Knowledge Management

Community of Practices
By:
Sunil Soni
Visiting Faculty
MS Consultancy
Management Program
CDC - BITS Pilani
Dilbert…

2
“The most important challenge in this
economy is creating conversations.”
- Ravi Arora, TATA Steel

3
Knowledge???

• Knowledge does not exist by itself in the form of

information, but that it is part of the practice of specific
sociocultural communities, called “communities of
practice.”
• Social character of human life
– Knowing
– Learning
– Understanding
– Intelligence
• Neutral places
– Communities are places where people have the freedom to ask
for candid advice, share their opinions, forward half-baked
ideas, exchange technical gossip or just chat without fear of
committing to action

4
Organizational frontline…

• Knowledge economy
• What are communities of practice?
– ..they are groups of people informally bound together by
shared expertise and passion for joint enterprise
• software engineers engaged in developing open source OS and
applications,
• consultants who specialize in strategic marketing and so on.
• It may or may not have agenda and even if it does, it may not follow
the agenda closely.
• Inevitably people in CoP share their experiences and knowledge free-
flowing, creative ways that foster new approaches to problems

• CoP are emergent, fluid and important sources of

innovation

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Communities

• Communities of practice
• Learning networks
• Knowledge communities
• Occupational communities
• Communities of practitioners
• Living networks

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What are CoPs?

• How many of you belong to a

“community” outside of work
(professional groups, civic group, religious
group, sports club, etc.)?
• What are the common characteristics of
that group?

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Definition of Communities of
Practice
Groups of people who come together to share and to learn
from one another face-to-face and virtually.

• They are held together by a common purpose; they

contribute to a body of knowledge and are driven by a
desire and need to share problems, experiences,
insights, templates, tools, and best practices.

• Community members deepen their knowledge by

interacting on an ongoing basis.

Source: APQC with Richard McDermott Building and Sustaining

CoPs, 2000 8
A CoP is not…

• A project team
• An permanent organizational structure
• A Web site
• A roundtable, lunch-n-learn

Caution:
• Communities are most effective when they focus
on people-to-people connections, emphasizing tacit
knowledge transfer. While they often use
technology to enable faster, easier, connections,
just having a website WILL not create a community.

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Why Are CoPs Important?

• Experts identify “gaps” between current practices and best

practices in respective business processes
• CoPs help close “gaps”
• Document successful practices for others to use
• Supports and enhances a knowledge-sharing culture
• Retain valuable knowledge from hard-to-replace experts
• Provide competitive advantage for prospective employees
• Speed rate of innovation by linking appropriate groups
• “Orchestrated Serendipity”

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Examples

• EDS: 114 communities of practice

• Fujitsu: “The Knowledge Undergound”
• MITRE: Technical Exchange Meetings
• DaimlerChrysler: TechClubs
• Oracle: Professional Communities
• Open Text: Competitive Intelligence Forum
• IBM: “Healthcheck” for CoP maturity
• Bank of Montreal: Social Network Analysis
• Tata Steel: 21 CoPs
• ChevronTexaco: CoPs and M&A
• MWH: 90 knowledge communities

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 KM Activities

Tacit - Facilitated transfer

Transfer of - After action reviews
Best Practices - Lessons learned

Networks &
- Communities of Practice
CoPs - Networks
- Virtual teams

Self Service - Portals

- Content Management
- Expertise Locator

Explicit
Lower Human interaction Higher

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Communities: Potential Problems

• Conformity
• Cliques
• Loss of feeling of individual responsibility
• Shared stereotypes
• Self-censorship
• Illusions of invulnerability, unanimity and
morality
• Group polarisation
• Acceptable rather than optimum decision-
making.

13
Symptoms of “Bad” CoPs

• Low level of communication & collaboration

• Not a team-based activity – efforts are done
by a few members or a Knowledge Manager
• Are compliance driven - avoiding penalties
versus seeking value
• Stuck at level where they only make explicit
knowledge visible
• Content not consistently managed
• Low business results

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Symptoms of “Good” CoPs

• Active executive sponsorship & strong

knowledge sharing culture
• KM vision communicated to all levels
• KM activities tied to business goals with
results oriented Focus
• Proactive in managing knowledge content
• Commitment to KM resources with the
right competencies
• Higher client satisfaction & improved
business results

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Principles for cultivating CoPs

• Design for evolution

• Open a dialogue between inside and
outside perspectives
• Invite different levels of participation
• Develop private and public community
spaces
• Focus on value
• Combine familiarity with excitement
• Create a rhythm for the community

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Steps in Creating CoPs

• Choose theme and community

• Build business case and rationale
• Identify executive sponsor
• Form CoP core team
• Identify experts in the CoP
• Use KM portal to publish participants info and
discussion forum
• Design document library structure in the portal
• Design and track CoP performance metrics
• Give appropriate reward and recognition to
members

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CoP Governance

CoP Governance defined by the Community itself. To

create the Governance framework, the CoP first needs to
define:
• Scope, Vision, Mission for the CoP
• Objectives of the CoP. Objectives should be:
– be focused on a result, not an activity
– be consistent
– be specific
– be measurable
– be related to time
– be attainable

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Components of CoP

Primary Component
Community: All participation
and facilitating members

Practice: Activities Domain: Knowledge

focused on sharing practices and content shared

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Scope of Governance
Framework
Should facilitate all types of participation

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Governance Roles in a CoP

Executive Sponsor

Leader KM Catalysts

Core Team Members

Members
SIG Leader SIG Leader

CoP Guests
Member

Experts
Guests

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CoP and Organizational
Performance
Organizational
Performance

Improve

Social Capital

Connections

Relationships

Common Context
• Decrease Learning Curve
Create • Increase Customer Responsiveness
• Reduce rework & prevent reinvention
• Increase Innovation

CoP
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 Business outcomes & social capital
link
• Decrease learning curve
– Connections: Find experts
– Relationships: Mentor and coach new employees
– Context: Understand the rules of the organization
• Increase customer responsiveness
– Connections: Find individuals with similar experiences
– Relationships: Develop willingness to respond to random questions
– Context: Understand the common language
• Reduce rework & prevent reinvention
– Connections: Find artifacts and the individuals who developed them
– Relationships: Establish positive reputation
– Context: Understand situational nature of knowledge
• Increase innovation
– Connections: Leverage weak ties that provide exposure to new ideas
– Relationships: Build safe environment for brainstorming and testing
new ideas
– Context: Understand which problems are of common interest

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 Case Study CoPs in IT Services
Company
• Agile • Java Technologies
• Application Management • KEN
– Estimation and Solution
Design • Mainframe Technologies
– Innovation and Competitive • Microsoft Office
Analysis – Excel, Outlook, Power
– ITIL Point, Project, Visio,
– Service Transition Word
– Solution Delivery • Microsoft Technologies
• AS400 – Dot Net , MOSS 2007
• BI-DW • Project Management
• Database – PMP Study Group
– Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase
• Software Estimation
• Enterprise Architecture
– CORBA, Enterprise • Software Requirement
Integration, MDA, SOA & • Telecom Practice
Web Services – Products Group
• ERP • Testing Services
– SAP
• Unix

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 CoPs in Action: Snapshot of
Activities
• Face to face sharing sessions
• Discussion threads
• White papers creation
• Solution offering
• Ask the expert
• K Café
• Debates
• Quiz
• Survey
• Conferences
• Unconference
• Collate best practices / Do’s and Don’t / Tips
• Process improvements
• Benchmarking
• Study tours

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Knowledge Management
Lecture 14
Measuring Knowledge Management
By:
Sunil Soni
Visiting Faculty
MS Consultancy
Management Program
CDC - BITS Pilani
Chapter Objectives

• Examine why we need to assess

knowledge management in an
organization
• Describe alternative approaches for
assessing knowledge management in an
organization
• Describe Knowledge Measure
• Describe Knowledge Audit

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Is Knowledge Manageable ?

• Knowledge itself is not manageable. What is

manageable are the processes necessary to
encourage the sharing of knowledge and the
development of intellectual capital assets.
• The implementation & management of
processes requires a route map that may be
used by all members of the organisation to
understand their roles and responsibilities, their
relevance within the organisation, and to access
Where Does Corporate Knowledge Reside?
the knowledge available to carry out those roles.
26% 42% 20% 12%

Paper Employee’s Electronic Electronic

Documents Brains Documents Knowledge Base

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Why Assess Knowledge
Management?
• It would not be possible to determine
where improvements are needed
• Helps establishing a baseline for
implementing KM solutions
• Helps understand whether costs of KM
efforts are justified
• Helps identify the gap in KM efforts
• Help make a case for more investment
into KM

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Classification of KM Measurements

• Qualitative Analysis
• Quantitative Analysis
• Financial Indicator Analysis
• Non-Financial Indicator Analysis
• Internal Performance Analysis
• External Performance Analysis
• Project-Orientated Analysis
• Organizational-Orientated Analysis

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Qualitative Analysis

• Qualitative KM assessments aim to develop a basic

understanding of whether the KM efforts are working
• Qualitative means are suitable to measure tacit
knowledge.
• Qualitative research includes an array of approaches
that share some non-quantitative methods.
• Methodology
– Questionnaire
– Expert Interviews
– Critical Success Factors

31
Quantitative Analysis

• Quantitative assessments of KM produce specific

numerical scores indicating how well an organization,
an organizational subunit, or an individual is performing
with respect to KM
• Quantitative research approach is designed to
represent a tangible, visible and comparable ‘ratio’.
• Quantitative analysis can be used to measure the
explicit knowledge of an organization or an individual,
with both financial and non-financial indicators.
• Methodology
– Financial Indicator Analysis
– Non- Financial Indicator Analysis

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 Qualitative and Quantitative
Assessments of KM

High
Qualitative and Quantitative

Qualitative Measures
Level of Use of

Measures

Quantitative Measures

Low

Low High
Level of Experience with Knowledge Management

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Financial Indicator Analysis

• Traditional quantitative methods focus on

well-known financial measures.
• Methodology
• Financial Statements
– Return On Investment (ROI)
– Return of Knowledge (ROK)
– Net Present Value (NPV)

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Non-Financial Indicator Analysis

• These indexes are all related to

behavioral factors and system usage.
• Example
– “Frequency” of each employee logins to the
knowledge base
– how many “times” each employ comes up
with a proposal
– how many “topic numbers” are on the KMS
discussion board

35
Internal Performance Analysis

• Internal performance measurement

methods focus on process efficiency and
goal achievement efficiency.
• Methodology
– Balanced Scorecard
– Activity-based Evaluation

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External Performance Analysis

• External performance measurement

methods always compare a firm with
benchmark companies, primary
competitors or the industry average.
• Methodology
– Benchmarking
– Best Practices

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Project-Orientated Analysis

• Recent studies of KM and organizational

learning in project environments have
emphasized instead the difficulties of
learning from projects—not only within
individual projects, but also across and
between projects
• Methodology
– Social Patterns
– KM Project Management Model

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Organizational-Orientated Analysis

• Organizational-orientated analysis is
focused on the entire organization, on the
multi-dimensional and multi-layering
aspects of the firm.
• Horizontal perspectives
– leadership, cultural, technological, and process
dimensions.
• Vertical perspectives
– strategy, management, and implementation
layers.

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Popular KM Measurement Tools

• The Balanced Scorecard (BSC)

• Intellectual Capital (IC)

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The Balanced Scorecard (BSC)

• Multidimensional
measurement system
takes into
consideration the
following perspectives
– Financial
– Customer
– Internal Business
Processes
– Learning and Growth

Source www.balancedscorecard.org

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KM Result Measurement (1)

Human Capital
- Training expenditures
- Organizational learning
- Employee commitment
- Management experience

Innovation Capital
- R&D expenditures
- Percentage of workforce envolved in
innovation
- Product freshness
- Copyright, trademarks/patents

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KM Result Measurement (2)
Customer Capital
- Satisfaction
- Perceived product/service quality
- Duration of relationship
- Repeat orders
- Sales/customer
KM Process Stage Identification
- Number of contacts in KM database
- Number of topics in KM database
- Hit rate
- Productivity

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KM Result Measurement (3)

KM Process Stage Elicitation

- Number of requests served from KM database
- Accessibility to other relevant resources

KM Process Stage Dissemination

- Push serves
- Pull serves

KM Process Stage Utilization

- System usage as percentage of all
information-gathering activities
- User satisfaction
- New business generated from usage

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 Measuring Intellectual Capital (IC)

5 areas of focus
History
• Financial Financial Focus

(ex. Investment in Human Focus

R&D,ITetc)
Today
• Customer Customer Focus Process Focus

(ex. market share)

IC
• Human
Renewal and Development Future
(ex. Leadership Index)
• Process Operating Environment
(ex. Administrative
expenses/total revenue)
The Scandia Navigator. Source: Learning Through KM, p.102
• Renewal and Development
(ex. Competence
development/employee)

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Illustrative Measures of Key Aspects of
KM Solutions

Dimension Illu
Knowledge Nu46
Assessment of Impacts

• KM solutions and knowledge can impact

the organization performance and
therefore it is essential to assess the
impacts
• Impact on employees
• Impact on processes
• Impact on products
• Impact on organizational performance

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Illustrative Measures of Impacts on
People

Dimension
Employee
learning 48
Illustrative Measures of Impacts on
Organizational Processes

Dimension
Efficiency 49
 Illustrative Measures of Impacts on
Organizational Products

D im e n 50
Illustrative Measures of Impacts on
Organizational Performance

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What is Knowledge Audit

• “Systematic investigation, examination, verification,

measurement and evaluation of explicit and tacit
knowledge resources and assets, in order to
determine how efficiently and effectively they are
used and leveraged by the organisation” Ann
Hylton

• “The systematic analysis of an organization's

information and knowledge entities and their key
attributes, such as ownership, usage and flows,
mapped against user and organizational knowledge
needs” David Skyrme

52
Why Audit?

• Looking for knowledge-based opportunities in

the markets?
• Is your focus knowledge flows, stores, and sinks
in the organization?
• Is the audit to check compliance with SOPs?
• Are you searching for ways to leverage internal
processes using knowledge?
• Will you focus on knowledge objects or are you
interested in cultural barriers?

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Why Audit? (cont.)

• Is the audit strictly for gathering baseline data

(descriptive) or is there a prescriptive element?
• Is the audit part of a larger BPR project?
• Does the mandate include all stakeholders,
suppliers, customers, stockholders, etc.?
• Where does the learning take place that
generates the knowledge?
• How fast is the learning?
• What are the key leverage points in the
learning process?

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Why should you conduct Knowledge
Audit

• Helps identify knowledge needs to support

organisational goals:
– Provides tangible evidence of the extent knowledge is
effectively managed (shared, leveraged etc)
– Helps show what knowledge exists, where it is, and
whether there are any duplication or gaps
– Reveals pockets of knowledge – e.g. untapped potential
– Shows knowledge sources and any sinks or blocks
– Provides information in order to tailor knowledge
management initiatives

What we wanted… what we made…

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Process of Knowledge Audit

• Identify what knowledge exists

– Identify explicit knowledge (e.g. snapshots corporate information)
– Identify tacit knowledge pools (e.g. knowledge networks)

• Identify where that knowledge resides

– Shared drives, paper records, local gurus
– Determine sinks, sources, flows, blockages
– Map knowledge processes (way it is captured, shared, used & saved)

• Identify what knowledge is missing

– Assess corporate objectives, skills, competencies against best
practices
– Perform a gap analysis - who needs the knowledge & why

• Report and recommend suggestions for improvement

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Knowledge Management
Conclusion to Knowledge
Management
By:
Sunil Soni
Visiting Faculty
MS Consultancy
Management Program
CDC - BITS Pilani
Topics of the Day

• Divesting Knowledge
• Knowledge Worker
• IP protection
• KM Certification

58
KM Cycle

Get Assess

Use Knowledge Build/Sustain

Learn Contribute Or: Divest

59
Knowledge Divest stage

• Other half of build/sustain

• Taking results of assessment stage and
doing some or all of the following:
– Filtering
– Spinoffs
– Outsourcing
– Ending partnerships

60
Divesting Knowledge

• Knowledge that no longer provides

competitive advantage have to be divested
– more profitable if used by people outside
the organisation
• Divesting non-critical knowledge frees up
time and resources for growth and
maintenance of knowledge
• A new practice so organisations must scan
the entire system through the ability to
envision continuous flow of knowledge

61
Divestiture decisions

• Selling, licensing or donating a patent

• Spinning off or selling an unaligned business
• Outsourcing a function/operating process
• Terminating a training programme
• Retraining, relocating and firing individuals
with obsolete skills
• Replacing or upgrading IT systems
• Terminating partnerships, alliance and
contracts

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Responsibilities of the CKO

• Maximize returns on investment

in knowledge — people,
processes, and technology
• Share best practices and
reinforce benefits of knowledge
sharing among employees
• Promote company innovations
and commercialization of new
ideas
• Minimize knowledge loss at all
levels of the business

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Role of the CKO

• Agent of change
• Investigator
• Linking pin
• Listener
• Politician

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Key CKO Attributes

• Teaching and selling

• Communicating — speaking the language of the user,
mediate, and working with management at all levels
• Understanding — e.g., identifying problem areas and
determining their impact
• Technical Skills
 Broad knowledge of business practice and ability to translate
technical information at employee level
 Making effective use of technical and non-technical elements
in KM design
 Knowledge of information technology, information systems,
and how information is transformed into knowledge

65
CKO’s Success Factors

• Focus less on problems and

more on successes and
opportunities
• Adopt an attitude that views
challenges as opportunities
• Work on creating tomorrow’s
business instead of focusing
on yesterday’s problems

66
Incentives and Motivation for
Knowledge Workers

• Use monetary awards,

bonuses and special prizes
for teams or individuals for
unique contributions
• Flextime allows the team to
decide on when to work,
when to quit, and so forth
• Publicize success
throughout the firm

67
 Relationship of Ethics &
Protecting
Intellectual Property
(IP) & KM
 Ethics

• Difficult to define
• Means different thing to
different people
• Ethics is one or all of the :
Fairness, equity, honesty,
trustworthiness and equality
• Principles of right and
wrong. It assumes
individuals are acting as
free moral agents to make
choices to guide their
behavior.

69
Five Moral Dimensions of the Knowledge
Age

• Information rights and obligations

• Property rights and obligations

• Accountability and control

• System quality

• Quality of life

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Few common terms for Knowledge
Ethics

• Responsibility: Accepting the potential

costs, duties, and obligations for decisions
• Accountability: Mechanisms for
identifying responsible parties
• Liability: Permits individuals (and firms)
to recover damages done to them
• Due process: Laws are well known and
understood, with an ability to appeal to
higher authorities

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Ethical Analysis

• Identify and describe the facts

• Define the conflict or dilemma, the values
involved
• Identify the stakeholders
• Identify the options
• Identify the consequences

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Ethical Principles

• Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
• Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative: If an action is not right
for everyone to take, then it is not right for anyone
• Descartes’ rule of change: If an action cannot be taken repeatedly,
then it is not right to be taken at any time
• Utilitarian Principle: Take the action that achieves the greatest
value for all concerned
• Risk Aversion Principle: Take the action that produces the least
harm or incurs the least cost to all concerned
• Ethical “no free lunch” rule: Assume that all tangible and
intangible objects are owned by someone else, unless shown the
contrary. If someone has created something of value to you, that
person probably wants compensation for your use

73
Protecting Intellectual Property (IP)

• IP can be defined as any results of a

human intellectual process that has
inherent value to the individual or
organization that sponsored the process.
• It includes inventions, designs, processes,
organizational structures, strategic plans,
marketing plans, computer programs,
algorithms, literary works, music scores,
and works of art, among many other
things.

74
IP losses can happen in many ways:

• Employee turnover.
• Physical theft of sensitive proprietary documents, either by
outsiders or by insiders.
• Inadvertent disclosure to third parties without a non-
disclosure agreement.
• Reverse engineering.
• The Web repository security is breached and unauthorized
access to the proprietary documents takes place.
• Unauthorized parties intercept electronic mail, fax,
telephone conversation or other communications for the
purpose of illicitly acquiring knowledge.
• Attempts by insiders or outsiders to corrupt documents or
databases with false data, information, or knowledge.

75
How to protect the organization
from IP losses
• Non-disclosure Agreements
• Patents: Grant to the creator of an invention
granting the owner an exclusive monopoly on the
ideas behind an invention for 20 years
• Copyrights: Statutory grant protecting intellectual
property from being copied for the life of the author,
plus XX years
• Trade Secrets: Intellectual work or product
belonging to business, not in the public domain
• Designing policies to limit employee turnover
• Educating employees about the types of
knowledge they should not share with their
peers in other organizations

76
IP protection awareness creation
effort
• Academic institutions
• Research and development institutions
• Industry ( goods and service)
• Government departments and ministries
( law making, regulating, funding for
research )
• Attorney firms
• Courts
• NGO

77
Legal Issues of Knowledge Based
Systems

• An expert owns his or her knowledge if no prior

agreement was established
• A pre-employment contract or IP agreement can
limit the expert’s own liability for KMS
• If a knowledge developer builds the system and a
problem arises, he or she is subject to charges of
personal liability under the doctrine of respondent
superior. If developer is a company employee, the
org is also involved in negligence action.

78
KM Certification
KM Institute

• The International Knowledge Management Institute (KM

Institute) is an educational institution and trade association that was
formed in 2004 and incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia, USA
in 2005. 
• The KM Institute provides KM Training and Solutions, staffed by full-
time employees at KMI HQ (Washington DC), as well as part-time or on
a volunteer basis by a global network of over 15 KM professionals,
trainers, and content providers - all respected experts in their fields. 
• Supports the official CKM Alumni Association (1,000+ CKM program
graduates from around the world).
• Communicates and Collaborates with a growing membership and
subscriber audience exceeding 4,000 KM Professionals in dozens of
countries 
• Partners in activities with internationally-renown KM Technical
Solutions/Service Providers 
• Houses Faculty and volunteer staff, including top KM experts as well as
some of the most well-known KM luminaries.  In addition, KM Institute is
home to the official KM Body of Knowledge.

80
KM Professionals/KM Practitioners - Your
Benefits
• The KM Institute provides instructional and non-instructional KM content for
both KM professionals and knowledge workers.  It partner with KM providers
who have proven KM solutions to form a complete KM solution infrastructure.
• KM Institute is developing the KM Body of Knowledge and it continues to
enrich its broad KM curriculum, unequaled anywhere. A curriculum that
includes "Personal KM" and other special topics.  KM Institute has become
the acknowledged global standard for KM certification programs.
• Blended training programs include face-to-face and virtual
workshops, and selected components of the eCKM™ programs, as
well as live-over-internet viewing (this is already being delivered in India).
• Local KM Institutes have already formed in Australia, India, Kuwait,
Malaysia, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, the United
Kingdom, and the U.S., with further expansion planned to serve the KM
learning needs of the world.
• Local KM Institute Chapters are forming in major cities.  Since there
are no KM Institute membership fees; any dues are optional.

81
How to Contact KM Institute

• 1414 Wynhurst Lane, Suite 300, Vienna,

VA 22182 (USA)
• Phone: 1-866-360-IKMI (4564) Toll-free in the
U.S.
Fax (703) 815-8798

General: info@kminstitute.org
Training: training@kminstitute.org
Partnering Opportunities:
partner@kminstitute.org
KM Body of Knowledge: 
kmbok@kminstitute.org

82
e-Certified Knowledge Manager eCKM™
• Who Should Take the eCKM?
– KM Practitioners tasked to lead a KM initiative - from mid to senior-level managers. 
• Learn to:
– Perform KM using KM Metrics, KM Sciences and Benchmarking
– Build Collaborative Environments; better communication, spark innovation
– Transform your organization or customer into a true "Learning Organization"
– Establish a Knowledge Audit, plus innovative ways to do Knowledge Mapping
– Create the KM Vision for your company, including a solid strategy to get there
– Initiate with peers successful Communities of Practice
– Discover usable, real-world KM principles and keys to success
– Show employer or customer you can lead a successful KM initiative!
• What You Will Get:
– Full content of the acclaimed Certified Knowledge Manager course
– Approx. 20 hours of in-class video from actual CKM workshops
– 4 Themes/50 modules: Compelling animated graphics and additional interactive content
– Interactive quizzing throughout 
– Live Mentoring sessions with Instructor
– CKM designation/certification awarded upon completion and successful evaluation
– Acceptance into the official CKM Alumni Association - a global network of CKM Grads
– And, the eCKM features internationally acclaimed speaker/instructor, Douglas Weidner
(KM Institute Chairman), as your instructor and mentor!
• Pricing
– The eCKM is listed at US$2,995 in the U.S., but varies in price depending on your country
of residence.

83
Conclusion
KM: A new Paradigm for Decision-
Making
• The development of MIS, Decision Support
Systems, and KMS has been influenced by the
works of five influential philosophers, namely,
Leibniz, Locke, Kant, Hegel, and Singer.
• Recent developments in KMS have also
enabled to extend the reach of those involved
in the solution, through group support systems.
• As globalization expands, the number of
stakeholders affected by the organization
increases.

85
KM helps Decision making based on
multiple perspectives
• Technical perspective
• Personal and individual perspective
• Organizational and social perspective
• Ethics and aesthetics perspective

86
Looking at the future

• The future of knowledge management,

will be highlighted by three continuing
trends:
– KM will benefit from progress in information
technologies
– KM will continue the shift toward integrating
knowledge from a variety of different
perspectives
– KM will continue to make trade-offs in
numerous important areas.

87
…from progress in information
technologies
• KM will benefit from continual, and even more
dynamic, progress in information technologies
• Improvements in cost/performance ratios of IT
have caused the cost of digitizing information to
approach zero, and the cost of coordinating across
individuals, organizational sub-units, or
organizations to approach zero as well.
• "evolutionary agents" may be dramatically
different in their abilities to:
– build theories and create a world of their own
– assume any virtual identity they wish
– possess free will
– develop a moral code and a value system of their own

88
toward integrating knowledge from differe
perspectives
• KM will continue the shift toward bringing together, and
effectively integrating, knowledge from a variety of
different perspectives.
• KM originated at the individual level, focusing on the
training and learning of individuals.
• The impact of KM is expected to continue with its use
across networks of organizations and across
governments, enabling collaborations across historical
adversaries and integrating knowledge across highly
diverse perspectives and disciplines.

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…make trade-offs in numerous
important areas
• Same communication technologies that
support the sharing of knowledge within
an organization also enable the knowledge
to leak outside the organization to its
competing firms.
• It is essential to maintain a balance
between using technology as substitutes
for people (e.g., software agents) and
using technology to enable collaboration
from a wider range of people within and
across organizations.

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KMS Topics Covered

• Knowledge Management Systems Life Cycle

• Knowledge Creation and Knowledge
Architecture
• Capturing Tacit Knowledge
• Knowledge Codification
• System Testing and Development
• Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Sharing
• Knowledge Transfer in the E-World
• Learning from Data

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Conclusions

• The future of KM is one where people and

advanced technology will continue to
work together, enabling knowledge
integration across diverse domains, and
with considerably higher payoffs.
• The future of KM will clearly be exciting
due to the new opportunities and options,
but interesting challenges definitely lay
ahead for knowledge managers.

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