KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

CONTENTS Background of KMData, Information & KnowledgeTypes of KnowledgeDefinition of KMWhy KM? History of KMKnowledge Life CyclesKM models Some Guiding Principles for KMWhy Many KM Fails ?Application areas of KMReferences

Background of Knowledge Management “Knowledge Management is a waste of money. Organizations spend billions of dollars in their efforts to cut a corner or two resulting in just a fraction of savings” Richard Sapio CEO, Mutual Capital Alliance

Data, information and Knowledge Data = collection of facts, measurements, statistics Information = organized data Knowledge = contextual, relevant, actionable information – Strong experiential and reflective elements – Good leverage and increasing returns – Dynamic – Branches and fragments with growth – Difficult to estimate impact of investment – Uncertain value in sharing – Evolves over time with experience

Knowledge Hierarchy

Tacit Knowledge Explicit Knowledge Knowledge Information Data  Tacit  This type of knowledge exists in people’s heads, not articulated or documented r Explicit –This type of knowledge can be »Processed by information systems »Codified and recorded »Archived and protected Types of Knowledge

Explicit versus Tacit Knowledge Explicit KnowledgeTacit Knowledge TangibleIntangible Physical objects, e.g. in documents or databases Mental objects, i.e. it’s in people’s head’s Context independentContext affects meaning Easily sharedSharing involves learning ReproducibleNot identically replicated

What is  Management is the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling organizational resources.  Organizational resources include men(human beings), money, machines and materials, Knowledge.

What is Knowledge Management? Common Knowledge Management Definitions  Discipline within an organization that ensures that the intellectual capabilities of that organization are shared, maintained and institutionalized r The process of systematically and actively managing and leveraging the stores of knowledge in an organization r The way a company stores, organizes and accesses internal and external information. r Refers to an entire integrated system for accumulation, integration, manipulation, and access of data across multiple organizations

What is Knowledge Management? Knowledge Management is the explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge - and its associated processes of creation, organization, diffusion, use and exploitation Knowledge Management refers to a multi disciplined approach to achieving organizational objectives by making the best use of knowledge.

Why Knowledge Management?  To share the knowledge, a company creates exponential benefits from the knowledge as people learn from it.  To build better sensitivity to “brain drain”.  To reacting to new business opportunities  Ensuring successful pertaining and core competencies with customer, suppliers, vendors and others.

HISTORY OF KM KM as ICT or Information Management KM as Human Resource Development or Human Talent Development KM as Organizational Approach KM as Integral Approach, Optimizing Knowledge Ecosystem

KNOWLEDGE LIFE-CYCLE collectuseenrichshareassess Build/ sustain/ divest

KM MODELS-THE REASON  Represent a holistic approach to knowledge management  Reviewed, critiqued, and discussed extensively in the KM literature, by practitioners, academics, and researchers.  Implemented and field tested with respect to reliability & validity.

KM MODELS  NONAKA/TAKEUCHI Knowledge Spiral (1995)  Von Krogh & Roos – Organizational Epistemology model (1995)  Choo – Sense making model (1998)

NONAKA/TAKEUCHI Knowledge Spiral (1995)

Von KROGH & ROOS  The connectionist approach  Knowledge reside in the mind of individual & in the connection between the individuals  Unbreakable bond between knowledge & those who absorb & make use of them

Von KROGH & ROOS Factor that prevent the successful KM  Mind-set of individual  Communication in organization  Organizational structure  Relationship between member  Management of human resources (knowers)

Von KROGH & ROOS  The Illustration

CHOO MODEL Sense Making Model  Stress on the importance of sense–making, knowledge creation & decision making.  Focus on how information elements are selected and subsequently fed into organizational actions.

CHOO MODEL(1998)

SOME GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR KM KM STRATEGY :People will focus and work more effectively through a shared vision and values, and the knowledge management strategy must be aligned to this. ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING :What have we learned to day, as a learning organization, is sometimes more important than what tasks we performed today.

SOME GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR KM  KM PROCESS: No re-inventing of the wheel,no continual repeating of the same mistakes.Every time we do something repetitive we should strive to do it better than the last time.  KNOWLEDGE TRAVELS VIA LANGUAGE : Without a language to describe our experience, we can’t communicate what we know.

SOME GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR KM  KM SYSTEMS AND TOOLS : Knowledge systems and tools are implements for knowledge working. They should be to support knowledge asset driven strategies, processes,methods and techniques.  LOSSER IS PROBABLY BETTER. Highly adaptable systems look chaotic. The survival rate of diverse, decentralized systems is higher.  THERE IS NO ONE SOLUTION : Knowledge is always changing. For the moment, the best approach to managing it is one that keeps things moving along while keeping options open.

SOME GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR KM  NO ONE IS IN CHARGE : If only we knew what we know, we would be three times more effective to tomorrow.  KM-INDIVIDUA L : Organizations learn only through individuals who learn first. What gets rewarded gets done.

WHY MANY KM INITIATIVES FAIL Too much dependence on technology Many Knowledge Management initiatives fail because of excessive dependence on technology. Technology enforces our processes, it doesn’t create them. The functionality of the system must be simple to use and very straight forward both for knowledge creation, utilization and maintenance.

WHY MANY KM INITIATIVES FAIL Lack of adaption If people don’t use the system it can’t pay for itself. Having a big launch with incentives to use the system is important. Making IT end user adopt this change of company culture to use the self service is challenging.

WHY MANY KM INITIATIVES FAIL Lack of maintenance  Ongoing work is required to weed out unused articles, rewrite content as necessary,etc.  Don’t let your big investment and work go to waste, Keep up the effort to maintain the content.

THE COST OF IGNORING HUMAN KNOWLEDGE  There is a cost to pay of ignoring human knowledge much of an organization’s knowledge is personal.  It is and remains in employees’ minds.  A market survey by KPMG showed there is little provision for capturing, sharing and disseminating it.  When individuals leave, their knowledge is lost to the organization.

Applications of KM

NASA maintained a high rate success of exploring space under the faster, better, and cheaper strategy. HOWEVER A few significant mission failures also occurred—particularly the loss of the Mars Polar Lander. In response to the Mars Program failures, NASA took actions to improve its policies and practices for capturing and sharing knowledge by developing a business strategy referred to as knowledge management. Implementation of knowledge management can lead to :  Increasing Productivity  Collaboration  Innovation in the work place Background

NASA’s procedures and guidelines require : Program and project managers review and apply lessons learned from the past throughout a program’s or project’s life cycle.  Then document and submit any significant lessons to the agency’s Lessons Learned Information System (LLIS). NASA defines a lesson learned as knowledge or understanding gained by experience. So, a lesson must be significant:  Having a real or assumed impact on operations  Valid in that it is factually correct  Applicable in that it identifies a specific design, process, or decision that reduces or eliminates the potential for failures

KM Critical Success Factors

Key Areas for NASA’s KM Strategy

Knowledge Management Environment Integrating knowledge management into our engineering and project management lifecycle

Emergency Operations Support InsideNASA EOC site is available to all NASA centers to coordinate information before, during, and after a crisis. The EOC page has emergency preparedness links to educate employees on how they may be best prepared at work and home Central communications area for regional emergency operations personnel and managers to communicate with employees Is always on, always accessible even when Centers are closed or have outages

Creating an IDM Program The Information and Data Management Program creates a strategy to create consistency, reliance, and trust in data, and enables information sharing. Goal: describe a practical strategy for organizing information and data assets for discovery and reuse (by machines and humans) – Cohesive knowledge development between NASA and partners and robotic explorers – Develop agents that can learn, anticipate needs, discover relevant data, and enter into transactions on behalf of their human users – Knowledge systems collaborate with experts for new research concepts

Fundamental Weaknesses Exist in the Collection and Sharing of Lessons Learned A survey revealed some fundamental weaknesses in the collection and sharing of lessons learned agency-wide : Managers do not routinely identify, collect, or share lessons by the mechanism LLIS. LLIS is not widely used because its lessons cover so many topics that it is difficult to search for an applicable lesson. Managers claimed that there is a reluctance to share negative lessons for fear that they might not be viewed as good project managers

Recommendations NASA needs to strengthen its lessons learning in the context of its overall efforts to develop and implement an effective knowledge management program. It is Recommended : 1. Articulating the relationship between lessons learning and knowledge management through an implementation plan for knowledge management; 2. Designating lessons learned manager to coordinate all agency lessons learning efforts; 3. Establishing functional and technical linkages among the various center level and program-level lessons learning systems; 4. Developing ways to broaden and implement mentoring and "storytelling"; 5. Identifying incentives to encourage more collection and sharing of lessons among employees and teams, such as links to performance evaluations and awards; 6. Enhancing LLIS by coding information and developing an easier search capability to allow users to identify relevant lessons,

References ASIS KM Website: Brint.com Knowledge Portal: Knowledge Management Research Center : Karl-Erik Sveiby and Knowledge Associates: University of Arizona:  sunnyliu/inls258/introduction_to_Knowledge_Management.html  ddstuhlman/defin1.htm Shanhong, T. “knowledge Management in Libraries in the 21 st Century” SAĞsan, M. “A NEW LIFE CYCLE MODEL FOR PROCESSING OF KNOLEDGE MANAGEMENT” Crista, s.d. (2009), “Perspectives on knowledge management models” Bergeron, B. “Essentials of Knowledge Management”