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LECTURE 8

Amare Michael Desta

Decision Support & Executive Information

Systems:

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Managing knowledge in knowledge work: How operations are organized in “traditional” work e.g. in manufacturing sector

Different operations follow each others in logical order until the task is completed

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Managing knowledge in knowledge work - (Contd….)

Could the same happen in knowledge

work or is it “chaotic” or lessorganized by its nature?

What is the difference between the logistics of physical components information / knowledge components?

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Knowledge flow (logistic) and utilization of knowledge resources

Knowledge creation & reuse

-skills & competencies-tools & methods

Knowledge acquisition-defining the requirements

-localizing knowledge-accessing knowledge-absorptive capacity

Available explicitknowledge resources

transfer media

Available tacitknowledge resources

transfer media

Knowledge outcomes-embrained knowledge-embodied knowledge-encultured knowledge-embedded knowledge-encoded knowledge

transfer media

transfer media

Unavailable explicitknowledge resources

Unavailable tacitknowledge resources

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Knowledge Management, (KM)- the need and the reality

The move from an industrially-based economy to a knowledge or information-based one in the 21st Century demands a top-notch KM System to secure a competitive edge and a capacity for learning.

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Knowledge Management – the importance The new source of wealth is K, and

not labor, land, or financial capital. It is the intangible, intellectual assets that must be managed.

The key challenge of the Knowledge -based economy is to foster innovation

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The Knowledge EconomyFor several decades the world's best-knownforecasters of societal change have predictedthe emergence of a new economy in whichbrainpower, not machine power, is the criticalresource.

But the future has already turned into the

present, and the era of K has arrived. "The Learning Organization," Economist Intelligence Unit”

But do you all agree?

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The Knowledge Economy – rest on THREE pillars

The role that K plays in transactions: it is what is being bought and sold; both the raw material and the finished goods

The concurrent rise in importance of K assets, which transform and add value to knowledge products

The emergence of ways to manage these materials and assets, or KM

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Two Kinds of Knowledge

K is intangible, dynamic, & difficult to measure,

BUT without it no organization can survive. Tacit: or unarticulated K is more personal,

experiential, context specific, and hard to formalize; is difficult to communicate or share with others; and is generally embedded in the heads of individuals and teams.

Explicit: K can easily be written down and codified.

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The main issues are – how to

Design and install techniques and processes to create, protect, and use known K.

Design and create environments and activities to discover and release K that is not known, or tacit K.

Articulate the purpose and nature of managing K as a resource & embodying it in other initiatives and programs.

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Do we really need KM System?

Competitive success will be based on how strategically intellectual capital is managed

Capturing the knowledge residing in the minds of employees so that it can be easily shared across the enterprise

Leveraging organizational knowledge is emerging as the solution to an increasingly fragmented and globally-dispersed workplace

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Do we really need KM System? (Contd…)

Instead of constantly reengineering and downsizing: talented people are assets to be developed for a global 21st Century

The reuse of knowledge saves work, reduces communications costs, and allows a company to take on more projects.

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The Successful Managing of Knowledge

Focus on FIVE tasks: 1. Generating knowledge2. Accessing knowledge3. Representing and embedding knowledge4. Facilitating knowledge5. Transferring knowledgeIt is a process of instilling the culture andhelping the people in it find ways to share and

utilize their collective knowledge.

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KM – the enablers

Leadership Knowledge champions, such as CKOs Culture Access Technology Learning Culture

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More on the importance of Corporate Culture

Changing the culture is imperative. To create a climate in which employees

volunteer their creativity and expertise, managers need to look beyond the traditional tools at their disposal: finding ways to build trust and develop fair process.

That means getting the gatekeepers to facilitate the flow of information rather than hoard it.

And offering rewards and incentives

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The technological divide

Generating organizational K invariably means converting the tacit K of the individual into explicit K accessible by all.

IT is most effective when it enables thissocial process. Organizations must think through their

technological systems. Technology such as Intranets and

advanced collaborative software have made KM possible.

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Organizational Changes

Lines between departments and operating divisions blur

KM even completely collapses boundaries A KM system cannot work through

hierarchies Individual and team learning process must

become the true driver of organizational learning

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Organizational Knowledge - Why is it Important?

Knowledge can be embedded in processes, products, systems, and controls

Knowledge can be accessed as it is needed from sources inside or outside the firm

It is versatile and can be transferred formally, through training, or informally, by way of workplace socialization

It is the essence of the competitive edge!

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Why KM? What’s the big deal?

By instituting a learning organization (KM-intensive), there is an increase in employee satisfaction due to greater personal development and empowerment.

Keep your employees longer and thereby, reduce the loss of intellectual capital from people leaving the company.

Save money by not reinventing the wheel for each new project

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Why KM? What’s the big deal? (Contd….)

Reduce costs by decreasing and achieving economies of scale in obtaining information from external providers.

Increase productivity by making K available more quickly and easily.

Provides workers with a more democratic place to work by allowing everyone access to K

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Why KM? What’s the big deal? (Contd….)

Learning Faster With KM Learning fast to stay competitive KM software and technological

infrastructures allow for global access to an organization’s K, at a keystroke

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Successful KM programs – the indications

Information is widely disseminated throughout the organization

Accessible at a fast rate of speed. Virtual communities of practice share what is

known in a global fashion, independent of time zones and other geographic limitations.

Business without boundaries broad, often virtual in nature.

Collaboration to support continuous innovation

and new K creation.

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KM and future scenarios

Where are we going? What are we here for? People need awareness of the whole: in what

direction is the organization going? To have a goal to reach in the future can

provide great incentive for a KM initiative. Effective leveraging lies within an

organization’s capacity for rethinking and recreating. Scenario thinking can help us see the blind spots, and help us create the future we want!!!

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Sustainability of a KM endeavor

There are three fundamental processes thatsustain profound changes such as theintroduction of a KM system: - developing networks of committed people - improving business results - enhancing personal results To achieve sustainability, there must be afocus on learning and learning how to harnessthe learning capabilities that lead to innovation.

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Sustainability of a KM Endeavor (Contd….)

For significant change to lead to sustainability, hierarchical control must be put aside.

The emergence and development of informal networks must be supported so that people can share their tacit knowledge and help one another.

Managers need to surrender control. And mental models need to be examined.

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KM Software Tools

Globalserve Knowcorp Hyperknowledge MicroStrategy The Molloy Group KnowledgeX Inc. WebFarming.com Softlab Enabling

Tools

Imagination Excalibur

Technologies Imaging Solutions Grapevine

Technologies Intraspect Software Milagro: The Power

of Imagination

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Knowledge Management - the essence Is understanding and valuing intangible

assets over tangible. Understanding that human and intellectual

capital are the greatest resources Managing the skills and competencies that

lie within an organization, and allowing them to blossom

Allowing people to be the best that they can be; optimizing performance.

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KM & Systems – the main focus

Key questions I’d like to raise: What is the relationship between KM &

systems? Can “knowledge” serve as a unifying

concept for understanding organizations and systems?

Can there be design principles and techniques based on KM concepts, for designing organizations and their systems?

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KM as a management concept / approach A parade of management ideas

Classical administrative theories 1940’s Scientific management (e.g. Taylor) 1950’s Human relations approach … TQM 1980’s BPR 1990’s KM !! 2000~ … ??

Is KM one among many approaches? Shouldn’t knowledge be a fundamental concept

for understanding and managing organizations?

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Knowledge in Computing & IS

The trend is toward (increasingly explicit)“knowledge representation” in systems- Programs 1960’s- - Database schemas (data independence from

programs)1970’s-- Conceptual data modeling (domains, enterprises) 1980’s-- Knowledge-based systems (knowledge about world separate

from inference engine) 1980’s-- Knowledge sharing among systems (“ontologies”) 1990’s-- Software agents 1990’s-- Semantic web 2000’s-The Question is: What is the role of knowledge in IS? Shouldn’tknowledge be a fundamental concept in IS?

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What is the role of knowledge in IS, and IS development?

Where is the knowledge? What kinds of knowledge? Whose knowledge? How does knowledge get “into” the

systems? What is change effected?

There is knowledge in: User organization Developer organization Various artifacts

SystemsSystemsDesignDesign

RequirementsRequirementsAnalysisAnalysis

BillCustomer

UpdateMarketing

Inventory

AuthorizeCredit Order

Entry

ScheduleDelivery

Customer

Order

ScheduledDelivery

Product

Salesperson

SoftwareSoftwareImplementationImplementation

SpecSpec

TablesTables

VC++ CodeVC++ Code

ArchitectureArchitecture

VB CodeVB Code

ERDERDCustomer

Order

ScheduledDelivery

Product

Salesperson

FormsForms

Abstractions about worldKnowledge

about world

Operations on system

Abstractions about system

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Knowledge in organizations and systems

Limited KM perspective: How to manage the

knowledge in organizations and systems

Broader perspective – K as unifying concept:

How to design effective organizations and systems?

-Management is about achieving effectiveness through K and action- Info systems (development) is about converting

(organizational) K into (automated) action.

Can there be a theory of K and action to help understand, analyze, and design organizations and their systems?

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KM systems as specialized classes of systems or “applications” e.g., [Alavi Leidner 01] [Marwick 01] [Smith Farquhar 00]

Groupware Data mining Learning tools E-bulletin boards Knowledge

repositories and databases, FAQs

Discussion forums Knowledge directories Expert systems Workflow systems

Taxonomies Document

classification Portals & metadata Text search Summarization Relationships

discovery Visualization …Contrasted with more

conventional information systems

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Five Paradigms of IT Support- a rough typology

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1. the “processing” paradigm

Qualities emphasized:

speed accuracy correctness ...

Info. operations: calculate transform ...

Info. structures:data itemslists arraystrees...

Here, the focus is on the processing (usually fixed a priori)

E.g. sales orders processing, bank account statements, teller machine processing...

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2. the “repository” paradigm

Qualities emphasized:

persistence accessibility integrity security ...

Info. operations: create/read/

update/delete lookup navigate integrate ...

Info. structures:recordslinks/relationships indexescatalogues...

Here, the focus is on the storage and retrievalE.g. document management systems, online catalogues, databases...

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3. the “tool” paradigm

Qualities emphasized:

usability flexibility extensibility ...

Info. operations: manipulation of

user’s information representations

...

Info. structures:conceptual information structurese.g., cells in spreadsheets...

The focus is on enabling the user

E.g. spreadsheet, word processing...

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4. the “medium” paradigm

Qualities emphasized:

presence fidelity authenticity privacy ...

Info. operations: send/receive share ...

Info. structures:messageconversationconference...

Here the focus is on communication

E.g. email, teleconferencing, groupware

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5. the “agent” paradigm

Qualities emphasized:

ability intelligence trustworthin

ess ...

Info. operations: planning & goal

achievement “understanding

” delegation ...

Info. structures:Goals tasks/plansconceptual

structuresinterdependencies

among agents...

Here the focus is on assisting the user

E.g. mail filters, web crawlers, knowledge discovery...

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How much domain knowledge is embedded in the system?

Knowledge Media? A provocative concept Suggests that we need to span the full range

Least Embeddedknowledge

MostEmbeddedknowledge

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Major design questionsfor organizational information systems

The term “K Media” suggests that an organization’s IS

would be a mix of systems with more/less embedded K

Major design questions

- Who needs what K to achieve what objectives / responsibilities?

- How much to embed in machines? - Where in the organization?- How to make tradeoffs – benefits vs. risks

vulnerabilities? E.g. speed, accuracy, economy vs. inflexibility, privacyrisks, loss of control, …

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What design methods and techniques are available? Most conventional IS analysis and design

techniques are focused on “data” & “processing”

HCI research has strengthened design methods especially for “media” and “tool”

The Key Question is: How to bring in knowledge concepts for

designing organizations and systems?

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Modelling Strategic Actor Relationships and Rationales

- modeling framework

have goals, beliefs, abilities, commitments are semi-autonomous

freedom of action, constrained by relationships with others

not fully knowable or controllable has knowledge to guide action, but only partially explicit

depend on each other for goals to be achieved, tasks to be performed,

resources to be furnished

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Modelling systems & organizations in terms of Strategic Dependencies among actors (Patient & Health Service provider)

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Strategic Dependency Relationship

Actor A

I want …

Actor B

I can …

D DCar Be Repaired

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Strategic Rationales about alternative configurations of relationships with other actors – Why? How? How else?

[Yu AOSE01]

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Analysis and Design Support

opportunities and vulnerabilities ability, workability, viability, believability insurance, assurance, enforceability node and loop analysis

design support raising issues exploring alternatives evaluating, making tradeoffs justifying, settling based on qualitative reasoning

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Compare:

2. goals & (limited) explicit knowledge

functionaldecomposition

means-endsalternatives

wants andabilities

inputsoutputs

D D

conventional systems modeling

modeling

agents – implicit knowledge

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Premises, key concepts

Actors are semi-autonomous, partially knowable

Strategic actors, intentional dependencies

have choice, reasons about alternate means to ends

means-endsalternatives

D D

wants andabilities

IntentionalityAutonomySocialityIdentity & BoundariesStrategic ReflectivityRational Self-Interest

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In conclusion: Question for youIn the context of KM and systems

- What is organizational knowledge? Org. knowledge is in people and machines

- How is it collected, structured, and managed? Includes human & automated processes

- How does this impact an organization? Systems need to be designed in organizational

context, with attention to K & action of strategic actors

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In conclusion: Contd….

In the context of KM and systems

- What tools do AI & KM provide to do the above? Various technologies offer different capabilities with

limitations & risks; need analysis & design tradeoffs

Conventional systems analysis and design techniques are ill-equipped for analyzing knowledge & action of strategic actors

AI and KM offer ideas for new frameworks How are the issues of KM related to DSS?

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References R. Smith & A. Farquhar. The Road Ahead for

Knowledge management – An AI perspective. AI Magazine. Winter 2000.

A.D. Marwick. Knowledge Management Technology. IBM Systems Journal. 40(4):814-830. 2001.

M. Alavi & D.E. Leidner. Knowledge Management & Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues. MIS Quarterly. 25(1):107-136. 2001.