Knowledge Management in Theory and Practice

1. Knowledge Management in Theory and Practice Lecture 2: The Knowledge Management Cycle

2. Overview • Major KM Cycles • Knowledge-Information Cycle (ACIIC Knowledge Economy) • Meyer and Zack KM Cycle • Bukowitz and Wiliams • McElroy KM Cycle • Wiig KM Cycle

3. KM Cycle Processes • Knowledge Capture • Knowledge Creation • Knowledge Codification • Knowledge Sharing • Knowledge Access • Knowledge Application • Knowledge Re-Use

4. Bukowitz and Williams ASSESS GET BUILD/SUSTAIN Knowledge USE LEARN CONTRIBUTE OR: DIVEST

5. Bukowitz and Williams /2 • Get: seeking out information • Tacit and explicit • Being selective when faced with information overload • Use: combine content in new and interesting ways to foster innovation in the organization • Learn: learning from experiences • Creation of an organizational memory

6. Bukowitz and Williams/3 • Contribute: motivate employees to post what they have learned to a knowledge base • Link individual learning and knowledge to organizational memory • Assess: evaluation of intellectual capital • Identify assets, metrics to assess them and link these directly to business objectives

7. Bukowitz and Williams/4 • Build and Sustain: allocate resources to maintain knowledge base • Contribute to viability, competitiveness • Divest: should not keep assets that are no longer of any business value • Transfer outside the organization e.g. outsourcing • Patent, spin off companies etc.

8. Wiig KM Cycle • Processes by which we build and use knowledge • As individuals • As teams (communities) • As organizations • How we: • Build knowledge • Hold knowledge • Pool knowledge • Apply knowledge • Discrete tasks yet often interdependent & parallel

9. Wiig KM Cycle/2 • Personal experience • Formal education and training • Intelligence sources • Media, books, peers Build Knowledge Hold Knowledge • In people • In tangible forms (e.g. books) • KM systems (intranet, dbase) • Groups of people- brainstorm Pool Knowledge • In work context • Embedded in work processes Use Knowledge

10. Wiig KM Cycle/3 • Personal experience • Formal education and training • Intelligence sources • Media, books, peers Build Knowledge Hold Knowledge • In people • In tangible forms (e.g. books) • KM systems (intranet, dbase) • Groups of people- brainstorm Pool Knowledge • In work context • Embedded in work processes Use Knowledge

11. Building Knowledge • Learning from all kinds of sources to: • Obtain Knowledge • Analyze Knowledge • Reconstruct (Synthesize) Knowledge • Codify and Model Knowledge • Organize Knowledge

12. Building Knowledge - Examples • Market research • Focus groups • Surveys • Competitive intelligence • Data mining on customer preferences • Create taxonomy of customer types • Synthesis of lessons learned (what worked, what didn’t) – generate hypotheses • Project management lessons learned • Identify attribute of suppliers who were most responsive, use this to select future suppliers, also to develop requirements to include in RFP

13. Wiig KM Cycle/4 • Personal experience • Formal education and training • Intelligence sources • Media, books, peers Build Knowledge Hold Knowledge • In people • In tangible forms (e.g. books) • KM systems (intranet, dbase) • Groups of people- brainstorm Pool Knowledge • In work context • Embedded in work processes Use Knowledge

14. Holding Knowledge • In people’s minds, books, computerized knowledge bases, etc. • Remember knowledge – internalize it • Cumulate knowledge in repositories (encode it) • Embed knowledge in repositories (within procedures) • Archive knowledge • Create scientific library, subscriptions • Retire older knowledge from active status in repository (e.g. store in another medium for potential future retrieval – cd roms, etc.)

15. Holding Knowledge - Examples • Company owns a number of proprietary methods and recipes for making products • Some knowledge documented in the form of research reports, technical papers, patents • Other tacit knowledge can be elicited and embedded in the knowledge base in the form of know-how, tips, tricks of the trade • Videotapes of specialized experts explaining various procedures • Task support systems

16. Wiig KM Cycle/5 • Personal experience • Formal education and training • Intelligence sources • Media, books, peers Build Knowledge Hold Knowledge • In people • In tangible forms (e.g. books) • KM systems (intranet, dbase) • Groups of people- brainstorm Pool Knowledge • In work context • Embedded in work processes Use Knowledge

17. Pooling Knowledge • Can take many forms such as discussions, expert networks and formal work teams • Pooling knowledge consists of: • Coordinating knowledge of collaborative teams • Creating expert networks to identify who knows what • Assembling knowledge – background references from libraries and other knowledge sources • Accessing and retrieving knowledge • Consult with knowledgeable people about a difficult problem, peer reviews, second opinions • Obtain knowledge directly from a repository – advice, explanations

18. Pooling Knowledge - Examples • An employee realizes he or she does not have the necessary knowledge and know-how to solve a particular problem • She contact others in the company who have had similar problems to solve, consults the knowledge repository and makes use of an expert advisory system to help her out • She organizes all this information and has subject matter experts validate the content

19. Wiig KM Cycle/6 • Personal experience • Formal education and training • Intelligence sources • Media, books, peers Build Knowledge Hold Knowledge • In people • In tangible forms (e.g. books) • KM systems (intranet, dbase) • Groups of people- brainstorm Pool Knowledge • In work context • Embedded in work processes Use Knowledge

20. Using Knowledge • Use established knowledge to perform routine tasks, make standard products, provide standard services • Use general knowledge to survey exceptional situations, identify problem, consequences • Use knowledge to describe situation and scope problem • Select relevant special knowledge to handle situation, identify knowledge sources • Observe and characterize the situation, collect and organize information • Analyze situation, determine patterns, compare with others, judge what needs to be done

21. Using Knowledge (con’t) • Synthesize alternative solutions, identify options, create new solutions • Evaluate potential alternatives, appraise advantages and disadvantages of each, determine risks and benefits of each • Use knowledge to decide what to do, which alternative to select • Rank alternatives & test that each is feasible, acceptable • Implement selected alternative • Choose and assemble tools needed • Prepare implementation plan, distribute it, authorize team to proceed with this solution

22. Using Knowledge - Examples • Expert mechanic encounters a new problem • Gathers info to diagnose and analyze • Synthesizes a list of possible solutions with the tools he knows are available to him • Decides on the best option and uses it to fix the part • Non-routine tasks are approached in a different way than familiar, standard ones

23. KM Cycle Processes • Knowledge Capture • Knowledge Creation & Contribution • Knowledge Codification & Refinement (inc. Sanitize) & Reconstruction (e.g. synthesis) • Selectively filter contributions • Knowledge Modeling • Knowledge Sharing & Pooling • Knowledge Organization & Access • Knowledge Learning &Application • Knowledge Evaluation & Re-Use OR Divest

24. Five Critical Knowledge Functions for each KM Cycle Step • Type of knowledge or skill involved • Securities trading expertise • Business use of that knowledge • Increase the value of a retirement fund portfolio • Constraint that prevents knowledge from being fully utilized • Expert will retire at the end of the year with no successor • Opportunities, alternatives to manage that knowledge • Elicit and codify knowledge before person retires • Expected value-added of improving the situation • Valuable knowledge is not lost to organization

25. Integrated KM Cycle Assess Knowledge Capture and/or Creation Knowledge Sharing and Dissemination Knowledge Acquisition and Application Update Contextualize