Harvard Business Review on Knowledge Management

1. Harvard Business Review on Knowledge Management Articles 7-8 Presented for MIS 580 By Harry Xenophontos

2. Research that Reinvents the Corporation • Published in 1991 • By John Seely Brown • Former Director of Xerox Research Center, PARC • Real case study example MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

3. Article Outline • The Corporation Invention • Technology Gets Out of the Way • Harvesting Local Innovation • Coproducing Innovation • Innovating with the Customer • PARC: Seedbed of the Computer Revolution • How Xerox Redesigned its Copiers MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

4. The Corporation Invention “The most important invention that will come out of the corporate research lab in the future will be the corporation itself ”. • Understand how people really work • How technology can help them work more effectively • Use research to reinvent the corporation MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

5. The Corporation Invention • Pioneering Research Principles • New work practices is as important as new products • Learning from innovation • Can’t just produce innovation • Ultimate innovation partner is the customer MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

6. Technology Gets Out of the Way • The technology itself will become invisible • Example: Photocopier • “Information Technology is everywhere and can be customized to match more closely the work to be done”. • Disappearance of the copier as a stand alone device. MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

7. Technology Gets Out of the Way Remote Interactive Communication (RIC) • IT’s transformation of the copier • Complex computing and communication devices- Sensors that collect information • Artificial intelligence techniques • Customer - never see the machine fail • Xerox - way to listen to the customer MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

8. Harvesting Local Innovation • IS customization to support work practices • Nature of innovation, organizational learning and good product design • PARC Anthropologists: • Employees do their work different than they say they do or trained to do • Potential to be remarkable innovative • By capturing the innovation and learn from it MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

9. Harvesting Local Innovation • Customized user-system program (CUSP) • Allows users to modify the system themselves • Buttons - people without a lot of training in computers can make modifications • Xerox tech reps learn most out in the field • Have anyone had a similar experience? MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

10. Coproducing Innovation • Communicate fresh insights so that others can grasp their significance - tech transfer • How the corporation rejects certain ideas • Uncover features that need to change • Conceptual envisioning environment • Envision new products before are actually built • Share understanding with partners to coproduce new technologies and practices MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

11. Innovating with the Customer “research’s ultimate partner in coproduction is the customer” • Customers may be unaware of their needs • Product may not yet exists • Prototyping a need or use before prototyping a system MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

12. PARC: Seedbed of the Computer Revolution • Basic research in computing and electronics • How complex organizations use information • Throughout the 1970s PARC innovations: • Bit map - display with easy interface • LAN - distributed computing • Overlapping screen windows • Point and click editing • Smalltalk - first object oriented programming language • Laser printing prototype - billion dollar business (1990) MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

13. How Xerox Redesigned Its Copiers • In 1980s service calls were increasing • Unreliable printers • Xerox’s quality reputation was at stake • Source of the problem was the copier design • By adding new functions the copiers became very complex • Research video experiment - proposed alternative design - dramatic results change MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

14. Research That Reinvents the Corporation • Xerox letter from J. S. Brown, Corporate VP to a young researcher • Essential tools are trust and intuition • Radical approach to research • Improving current technology • A research plotted path is the one you invent • Following your instinct is most important • A successful company must use research MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

15. Managing Professional Intellect: Making the most of the Best • Published in 1996 • By: • James Brian Quinn • Philip Anderson • Sydney Finkelstein • Philosophical Article • Where we are going in the future MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

16. Article Outline • What is Professional Intellect? • Developing Professional Intellect • Leveraging Professional Intellect • Inverting Organizations • Creating Intellectual Webs MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

17. Managing Professional Intellect Overview “A corporation’s success today lies more in its intellectual and systems capabilities than its physical assets” • Little attention to managing intellect - creates the most value in the new economy • Don’t work hard - work smart MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

18. What is Professional Intellect? • The professional intellect of an organization operates in four levels: • Cognitive knowledge - know what • Advanced skills - know how • Systems understanding - know why • Self motivated creativity - care why (This order represents increasing importance) • A professional’s activity is directed at perfection, not creativity MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

19. Developing Professional Intellect Best practices for managing intellect • Recruit the best • Microsoft interviews 100s for each one it hires; - Four Seasons 50 for 1 • Most qualified professionals want to work with the best in their fields • Force intensive early development • The learning curve depends heavily on interactions with customers • Ensure growth through complexity, mentoring, rewards for performance and strong incentives MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

20. Developing Professional Intellect Best practices for managing intellect 3. Constantly increase professional challenges • Leaders - demanding, visionary, intolerant • Set almost impossible “stretch goals” • Push workers beyond book knowledge, simulation models, controlled laboratories 4. Evaluate and weed • Professionals - evaluated, compete, knoe they have excelled against their peers • Andersen Consulting - only 10% moves to partnership MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

21. Leveraging Professional Intellect • For years, could create leverage by • More intensive training and work schedule • Increasing the number of associates • Changing the traditional economics of managing professional intellect • New software tools, incentive systems and organizational designs for much higher levels • Overcome professionals’ reluctance sharing information MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

22. Inverting Organizations • Successful reorganizations • abandon hierarchical structures • Breaking away from traditional thinking • NovaCare organizes around the work of its therapists - CEO refers to them as ‘bosses’ • Supporting Organizations • The center provides support services • Enough expertise to be self-sufficient • Act independently to meet specific customer needs MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

23. Inverting Organizations MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

24. Creating Intellectual Webs • Spider’s Webs • Forms to accomplish a particular project and disbands when the project is completed • Appropriate when knowledge is dispersed among many specialists • As opposed to HealthCare, tech troubleshooting units and universities that we saw earlier, many consulting firms, investment banks, research consortia and medical teams use this approach. MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

25. Spider’s Web MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

26. Managing Professional Intellect Summary “Managing human intellect-and converting it into useful products and services-is fast becoming the critical executive skill of the age” • Professional intellect creates most of the value in the new economy, in service and manufacturing industries alike • Interest in intellectual capital, creativity, innovation, and learning organizations MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

27. External Sources • IT Doesn’t Matter, by Nicholas G. Carr, Harvard Business Review • IT will become a commodity • IT investment and strategy will change dramatically • Technology will get out of the way • The technology itself will become invisible • Comparison with railroads and power MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

28. Additional Resources • IT Does Not Matter…Or, Does it? Has IT moved from a strategic to a purely tactical function? By Deepak Sarup, FCA, CISA Information Systems Audit and Control Association, www.isaca.org • “Companies need to keep evolving and changing to harness the power of advances in IT” • It is not technology but the use of information that provides the competitive edge MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

29. Personal Opinion and Comments • IT will need to be used to research and create innovation, but business processes and knowledge workers’ management approach will make more importance. • So, part of IT does matter, part of IT does not. • Customers will drive organizations according to their needs, and they might get tired using technology, or even worse depend on technology for most part of their life. MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos

30. Comments Opinions Critiques Discussion Questions Answers Thank You “Knowledge is Power: So Don’t Forget to Recharge. HBSP - The Power of Ideas at Work” MIS580 - Harry Xenophontos