Knowledge ManagementMinder Chen, Ph.D.

Minder.Chen@csuci.edu

Peop

leTechnology

Process

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 2

Reference Books:• The Knowledge-Creating Company : How Japanese Companies Create

the Dynamics of Innovation by Ikujiro Nonaka, Hirotaka Takeuchi, Takeuchi Nonaka, Published by Oxford Univ Pr (Trade), May 1, 1995

• Working Knowledge : How Organizations Manage What They Know, by Thomas H. Davenport, Laurence Prusak, Published by McGraw-Hill, December 1, 1997

• If Only we Knew What We Know: The Transfer of Internal Knowledge and Best Practice, Carla O"dell and C. Jackson Grayson, Jr., Free Press, 1998.

• Wellsprings of Knowledge : Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation, by Dorothy Leonard-Barton, Published by Harvard Business School Press, October 1, 1995

• Knowledge Management Tools (Resources for the Knowledge-Based Economy) by Rudy L. Ruggles (Editor), Published by Butterworth-Heinemann, December 1, 1996

• Intellectual Capital : The New Wealth of Organizations, by Thomas A. Stewart, Published by Doubleday, March 1997

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 3

Knowledge Management (KM)

• "I wish we knew what we know…"

- a CEO -

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 4

Knowledge Hierarchy

Wisdom

Knowledge

Information

Data

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 5Source: Working Knowledge, p. 6

Knowledge • Knowledge guides us in the process of analyzing

data and utilizing information. • Knowledge derives from information as

information derives from data. This transformation happens through the following processes: – Comparison: how does information about the situation

compare to other situations we have known?– Consequences: what implications does the information

have for decisions and actions?– Connections: how does this bit of knowledge relate to

others?– Conversation: what do other people think about this

information?

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 6

Information Overloading (Pollution)

"The impact of information is obvious. It consumes the attention of its readers. Therefore, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention."

-- Herbert Simon --

"Information absorbs the attention of the recipient. Therefore an overabundance of information creates a deficit of attention."

-- Jeff Hire, Owens Corning Fiberglass --

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 7

Moving Up the Knowledge Hierarchy

• Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

• Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

• Where is the life we have lost in living?

T.S. Eliot, Choruses from "The Rocks," 1934

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 8

Knowledge Management Cycle

Acquisition

Storage

Dissemination

Integration

Creation

Learning

Utilization

Categorization

© Minder Chen, 1996-1999 KM - 9

KM Enabling Technologies• Groupware

• Data warehouse and data mining

• Expert systems and knowledge based systems

• Intranet

• Electronic Performance Support Systems

• CBT, WBT

• Problem/Solution Database (Case-Based Reasoning Systems)

© Minder Chen, 1996-1999 KM - 10

Team Work & Groupware

Same TimeSame Time Different TimeDifferent Time

Multi-media presentation systems Key-pad based voting tools Facilitated meetings using a PC Networked PCs based GDSS

Project/team rooms Shared offices

Screen sharing Audio/video conferencing

E-mail Data & file sharing Group authoring tools Computer conferencing Work flow management systems

DifferentPlace

DifferentPlace

SamePlace

SamePlace

© Minder Chen, 1996-1999 KM - 11

3Cs of Groupware

Source: Lotus Corp.

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 12

Knowledge Management Cosmology

Gathering• Data entry, OCR• Pull• Search • Voice input

Organizing• Cataloging• Filtering• Indexing• Linking

Refining• Compacting• Collaborating• Contextualizing• Mining

Disseminating• Push• Sharing• Alert• Flow

KnowledgeManagement

Source: Adapted from Jeff Angus and Jeetu Patel, Knowledge-Management Cosmology, Information Week, March 16, 1998, p. 59.

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 13

Knowledge Management Principles• KM is expensive (but so is stupidity!)

• Effective management of knowledge requires hybrid solutions of people and technology.

• KM is highly political.

• KM requires knowledge managers.

• KM benefits more from map than models, more from markets than from hierarchies.

• Sharing and using knowledge are often unnatural acts.

• KM means improving knowledge work processes.

• Knowledge access is only the beginning.

• KM never never ends.

• KM requires a knowledge contract. Source: Thomas Davenport, "Some Principles of Knowledge Management," http://www.utexas.edu/kman/kmprin.htm

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 14

Knowledge Management Principles• The more your share, the more you gain.

• The knowledge acquisition process should be part of the work process.

• Integration of knowledge from multiple disciplines has the highest probability of creating new knowledge and value-added.

• Knowledge valuation should be conducted from customers’ perspective.

• KM focus should be on core knowledge critical to sustaining company’s competitive edge.

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 15

Communities of Practice• "A group of people who are informally bound to one another

by exposure to a common class of problem, common pursuit of solutions, and thereby themselves embodying a store of knowledge."

-- Brook Manville, Director of Knowledge Management at McKinsey & Co.

• Shadowy groups called communities of practice are where learning and growth happen. Learning is social.

• The shop floor of human capital.

• You can't control them -- but they are easy to kill if you try to manage them.

• They have history -- they develop over time.

• A community of practice has an enterprise - but not an agenda.

• They develop customs, culture, and a way of dealing with the world they share.

Source: Thomas Stewart and Victoria Brown, "TheInvisible Key to Success," Fortune, August 5, 1996.

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 16

Knowledge Assets

Codified Knowledge Assets (Legally Owned)

PatentsCopyrightsTrademarksDocuments

• Working Solutions• Web of Relationships• Communities of Practice• Experience• Expertise and Theoretical Knowledge• Database

Tip of the iceberg

Source: The Knowledge Evolution, p. 35

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 17

Organizational Knowledge Management Model

Share

Create

Identify

CollectAdapt

Organize

Apply

Leadership KM Process

Technology

Source: Adapted from Arthur Andersen and the American Productivity and Quality Center

Organization

Group

Individual

Business Process

Culture

PerformanceMeasurement

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 18

Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation

Tacit Knowledge Explicit Knowledge (Subjective) (Objective)

Knowledge of experience Knowledge of rationality(body) (mind)

Simultaneous knowledge Sequential knowledge(here and now) (there and then)

Analog knowledge Digital knowledge(practice) (theory)

Source: Knowledge-Creating Company, p. 57.

• Tacit knowledge is personal, context-specific, and therefore hard to formalize and communicate.

• Explicit or codified knowledge is transmittable in formal, systematic language.

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 19

Four Modes of Knowledge Conversion

Socialization Externalization

Internalization Combination

Tacitknowledge

Explicitknowledge

Tacit knowledge Explicit knowledge

To

From

Source: Knowledge-Creating Company, p. 62.

1 + 1

3

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 20

Four Modes of Knowledge Conversion

• Socialization: – A process of sharing experiences – Apprenticeship through observation, imitation, and practice

• Externalization: – A process of articulating tacit knowledge into explicit concepts – A quintessential knowledge-creation process involving the creation

of metaphors, concepts, analogies, hypothesis, or models– Created through dialogue or collective reflection

• Internalization: – A process of embodying explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge– Learning by doing– Shared mental models or technical know-how– Documents help individual internalize what they experience

• Combination:– A process of systemizing concepts into a knowledge system – Reconfiguration of existing information and knowledge

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 21

Knowledge Spiral

Socialization Externalization

Internalization Combination

Dialogue (Collective Reflection)

LinkingExplicitKnowledge

FieldBuilding

Learning by Doing

Source: Knowledge-Creating Company, p. 71.

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 22

Epistemological Dimension

ExplicitKnowledge

OntologicalDimension

Tacitknowledge

Individual Group Organization Inter-organization

Knowledge Level

Two Dimensions of Knowledge Creation

CurrentFocus

Source: Adapted from Knowledge-Creating Company, p. 57.

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 23

Epistemological Dimension

ExplicitKnowledge

OntologicalDimension

Tacitknowledge

Individual Group Organization Inter-organization

Knowledge Level

Two Dimensions of Knowledge Creation

Source: Adapted from Knowledge-Creating Company, p. 73.

Inte

rnal

ized

Externaliz

ed

Socialization

Combination

© Minder Chen, 1996-1999 KM - 24

Knowledge Cycle

Tacit Knowledge

Share/Publish Knowledge

ExplicitKnowledge

InternalizedKnowledge

Internalize Knowledge

Innovate

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 25

Conversion Between Explicit and Tacit Knowledge

© Minder Chen, 1996-2010 KM - 26

Metaphor and Analogy for Concept Creation

Product(Company) Metaphor/Analogy Influence on Concept Creation

City “Automobile Evolution” Hint of maximizing passenger (Honda) (metaphor) space as ultimate auto development “Man-maximum,machine-minimum”

The sphere Hint of achieving maximum passenger (analogy) space through minimizing surface area

“Tall and short car(Tall Boy)”

Mini-Copier Aluminum beer can Hint of similarities between (Canon) (analog) inexpensive aluminum beer can

and photosensitive drum manufacture“Low-cost manufacturing process”

Home Bakery Hotel bread Hint of more delicious bread(Matsushita) (metaphor)

Osaka International “Twist dough” Hotel head baker (analogy)

Source: Knowledge-Creating Company, p. 66.