Knowledge Organizations What are they? How do they work? Dr. Mark Fruin Bus 290/291 From Jay Liebowitz & Tom Beckman, Knowledge Orgs, CRC Press, 1998.

Knowledge Management Processes  Develop New Knowledge (R&D)  Acquire/appropriate New & Existing Knowledge  Distribute Knowledge  Combine Available Knowledge

Knowledge Management Processes  Are Expensive  Require Knowledge Managers  Are often highly Political  Sharing & Using Knowledge are often atypical acts  Require hybrid solutions involving People and Technology

Knowledge Transformations  Inputs --> Data  Data --> Information (thru context & meaning)  Information --> Knowledge (declarative & procedural knowledge; know what & know how)  Knowledge --> Expertise (optimizes performance under resource constraints)  Expertise --> Capability (organization is changed by knowledge management systems)

Knowledge Management Processes  Involve corporate culture  Organizational culture must place a high value on opinions & wishes of customers  Organizational culture must reward initiative and innovation  Top management must communicate the importance of Knowledge Management  Top management must reward values and behaviors that promote KM

Intellectual Capital Concepts  Enterprise = Tangible Assets + IC  Corporate Sustainability = IC & IC Mngmt  Intellectual Property is a Corporate Asset  Knowledge-rich employees enhance Corporate Value  Protect & grow Core Competencies  IC needs multidisciplinary teams  Grow IC for the Future

Knowledge Management Process  Identify > Collect > Select > Store > Share > Combine > Anneal > Apply > Sell/License  Both External & Internal Sources are Crucial –External: publications, industry experts, competitive intelligence, market feedback, environmental scanning, internet –Internal: domain experts, organizational assessment, process modeling, training & education, suggestions, documentation of process/teamwork, PDCA cycle

LEARNING & KM  Self Learning  Individual Learning  Team Learning  Organizational Learning –solve problems –experiment with new ideas and routines –learning from mistakes –identify best practices –learn to transfer knowledge

Modeling Knowledge  Case-based Reasoning –enumerate alternatives –build toward domain knowledge  Rule-based Systems –rules of thumb that are abstracted and generalized –experts available to elicit rules & heuristics  Model-based Reasoning –represent large-scale, complex systems –knowledge elicitation, acquisition & application are represented & modeled

Knowledge Repositories (w/i & between organizations  Directories of knowledge sources & skill sets  Procedures, principles & guidelines  Standards, protocols & policies  Decision rules, performance measures  Best practices, competitive intelligence  Products & services: features, functionality, pricing, sales, repair records

CENTERS of EXPERTISE  Domain Knowledge Repositories  Create, research, improve & manage  Set & enforce standards, methods & practices  Establish partnerships, align interests, negotiate conflicts  Assess capabilities & competencies  Support, develop & enable domain knwldg wrkrs