knowledge map (e.g., corporate yellow pages)
• Reduce dont know what I dont know

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What else can you do tomorrow?

• Use information technology tools for
  externalization, transfer and generation
• Increase the ROI on training and development
  expenditures (spy and new reimbursement process)
• Publish intellectual capital addendum
• Education McMaster, U of T, Queens, Royal Roads
• World Congress http//worldcongress.mcmaster.ca
• IICR Research and Tools www.Bontis.com/ic
• Journal of IC http//www.mcb.co.uk/jic.htm
• Develop internal markets for knowledge exchange

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Knexa.com Enterprises

• Worlds first knowledge exchange and auction
  (Stock symbol KNX on CDNX)
• An eBay for knowledge assetsa NASDAQ for
  intellectual capital
• IntraKnexa
• An internal knowledge exchange for corporate
  intranets that provides incentive and rewards for
  employees to share knowledge using a customized
  currency
• International partners Europe and Australia
• Knowledge Agents and Vortals

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Thank you!
Dr. Nick Bontis, Ph.D. DeGroote Business
School, McMaster University 1280 Main Street
West, MGD 207 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S
4M4 Tel [phone] x23918 Fax
[phone] Director, Institute for
Intellectual Capital Research Inc. CKO (Chief
Knowledge Officer), www.Knexa.com Associate
Editor, Journal of Intellectual
Capital nick_at_bontis.com www.Bontis.com