CTM : CHAPTER 1

An Introduction to Knowledge Management

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Objectives
To explore the history & theory of Knowledge Management (KM) To understand the controversies around KM To learn about how KM programs are implemented through different models To discuss the ideas in the readings
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What is Knowledge Management?

What are your ideas? What have you read? What have you heard? What do you imagine?

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One Perspective of KM
KM [Knowledge Management] involves blending a companys internal and external information and turning it into actionable knowledge via a technology platform.
Susan DiMattia and Norman Oder in Library Journal, September 15, 1997.
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Introduction to Knowledge Management

Knowledge management concepts and definitions

Knowledge management
The active management of the expertise in an organization. It involves collecting, categorizing, and disseminating knowledge

Intellectual capital
The invaluable knowledge of an organizations employees
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Introduction to Knowledge Management

Knowledge is
information that is contextual, relevant, and actionable understanding, awareness, or familiarity acquired through education or experience anything that has been learned, perceived, discovered, inferred, or understood.

In a knowledge management system, knowledge is information in action

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Introduction to Knowledge Management

Data
Processed Relevant and Actionable

Knowledge

Information
DEPLOYMENT CHART PHASE 1 DEPT 1 DEPT 2 PHASE 2 PHASE 3 PHASE 4 PHASE 5

Database

Wisdom

DEPT 3 DEPT 4

Relevant and actionable processed-data

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Introduction to Knowledge Management

Characteristics of knowledge

Extraordinary leverage and increasing returns Fragmentation, leakage and the need to refresh Uncertain value Uncertain value of sharing

Knowledge-based economy The economic shift from natural resources to intellectual assets

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Introduction to Knowledge Management

Explicit and tacit knowledge
Explicit (leaky) knowledge Knowledge that deals with objective, rational, and technical material (data, policies, procedures, software, documents, etc.) Easily documented, transferred, taught and learned Examples

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Introduction to Knowledge Management

Explicit and tacit knowledge
Tacit (embedded) knowledge Knowledge that is usually in the domain of subjective, cognitive, and experiential learning It is highly personal and hard to formalize Hard to document, transfer, teach and learn Involves a lot of human interpretation Examples

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Introduction to Knowledge Management

Knowledge management systems (KMS) A system that facilitates knowledge management by ensuring knowledge flow from the person(s) who know to the person(s) who need to know throughout the organization; knowledge evolves and grows during the process
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Organizational Learning and Transformation

Learning organization An organization capable of learning from its past experience, implying the existence of an organizational memory and a means to save, represent, and share it through its personnel Organizational memory Repository of what the organization knows
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Organizational Learning and Transformation

Organizational learning
Development of new knowledge and insights that have the potential to influence organizations behavior The process of capturing knowledge and making it available enterprise-wide Need to establish corporate memory Modern IT helps People issues are the most important!

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Organizational Learning and Transformation

Organizational culture The aggregate attitudes in an organization concerning a certain issue (e.g., technology, computers, DSS)

How do people learn the culture? Is it explicit or implicit? Can culture be changed? How? Give some examples of corporate culture: Microsoft, Google, Apple, HP, GM,
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Why people dont like to share knowledge: Lack of time to share knowledge and time to identify colleagues in need of specific knowledge Fear that sharing may jeopardize ones job security Low awareness and realization of the value and benefit of the knowledge others possess Dominance in sharing explicit over tacit knowledge Use of a strong hierarchy, position-based status, and formal power Insufficient capture, evaluation, feedback, communication, and tolerance of past mistakes
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Organizational Learning and Transformation

Why people dont like to share knowledge: Differences in experience and education levels Lack of contact time and interaction between knowledge sources and recipients Poor verbal/written communication and interpersonal skills Age, gender, cultural and ethical defenses Lack of a social network Ownership of intellectual property Lack of trust in people because they may misuse knowledge or take unjust credit for it Perceived lack of accuracy/credibility of knowledge
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Organizational Learning and Transformation

Knowledge Management Activities

Knowledge creation is the generation of new insights, ideas, or routines Four modes of knowledge creation:

Socialization Externalization Internalization Combination Analytics-based knowledge creation?

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I. PROCESSES

a) Socialization

Processes in contributing the knowledge management 4 processes of interactions is a spiral process that takes place repeatedly b) Externalization
Developing concepts and models to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge Enable it to be communicated to others

Sharing tacit knowledge through faceto-face communication or shared experience. eg: meeting

d) Internalization Understand explicit knowledge Closely linked to learning by doing

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c) Combination

Combination of various elements of explicit knowledge to form more complex and systematic explicit knowledge

Approaches to Knowledge Management

Process approach to knowledge management attempts to codify organizational knowledge through formalized controls, processes and technologies

Focuses on explicit knowledge and IT

Practice approach focuses on building the social environments or communities of practice necessary to facilitate the sharing of tacit understanding

Focuses on tacit knowledge and socialization

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Approaches to Knowledge Management

Hybrid approaches to knowledge management
Hybrid at 80/20 to 50/50

The practice approach is used so that a repository stores only explicit knowledge that is relatively easy to document Tacit knowledge initially stored in the repository is contact information about experts and their areas of expertise Increasing the amount of tacit knowledge over time eventually leads to the attainment of a true process approach

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Knowledge Management A Demand Led Business Activity

Supply-driven vs. demand-driven KM
Supp ly-dr iven :
Data
h roac p p a ogy

DIKA

n Tech

ol

Results
obtain

summarize

Information

Action

contextulize

Knowledge

utilize

Bu s i

n e ss

-valu e

appr o a ch

Dem

: RA n e v i r nd-d

KID

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Classic Data to Knowledge Hierarchy

Wisdom Knowledge Information Data

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From Facts to Wisdom

(Haeckel & Nolan, 1993) one example of the hierarchy

Volume Completeness Objectivity

Less is More

Value Structure Subjectivity

Wisdom Knowledge Intelligence

Information Facts
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Knowledge Management Models

Documentalist Technologist Learner & Communicator
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History of Information Professionals as Knowledge Managers

Knowledge management is a new business strategy, but its techniques can be traced to the work of documentalists in the early part of the twentieth century.
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Documentalists as Knowledge Managers

In Europe and America in the first part of the twentieth century, documentalists had grand visions of collecting, codifying and organizing the worlds knowledge for the purpose of world peace.
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Information Professionals as Knowledge Managers

The documentalists were the original multimedia professionals. Paul Otlet began the International Federation for Documentation. He wanted libraries to stop being depositories and to become more dynamic in information transfer. Under the leadership of Otlet the Europeans not only collected and codified documents, they developed networks and worked to exchange knowledge among people.
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Documentalists and Special Librarians

Suzanne Briet, sometimes called Madame Documentation drew the comparison between American special librarians and European documentalists after a visit to America in 1954.

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Briet & the Documentalists

In Qu'est-ce que la documentation? Briet brilliantly defined documents in terms of indexical signs. In this, she was adopting an argument that previous documentalists of her time had suggested and which was present in the cultural air, as she states, through linguists and philosophers, surely in the form of structural linguistics and semiotics.
Professor Ron Day in the Preface to Quest-ce que la documentation? http://www.lisp.wayne.edu/~ai2398/briet.htm
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Caution
It would be a mistake, though, to define Knowledge Management as solely the domain of documents and documentalists.

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KM as a Technological Solution
Is KM Big business? A competitive advantage? Intellectual capital? An intranet solution? An asset dimension? A technological infrastructure?
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Contentnets have a role to play in KM

As knowledge repositories for tacit knowledge that has been made explicit For best practices databases For expert yellow pages Online learning and knowledge sharing Knowledge sharing boards
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Peoplenets & Processnets have a role to play in KM

For group learning applications To connect individuals with each other for mentoring and knowledge sharing For decision support & decision making To sense, share, and respond to the signals coming from the environment To capture ideas and turn them into action
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Caution
It would be a mistake, though, to define Knowledge Management as solely the KM technology infrastructure.

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The Challenges of Electronic Collaboration in Knowledge Sharing

Focusing exclusively on the technical issues of electronic collaboration is a sure way to a very expensive failure. A focus on the people issues dramatically increases the potential for success.
David Coleman, IBM Manager, San Francisco in Knowledge Management, a Real Business Guide, London:IBM, nd.
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The Learning and Communication Process Model

Innovation is a way of life Flexibility and the ability to act quickly is necessary in a changing environment New projects can benefit from alliances and learning from in-house experts and creative thinkers.
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KM: Learning and Communication Process

In simple language KM is an effort to capture not only explicit factual information but also the tacit information and knowledge that exists in an organization, usually based on the experience and learning of individual employees, in order to advance the organization's mission. The eventual goal is to share knowledge among members of the organization.
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Value to Organization
Repositories Active Knowledge Transfer

Best Practices Reports

Organizational Learning
Decision Making Tools Profiles for Customization Pushed Reports & News Collaboration Tools Irfan Inamdar

Expert Knowledge Base Contact Links

Documents
Presentation Slides Tips

Expert Assistance as Needed

Communities of Practice Index

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Sowhat is knowledge management?

Knowledge management (KM) is an effort to increase useful knowledge within the organization. Ways to do this include encouraging communication, offering opportunities to learn, and promoting the sharing of appropriate knowledge artifacts. McInerney, C. (2002). Knowledge
management and the dynamic nature of knowledge. JASIST, 53 (2).

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Some other key ideas

Knowledge as a Social Value
Knowledge artifacts Knowledge as an intellectual activity & the mind/body connection Common knowledge

Process & things

KM as a fad
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McInerney, C. (2002). Knowledge management and the dynamic nature of knowledge. 48

Processing data can be performed by machine, but only the human mind can process knowledge or even information.
Jesse Shera in Machlup and Mansfields The Study of Information: Interdisciplinary Messages. NY: Wiley, 1983.
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