Managing Knowledge

Prepared by Eman Rashed

Managing Knowledge

Types of Knowledge

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You can make sharing part of the way you workby doing things that are just a little different from what you currently do

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Review your email and files for information you frequently refer to or that you often send to people Organize your ldquovirtual filing cabinetrdquo so that you can quickly find that information when you need it This will save your time allow you to be more responsive and make people happier

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2 HelpWhen yoursquore talking to people listen for opportunities to help them by sending them the information yoursquove organized Answer questions and promise to follow up with additional information Now yoursquore getting even more return on the time you invested

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3 Reach outYou can find even more opportunities to help by reviewing what yoursquove organized and thinking of people who could benefit from that information Reach out to them so that you can help them save time make things happen and build stronger relationships

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4 Prepare

Now yoursquove saved even more time Use some of that time to prepare by writing down notes that might be useful someday

Donrsquot wait until you finish a project Write your notes while yoursquore working It will help you clarify your thinking record your decisions and be more productive

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5 Publish

Put your notes in an access-controlled database if you need to or publish your notes as widely as you can

The more people can help themselves the more efficiently you can work and the bigger difference you can make

Herersquos where the magic happensYou have notes You know theyrsquore usefulNow make it easy for other people to find them

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6 ImproveReview your processes Improve your organizational systemSmoothen the way you work Compounded over time little changes can be powerful

Effective CommunicationGood language communication skills and a

good understanding of cross-culture

Flexible Structure And Design Flat structure Horizontal Communities

Cross Functional Teams hellipetc

Trust CultureThe relationship between individuals and

groupsare open and honest and supported

throughperformance related incentives and rewards

Process And Strategies Clear process - Learning strategies

Information Technology Solid IT Infrastructure

Life inside Google

1- Conceptual mindset related issues We need to create a culture of sharing - Often knowledge is seen

as power and in a competitive environment there could be a tendency to hoard knowledge

We should move from hoarding of knowledge to gain power to sharing of knowledge to gain powerldquo

2- Operational issues Time - KM should not be seen as a separate initiative but should be

integrated into current workflow as a more effective way to achieve business results

3- Cultural issues such as language and material culture which have been also

identified as important factors

In this competitive knowledge economy our most valuable asset is the knowledge asset [eg Microsoft]

Expected outcomes of an organization with KM Improve performance productivity and

competitiveness Improve decision making Reduce research costs and delays More innovative organization

HR has a pivotal role to play in the KM movement Key HR processes -- Corporate Education Performance

Management and nurturing culture have a very significant role in the development of the knowledge-based enterprise

Talent management which is the domain of HR and knowledge management are closely interrelated

Cross Functional Team

Job rotations Well-planned job (role) rotations across geographical locations and businesses in a firm help not only boost people development but also provide an important vehicle for transfer of knowledge and best practices

Networked organization HR should play a key role in developing such a

networked organization through facilitation of knowledge communities teams

Training Learning and knowledge are inter-linked

E- Learning is made available through company web sites (Intranets) and even through CD-ROMs It allows the learner to enroll into courses or programs of their choice

Culture change KM requires HR to create a culture of sharing supported by incentive system

Knowledge sharing will be encouraged if hoarding knowledge is seen as violating the companyrsquos values and if those who transfer know-how to other units are presented as heroes

Knowledge intensive

organisations

Labour intensive

organisations

Physical capital

intensive organisations

PSFs

Non- PSFs

Products Services Products Services Products

Knowledge management systems are meant to organize and share knowledge within a firm but more often than not their scope has become too large to manage and keeping the KM systems up-to-date and useful has been an enormous challenge

Ad hoc mgt of knowledge in the client driven PSF

Personalization the creative problem solving PSF

Codification in the Solution adaption PSF

Insufficient Adaptiveness

SOLUTION ADAPTATION

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

CLIENT-DRIVEN

Lack of coordination amp discipline

External Strategic Focus

Internal Resource

Orientation

Client relationsCreative problem solving

Adaptation of ready solutions

Organizationally controlled resources

Team-based (individual ampcollective)

Individually controlled resources

Tensions between two or more of these configurations

bullClient drivenbullProblem solvingbullSolution adaptation

Tensions between two or more of these configurations

bull Client drivenbull Problem solvingbull Solution adaptation

Human Intellectual Capital +

Relationship Intellectual Capital+

Structural Intellectual Capital=

Total knowledge available to be managed

(70) Human Intellectual Capital +

(20) Relationship Intellectual Capital

+(10) Structural Intellectual Capital

NB Not applicable to audit firms due to regulatory factors uniformity of product and rigid methodology

PSFs with PSFs with strongstrong KM systems KM systems

(50) Human Intellectual Capital +

(20-30) Relationship Intellectual Capital

+(20-30) Structural Intellectual

Capital

NB Not applicable to audit firms due to regulatory factors uniformity of product and rigid methodology

Customerclient

Employer Employee

bull Leverage the firms intellectual capital

bull Find experts within the firm

bull Share best practices internally and with clients bull Aggregate industry-specific research amp doc

bull Keep client information secure

1048696Lack of trust1048696 Different cultures vocabularies and frames of reference1048696 Lack of time and meeting places narrow idea of productive work1048696 Status and award go to knowledge owners1048696 Lack of absorptive capacity in recipients1048696 Belief that knowledge is prerogative of particular groups not-invented-here syndrome1048696 Intolerance for mistakes or need for help

34

To understand the distinctive characteristics of knowledge intensive service firms

To identify the key resources (forms of capital) that knowledge intensive firms draw on for their success

To identify the challenges for managing people and managing knowledge faced by knowledge intensive firms

To explore the ways in which HR strategy structure delivery and practices can be used to create valuable products and services

35

Converting Human Capital into Intellectual Capital

Employee Knowledge

Skills Experience

Conversion Process

Intellectual CapitalHuman Capital

Role of HR practices in this conversion process

Products and

services which have

market value

36

IntellectualCapital

Human capital

Social capital

Structural capital

NetworkCapital

Client Capital

OrganizationalCapital

Forms of CapitalKnowledge skills and experience of staff

Knowledge embedded in values culture and relationships

Ways of structuring work

Procedures policies and processes

Knowledge of and relationships with clients

Knowledge of and relationships with network members

37

Human capital

Social capital

Structural capital

NetworkCapital

Client Capital

OrganizationalCapital

IntellectualCapital

Resourcing

Job and

Work D

esign

Trai

ning

and

Dev

elop

men

t

Pay and Reward

Perform

ance

Managem

ent

Invo

lvem

ent

Delivery

Strategy Structure

The HR Wheel

Kinnie et al 2006

DEFINITION KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION is the process of acquiring knowledge from a human expert for an expert system which must be carefully organized into IF-THEN rules or some other form of knowledge representation

Combining knowledge from the outside or international operation with that of local to achieve the stated organisational objectives

Observe the person solving real problems

Through discussions identify the kinds of data knowledge and procedures required to solve different types of problems

Build scenarios with the expert that can be associated with different problem types

Have the expert solve a series of problems verbally and ask the rationale behind each step

Develop rules based on the interviews and solve the problems with them

Have the expert review the rules and the general problem solving procedure

Compare the responses of outside experts to a set of scenarios obtained from the projects expert and the ES

bull Listening post sending people out to work far away to work and bringing them back to get information from them

bull Partnering and mergers

Voluntary amalgamation of two firms on roughly equalterms into one new legal entity Mergers are effected byexchange of the pre-merger stock (shares) for the stock of the new firm Owners of each pre-merger firm continue as owners and the resources of the merging entities are pooled for the benefit of the new entity

bull Playing with virtual market Virtual Marketing Concepts specializes in creative web site design and Internet marketing by an integrated team of web consultants creative designers programmers and marketing professionals that know how to get online results

This pyramid tells a very compelling story After a lecture we can only be expected to retain 5 of what we hear We can retain 10 of what we read etc Ultimately the pyramid reminds us that the best way to master a topic is to learn to teach it The more involved we get with the content the more mastery we have over it

Stimulate knowledge sharing among individuals

Avoid employee turnover

Making Tacit knowledge explicit