University of Debrecen Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Shared Services Experts Specialisation Lecturer: Éva Farkas 2011/2012 KNOWLEDGE.

University of DebrecenFaculty of Economics and Business AdministrationShared Services Experts Specialisation

Lecturer: Éva Farkas

2011/2012

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Introduction to Knowledge Management

WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT?

Introducing Thoughts

•Knowledge based economy

•Knowledge has become the key asset to drive organisational success

•Knowledge and intellectual capital

•Emerging knowledge intensive sectors (business services)

•Knowledge becomes obsolete

•Life Long Learning initiations

The Roots of Knowledge Management

•Wide variety of disciplines such as philosophy, business management, anthropology, information sciences, psychology

•Multidisciplinary nature

•Some literature on knowledge management is heavily information systems oriented.

•Other literature focus on the HRM aspects of knowledge creation and sharing

The Roots of Knowledge Management II.

•Discipline roots:• Anthropology, Economics, Strategy, Information Sciences, Computer

Sciences, Psychology, Management Sciences, HRM, Sociology, Strategy

•Contents:• Change management, Culture, Intellectual capital, KM systems, KM

tools, Learning organisation, Organisational learning, Strategic management

•Activities:• Knowledge creation, translation, mobilisation, transfer

Author/s Definition of KM Perspective

Davenport and Prusak (1998)

‚KM draws from existing resources that your organisation may already have in place – good information systems management, organisational change management, and HRM practises.’

Integration (information systems and HR)

Swan et al. (1999)

‚… any process or practice of creating, acquiring, capturing, sharing and using knowledge, wherever it resides, to enhance learning an performance in organisations’

HR process

Skyrme (1999) ‚The explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge and its associated processes of creating, gathering, organising, diffusion, use of exploitation, in pursuit of organisational objectives.’

HR process

Mertins et al. (2000)

‚… all methods, instruments and tools that in a holistic approach contribute to the promotion of core knowldege processes.’

Information system

Uit Beijerse (2000)

‚The achievement of the organisation’s goals by making the factor knowledge productive.’

Strategic Man.

Newell et al. (2009)

‚… improving the ways in which firms facing highly turbulent environments can mobilise their knowledge base in order to ensure continous innovation”

Strategic Man.

Jasaphara 2011:13

Practical aspects on Knowledge Management

•KM is the critical element of a business strategy that will allow the firm to accelerate the rate at which it handles new market challenges and opportunities, and it does so by leveraging its most precious of resources, collective know-how, talent and experience – intellectual capital.

•KM promotes practices and technologies that facilitate the efficient creation and exchange of knowledge on an organisation-wide level.

•KM is also extended to include partners, suppliers and customers – to a so-called collaborative business environment.

Practical aspects on Knowledge Management II.

•Knowledge Management…

• …is not a technology, although technology should be exploited as

an enabler.

• …is not a directive, although strategic leadership is imperative to

successful KM.

• …is not a business strategy, although one aligned with the tenets of

knowledge management must exist.

• …is not knowledge engineering.

• …is about processes, not just digital networks.

• …is not about building a smarter intranet.

• …is not about a one-time investment.

The relevance of KM – Some typical KM job titles

•Knowledge coordinator

•Director of KM

•Knowledge economist

•Knowledge resources librarian

•KM project manager

•Knowledge consultant

•Chief knowledge officer

•Knowledge administrator

•Knowledge manager

Basic elements of KM

DATA, KNOWLEDGE, INFORMATION, WISDOM

Data

•‚known facts or things used as a basis of inference or reckoning’

• We acquire data from the external world through our senses and try to make sense of these signals through our experiences.

•Quantitative data – narrow meanings

•Qualitative data – depends on the perception of the transmitter and the reciever of the data

Information

•Organised data – depends on the situation

•Has deeper meanings

•Gives shape to the data and makes a difference to the insight of the reciever of the data.

•The reciever determines whether a message is data or information

Knowledge

•‚actionable information’ – helps to make better decisions

•Occurs by providing information at the right place, at the right time and in the appropriate format.

•Allows us to act more effectively than information and equips us with a greater ability to predict future outcomes.

•Complexity of knowledge:

• Tacit knowledge (know how)• Explicit knowledge (know what)

Explicit knowledge Tacit knowledge

Expressible by numbers, and words Invisible, rather processes,

routines, attitudes

Easy to codificate easy to share Difficult to formalize difficult to

share

Can be found in books, systems, degrees, diploms etc.

Depends on the experience, habits, culture, etc.

Improved by education, formal trainings, etc.

Improved by experiences, trainings, situations – situative

learning

Next time

•The Evolution of KM

•The drivers of the KM – In which situations in firm level KM is useful?

THE EVOLUTION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Historical aspect of Knowledge Management I.

•Oral traditions:

• Human memory as a storage• Reliability of oral traditions is questionable• Limits: our memories, context of the knowledge, social background

• Redundancy – unnecessary words, less information

• Different bases – similar/same expressions with different meaning

•Cuneiform

• The first possibility to codify the knowledge• Archiving, searching • Problems and solutions • Libraries – sources written by hand • Huge amount of codified knowledge• Timeless knowledge

Historical aspect of Knowledge Management II.

•Paradigm shifts• Printing

• The durability of sources better• The amount of codified stories and knowledge was increased in

Europe• It was possible to internalise the knowledge in the households

• Digital Age• More storage • More knowledge • Impersonal knowledge• E-books• E-learning• Telecommunication• No borders and no limits

Historical aspect of Knowledge Management III.

•„Many companies suffered from ‘Air Flight In-house Magazine’ syndrome - where the busy executive (with a budget) read an article on Knowledge Management, arrived back in the office and implemented some „sexy” Knowledge Management technology.”

DRIVERS, PROBLEM SYMPTOMS AND SOLUTIONS OF KM

BUSINESS DRIVERS OF THE NEW ECONOMY

Cross-global drivers of knowledge management

•Why managers might be interested in KM?

• Improving knowledge sharing across units• Improving competitive response• Accelerating the rate of innovation • Reducing or controlling costs• Reducing loss of intellectual assets from turnover• Increased need to operate globally• Emergence of internet technology• Better integration of mergers and acquisitions

Types of KM buying behaviours and costumer segments – Conservative Adopters (35-45%)

•Needs: basic functionality, cost savings, process efficiencies and service improvements

•Profile: rely on groupware systems to provide KM functionality; willing to trade functionality for seamless integration

•Example:‚Our need for KM is not so great. We only have 30 products. Our small organization learns informally. It is helpful for dealing with customers and suppliers as well as sales proposals.’ (Metal Component Manufacturer)

Types of KM buying behaviours and costumer segments – Fast Followers (25-30%)

•Needs: deep KM functionality in a few critical business processes; high needs – low capabilities

•Profile: initiate projects for limited set of KM components; expect large savings from solving their most significant KM problem; preferring all-in-one solutions

•Example: ‚We need KM to help makee a wafer fabrication plant capacity decision which provided an alternative to having to invest a lot of money in a new plant’ (Electronics Manufacturer)

Types of KM buying behaviours and costumer segments – Solution Buyer (10-15%)

•Needs: broad range and deep functionality across KM components; process efficiencies and service improvement

•Profile: Typically larger companies with deep needs across a range of functions; aggressively adopt technology on a project by project basis; prefer all-in-one solutions from trusted advisors

•Example: ‚We generated over 100 m US dollar savings and revenues by using KM to deepen our understanding of our world-class patent inventory. This allowed us to identify obsolete patents to our business and generate royalties and tax credits from third parties with the help of our KM services vendor.’ (global pharmaceutical manufacturer)

Types of KM buying behaviours and costumer segments – Self-sufficient Integrators (1-2%)

•Needs: innovative source of competitive advantage within their industries; leading edge status in their industries

•Profile: market leaders; their competitive edge is based on adopting new technologies quickly

•Example: The new world order is going to be swapping information for new revenues. We are taking what we’ve learnt internally and selling it to clients. Our vision is to create an electronic market place for intellectual property and intermediate between buyers and sellers.’ (prof. Services partnership)

Types of KM buying behaviours and costumer segments – Business Design Innovators (1-4%)

•Needs: innovative source of competitive advantage within their industries; sufficiently early to reap benefits first

•Profile: market leaders, preferring 1-2 IT service providers; often driven by visionary leaders who view advanced KM capabilities as a key to achieving leading edge status.

•Example: ‚We are extending our global KM Product Development 2000 project, which significantly improved efficiency by eliminating variation and improving performance. We are now using a „trading network” to leverage our entire supply chain and share best practices while driving down costs.’ (automotive manufacturer)

INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL

Different types of capitals•C

apital…• is mainly financial cathegory• Indicates the worth of the company• Financial• Venture• Knowledge• Social

•Converting capitals• The worthiest are the knowledge capital and social capital• Different converting strategies

• Financial to knowledge

• Financial to social

• Knowledge to financial

• Knowledge to social

Characteristics of intellectual capital

•Financial and non-financial sources in firms

•Until 2005 intellectual capital was particularly measured by financial indicators• Intellectual capital = the worth of knowledge and the level of education

• Differences between human and organisational capital• Individualistic character of human capital

• Unique composition

• Synergy effect• Efficiency

• Performance

Characteristics of intellectual capital II.

•Stewart (1997): ‚IC is the intellectual material – knowledge, information, intellectual property, experience – that can be put to create wealth’

•Intangible assets of a company: organisational (structural) and human capital

•Distinction between tangible and intangible assets

• Structural capital – tangible asset

• Structural capital – intangible asset (reputation, routines, habits, organisational culture)

• Human capital – intangible asset (degrees, diplomas, tacit knowledge etc.)

Characteristics of intellectual capital III.

•Approaches

• Business Strategy• Knowledge development: learning organisation, conservation

management, innovation• Knowledge leverage: KM, core competencies, invisible assets

• Measurement – financing• HR Accounting: intangible asset monitor• Scorecards: balanced scorecard, financial scorecard

How to measure IC?

•Tobin’s q (1969):• Nobel prize winner• Compares the market value of an asset with its replacement cost

(book value). If the quotient q (market-to-book-value) is less than 1, the market value of the product or service is lower than its cost of reproduction.

•HRM• Identifying meaningful and reliable measurement tools

• Expensive, time-consuming, not enough exact• Differences in each firms

• Defining whose potential benefits outweigh its expense• Moral questions – very subjective , superficial

• Benchmarking in measurement of HR performance• Apparent similarities could cover differences

Balance Scorecard Method•I

ncludes many different perspectives• Costumer • Financial • Internal business perspective• Organisational performance• Innovation and learning performance

•Weaknesses• How to compare?

• Different sectors, different meanings in each dimensions

• Mix of qualitative and quantitative aspects

•Edvinson and Malone (1993):• Intellectual capital = Human capital + Structural Capital

• Structural Capital = customer capital+ organisational capital

• Organisational Capital = innovation capital + process capital

•Lowendahl (1997):

• Additional elements: competences and relational resources

• Individual and collective dimensions

•Sullivan (1998):• Human capital: capabilities of employees, contractors and

suppliers to solve customer problems• Experiences, know how, skills, creativity

• Intellectual assets and intellectual property

Intellectual capital as a narrative

•Qualitative evaluation methods

•Roos (1997): ‚IC as a language for thinking, talking and doing something about the drivers of companies’ future earnings’ ’• Elements:

• Relationships with customers and partners• Innovation efforts• Company infrastructure• Knowledge skills of organisational members

•Mouritsen (2002):• Elements of a good narrative:

• Product/service• An account of value to user• Presentation of firm’s intellectual production function

•Problems:• Knowledge sharing difficulties• Relationships between interpreter and receiver

Human and social capital•B

ecker (1964):• Development of human capital: activities that influence monetary and psychic

income by increasing the resources in people.•H

uman vs. Intellectual capital• Economic theory has not dealt adequately with the problem of knowledge

creation.• Human capital flows and their transformation are predominantly discussed

from an individual or organisational learning perspective.• There is a distinction between human embodied knowledge (human

capital) and non-embodied knowledge (organisational capital). •S

ocial capital• The organisational capabilities are higher through cooperating individuals.• Structural dimension: the linkages between actors (hierarchy of networks,

density of networks)• Relational dimension: history of interactions between individuals• Cognitive dimension: leads shared meanings, interpretations, mental

models of views

Knowledge auditing in practice•T

ruch (2001): „value-based KM”• The evaluation of knowledge assets is most effective when

linked to a firm’s key processes and aligned to its strategic development.

• Strategic review: top-down review of a business strategy

• Process review: bottom-up identification of key business processes and the knowledge assets they produce in terms of tacit and explicit knowledge. A knowledge inventory of tacit and explicit knowledge is developed at this stage.

• Synthesis: evaluation of the knowledge inventory, cost-benefit analysis of current and potential knowledge assets

CREATING KNOWLEDGE I.

Knowledge Management Circle

Organisational learning

Individual learning

•Skinner: Stimulus-response• Response probabilities from various stimuli in the learning process

•Reinforcement theory: • Positive and negative reinforcement

•Information-processing perspective• Learning is the changing process regarding the state of knowledge

•Constructivist perspectives:• Learning is a process where individuals develop new ideas based on their current and

past knowledge and experiences.

•Social learning (Bandura):• Human behaviour: continuous interaction between cognitive, behavioural

and environmental factors.

Individual learning

•Learning circles• Demming (1986): Plan – Do – Check – Act (PDCA)• Schein (1987): observation – emotional reaction – judgement – intervention• Argyris-Schon (1978): discovery – invention – production - generalisation• Lewin : observation and reflections – concrete experience – testing

implications of concepts in new situations – formation of abstract concepts and generalisations

•Bateson (1987): ’deutero-learning’

•Argyris (1991): disparity between ‚espoused theories’ and ‚theories in use’

•Revans (1977): ’action learning’

Team learning

•Senge (1990): the capacity of a group to engage appropriately in dialogue and discussion

• Effective team learning:• Ability to think insightfully about complex issues and bring together

the collective intelligence of the team

• Ability to provide innovative and coordinated actions.

• Ability to share practices and skills between in organisations

’If I make a decision it is a possession, I take pride in it, I tend to defend it and not listen to those who question it. If I make sense, then this is more dynamic and I listen and I can change it. A decision is something you polish. Sense making is a direction for the next period.’ (Wick 2002)

Drivers of organisational learning•S

uccess or failure?

• Failure and mistakes are often not tolerated• Culture of ’Error harvesting’

• People can share their mistakes• People do not want to hide hard-won lessons

• The benefits of ’error harvesting’:• Prevent costly mistakes• Improve the organisational culture• Quality circles and action learning groups

•Success or failure?

•Maintains the status quo

• Disincentive in terms of innovation• Lead to

• Satisfaction• Restricted search• Restricted attention• Risk aversion• Homogeneity• ’play it safe’

Drivers of organisational learning II.

Organisational learning framework – 4 I

Level Process Inputs/outcomes

Individual IntuitingExperiences, Images

Methaphors

InterpretingLanguage

Cognitive mapConversation/dialogue

Group IntegratingShared understandings

Mutual adjustmentsInteractive systems

Organisation InstitutionalisingRoutines

Diagnostic systemsRules and procedures

Intuiting

•Largely a subconscious process

•Often requires some form of pattern recognition

•Pattern recognition will support exploitation.

•For exploration: help to generate new insights and novel applications.

•Metaphors and imagination• Help provide the language to communicate one’s insight to others.

Interpreting

•Explaining throuh words and/or actions an insight or an idea to others

•The way how the person or the organisation thinks

•The framework of the interpretation is our cognitive map, our knowledge

•In a group: multiple and potentially conflicting interpretations

Integrating

•The field of developing shared understanding and taking coordinated actions through mutual adjustment.

•Group dialogue and storytelling are seen as major tools for developing new and deeper shared understandings.

Institutionalising

•Ensures that routinized actions occur.

•Codification processes – systems, structure and strategies

Knowledge acquisiton•E

lements• Congenital learning• Experimental learning• Vicarious learning, • Searching and noticing

•Assumptions of creating knowledge:• Organisational experiments may take the form of pilot studies with

feedback of findings and recommendations to the organisation• Codification• Enhancing adaptability as an experimenting organisation with a

greater focus on exploration rather than exploitation• Unintentional learning• ’Learning by doing’,

Unlearning•’

is a process through which learners discard knowledge. Unlearning makes way for new responses and mental map.’

•Environment

• Stable

• Unstable

Organisational routines•E

lements of Routines:• Organisation’s norms• Conventions• Rules• Procedures

• ’the way it operates on a daily basis’

•Embedded:• Organisation’s culture, • beliefs, • frameworks

•Inertia within organisations

•Communicational channels:• Imitation• Socialization• Education• Personalization

•Procedural vs. Declarative memory

•Lack of organisational routines• Less efficient methods of collective actions• Problems with new employees’ inclusion

Organisational routines II.

•Triggers of changes in habitual routines in groups (Gersick and Hackman 1990)• Encountering a novel state of affairs• Experiencing a failure• Reaching a milestone in the life of work of the group• Receiving an intervention • Having to cope with change in the structure of the group itself

•Different changes in OR• Repairing routines• Expanding routines• Striving routines

Organisational routines III.

Absorptive capacity•A

pplying new knowledge

•’the ability of a firm to recognize the value of new external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends is critical to innovative capabilities.’ (Cohen – Levinthal 1990)

•Absorptive capacity:• Recognizing and understanding potentially valuable new

knowledge outside the firm through exploratory learning• Assimilating valuable new knowledge through transformative learning

• Using the assimilated knowledge to create new knowledge and commercial outputs through exploitative learning

Learning organisation

Organisational learning

Learning organisation

Means End

Process or activity Idealised form

Attainable Easily lost due to changes

Descriptive research Prescriptive research

Inductive Deductive (normative)

Academic and scholarly orientation

Practitioner and consultancy orientation

Predominantly qualitative research

Predominantly quantitative research (little empirical

evidence)

Theoretical orientation Action orientation

•Learning organisation (Senge)• System thinking• Team learning• Shared vision• Mental models• Personal mastery

•Organisational learning (Garvin)• Problem solving• Experimental learning• Knowledge sharing• Vicarious learning• Experimenting

Wanted behaviour Unwanted behaviour

Asking questions Acquescing

Suggesting ideas Rubbishing ideas

Exploring alternatives Going for expedient, quick fixes

Taking risks/experimenting Being cautious

Being open about the way it is Telling people what they want to hear/filtering bad news

Converting mistakes into learning Repeating the same mistakes

Reflecting and reviewing Rushing around keeping active

Talking about learning Talking anecdotes

Taking responsibility for own learning and development

Waiting for other people to do it

Admitting inadequacies and mistakes

Justifying actions/blaming other people

Static organisati

on

Teaching organisati

on

Competitive

learning organisati

onLevel of OL Poor Fair High

Rate of learning

Poor Fair High

Learning focus

None Limited High

Level of communication

Poor Fair High

Flow of comminication

None One-way Two-way

Organisational performance

Poor Fair High

Keyword LO: ’an entity’, which requires KM

KM: ’a process’, which assumes a

LO

CultureLearning culture Culture constrains the

efficient use

Leadership/management

Leadership fosters the culture

Central role, but acts withing a culture

Vision Shared vision Km must have a vision

Work processesA LO integrates attention

to every aspect of knowledge

KM must be integrated

Organisational learning

LO is good at OL, OL is a collecitve cognitive

process

Knowledge is the result of OL

External factors Must meet these demands -

Internal factorsMust meet these demands Constrans the efficient

use, e.g. culture and IT

System’s thinkingHow a LO thinks about the

world-

Organisational memory

- E.g. data repository

Technical - Is a prerequisite

THE SECI MODEL

The starting point of the SECI model

Tacit

Explicit

The elements of the SECIThe modes

of transactio

ns(Blair)

SharingCommunicat

ion Distribution Learning

The direction of

the interaction

Tacit TacitTacit Explicit

Explicit Explicit

Explicit Tacit

Behaviour(Nonaka-

Takeutchi)Socialization

Externalization

Combination Internalization

Main issues

The result of experience sharing and cooperating

Collecting knowledge

Codification and knowledge convertation

Explicit knowledge is embedded to the activity

Methods

Observation, experimentation, imitation, practising

Talks, dialogues, presentations, notes, etc.

Classifying, making cathegories, editing, etc.

Education

Environments

Personal relations, common activities, communities

Meetings, conversations, etc.

Special codification teams

Training forms, learning methods, education methods

Examples

Integration mechanisms in a new workplace

’How to behave in the Student Office’– handbooks

Lecture about Nobel prize winners in Economics

Trainings and teaching materials about ’How to solve unintelligent customers problem without aggressiveness’

Self-transcending processes in SECI•S

ocialization - Empathizing• Tacit knowledge can only be shared if the self is freed to become a larger self that includes the

tacit knowledge of the other.

•Externalization - Articulating• Articulation of tacit knowledge involves techniques that help to express one’s

ideas or images as words, concepts, figurative language and visuals.• Translating the tacit knowledge of customers or experts into readily

understandable forms.

•Combination - Connection• Capturing and integrating new explicit knowledge • Dissemination of explicit knowledge• Editing explicit knowledge in order to make it more usable

•Internalization - Embodying• Explicit knowledge has to be embodied in action and practice• Using simulations or experiments to trigger learning by doing processes

The nature of Ba•O

riginating ba• Individuals share feelings, emotions, experiences and mental models

•Interacting/Dialoguing ba • Collective reflection are institutionalized in the company culture

•Cyber ba• Place of interaction in a virtual world instead of real space and time

•Exercising ba• Facilitate the conversion of explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge

Knowledge assets in organizations•E

xperimental knowledge assets• Tacit knowledge through common experiences

• Skills and know-how of individuals

• Care, trust, loyalty

• Energy, passion and tension

•Routine knowledge assets• Tacit knowledge routinized and embedded in actions and

practices• Know-how in daily operations

• Organizational routines

• Organizational culture

•Conceptual knowledge assets• Explicit knowledge articulated through images, symbols and

language• Product concepts

• Design

• Brand equity

•Systemic knowledge assets• Systemized and packaged explicit knowledge

• Documents, specifications, manuals

• Database

• Patents and licenses

Knowledge assets in organizations II.

MOBILISING KNOWLEDGE

Organisational climate

•Lewin: social environment theory• Behaviour = f (Person and Environment)

•Organisational vs. Psychological climate

•Shared perception or shared set of conditions?

•’Organisational climate, … , portrays organisational environments as being rooted in the organisation’s value system, but tends to present these social environments in static terms, describing them in terms of a fixed (and broadly applicable) set of dimensions.’

Organisational culture

•’Organisational culture is the result of processes that arise from dynamic interactions between members of a social system.’

•‚Culture refers to the deep structure of organizations, which is rooted in the values, belefs and assumpitons held by organisational members.’

Norms, artefacts and symbols•T

he manifestations of culture

•Norms:• expectations of appropriate and inappropriate behaviour.• Attach approval and disapproval to holding certain beliefs and

attitudes and acting in particular ways.

•Artefacts:• Material objects, physical layouts, technology, etc• Corporate architechture, etc.

• Symbols:• Words, statements, actions, material phenomenon

How can norms promote innovation?

•Norms to promote implementation• Common goals• Autonomy• Belief in action

•Norms to promote creativity• Risk taking• Rewards for change• Opennes

Values, beliefs, attitudes and assumptions

•Organisational values:• Core values:

• Deeply ingrained principles that guide a company’s action

• Often reflect the values of the founders

• Aspirational values:• Support new strategy,

• The company needs to compete in the future

• Permission-to-play values:• Minimum behavioral and social standards required of employees in

the organisation

• Accidental values:• Common interest or personalities of employees

Values, beliefs, attitudes and assumptions II.

•Dimensions of basic assumptions:

• Whether an organisation dominates the external environment or is dominated by it.

• Whether truth and reality are recieved dogma, rules and procedures, a consequence of debate or what works

• Whether people are inherently lazy or self-motivated• Whether ‚doing’ and work are more primary than ‚being’ and

‚valueing employees’ private lives• Whether human interaction is based on individualism or

collectivism

Typologies of organisational culture•H

andy’s typology of culture• Power culture:

• A person or a small group at the center of this culture

• Few rules, acting politically

• Role culture• Bureaucracies where rules, procedures and job descriptions tend to

predominate

• Stable environment is a good framework

• Person culture• Individual autonomy and collective action

• Acacemies, architechts, etc

• Task culture• Project or matrix organisations

• Mutual respect is based on ability rather than status or age

Typologies of organisational culture II.

•Deal and Kennedy’s typology• Tough-guy/macho culture

• High risks and fast feedback• Speed, international competition• Uncooperative and lead to high staff turnover

• Work-hard, play-hard culture• Low-risk but quick feedback environments• Action oriented but quick-fix solutions

• Bet-your company culture• High-risk but slow-feedback environments• Cooperation and innovation

• Process culture• Low-risk and slow-feedback environments• High level of standardization (routines, procedures, rules, hierarchy)

Measuring organisational culture•T

yping surveys• Classify organisations’ culture and the connected values• Assumption: the organisations fit into strictly defined categories

the organisational decisions can be predictable thanks to these typology

•Profiling surveys• Develop a profile of the organisaton on multiple categories of

norms, behaviours and values• Effectiveness survey: assess organisational values associated with high

levels of performance

• Descriptive survey: measure organisational values

• Fit profiles: assess the level of fit between an individual and organisation

Organisatonal Culture Inventory•I

nstruments• Concern for people or task• Behaviour driven by self-actualisation or security needs

•Profile survey• Self-Actualising norms/Humanistic-encouraging norms• Conventional / Dependent norms• Power/Competitive norms

• Achievement/Affiliative norms• Approval/Avoidance norms• Oppositional/Perfectionistic norms

•Typing survey:• Constructive culture• Passive/Defensive culture• Aggressive/Defensive Culture

Constructive norms (promoting satisfaction behaviours)

•Achievement culture• Valueable members,

• who set challenging but realistic goals, • establish plans to reach those goals, • Persue a standard of excellence

•Self-actualising culture• Value creativity• Quality over quantity• Both task accomplisment and individual growth• Members are encouraged to gain enjoyment from their work, develop themselves• Think in unique and independent ways

•Humanistic-Encouraging• Person-centered organisation• Members are expected to be supportive, constructive• Help others to grow and develop

•Affiliative culture• Interpersonal relations are important• Deal with others in a friendly way

Passive/Defensive norms(promoting people-security behaviours)

•Approval culture:• Conflicts are avoided• Interpersonal relations are pleasant• ’Go along’ with others

•Conventional culture• Conservative, traditional and bureaucratically controlled• Members are expected to be conform, follow the ruls and make good impressions• Always follow policies and practices

•Dependent culture• Hierarchically controlled and non-participative• Centralised decision making routins• Please those in positions of authority

•Avoidance culture• Negative reward system• Wait for others to act first

Aggressive/Deffensive norms(promoting task-security behaviours)

•Oppositional• Members gain status and influenc by being critical• Confrontation and negativism are rewarded• Point out of flaws

•Power• Structured on the basis of authority inherent in members’ positions• Charge taking and controlling subordinates are rewarded• Build up one’s power base

•Competitive• Members are rewarded for outperforming one another• Win-lose framework• Turn the job into a contest

•Perfectionist• Perfectionism, persistence and hard work are valued• Members must avoid any mistake, keep track of everything and work long hours• Do things perfectly

Communities of practice

•’CoP are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problem, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen thier knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.’

•The role of internet:• Communities of transactions• Communities of interest• Communities of relationships (shared life experience)

Communities of practice II.Formal groupings

’canonical practice’

Informal grupings ’non-canonical practice’

Work Group Project team

Informal network

Community of practice

What is their purpose?

To deliver a product or a

service

To accomplish a specific

task

To collect and pass on business

information

To develop members’

capabilities; to build and exchange

knowledge

Who belongs?

Everyone who reports to group’s manager

Employees assignes by

senior manageme

nt

Friends and business

acquaintances

Members who select themselves

What holds it together?

Job requirements and common

goals

Project’s milestones and goals

Mutual needs Passion, commitment and identification with

the group’s expertise

How long does it last?

Until the next

reorganisation

Until the project is

completed

As long as people have a

reason to connect

As long as there is interest in

maintaining the group

Communities of practice III. •B

enefits for individuals:• Sense of identity• Confidence and trust through meeting like-minded individuals

• Share similar problems and outlooks

• Provide forum to facilitate knowledge creation through externalization of tacit knowledge

• Increasing knowledge flows

•Benefits in organisations:• Help drive strategy• Start new lines of business• Transfer best practices• Develop professional skills• Help companies recruit and retain talents.

Communities of practice IV. •C

ommunities of practice vs. Networks of practice• Network of practice

• Not self-selecting• Rely on formal institutional arrangements (examination to control

membership)• Similar to canonical practices• ? Communities of practice or Network of practice led groups?

•Enhancing features of communities of practice• Events• Leadership• Connectivity• Membership• Learning projects• Artefacts

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVES

Developing a knowledge management strategy

•Mintzberg (1991): • The connection between efficiency and innovation

• Slow market changes

• Rapid market changes

•The most common KM strategies• Codification strategy

• Achieve ‚scale in knowledge reuse’

• Personalisation strategy• Less about technology and more about people

Codification strategy

•Technology led

•Explicit knowledge orientation

•Codify knowledge

•Use databases

•High turnovers

Personalisation strategy•

People-led

•Tacit knowledge orientation

•Engage in dialogue

•Channel expertise

•High profits

Manifestations of strategies•C

odification strategy• Identifies different knowledge bases (Zack 1999) • Mapping the knowledge

• Core knowledge• Advanced knowledge• Innovatitve knowledge

• Business knowledge and the tools associated with them (Drew 1999)• What we know we know• What we know w do not know• What we do not know we know• What we don’t know we don’t know

• The case of the knowledge gap

Knowledge and strategic gap•K

nowledge gap • Given vs. Required knowedge

•Strategic gap• What a firm must do vs. What a firm can do

•Solving strategies:• Persue a conservative knowledge strategy of exploiting past internal

knowledge (similar to a codificaiton strategy)• Persue an aggressive knowledge strategy that integrates

exploration and exploitation of internal and external knowledge (a combination of a codifcation and personalisation strategy)

Innovation strategies•T

he roots of the ideas

• Appreciation – a threatening, disruptive event leading to the idea

• Articulation – ideas surface as solutions• Adoption – ideas may galvanise through networks and political debate

• Institutionalisation – ideas gain legitimacy and are taken for granted

• Decay – ideas become outmoded

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

KM perspectives I. - Data and information

•Elements• Data is facts, raw numbers.• Information is processed / interpreted by data.• Knowledge is personalised information.

•Implication for Knowledge Management • KM focuses on exposing individuals to potentially useful information

and facilitating assimilation of information

•Implications for KM Systems• KMS will not appear radically different from existing IS, but will be

extended towards helping in user assimilation of information

KM perspectives II. – State of mind

•Starting point:• Knowledge is the state of knowing and understanding

•Implications for KM• KM involves enhancing individual’s learning and understanding

thorugh provision of information

•Implications for KMS• Role of IT is to provide access to sources of knowledge rather

than knowledge itself

KM perspectives III. - Object•S

tarting point• Knowledge is an object to be stored and manipulated

•Implications for KM• Key KM issue is building and managing knowledge stocks

•Implications for KMS• The role of IT involves gathering, storing and transferring

knowledge

KM perspectives IV. - Process•S

tarting point:• Knowledge is a process of applying expertise

•Implications for KM• KM focus is on knowledge flows and the process of creation,

sharing and distributing knowledge

•Implications for KMS• Role of IT is to provide link among sources of knowledge to

create wider breadth and depth of knowledge flows

KM perspectives V. – Access to information

•Starting point:• Knowledge is a condition of access to information

•Implications for KM• KM focus is organised access to and retrieval fo content

•Implications for KMS• Role of IT is to provide effective search and retrieval

mechanisms for locating relevant information

KM perspectives VI. - Capability•S

tarting point:• Knowledge is the potential to influence action

•Implications for KM• KM is about buliding core competences and understanding

strategic know-how

•Implications for KMS• Role of IT is to enhance intellectual capital by supporting

development of individual and organisational competences

Document management systems

•’Value adding’ facilites of DMS• Control to ensure only one user modifies a document at a time• Audit trail to monitor changes in a document over time• Security processes to control user access to documents• Organisation of documents into related groups and folders• Identifacion and retrieval of documents according to text they contain (free-text searching)

• Recording information assosiated with the document as meta data suc as author, creation date and title

• Ability to route documents from one user to another in a controlled fasion based on the workflow

• Converting paper documents into electronic format by scanning

• Organising documents into groups to enable them to be distributed to target audiences

DMS II.•O

rganisational challenges

• Privacy – the need to balance the desire to track visitors through site logs and the need for privacy; also the need to deliver sensitive information in a largely anonymous manner

• Currency of information – whether documents are updated regularly; ’date of last change’

• Performance – becomes an issue in high-volume, transaction oriented application.

• Security – to bar access to unathorised personnel from sensitive financial, company or personnel records.

Decision support system•M

ajor capabilties of DSS:• Provide support in semi-structured and unstructured situations• Support several sequential and interdependent decisions• Support intelligence, design, choice and implementation

phases of decision making• Support a variety of styles and processes• Are adaptive and flexible over time• Improve accurancy, timeliness and quality of decision making• Have substantial modelling capability to allow experimentation

with different strategies under different scenarios

DSS II.•M

odel-driven DSS• Provide a range of statistical, financial, forecasting etc models that

may be applied at strategic.• Allow the user to conduct ‚what if’ analyses under a range of scenarios.

• Strategic models: tend to help high-level strategic planninc processes within organisations

• Tactical models: assist in allocating and controlling organisational resources such as capital budgeting and HR planning.

• Operational models: help support day-to-day decision making.

• Analytical models: cover methods of analysis (e.g. statistical model, financial model, etc.)

•Data-driven DSS• More focus on examining patterns and relationships in large amounts

of data.

Group support systems•C

ommercial products:• Lotus Notes, Microsoft NetMeeting, etc.

•Basic team processes supported by these products• Communication – easy, fast, cheap technologies (e.g. e-mails,

voice-mail or video system, chat system, etc.)• Knowledge sharing and learning – quick, reliable and cheap

tools (e.g message boards, document sharing sys. Or tele-consultation sys., co-browser, etc.)

• Cooperation – co-authoring facilities, etc. • Coordination – group calendar, event manager, etc. Or comand

and control centre support system• Social interactions – media spaces and virtual reality

Further Systems

•Executive information system: providing high quality information and knowledge to executives to aid strategic plannings and controll processes

•Workflow management systems: knowledge associated with workflows and aligning ‚cases’ with rsources such as employees

•Customer relationship management systems: developing knowledge about customers’ individual preferences and needs using knowledge repositories and knowledge disovery techniques.

•Thank you for your attention!