Knowledge Management Introduction Module 5

Knowledge Management
Knowledge Management includes everything

right from top management support, facilitating environment, adequate infrastructure, intellectual resources, Knowledge leadership, and proper management for the deployment of knowledge productively. If Knowledge is not tapped and utilized properly, the Organizations will be ruined over a period of time, as the business activities can be affected. Knowledge Management is process of capturing
and making use of a firms collective expertise anywhere in the business

 Knowledge management applies systematic

approaches to find, understand and use knowledge to create value (ODell, 1996)

 Success @ Infosys depends on our ability to recognise and assimilate changes and bring business value to our customers by leveraging knowledge- N. R. Narayanmurthy (about KM at Infosys)

Evolution of Knowledge Management

1959: Peter F Drucker: The Knowledge worker

1966: Michael Polyani: Tacit and Explicit

Knowledge 1989: Karl Erik Sveiby: The Invisible Balance Sheet 1995/96- First Business Conferences: Building awareness of KM 1998- World Bank: Chooses KM as topic for annual world development report

EXPLICIT AND TACIT KNOWLEDGE

Oral Communication Tacit Knowledge 50-95%

Information Request

Explicit Knowledge Explicit Knowledge Base 5%

Information Feedback

Explicit and Tacit knowledge

KM is the process of capturing and making use of a Firms collective expertise any where in the business- on paper, in documents, in databases (called explicit knowledge), or in the peoples heads (called tacit knowledge).

Need For Knowledge Management (Why Organizations

Launch their KM Programs)
Increase profits of revenues: 67%

Retain key talent and expertise: 54%

Improve customer retention and/ or satisfaction:

52% Defend market share against new entrants : 44% Accelerate time to market with product: 39% Penetrate new market segments: 39% Reduce costs: 38% Develop new products and services : 35%

Knowledge Management Drivers

Knowledge based Drivers

Technology Drivers
Intra-Organizational Drivers Human Resource Drivers Process Drivers Economic Drivers

 Knowledge Based Drivers: KM initiatives

support active and complete transfer of knowledge from successful projects to new ones and in the process reduces the extent of wasteful expenditure of resources and effort that have gone into solving problems- that might have already been solved. Failed approaches and decisions often provide equally useful insights and prevent further mistakes committed earlier. Technology Drivers: Technology drivers for KM are motivated by new openings that have arisen for organizations to contend through knowledge process differentiation, employing technology.

significantly contributed to the high volumes of information, which are available to an individual Intra-Organizational Drivers: The organizational structure has to undertake a dramatic change to house the requirements of effective knowledge management. At the same time, the organizational culture also needs to change radically to accommodate these requirements. Uncertainties inbuilt in new product and service development processes lead to complex reliance among and between different functional areas and require inputs and cooperation from different departments, to achieve joint objectives.

 Human Resource Drivers: Human Resource

drivers of KM include the need for improved knowledge transfer, sharing and creation of cross-functional teams of knowledge workers. Team members Process Drivers: They are paying attention to improving work processes through KM related initiatives. The ability to foresee and respond to market trends is a critical capability required by an organization. Economic drivers: Knowledge reschedules traditional economics of an organization by generating additional returns and additional value, hence it is increasingly employed.

KM Approaches
Repository Model approach: Key focus is on

document management and the reuse of explicit forms of knowledge Communities of Practice (COP) approach: Facilitates the transfer of knowledge by experts within affinity groups through dialogue and interpersonal relations Continuous learning approach: Facilitates application of the knowledge acquired by individuals in problem solving as well as enhanced decision making Business Intelligence approach: Creation of enterprise wide repositories and the extraction of valuable information and knowledge through the

Data, Information, and Knowledge

Data: Unorganized and unprocessed facts;

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static; a set of discrete facts about events Information: Aggregation of data that makes decision making easier Knowledge is derived from information in the same way information is derived from data; it is a persons range of information Wisdom: Wisdom is a condition of the human mind typified by deep understanding and deep insight. It is often accompanied by widespread formal knowledge.

The DIKW Diagram pyramid form

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Data, Information, and Knowledge

Data is a set of discrete facts about events Information becomes knowledge with questions like

what implications does this information have for my final decision? Knowledge is understanding of information based on its perceived importance Knowledge, not information, can lead to a competitive advantage in business Wisdom: Wisdom is a condition of the human mind typified by deep understanding and deep insight. It is often accompanied by widespread formal knowledge.
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KM Strategies in Organization
What Knowledge to Share?- The Question of

what to share includes not only the type of knowledge, but also its quality. With Whom to share Knowledge: Knowledge sharing programs may aim at sharing with either an internal or an external audience. Internal Knowledge sharing programs typically aim at making the existing business work better, faster or cheaper, by arming the front-line staff of an organization with higher quality, more up-to-date and easily accessible tools and inputs to do their jobs. External knowledge sharing poses greater risks- raising complex issues of confidentiality, etc

 How Will Knowledge be Shared?- There needs

to be a consensus within the organization as to the principal channels by which knowledge will be shared, whether face-to-face, or by way of help desks, by telephone, fax, email, collaborative tools or the web, or some combination of the above. Why will Knowledge be Shared?
Increasing speed Lowering cost of operation Accelerating innovation Widening the client base

THE KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION

Culture Competition
Collect

Technology

Create
Maintain Knowledge Organization

Organiz e Refine

Intelligence

Knowledge Management Process

Disseminate

Leadership

KM Drivers

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THE KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION

The middle layer addresses the KM life cycle
A knowledge organization derives knowledge

from customer, product, financial knowledge , personnel practices knowledge. Indicators of knowledge: thinking actively and ahead, not passively and behind Using technology to facilitate knowledge sharing and innovation
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IDEAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Strategy Measurement Policy Content Process Technology Culture
Knowledge Internalization

Knowledge Exchange

People
Knowledge Capture Knowledge Exchange

Knowledge Assets

Knowledge Reuse

People

Knowledge Reuse

People

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IDEAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

The ideal knowledge organization allows people

to exchange knowledge across functional areas via technology and established processes Knowledge internalized and adopted within the culture of the organization

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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND INNOVATION

Outside Environment
Existing methods/ processes

Learning

Insights

PEOPLE New
ideas Knowledge Creation

Conversion

New products New markets Smarter problem-solving Value-added innovation Better quality customer service More efficient processes More experienced staff

Knowledge Base
Codified Technology

Organizational Benefits

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THE KM CYCLE AND THE ORGANIZATION

Organizati onal personnel
Managemen tMManage ment

Decision making
KM Life Cycle . capture . gathering . organizing . refining . transfer

Culture

Informatio n technology

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KM LIFE CYCLE
Four-Process View of KM: Capturing data entry, scanning, voice input, interviewing, brainstorming Organizing cataloging, indexing, filtering, linking, codifying Refining contextualizing, collaborating, collaborating, compacting, Projecting, mining Transfer flow, sharing, alert, push

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PROMOTING TRUST
Decentralize organization structure to allow

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decision making by teamwork Reduce control-based management and encourage management by results Revisit companys mission statement and ethics policy to demonstrate its new views about values Assess and improve employee responsibilities and accountability Eliminate unnecessary directives or barriers Install programs to improve employee commitment to knowledge sharing

KM MYTHS
KM is a fad KM and data warehousing are essentially the same KM is a new concept KM is mere technology Technology distributes human intelligence

KM is another form of reengineering

Company employees have difficulty sharing

knowledge Knowledge management works only within the organization Technology is a better alternative than face-to-face
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Question time !
1. What is marketing? 2. As a marketer, what are the three kinds of jobs

or the three areas that you can expect to work in?

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Learning Organization
According to Peter Senge, Learning

Organizations are: Organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.

Five components of Learning organization

Systems thinking

Personal mastery
Mental models Building shared vision Team Learning

 Systems Thinking: It is the discipline that integrates

the others, fusing them into a coherent body of theory and practice. System theorys ability to comprehend and address the whole, and to examine the interrelationship between the parts provides, both the incentive and the means to integrate the disciplines. Personal Mastery: Organizations learn only through individuals who learn. Individual learning does not guarantee organizational learning. But without it no organizational learning occurs. Personal mastery is the discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively. People with a high level of personal mastery are acutely aware of their ignorance, their incompetence, and their growth areas. And they are deeply selfconfident.

 Mental Models: These are deeply ingrained

assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures and images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action. It also includes the ability to carry on learningful conversations that balance inquiry and advocacy, where people expose their own thinking effectively and make that thinking open to the influence of others. Building Shared Vision: It starts from the position that if any one idea about leadership has inspired organization for thousands of years, its the capacity to hold a share picture of the future we seek to create. Such a vision has the power to be uplifting and to encourage experimentation and innovation.

 Team Learning: Such learning is viewed as the

process of aligning and developing the capacities of a team to create the results its members truly desire. It builds on personal mastery and shared vision- but these are not enough. People need to be able to act together. When teams learn together, not only can there be good results for the organization, members will grow more rapidly than could have occurred otherwise.

Inhibitors to Becoming a Learning Organisation

Short term fixes rather than long-term solutions

Reluctance to train (or invest in training) Too many hidden personal agendas Tension between top-down order and bottom up anarchy

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Group Exercise

A close relative and his family own a two story house in a reputed colony on a 60x40 site. They plan to be away for 3 months and have asked you to supervise the repainting of the complete exterior of the house, including the roof. They will pay you a fixed sum for the supervision. Payments to the painters, for material etc, they will arrange separately. How would you go about the task of assessing the work, estimating the cost and selecting a vendor to do the painting? Outline your plan.

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