Managing Knowledge in Knowledge Organisations

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Managing Knowledge in Knowledge Organisations

• Prof Datin Dr Nasly Mohamed Ali
• 28th January 2004

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What is knowledge organisation?

• belongs to a subgroup within the service sector

High KnowledgeOrganisation
Low ServiceCompany
Customer Adaptation
- Big- Productive- Hierarchy- People
Intensive- Low education- Economy-of-scale
- Small- Creative- Knowledge Intensive- High
education- no economy-of-scale in production-
Economy-of-scope in intangible assets
Non-manufacturing Organisations categorised
according to level of Customer Adaptation
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What is knowledge organisation?

• Service ? ongoing process of problem solving
  between the customers and teams of experts.
• Customers are treated as individuals
• Adapt to customers needs
• Rapport between client and teams is important
• Production ? solving problems that are hard to
  solve in a standardised manner
• Competent
• Highly educated
• Long experience in a profession (information
  processing)

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Characteristics of a knowledge organisation

• continuous learning, ongoing improvement, and
  evolution.
• place in which knowledge is shared
• information exchange across all levels of an
  organisation
• The company learns from experiences and mistakes
  and unlearns things that are not working.
• information is that once captured, practices can
  be widely understood and successfully reused.
• Ideas and best practices are shared globally
• The logic behind gathering and sharing
  best-practice

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Todays Knowledge Organisations

• Strategy
• Proactive, market-based, adaptable to changing
  environment
• Customer and stakeholder satisfaction are
  assessed and improved
• Planning used to create organization alignment
  and cohesion
• Structure
• Workplace is global, virtual, less hierarchical,
  IT-enabled
• Governance is participatory, democratic, based on
  shared responsibility
• Leadership is distributed, shared, demonstrated
  through example
• Community is created through alliance with
  customers and suppliers
• Culture
• Leaders and workforce share a common vision,
  values, culture
• Communication and collaboration occur anytime,
  anyplace
• Information and knowledge acquired, developed,
  coordinated, shared

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Todays Knowledge Organisations

• People
• Learning is continuous, life-long, integrated
  into work experiences
• Teamwork and individual initiative are valued and
  rewarded
• Workforce well-being and satisfaction are
  assessed and improved
• Process
• Work is knowledge-based, innovative, value-driven
• Processes are reviewed, standardized, and
  continuously improved
• Decision making is informed, objective, timely
• Technology
• Information technology is digital, client-server,
  open-system, multimedia
• Workers are inter-networked, collaborative,
  empowered to act
• IT networks are intuitive agents for information
  search and selection

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Knowledge as organisation resource

• Last decade Knowledge recognised as essential
  resources within organisations
• Needs to be managed, i.e., surveyed, developed,
  allocated, maintained, like any other resource
• Why is Knowledge crucial?
• Organizations have to fit into a constantly
  changing environment
• Ex. E-Business, global economy, new economy
• Markets are changing (E-marketplace,
  business-to-business, ...)
• Customers' needs evolve (Customer-Driven, CRM)
• Professionals are becoming more mobile (leave the
  organization)
• New technologies are developed ...
• KW (rapidly accessed and applied) makes this
  adaptation possible -gt Tools, Techniques,
  Models, Methodologies for KW

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What is Intellectual Capital or Organizational
Intelligence?

• Organisational intellectual capital or
  collective intelligence
• everything everyone knows in the
  organization.
• Actionable understanding leading to business
  wisdom or intelligence
• Must collectively add value and achieve results.
• Use to build organisational capability and
  capital including intangible
• capital customers, structural and human.
• Needs to be identified, developed, managed and
  utilised.
• Personalisation and codification strategies.

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Organisational knowledge and individual knowledge
Non-routine and non-specifiable
Nature of tasks
Routine and specifiable
Nature of interaction
Interdependent
Independent
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Organisational knowledge and individual knowledge
High
Professional KnowHow
Low
Organisational KnowHow
Low
High
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Knowledge Management

• Help companies create, share and use knowledge
  effectively
• Unlocking and leveraging the knowledge of
  individuals so that this knowledge becomes
  available as an independent organisational
  resource

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Knowledge management in organisations

• Companys competitive advantage depends on its
  knowledge
• What it knows how it uses what it knows and
  how fast it can know something new (Prusak)
• Creating new knowledge
• Leveraging knowledge
• How to use knowledge to improve companys
  competitive position

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Managing the knowledge worker
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KM is about Creating the Learning Organization

• Professor Peter Senges of MIT Learning Centre,
  in his book the Fifth Discipline prescribed the
  following practices
• Personal Mastery life long learning
• Mental Models best practices
• Shared Vision strategic planning
• Team Learning continuous improvement
• System Approach synergistic integration

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Learning organisations

• Learning achieved by organisation system as a
  whole
• almost as if it were a single brain
• Business goals and learning integrated
• Adapts and renews itself continuously in response
  to changing environment

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5 Paradigm Shifts in the learning organisation

• Workplace Learning Environment
• Training Learning
• Worker Continuous Learner
• Engagement Learning Opportunity
• Supervisor Coach and Learner

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Knowledge workers and continuous education
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Training and Education Practices of Knowledge
Organisations

• Spending More Money to Train More Employees
• Establishing Corporate Universities and a
  Knowledge Organisation Atmosphere
• Moving Away From Classroom Training Toward
  Computer-Based Training
• Providing a Variety of Courses
• Partnering with Universities

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Capabilities needed for KM
Information based External Internal

• Client information
• Competitive information
• Customer information
• Market information

• Activity-based costing
• Financial information
• Human resources information
• Products / services information

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Capabilities needed for KM
Technology-based

• Integrated databases
• Interoperability of existing systems
• Larger bandwidth
• Global IT infrastruture
• Intelligent agents
• Consistent suite of e-mail and Web products
• Navigational tools
• Fast retrieval

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Capabilities needed for KM
Culture-based

• Teamwork
• Practical guidelines
• Knowledge-sharing

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Key Concerns

• Information
• Management
• Technology

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Key Concerns

• Information
• Building vast amounts of data into usable format
• Avoiding overloading users with unnecessary data
• Ensuring customer confidentiality
• Keeping information current
• Management
• Technology

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Key Concerns

• Information
• Management
• Change management implications
• Getting individuals to volunteer knowledge
• Getting business units to share knowledge
• Demonstrating business values
• Bringing together the many people from various
  units
• Determining responsibility for managing the
  knowledge
• Technology

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Knowledge management strategies
Non-routine and non-specifiable
Nature of tasks
Routine and specifiable
Nature of interaction
Interdependent
Independent
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Knowledge managers role
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Role of Chief Knowledge Officer / Knowledge
Steward

• Provide K-leadership and is custodian of KM
  program
• Introduce awareness, buy-in and education of KM
• Help formulate and establish KM policy
• Conduct the organizational knowledge audit
• Develop knowledge competency and navigation maps
• Identify and support COPs
• Identify appropriate technology and processes to
  enable KM
• Keeper of the KM and Learning Organization
  culture
• Ensure that KM drivers support business or
  organizational drivers
• Facilitate, incentivise collaboration, sharing
  and learning

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Key Concerns

• Information
• Management
• Technology
• Determining infrastructure requirements
• Keeping up with new technologies
• Security of data on the internet
• Pull vs Push

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Information technology as an enabler

• Intranet
• Data warehousing / data mining
• DSS tools
• Groupware for collaboration
• Networks of Knowledge workers
• Create knowledge repositories
• Mapping expertise
• New knowledge roles
• New k-based products and services

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Knowledge IT

• Artificial Intelligence systems
• Expert systems, Neural networks, Fuzzy logic
• Generic algorithms
• Capture and codify knowledge
• Group collaboration systems
• Groupware, Intranets ? share knowledge
• Office automation
• Word processing, desktop publishing. Imaging,
  electronic calendars, desktop databases
• Knowledge work systems
• CADesign, virtual reality, investment workstations

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Knowledge Management Processes
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Knowledge Management Processes C.A.S.S.T.A.R
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8 key focus of Knowledge Cycle Matrix
IDENTIFICATION
ACQUISATION
MEASUREMENT
Analysis and data mining
PRESERVATION
APPLICATION
storage
and validation
CREATION
SHARING
Transfer and dissemination
DEVELOPMENT
Analysis and data mining
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Types of Knowledge
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K-identification
11 August 2003
Required current / Specialised knowledge
K-gap
Existing knowledge
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K-acquisition
11 August 2003

• Import knowledge
• Suppliers, customers, specialists
• K-partnerships
• Organised learning
• Past, present, future
• Acquire k-products /organisations

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K-application
11 August 2003

• Implementing K-Action Plan
• Establish key result areas
• Identify critical knowledge
• Systematic application
• Measure results impact
• Provide organised feedback

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K - Sharing
11 August 2003

• Trust and Mutual Respect
• K Policy
• Team Based Work
• K Tools
• Technology

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K - Development
11 August 2003

• Complements k-acquisition
• Planned efforts to generate, produce or build
  critical competencies
• Not present or enhancements
• Research based k-collaborations
• Significant improvement
• Environment / self-driven
• Creation of knowledge capital
• Market / customer capital etc

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K - Creation

• Tacit tacit
• Tacit - explicit
• Explicit explicit
• Explicit tacit

11 August 2003
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K - preservation
11 August 2003

• Store selective current specialised knowledge
• Retrieve for future usage
• Support orientation, learning, innovation and
  creative activities
• A living model

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K - Measurement
11 August 2003

• Analysis of ROI
• Improvement of Performance?
• BSC

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The Benefits of KM

• Improved performance and profitability reduced
  reworks rejection
• Increase innovation and productivity new ideas
  products
• Reduced labour cost and other operating costs
  improved efficiency
• Faster and better decision making increased
  responsiveness
• More effective communication and collaboration
  km value add
• Faster and more systematic problem solving
  free up time for innovation
• Compliance with laws and regulations ensure
  protection and exposure
• Internal external awareness and responsiveness
  increased customers
• satisfaction
• Feedback from customers and suppliers
  connectivity and capture
• Build organizational value through intangible
  assets long term value
• People are engaged in learning and knowledge
  build increase competency

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Case Studies
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Monsanto
How does Monsanto ensure that information is
converted into insight? Junnarkar cites the
importance of defining the roles that people play
in self-directed teams. He notes that clearly
defined roles for members of self-directed teams,
particularly the team leader's role, are critical
for the successful conversion of information into
insight. The leader must ensure that the
components of knowledge creation as defined by
Nonaka and Takeuchi --socialization, combination,
externalization and internalization -- are
occurring. The team leader must also champion the
mapping of "lessons learned."
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Buckham Labs
"We have a code of ethics that is the firm's
cornerstone and that contributes to building a
climate of trust and respect. You need this to
build a company based on knowledge transfer,"
emphasizes Baillargeon. "We have tried to put
systems in place so that everyone can
participate. We can bring to bear the collective
knowledge of 1250 people across the world to
serve our customers, who are our reason for
existing. "There has been a huge learning curve
in getting all employees to participate. The
first year they think you're crazy. By the second
year, they begin to think it can work, and in the
third year, they buy in."
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GE -- bringing good things to life through
continuous learning
Spokesperson Ted Meyer described the General
Electric Company's approach to knowledge
management as one that focuses on continuous
learning for all employees. Chairman and CEO John
Welch and his corporate staff set the pace for
the 12 independent Fortune 500 businesses within
GE by sharing their knowledge of "the best and
the worst of what people are doing in each
business." Chief learning officer Steve Kerr
"takes our expertise and methods to help develop
best practices that we can share throughout the
company."
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KMS
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Webmd
http//webmd.com
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KnowledgeSpace http//www.knowledgespace.com  
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21st Century Teacher's Network http//www.21ct.or
g  
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LeadingWay http//www.leadingway.com/project1.htm