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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION
Knowledge management is a collaborative work environment in which all untapped and unconnected knowledge is systemically collected, structured, and distributed enterprise-wide to support effective decision making and improvement of competitive advantage.
The following are generally considered integral components of knowledge management.
 Generating new knowledge
 Accessing valuable knowledge from external sources
 Using accessible knowledge in decision-making
 Embedding knowledge in processes, products and services
 Representing knowledge in documents, databases, and software
 Facilitating knowledge growth through culture and incentives
 Transferring existing knowledge into other parts of the organization
 Measuring the value of mission-critical knowledge assets.
PURPOSE OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
 The purpose of knowledge management is to deliver value to an organization.
 The goal of KM is to harness knowledge resources and knowledge capabilities of the business to enable the organization to learn and adapt to its changing environment.
 KM practices aim to draw out the tacit knowledge people have acquired, what they carry around with them, what they observe and learn from their experience, rather than what is usually explicitly stated.
 The knowledge executive process is about acquisition, creation, packaging, and application or reuse of knowledge.
WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
 “Knowledge management is not about data, but about getting the right information to the right people at the right time for them to impact the bottom line.” (IBM)
 “Knowledge management involves efficiently connecting those who know with those who need to know and converting personal knowledge into organizational knowledge.”
 TACIT KNOWLEDGE
 EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
TACIT KNOWLEDGE:
 Tacit knowledge is highly personal and hard to formalize, making it difficult to communicate or share with colleagues.
 Tacit knowledge is deeply rooted in an individual's action and experience, as well as in the ideals, values or emotions he or she embraces.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF KM
EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE:
 It is expressed in words and numbers and shared in the form of data, scientific formulae, product specifications, manuals, universal principles, etc.
 This knowledge type can be readily transmitted across individuals formally and systematically.
Where does knowledge reside?
Knowledge resides in many forms within an organization, but the primary areas include structured and unstructured information, and employee expertise.
 Structured Information – Transaction-based data managed and maintained within information systems. Transaction data is often locked away from users because it is difficult to retrieve or synthesize.
 Unstructured Information – Associated with documents. It includes PC, paper, video, and audio formats that are not easily accessed and shared.
 Expertise – Experience base or innate understanding of employees. Because this type of knowledge is broadly dispersed and continually changing, it is rarely codified and moves through the organization unwittingly.
knowledge culture
 Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate," generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance.
 Cultures can be "understood as systems of symbols and meanings that even their creators contest, that lack fixed boundaries, that are constantly in flux, and that interact and compete with one another".
 An organization can build a knowledge-supporting culture by integrating people, process, and technology. A knowledge culture supports changing employee behaviors for knowledge use and sharing.
Is knowledge management unique?
 Knowledge Management is unique because it does more than manage and present information.
 It unlocks the contextual value and includes assumptions, experiences and insights.
 Earlier attempts at information management concentrated on the amount of information accumulated the efficiency of processing, and the speed with which an organization could move data.
importance of knowledge management
In the new global environment, an organization’s competitive capability is intrinsically tied to the ability to rapidly collaborate with customers and key stakeholders.
A variety of market factors have contributed to the growth of and interest in knowledge management. They include:
 Accelerated pace of change.
 Staff attrition – especially that resulting from years of downsizing and reengineering.
 Growth in organization scope – geographic dispersion associated with globalization of markets.
 Global integration.
 Increase in networked organizations.
 Growing knowledge-intensity of goods and services.
 Revolution in enabling technology.
benefits of knowledge management
 Some individuals can only learn by trying to do things themselves, however most people learn from human interactions.
 But when people share knowledge wholly and openly, the sum is greater than the parts.
 When experts collaborate, improvement can be made much faster than any one employee working alone.
 Speed is the essence today – speed of execution as well as that of innovation.
knowledge management in market
 Knowledge Management is fertilized the soil for thinking about several recent technology developments
 Today's B2B(Business-to-Business) and portal technologies, for example, embody the principles of KM they just don't use the term as a label.
key elements of knowledge process
An organization’s knowledge process usually includes:
 Mastering transaction data management
 Transforming transaction data into information
 Converting information into knowledge that can be used in decision-making
What is included in knowledge management planning?
Knowledge Management planning includes the following:
 Develop an understanding of why a knowledge initiative is being undertaken. The key to this is a clear set of business objectives. These may be one or more of the following:
 Focus on enriching relationships with customers (understanding their requirements, giving them better service and delivery, informing them of potential developments)
 Focus on product leadership (better, more innovative features, higher quality, better value for money, improved reliability)
 Focus on operational excellence (reduced lead times, better forecasting of delivery times, improved performance in meeting delivery promises, better quality of manufacture)
 Increase market share in particular sector up to a specific percentage through improved marketing, sales organization competitive pricing, and availability and performance of product)
What is included in knowledge management planning?
 Obtain a knowledge landscape, of the organization, to identify those activities that are likely to give an immediate and significant payback.
 Focus on the knowledge-focused requirements for competent execution of complex decisions and tasks.
 Identify areas where knowledge is missing for particular business and support processes.
 Identify repositories of knowledge and determine whether any of the gaps in the knowledge requirements may be filled from these repositories.
 Identify bottlenecks in knowledge transfer or knowledge distribution, and attempt to eliminate them.
 Identify how to organize appropriate approaches to standardize knowledge acquisition so that knowledge can be cumulated and merged with other knowledge.
components of knowledge management strategy
A successful Knowledge Management Strategy has the following critical components. They include:
 Appoint a Chief Knowledge Officer – CKO
 Develop the Knowledge Management Strategy in alignment with enterprise strategy
 Strengthen management’s commitment by showing executives successful knowledge management practices
 Integrate Knowledge Management into core work processes and make knowledge capture a step in key processes
 Create a culture of trust and learning and provide employees incentive for sharing knowledge
 Create a discipline in the organizations to ensure quality of knowledge content
 Deploy technologies for enabling knowledge and speeding the pace of product and service creativity
 Establish methods for measuring the benefits of knowledge management Investments
prevention of knowledge loss in the business
 Mentoring and coaching.
 Don’t let your highly-skilled workers leave.
 Sharing best practices.
 Sharing lessons learned.
 Content documentation.
future of knowledge management within the business environment
 KM is a critical success factor and challenge for the future. Creating, capitalizing and sharing knowledge capital will be a primary function of any successful organization.
 It is a long-term program starting from a strategic commitment, involving a correct understanding of KM and know how in the business, and integrating various and well-adapted tools.
 It is a strategic resource for increasing productivity; stability factor in an unstable and dynamic competitive environment.
 Technology can enable organizations overcome obstacles and barriers of space and scale.
 With appropriate technology, workers can easily find others with needed expertise or common interests.
 Once connected, they can work together to share and enrich knowledge in virtual spaces, allowing for the discovery and use of valuable insights, exchange of ideas and information and the building of relationships.
ADVANTAGES
 Facilitates better, more informed decisions.
 Contributes to the intellectual capital of an organization.
 Encourages the free flow of ideas which leads to insight and innovation.
 Eliminates redundant processes, streamlines operations, and enhances employee retention rates.
 Improves customer service and efficiency.
 Leads to greater productivity.
 A collaborative culture.
 More efficient question/problem handling.
 Sharing of valuable organizational information throughout organizational hierarchy.
 Can avoid re-inventing the wheel, reducing redundant work.
 May reduce training time for new employees.
 Retention of intellectual property after the employee leaves if such knowledge can be codified.
DISADVANTAGES
 Inability to deliver the expected performance out comes.
 Usability: Some users are not capable enough to use automated tools to get required information.
 Owners of content, or knowledge, being too possessive.
 Outdated information – no governance to updating the knowledge.
 Multiple copies of knowledge moving from person to person.