MANAGING KNOWLEDGE WORKERS

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MANAGING KNOWLEDGE WORKERS

• Lecture Twelve
• (Chapter 12, Notes
• Chapter 15, Textbook)

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KMS Topics Covered

• Knowledge Management Systems Life Cycle
• Knowledge Creation and Knowledge Architecture
• Capturing Tacit Knowledge
• Knowledge Codification
• System Testing and Development
• Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Sharing
• Knowledge Transfer in the E-World
• Learning from Data

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Managing Knowledge Workers

• Definition of Knowledge Worker
• Core Competencies
• Traditional vs. Smart Managers
• Major Challenges and Responsibilities
• Factors Affecting Knowledge Workers Productivity
• Work Adjustment Model
• Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO)
• Responsibilities and Role
• Key CKOs Attributes and Success Factors
• Incentives and Motivation

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What Is a Knowledge Worker?

• Transforms corporate and personal experiences
  into knowledge through capturing, assessing,
  applying, sharing, and disseminating it within
  the organization to solve specific problems or to
  create value

Transformation process
IT Tools
Values
KNOWLEDGE WORKER
Organizational Culture
Personal and corporate experience
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Core Competencies

• Thinking skills having a vision how the product
  or the company can be better
• Continuous learning unlearning and relearning
  in tune with fast-changing conditions
• Innovative teams and teamwork via
  collaboration, cooperation, and coordination
• Creativity dreaming new ways to advance the
  firm

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Core Competencies (contd)

• Risk taking and potential success making joint
  decisions with calculated risk
• Decision action taking be willing to embrace
  professional discipline, patience, and
  determination
• Culture of responsibility toward knowledge
  loyalty and commitment to ones manager or leader

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Traditional vs. Smart Managers
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Major Challenges

• Get the organization moving towards achieving
  goals in line with rate of change
• Promote active learning to improve knowledge
  workers capacity to create, produce, and respond
  to change
• Provide opportunities for knowledge workers to
  brainstorm ideas, exchange knowledge, and devise
  new ways of doing business

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Responsibilities of Smart Managers

• Managing knowledge workers
• Searching out, creating, sharing, and using
  knowledge regularly
• Maintaining work motivation among knowledge
  workers

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Responsibilities of Smart Managers (contd)

• Hiring or recruiting bright, knowledge-seeking
  individuals
• Managing collaboration, coordination, and
  concurrent activities among knowledge workers

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Factors Affecting Knowledge Workers Productivity

• Time constraint
• Knowledge workers performing tasks that the firm
  did not hire them to do
• Work schedule mismatch
• De-motivation against knowledge workers
  productivity

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Work Adjustment Model
Correspondence (match)
Satisfactoriness (satisfied employer)
Abilities
Job requirements
Promote
Transfer
Job
Individual
Fire
Retain
Vocational needs
Reinforcers
Job Satisfaction (satisfied employee)
TENURE
option
Correspondence (match)
Remain
Quit
NEW JOB
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Responsibilities of the CKO

• Maximize returns on investment in knowledge
  people, processes, and technology
• Share best practices and reinforce benefits of
  knowledge sharing among employees
• Promote company innovations and commercialization
  of new ideas
• Minimize knowledge loss at all levels of the
  business

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Role of the CKO (In Summary)

• Agent of change
• Investigator
• Linking pin
• Listener
• Politician

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Key CKO Attributes

• Teaching and selling
• Communicating speaking the language of the
  user, mediate, and working with management at all
  levels
• Understanding e.g., identifying problem areas
  and determining their impact

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Key CKO Attributes (contd)

• Technical Skills
• Broad knowledge of business practice and ability
  to translate technical information at employee
  level
• Making effective use of technical and
  non-technical elements in KM design
• Knowledge of information technology, information
  systems, and how information is transformed into
  knowledge

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CKOs Success Factors

• Focus less on problems and more on successes and
  opportunities
• Adopt an attitude that views challenges as
  opportunities
• Work on creating tomorrows business instead of
  focusing on yesterdays problems

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Incentives and Motivation

• Use monetary awards, bonuses and special prizes
  for teams or individuals for unique contributions
• Flextime allows the team to decide on when to
  work, when to quit, and so forth
• Publicize success throughout the firm