LECTURE 8 Amare Michael Desta

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LECTURE 8 Amare Michael Desta
Decision Support Executive Information Systems
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Managing knowledge in knowledge work How
operations are organized in traditional work
e.g. in manufacturing sector

• Different operations follow each others in
  logical order until the task is completed

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Managing knowledge in knowledge work - (Contd.)

• Could the same happen in knowledge
• work or is it chaotic or less
• organized by its nature?
• What is the difference between the logistics of
• physical components
• information / knowledge components?

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Knowledge flow (logistic) and utilization of
knowledge resources
Knowledge acquisition -defining the
requirements -localizing knowledge -accessing
knowledge -absorptive capacity
Knowledge creation reuse -skills
competencies -tools methods
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Knowledge Management, (KM) - the need and the
reality

• The move from an industrially-based economy to
  a knowledge or information-based one in the 21st
  Century demands a top-notch KM System to secure a
  competitive edge and a capacity for learning.

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Knowledge Management the importance

• The new source of wealth is K, and not labor,
  land, or financial capital. It is the intangible,
  intellectual assets that must be managed.
• The key challenge of the Knowledge -based economy
  is to foster innovation

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The Knowledge Economy

• For several decades the world's best-known
• forecasters of societal change have predicted
• the emergence of a new economy in which
• brainpower, not machine power, is the critical
• resource.
• But the future has already turned into the
• present, and the era of K has arrived.
• "The Learning Organization," Economist
  Intelligence Unit
• But do you all agree?

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The Knowledge Economy rest on THREE pillars

• The role that K plays in transactions it is what
  is being bought and sold both the raw material
  and the finished goods
• The concurrent rise in importance of K assets,
  which transform and add value to knowledge
  products
• The emergence of ways to manage these materials
  and assets, or KM

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Two Kinds of Knowledge

• K is intangible, dynamic, difficult to measure,
• BUT without it no organization can survive.
• Tacit or unarticulated K is more personal,
  experiential, context specific, and hard to
  formalize is difficult to communicate or share
  with others and is generally embedded in the
  heads of individuals and teams.
• Explicit K can easily be written down and
  codified.

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The main issues are how to

• Design and install techniques and processes to
  create, protect, and use known K.
• Design and create environments and activities to
  discover and release K that is not known, or
  tacit K.
• Articulate the purpose and nature of managing K
  as a resource embodying it in other initiatives
  and programs.

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Do we really need KM System?

• Competitive success will be based on how
  strategically intellectual capital is managed
• Capturing the knowledge residing in the minds of
  employees so that it can be easily shared across
  the enterprise
• Leveraging organizational knowledge is emerging
  as the solution to an increasingly fragmented and
  globally-dispersed workplace

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Do we really need KM System? (Contd)

• Instead of constantly reengineering and
  downsizing talented people are assets to be
  developed for a global 21st Century
• The reuse of knowledge saves work, reduces
  communications costs, and allows a company to
  take on more projects.

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The Successful Managing of Knowledge

• Focus on FIVE tasks
• Generating knowledge
• Accessing knowledge
• Representing and embedding knowledge
• Facilitating knowledge
• Transferring knowledge
• It is a process of instilling the culture and
• helping the people in it find ways to share and
• utilize their collective knowledge.

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KM the enablers

• Leadership
• Knowledge champions, such as CKOs
• Culture
• Access
• Technology
• Learning Culture

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More on the importance of Corporate Culture

• Changing the culture is imperative.
• To create a climate in which employees volunteer
  their creativity and expertise, managers need to
  look beyond the traditional tools at their
  disposal finding ways to build trust and develop
  fair process.
• That means getting the gatekeepers to facilitate
  the flow of information rather than hoard it.
• And offering rewards and incentives

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The technological divide

• Generating organizational K invariably means
  converting the tacit K of the individual into
  explicit K accessible by all.
• IT is most effective when it enables this
• social process.
• Organizations must think through their
  technological systems.
• Technology such as Intranets and advanced
  collaborative software have made KM possible.

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Organizational Changes

• Lines between departments and operating divisions
  blur
• KM even completely collapses boundaries
• A KM system cannot work through hierarchies
• Individual and team learning process must become
  the true driver of organizational learning

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Organizational Knowledge - Why is it Important?

• Knowledge can be embedded in processes, products,
  systems, and controls
• Knowledge can be accessed as it is needed from
  sources inside or outside the firm
• It is versatile and can be transferred formally,
  through training, or informally, by way of
  workplace socialization
• It is the essence of the competitive edge!

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Why KM? Whats the big deal?

• By instituting a learning organization
  (KM-intensive), there is an increase in employee
  satisfaction due to greater personal development
  and empowerment.
• Keep your employees longer and thereby, reduce
  the loss of intellectual capital from people
  leaving the company.
• Save money by not reinventing the wheel for each
  new project

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Why KM? Whats the big deal? (Contd.)

• Reduce costs by decreasing and achieving
  economies of scale in obtaining information from
  external providers.
• Increase productivity by making K available more
  quickly and easily.
• Provides workers with a more democratic place to
  work by allowing everyone access to K

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Why KM? Whats the big deal? (Contd.)

• Learning Faster With KM
• Learning fast to stay competitive
• KM software and technological infrastructures
  allow for global access to an organizations K,
  at a keystroke

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Successful KM programs the indications

• Information is widely disseminated throughout the
  organization
• Accessible at a fast rate of speed.
• Virtual communities of practice share what is
  known in a global fashion, independent of time
  zones and other geographic limitations.
• Business without boundaries broad, often virtual
  in nature.
• Collaboration to support continuous innovation
  and new K creation.

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KM and future scenarios

• Where are we going? What are we here for?
• People need awareness of the whole in what
  direction is the organization going?
• To have a goal to reach in the future can provide
  great incentive for a KM initiative.
• Effective leveraging lies within an
  organizations capacity for rethinking and
  recreating. Scenario thinking can help us see the
  blind spots, and help us create the future we
  want!!!

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Sustainability of a KM endeavor

• There are three fundamental processes that
• sustain profound changes such as the
• introduction of a KM system
• - developing networks of committed people
• - improving business results
• - enhancing personal results
• To achieve sustainability, there must be a
• focus on learning and learning how to harness
• the learning capabilities that lead to
  innovation.

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Sustainability of a KM Endeavor (Contd.)

• For significant change to lead to sustainability,
  hierarchical control must be put aside.
• The emergence and development of informal
  networks must be supported so that people can
  share their tacit knowledge and help one another.
  
• Managers need to surrender control.
• And mental models need to be examined.

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KM Software Tools

• Globalserve
• Knowcorp
• Hyperknowledge
• MicroStrategy
• The Molloy Group
• KnowledgeX Inc.
• WebFarming.com
• Softlab Enabling Tools

• Imagination
• Excalibur Technologies
• Imaging Solutions
• Grapevine Technologies
• Intraspect Software
• Milagro The Power of Imagination

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Knowledge Management - the essence

• Is understanding and valuing intangible assets
  over tangible.
• Understanding that human and intellectual capital
  are the greatest resources
• Managing the skills and competencies that lie
  within an organization, and allowing them to
  blossom
• Allowing people to be the best that they can be
  optimizing performance.

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KM Systems the main focus

• Key questions Id like to raise
• What is the relationship between KM systems?
• Can knowledge serve as a unifying concept for
  understanding organizations and systems?
• Can there be design principles and techniques
  based on KM concepts, for designing organizations
  and their systems?

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KM as a management concept / approach

• A parade of management ideas
• Classical administrative theories 1940s
• Scientific management (e.g. Taylor) 1950s
• Human relations approach
• TQM 1980s
• BPR 1990s
• KM !! 2000
• ??
• Is KM one among many approaches?
• Shouldnt knowledge be a fundamental concept for
  understanding and managing organizations?

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Knowledge in Computing IS

• The trend is toward (increasingly explicit)
• knowledge representation in systems
• Programs 1960s-
• Database schemas (data independence from
  programs)1970s-
• Conceptual data modeling (domains, enterprises)
  1980s-
• Knowledge-based systems (knowledge about world
  separate from inference engine) 1980s-
• Knowledge sharing among systems (ontologies)
  1990s-
• Software agents 1990s-
• Semantic web 2000s-
• The Question is What is the role of knowledge in
  IS? Shouldnt
• knowledge be a fundamental concept in IS?

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What is the role of knowledge in IS, and IS
development?

• There is knowledge in
• User organization
• Developer organization
• Various artifacts

• Where is the knowledge?
• What kinds of knowledge?
• Whose knowledge?
• How does knowledge get into the systems?
• What is change effected?

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Knowledge in organizations and systems

• Management is about achieving effectiveness
  through K and action
• Info systems (development) is about converting
  (organizational) K into (automated) action.
• Can there be a theory of K and action to help
  understand, analyze, and design organizations and
  their systems?

• Broader perspective
• K as unifying concept
• How to design effective organizations and systems?

• Limited KM perspective
• How to manage the knowledge in organizations and
  systems

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KM systems as specialized classes of systems or
applications e.g., Alavi Leidner 01
Marwick 01 Smith Farquhar 00

• Groupware
• Data mining
• Learning tools
• E-bulletin boards
• Knowledge repositories and databases, FAQs
• Discussion forums
• Knowledge directories
• Expert systems
• Workflow systems

• Taxonomies
• Document classification
• Portals metadata
• Text search
• Summarization
• Relationships discovery
• Visualization

Contrasted with more conventional information
systems
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Five Paradigms of IT Support- a rough typology
Processing
Repository
Agent
Medium
Tool
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1. the processing paradigm
Here, the focus is on the processing (usually
fixed a priori) E.g. sales orders processing,
bank account statements, teller machine
processing...

• Qualities emphasized
• speed
• accuracy
• correctness
• ...

Info. structures data items lists
arrays trees ...

• Info. operations
• calculate
• transform
• ...

Processing
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2. the repository paradigm
Here, the focus is on the storage and
retrieval E.g. document management systems,
online catalogues, databases...

• Qualities emphasized
• persistence
• accessibility
• integrity
• security
• ...

Info. structures records links/relationships
indexes catalogues ...

• Info. operations
• create/read/update/delete
• lookup
• navigate
• integrate
• ...

Repository
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3. the tool paradigm
The focus is on enabling the user E.g.
spreadsheet, word processing...

• Qualities emphasized
• usability
• flexibility
• extensibility
• ...

• Info. operations
• manipulation of users information
  representations
• ...

Info. structures conceptual information
structurese.g., cells in spreadsheets ...
Tool
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4. the medium paradigm
Here the focus is on communication E.g. email,
teleconferencing, groupware

• Qualities emphasized
• presence
• fidelity
• authenticity
• privacy
• ...

Info. structures message conversation conference
...

• Info. operations
• send/receive
• share
• ...

Medium
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5. the agent paradigm
Here the focus is on assisting the user E.g.
mail filters, web crawlers, knowledge discovery...

• Qualities emphasized
• ability
• intelligence
• trustworthiness
• ...

• Info. operations
• planning goal achievement
• understanding
• delegation
• ...

Info. structures Goals tasks/plans conceptual
structures interdependencies among agents...
Agent
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How much domain knowledge is embedded in the
system?
Medium
Tool
Least Embedded knowledge
Repository
Processing
Agent
Most Embedded knowledge

• Knowledge Media? A provocative concept Suggests
  that we need to span the full range

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Major design questionsfor organizational
information systems

• The term K Media suggests that an
  organizations IS
• would be a mix of systems with more/less embedded
  K
• Major design questions
• - Who needs what K to achieve what objectives /
  responsibilities?
• - How much to embed in machines?
• - Where in the organization?
• - How to make tradeoffs benefits vs. risks
  vulnerabilities?
• E.g. speed, accuracy, economy vs. inflexibility,
  privacy
• risks, loss of control,

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What design methods and techniques are available?

• Most conventional IS analysis and design
  techniques are focused on data processing
• HCI research has strengthened design methods
  especially for media and tool
• The Key Question is
• How to bring in knowledge concepts for designing
  organizations and systems?

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Modelling Strategic Actor Relationships and
Rationales - modeling framework
One possible approach...
Strategic Actors

• have goals, beliefs, abilities, commitments
• are semi-autonomous
• freedom of action, constrained by relationships
  with others
• not fully knowable or controllable
• has knowledge to guide action, but only partially
  explicit
• depend on each other
• for goals to be achieved, tasks to be performed,
  resources to be furnished

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Modelling systems organizations in terms of
Strategic Dependencies among actors
(Patient Health Service provider)
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Strategic Dependency Relationship
I want
Actor A
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(No Transcript)
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Strategic Rationales about alternative
configurations of relationships with other actors
Why? How? How else?
Yu AOSE01
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Analysis and Design Support

• opportunities and vulnerabilities
• ability, workability, viability, believability
• insurance, assurance, enforceability
• node and loop analysis
• design support
• raising issues
• exploring alternatives
• evaluating, making tradeoffs
• justifying, settling
• based on qualitative reasoning

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Compare
conventional systems modeling
modeling
agents implicit knowledge

• 2. goals (limited) explicit knowledge

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Premises, key concepts

• Actors are semi-autonomous, partially knowable
• Strategic actors, intentional dependencies
• have choice, reasons about alternate means to
  ends

wants and abilities
Intentionality Autonomy Sociality Identity
Boundaries Strategic Reflectivity Rational
Self-Interest
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In conclusion Question for you

• In the context of KM and systems
• - What is organizational knowledge?
• Org. knowledge is in people and machines
• - How is it collected, structured, and managed?
• Includes human automated processes
• - How does this impact an organization?
• Systems need to be designed in organizational
  context, with attention to K action of
  strategic actors

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In conclusion Contd.

• In the context of KM and systems
• - What tools do AI KM provide to do the above?
• Various technologies offer different capabilities
  with limitations risks need analysis design
  tradeoffs
• Conventional systems analysis and design
  techniques are ill-equipped for analyzing
  knowledge action of strategic actors
• AI and KM offer ideas for new frameworks
• How are the issues of KM related to DSS?

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References

• R. Smith A. Farquhar. The Road Ahead for
  Knowledge management An AI perspective. AI
  Magazine. Winter 2000.
• A.D. Marwick. Knowledge Management Technology.
  IBM Systems Journal. 40(4)814-830. 2001.
• M. Alavi D.E. Leidner. Knowledge Management
  Knowledge Management Systems Conceptual
  Foundations and Research Issues. MIS Quarterly.
  25(1)107-136. 2001.