Introducing Knowledge Management Topic 1 Introducing Knowledge Management

Introduction I have a box that's about 3' wide, 3' deep, and 6' high. It's a very heavy box. The box had a door on it. There is a handle on the door. When you open the door you find it's cold inside the box. People usually keep food in this box. There's a smaller compartment inside the box with ice and frozen food in it. When you open the door of the box a light comes on. The box is usually found in the kitchen in a house. This box has a tendency to collect stuff on top of it. People don't often move this box often but when they do there's usually lots of dust under it.

What is Knowledge? a clear and certain perception of something understanding learning all that has been perceived or grasped by the mind practical experience and skill organized information applicable to problem solving a collection of specialized facts, procedures and judgment rules.

Data, Information and Knowledge refers to isolated facts such as individual measurements. No meaning on their own Do not signify anything Useless unless placed in some sort of context. Examples: 10,1.6,ahmad,kamil,green etc

Data, Information and Knowledge Consist of symbols such as text or numbers, with some meaning associated with the symbols. Thus, has some use or value Examples: 10ºC, 1.6m, Ahmad Kamil, the apple is green

Data, Information and Knowledge Consists of symbols, the relationships between them and rules or procedures for manipulating them Adds context to the information, providing greater meaning and therefore much greater use and value Dynamic and changes with time Examples: If the temperature is 10ºC it feels cold

Data, Information & Knowledge

Knowledge Explicit knowledge Objective, rational, technical Policies, goals, strategies, papers, reports Codified Leaky knowledge Tacit knowledge Subjective, cognitive, experiential learning Highly personalized Difficult to formalize Sticky knowledge

Knowledge Management KM is a process that helps organizations identify, select, organize, disseminate, and transfer important information and expertise that are part of the organization’s memory. KM is the process of systematically and actively managing and leveraging stores of knowledge in an organization

Knowledge Management Systematic and active management of ideas, information, and knowledge residing within organization’s employees Knowledge management systems Use of technologies to manage knowledge Used with turnover, change, downsizing Provide consistent levels of service

Organizational Learning Learning organization Ability to learn from past To improve, organization must learn Issues Meaning, management, measurement Activities Problem-solving, experimentation, learning from past, learning from acknowledged best practices, transfer of knowledge within organization Must have organizational memory, way to save and share it Organizational learning Develop new knowledge Corporate memory critical Organizational culture Pattern of shared basic assumptions

Why Knowledge Management? Organizations are realizing how important it is to "know what they know" and be able to make maximum use of the knowledge. Preventing “reinvent the wheel” many times.

Why Knowledge Management? Thus, organizations need to know: what their knowledge assets are; how to manage and make use of these assets to get maximum return. KM can improve organization efficiency by providing framework, tools and techniques to reuse captured intellectual assets.

Why Knowledge Management? “We have four people in Boston who know how to solve this problem. How can we get them to help our team in Korea?” "People are leaving the company with a lifetime's experience. How can we capture and re-use that?" "We had a team that did a successful proposal for aerospace five years ago. Why did they make the decisions they did? How did they deal with the customer? What made the team tick?"

Why Knowledge Management? "How do we start learning from our experiences and help our people stop repeating others' mistakes?" "We're involved in an exciting project with four other companies. How can we all learn how these virtual teams tick?" "Needs change often these days and we're always bringing new people into projects. How can we get them up to speed and contributing quickly?"

“Successful companies of the 21st century will be those who do the best of capturing, storing, and leveraging what their employees know” (CEO, Hewlett Packard) Quote:

Discussion How do you manage your personal knowledge so you can best reuse it? How do you share your knowledge with others?

Siemens Knows What It Knows Through Knowledge Management Vignette Community of interest Repositories Communities of practice Informal knowledge-sharing techniques Employee initiated Created ShareNet Easy to share knowledge Incentives for posting Internal evangelists responsible for training, monitoring, and assisting users Top management support

Knowledge-based Economy Rapid changes in the business environment cannot be handled in traditional ways. Firms are much larger, with higher turnover and require better tools for collaboration, communication, and knowledge sharing. Firms must develop strategies to sustain competitive advantage by leveraging their intellectual assets for optimum performance. Managing knowledge is now critical for firms spread out over wide geographical areas, and for virtual organizations.

Components of Knowledge Management Systems Technologies Communication Access knowledge Communicates with others Collaboration Perform groupwork Synchronous or asynchronous Same place/different place Storage and retrieval Capture, storing, retrieval, and management of both explicit and tacit knowledge through collaborative systems

Components of Knowledge Management Systems Supporting technologies Artificial intelligence Expert systems, neural networks, fuzzy logic, intelligent agents Intelligent agents Systems that learn how users work and provide assistance Knowledge discovery in databases Process used to search for and extract information Internal = data and document mining External = model marts and model warehouses XML Extensible Markup Language Enables standardized representations of data Better collaboration and communication through portals

Sharing Knowledge Some people are reluctant to share knowledge due to the following reasons:; No skill in knowledge management techniques. Willing to share, but not enough time to do so. Don’t understand knowledge management and benefits. Lack of appropriate technology. No commitment from senior managers. No funding for knowledge management. Culture does not encourage knowledge sharing.

Knowledge Management Initiatives Aims Make knowledge visible Develop knowledge intensive culture Build knowledge infrastructure Surrounding processes Creation of knowledge Sharing of knowledge Seeking out knowledge Using knowledge

Knowledge Management Initiatives Knowledge creation Generating new ideas, routines, insights Modes Socialization, externalization, internalization, combination Knowledge sharing Willing explanation to another directly or through an intermediary Knowledge seeking Knowledge sourcing

Approaches to Knowledge Management Process Approach Codifies knowledge Formalized controls, approaches, technologies Fails to capture most tacit knowledge Practice Approach Assumes that most knowledge is tacit Informal systems Social events, communities of practice, person-to-person contacts Challenge to make tacit knowledge explicit, capture it, add to it, transfer it

Approaches to Knowledge Management Hybrid Approach Practice approach initially used to store explicit knowledge Tacit knowledge primarily stored as contact information Best practices captured and managed Best practices Methods that effective organizations use to operate and manage functions Knowledge repository Place for capture and storage of knowledge Different storage mechanisms depending upon data captured

Objectives of Knowledge Management Davenport et al. (1998) describe four broad objectives of knowledge management systems in practice: To create knowledge repositories. To improve knowledge access. To enhance the knowledge environment. To manage knowledge as an asset.

Essence of KM Knowledge is first created in the people’s minds. KM practices must first identify ways to encourage and stimulate the ability of employees to develop new knowledge. KM methodologies and technologies must enable effective ways to elicit, represent, organize, re-use, and renew this knowledge. KM should not distance itself from the knowledge owners, but instead celebrate and recognize their position as experts in the organization.

Knowledge Repositories Specially Structured Databases. Some systems have been developed in Lotus Notes/Domino Server and hence utilize the Notes database structure. These specialized databases are ideal for storing tacit knowledge because of its nature. Electronic Documents. Others have been developed around electronic document management systems. e.g., DocuShare by Xerox

Knowledge Management System Cycle Creates knowledge through new ways of doing things Identifies and captures new knowledge Places knowledge into context so it is usable (Refine) Stores knowledge in repository Reviews for accuracy and relevance (Manage) Makes knowledge available at all times to anyone (Disseminate) Disseminate

KM & Information Technologies The KMS challenge is to identify and integrate the following three technologies: Communication technologies allow users to access needed knowledge, and to communicate with each other--especially with experts. Collaboration technologies provide the means to perform group work. Storage technologies use a database management system to capture, store and manage knowledge.

KM & Information Technologies Information technology facilitates sharing as well as accelerated growth of knowledge. Information technology allows the movement of information at increasing speeds and efficiencies. “Today, knowledge is accumulating at an ever increasing rate. It is estimated that knowledge is currently doubling every 18 months and, of course, the pace is increasing... Technology facilitates the speed at which knowledge and ideas proliferate” Bradley [1996]

KM & Information Technologies Knowware are technology tools that support KM. Collaboration tools, or groupware, were the first used to enhance collaboration for tacit knowledge transfer within an organization. KM suites are complete KM solutions out-of-the-box. Knowledge Servers contain the main KM software, including the knowledge repository.

Effective Knowledge Management 80% - Organizational culture and human factors 20% - Technology

KM Benefits Reduction in loss of intellectual capital when people leave the company Reduction in costs by decreasing the number of times the company must repeatedly solve the same problem Economies of scale in obtaining information from external providers Reduction in redundancy of knowledge-based activities Increase in productivity by making knowledge available more quickly & easily Increase in employee satisfaction by enabling greater personal development and empowerment Strategic competitive advantage in the marketplace

Human Resources Chief knowledge officer (CKO) Senior level Sets strategic priorities Defines area of knowledge based on organization mission and goals Creates infrastructure Identifies knowledge champions Manages content produced by groups Adds to knowledge base CEO Champion knowledge management Upper management Ensures availability of resources to CKO Communities of practice Knowledge management system developers Team members that develop system Knowledge management system staff Catalog and manage knowledge

KM Integration Since a KM system is an enterprise system, it must be integrated with other enterprise and information systems in an organization. The most important systems to integrate with are; Decision Support Systems Artificial Intelligence Databases and Information Systems Customer Relationship Management Systems Supply Chain Management Systems Corporate Intranets and Extranets

Factors Leading to Success and Failure of Systems Companies must assess need System needs technical and organizational infrastructure to build on System must have economic value to organization Senior management support Organization needs multiple channels for knowledge transfer Appropriate organizational culture Failure System does not meet organization’s needs Lack of commitment No incentive to use system Lack of integration

Knowledge Management Issues Encouraging System Use Employees must be motivated properly to contribute knowledge. The mechanism for doing so should be part of their job, and their salaries should reflect this. Buying & Selling Knowledge Most firms are reluctant to sell knowledge, unless they are expressly in the business of doing so. A firm’s knowledge is an asset that has competitive value.

Knowledge Management Issues One of the primary differences between traditional information systems and KM systems is the active role that users of KM systems play on building the content of such systems.

Text Book Knowledge Management (2004) Challenges, Solutions and Technologies Authors: Irma Becerra, Avelino Gonzalez, Rajiv Sabherwal Publisher Prentice Hall Price RM72

Text Overview 17 chapters divided into 4 parts Part I - Principles of Knowledge Management Part II: Technologies for Knowledge Management Part III: Knowledge Management Systems IV: The Future of KM

Knowledge Management Systems KM systems classification based on observations on the KM systems implementations: Knowledge Discovery Systems (Chapter 13) Knowledge Capture Systems (Chapter 14) Knowledge Sharing Systems (Chapter 15) Knowledge Application Systems (Chapter 16)