Knowledge Management Systems Knowledge Management Systems

• Week 2 Schedule- Syllabus Updates- Web Site- Blogs Analysis- Groupware Analysis- Topic Review & Selection- Readings Discussion

Questions to ConsiderQuestions to Consider

• What is KM?• What Does KM Provide?• Best Approaches for KM?• KM as a Process?• Who Does KM?

• Assuming we understand all that – what is a KMS?

Working KnowledgeWorking Knowledge

• What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Knowledge?

• The Promise and Challenge of Knowledge Markets

• Knowledge Generation• Knowledge Coordination and Codification

- “the only unlimited resource” – Paul Romer

Talking about Knowledge?Talking about Knowledge?

• Information Technology has enabled a promise that knowledge can be managed, captured, measured and transferred.- Speed of Transfer• SIGs and Communities of Practice• Too Fast?

- Measurement of Knowledge?• Quantitative and Qualitative• Decision Making

- Economics of Knowledge• Nobel Prize(s)• Business Process Modeling

Knowledge as a Product?Knowledge as a Product?

• Something to measure- Knowledge Audit- “You have 300 new email messages”

• Shouldn’t it be more than information?- Richer- Contextual- Brain = Info, Mind=Knowledge

• “Experience is the best teacher”- Product of Time?- Manage Time?

Knowledge Boom?Knowledge Boom?

• Who are the Knowledge Wildcatters?• What are the Knowledge Syndicates?• Knowledge De-Regulation?• What was going on before the boom?• Knowledge Vacuum- Noticing lost knowledge because it is gone.- Working to improve organizational performance.

• Driven by Technology?- IT as a means?- IT causes workplace paradigm shifts?

Path to KnowledgePath to Knowledge

• Data• Information – Added Value- Contextualized: purpose data is gathered- Categorized: key components recognized- Calculated: analyzed- Corrected: error free- Condensed: summarized- “the difference that makes a difference” – Bateson

• Knowledge- Action (decisions)- Experience (wisdom)

Types of KnowledgeTypes of Knowledge

• Experience- Individuals- Groups- Cultures

• Ground Truth- Situational- Active

• Complexity- Plastic- Sensemaking - Interpretation

Types of Knowledge 2Types of Knowledge 2

• Rules of Thumb and Intuition- Heuristics- Procedures- “Scripts”

• Values and Beliefs- Culture (again)- Perspectives- “Beliefs and Commitment” – Nonaka & Takeuchi

Seeking KnowledgeSeeking Knowledge

• Managers get 66% of their Knowledge from face-to-face meetings or phone conversations. P 12

• People find most Web sites via recommendation. (Not much active searching.)

• How can a KMS help with seeking?- Help sharing knowledge- Help sharing the burden of seeking

Knowledge InterpretedKnowledge Interpreted

• Is Knowledge a Product or a Service?• What isn’t Knowledge once interpreted?• That Difference that makes you more Competitive?• Knowledge is the main difference, the principle

(competitive) advantage.- Technologies eventually even out- The changes to culture and individuals don’t.

• Information Technology can enable changes that last beyond their influence. - Networked Knowledge- Networked Organization

Knowledge MarketsKnowledge Markets

• Economists moving into KM?• Markets Mean Measurement- KM Mutual Fund?• Best employees• Best ideas

- KM Index Fund?

KM Consider the SourceKM Consider the Source

• Political Economy of Knowledge Markets- Organizations- Individual Roles

• Buyers• Sellers• Brokers (Gatekeepers, Librarians, IT)

• Position and Education• (Informal Networks)• Communites of Practice

Knowledge EconomyKnowledge Economy

• Pricing- Current Value- Future Value- Current Investment- Future Investment

• Reciprocity• Repute• Altruism• Trust• Signals

Knowledge Economy (In)EfficienciesKnowledge Economy (In)Efficiencies

• Is there ever a perfect market?• What is the KM equivalent of “Irrational Exuberance”?

(Greenspan, Shiller)

• Incompleteness- Where is the Knowledge?- Who sets the price?

• Asymmetry- One Department, One Person

• Localness- Neighbors- Peers- “Satisficing” (Simon and March)

Knowledge Market PathologiesKnowledge Market Pathologies• Monopolies

- Technological- Organizational

• (Artificial) Scarcity- Recency- Frequency

• Trade Barriers- IT- Personnel- Culture

• Building Marketplaces- Shopping Time- Cultural Shift- Technological Shift

Information as Product: WurmanInformation as Product: Wurman

• “The Age of Also”- Options are Golden Handcuffs- Seeking is an End in itself

• “Prosumption”- The Age of User Groups (Teach & Learn at Once)- Society and Consumers (Precision & Repetition)

• Information Presentation- Medium is the Message- Varieties of Information and Knowledge Literacy

• The Internet Changes Everything?- Empowerment? (Value)- Speed?

• Does IT Change Everything?

Knowledge GenerationKnowledge Generation

• Acquisition

• Rental

• Processes- R & D- Fusion- Adaptation- Innovation

• Resource Allocation

Knowledge CodificationKnowledge Codification

• Goals for Codified Knowledge- Slow and imperfect initially

• Identify Knowledge in Various Forms to Reach Goals

• Evaluate Knowledge for Utility and Codification

• Resolve Medium for Codification and Access

Types of KnowledgeTypes of Knowledge

• Tacit Knowledge- Internalized- “Not Known”- Serendipitous- Difficult to Capture

• Explicit Knowledge- Externalized- Easily Found- Permanent- Difficult to Process for Utility

Capturing KnowledgeCapturing Knowledge

• Maps

• Narratives

• Surveys

• Measurement as Capture

• Anthropology

• Technology

New Knowledge MarketsNew Knowledge Markets

• World Wide Web• Blogs- Group & Individual- Work & Play

• Social Networking Software- Orkut- Friendster

• Is “build it yourself” knowledge better?- More personal?- More relevant?- More temporal?

• Time to make, consume and use knowledge

Studying & Building New MarketsStudying & Building New Markets

• Communities (of Practice)

• Networks

• Knowledge Marketplace Evaluation

• IT R&D

• Knowledge Packet Tracing

Codifying KnowledgeCodifying Knowledge

• Know the Goal

• Know it when you see it

• Evaluate its purpose

• Delivery platform

• Anthropology?• Information Architecture?• Classification?

Mapping KnowledgeMapping Knowledge

• Different kinds of knowledge are discovered, codified and used in different ways

• A set of rules for this?- Universal- Cultural- Global or Local?

• Build a Map- Time & Technology- Information Architecture

• Capturing everything with IT?

Capturing KnowledgeCapturing Knowledge

• Narrative subtlety- Email- Blogs- Comments & Annotations

• Data Mining• Data Analysis- Cultural Context- Business Context

• Too much organization- Update- Use