Knowledge

Management

Strategic

• Strategy: Military Origin;

• derived from the greek word strategia (Office of the general or commander)

Or Stratgos (Leader/Commander/ General)

Do I look like a Greek to you?

Why don’t you forget the Greek part and tell me in

simple terms?

In pure and simple terms, It’s the plan of action designed

to achieve a particular goal.

`My brother at XISS is always repeating the same word, I am a student of

management;

I am doing a course on management,

Personnel Management is replaced by HR Management.

Management this, management that!!

What on earth is management??

Management is the art of getting work done

through others- Mary Parker Follet

Managers Live by making decisions. So management is about taking decisions.

Management is what managers do.

- Man

Management is, working efficiently

and effectively .

- Man

• Many writers many concepts and all focusing on some or more basic characteristics. For they assign a meaning that they feel and I leave it up to you to choose what you may want, for the world is nothing but a world of meanings.

• All I can tell is, that they all confirm to the idea behind the origin of this word.

The word management is the english version of the term “menagement” which is derived from the word maneggaire which means to handle.

Let's move ahead……

What is Knowledge?

• One day, a very scholarly English gentleman, while travelling in India, decided to go across big river, so he asked one of the village people who owned a small boat, if he would take him, to this request the boatman agreed.

• As they started, the sun became obscured by dark clouds, and as the river was large, the gentleman realised, that the crossing would take some time. So he started a conversation with the boatman.

“Did you know that the sun is approximately 93,000,000miles away, and yet it has provided heat and light, throughout the universe since time immemorial, baring that, if it was to shift, even a fraction of an inch out of its orbit, there would be total devastation?”

The boatman replied; “My dear sir, I am just a simple man who has had no education, there is no way I could know such information”

“Then” said the gentleman “You are 25% fool”.

• Some time passed, and as they were coming to the ½ way mark, the thunder began to rumble.

Did you know notice the lightening, just before the rumbling sound”. The gentleman asked. He continued. “Do you know how that phenomenon occurs”

The boatman replied; “No sir”

“Its occurrence is due to the expansion of rapidly heated air,” the gentleman exclaimed, “ You are 50% fool!!

• About ¾ of the way the weather completely changed. It became dark and started to rain heavily and started filling up the little boat with water clearly making it difficult for the boatman. But the foolish gentleman insisted in questioning.

“Do you know how we get rain”,

“No sir,” was the reply.”

“ The sun evaporates water from the sea, this gets stored in the clouds which then travel by be wind power, then when they become full, it lets all the water go, over the land. That’s how we get rain.”

“You are 75% fool.” Said the gentleman, now feeling very smug.

• The gentleman was suddenly interrupted from his basqueing by a loud cry from the boatman,“Oh no! I have lost my oar and now the water is about capsize the boat, we have no alternative but to swim the remainder of the way, luckily for us it is not very far.”

“But I can’t swim,” cried the gentleman now seeing his own imminent death.

“Then my dear sir, you are 100% fool” said the boatman!!!

But bhaiya ji, the question still remains- What is Knowledge?

Data Information Knowledge

• Information refers to the data that has been given some meaning, by way of a relational connection.

• It is important to note that without information, you can never have knowledge.

• You need information to be able to get knowledge.

Knowledge is the concise and appropriate collection of information in a way that makes it useful .

Knowledge refers to a deterministic process where patters within a given set of information is analyzed.

Information

• Information is data that is processed.

• Information deals with the way that data is related.

Knowledge

• Knowledge is information that is modeled to be useful

• Knowledge examines the patterns within a set of information.

INFORMATION IS NOT KNOWLEDGE UNTIL AND

UNLESS IT IS APPLIED EFFECTIVELY.

•Power flows from the barrel of the gun.

•Power flows from the knowledge that you possess.

•Today knowledge is power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement. - Peter. F. Druckar

KNOWLEDGE CREATION

Knowledge update can mean creating new knowledge based on ongoing experience in a specific domain and then using the new knowledge in combination with the existing knowledge to come up with updated knowledge for knowledge sharing.

TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE

1. EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE:• This type of knowledge is formalized and codified, and is

sometimes referred to as know-what. It is therefore fairly easy to identify, store, and retrieve. This is the type of knowledge most easily handled by KMS, which are very effective at facilitating the storage, retrieval, and modification of documents and texts.

• From a managerial perspective, the greatest challenge with explicit knowledge is similar to information. It involves ensuring that people have access to what they need; that important knowledge is stored; and that the knowledge is reviewed, updated, or discarded.

2. TACIT KNOWLEDGE

It is sometimes referred to as know-how and refers to intuitive, hard to define knowledge that is largely experience based. Because of this, tacit knowledge is often context dependent and personal in nature. It is hard to communicate and deeply rooted in action, commitment, and involvement . Tacit knowledge is also regarded as being the most valuable source of knowledge, and the most likely to lead to breakthroughs in the organization . The lack of focus on tacit knowledge directly leads to the reduced capability for innovation and sustained competitiveness. It includes cultural beliefs, values, attitudes, mental models, etc. as well as skills, capabilities and expertise.

Knowledge Conversion

The conversion spiral..

• Socialization –From Tacit to Tacit comes from shared experience with others, networking to share

experiences. It can also come from “direct interactions with suppliers and customers and walking around inside the organization.”

eg. Honda’s Brainstorming camps

• Externalization - From Tacit to Explicit information or knowledge becomes “crystalized.” People within the

organization start sharing what they’ve learned (sort of like how I’m sharing it here) in the form of “concepts, hypothesis, diagrams, models, or prototypes.”

eg. Honda City’s “Automobile Evolution”

• Combination –From Explicit to Explicit knowledge takes the pace of shared presentations, meetings. The

knowledge items become categorized. The knowledge items start to undergo classification and are morphed by people in a format that the organization can use and apply.

Eg. Canon’s corporate policy was converted into the Mini-Copier• Internalization - From Explicit to Implicit the process of understanding and absorbing explicit knowledge in to

tacit knowledge held by the individual. Internalization is largely experiential, in order to actualize concepts and methods, either through the actual doing or through simulations. The internalization process transfers organization and group explicit knowledge to the individual.

Eg. GE’s “re-experience”

The 5 Ps of Strategic Knowledge Management

The 5 Ps

• Knowledge management is a complex process of social change and systematic development. It relies on the alignment of FIVE key systems to achieve full integration in to the organizational setting. These are called the 5 Ps.

Planning

• It should clarify knowledge goals and establish effective values and processes to support these directions.

• Takes time and demands perseverance.• Requires ongoing monitoring and

measurement.• Progressive review and re-planning to handle

changing environment.

People

• The most important aspect is to recognize that strategic knowledge management lies with the people.

• People manage the system and processes.• Need is to convince people about the benefits

of strategic knowledge management.

Processes

• Knowledge management principles need to be put into application via effective workplace practices.

• Careful management of the alignment of strategies, principles, processes and practices needs to be done.

• Messages about what is important might be perceived differently across the organization.

• Need of the hour would be to monitor the actual process regularly to ensure that it reflects knowledge priority.

Products

• Each organization builds it’s own knowledge output. Might be shared to client or exist as internally shared knowledge objects.

• Explicit knowledge should be captured and distributed efficiently and timely.

• Example – Intranet.

Performance

• Regular review to ensure that the financial and social capital investment is positively influencing the intellectual and social capital of the organization.

• Regular evaluation to consider how well knowledge management is integrated into the business context.

KNOWLEDGE WORKERS• Peter Drucker first coined the term in 1966 in

his book “The effective executive”.• Knowledge workers in today's workforce are

individuals who are valued for their ability to act and communicate with knowledge within a specific subject area.

• They will often advance the overall understanding of that subject through focused analysis, design and/or development.

• They use research skills to define problems and to identify alternatives. Fueled by their expertise and insight, they work to solve those problems, in an effort to influence company decisions, priorities and strategies.

VARIOUS FUNCTIONS OF KNOWLEDGE WORKERS

• Analyzing data to establish relationships.• Assessing input in order to evaluate complex or

conflicting priorities.• Identifying and understanding trends.• Making connections.• Understanding cause and effect relationships.• Ability to brainstorm, thinking broadly.• Ability to drill down, creating more focus.• Producing a new capability(Innovation).• Creating or modifying a strategy.

KNOWLEDGE WORKERS

• The HR connection:Knowledge Assets: People, tools, processes and external relationships. HR- the closest collaborator on the people asset.HR Role: Facilitation, nurturing and supporting knowledge workers.

• Peter Drucker’s original differentiation of knowledge workers from manual workers under debate.

• A new opinion: Every worker is a knowledge worker.

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE (COP)

• COPs are groups of people with a common interest who meet for sharing their insights in order to develop better solutions to problems or challenges.

• Members choose to join as they realize the value of knowledge sharing.

• They encourage innovation, collaboration and sharing of good practices, e.g, Best Practices Replication programme at Ford Motor Ltd.

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE (COP)

• Knowledge evolves and grows as the COP stimulates thinking, sharing and challenging concepts.

• COPs help in reducing barriers created by organizational structure or geographical distance.

• Some COPs are known to be short-lived, while others may be formed on a long term basis.

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE (COP)

• COPs require commitment and the development of a collaborative mentality. They are self-managed groups which are not organizationally driven or managed.

• Their success depends on the value perceived by the members.

• They can be significant sources of influence in an organization.

DEVELOPING A STRATEGIC KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY

• Emphasis on communal sharing of knowledge and the building of better practices through community interaction.

• Aim: Integrate everyone into the knowledge community, not just the favoured few.

• Knowledge diffusion should be encouraged.• Bottom Line: Add value through knowledge

management.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENTTOOLBOX

After Action Reviews (AAR’s)

Types of AAR’S :

Formal Informal Personal

Steps for Conducting the AAR’s

Conducting a knowledge audit

Steps in conducting knowledge Audit :

Identifying knowledge needs Drawing up a knowledge inventory Analysing knowledge flows Creating a knowledge map

Developing a knowledge management strategy

Exit interviews

Identifying and sharing best practices

Knowledge centres

Knowledge harvesting

Peer assists

Storytelling

White pages

IMPORTANCE OF STRATEGIC KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN AN

ORGANISATIONStrategic Knowledge management has become a major competitive tool for the present day organisations. Knowledge management is the acquisition and use of resources to create an environment in which information is accessible to individuals and in which individuals acquire, share and use that information to develop their own knowledge. Further, employees are encouraged and enabled to apply their knowledge for the benefit of the organization.

• Knowledge management helps in identifying the relevant information and best practices which can help in improving employee performance.

• Knowledge management is important as it helps discover people’s skills and knowledge essential to gain competitive advantage.

• An effective knowledge management provides information which is important for making decision.

• Strategic knowledge management helps to plan and forecast workforce .

• Can avoid reinventing the wheels, thus reducing redundant work for new employee.

• It supports innovation and learning.• Retention of intellectual properties after the

employee leaves the organization, if such knowledge can be codified.

CHALLENGE FOR AN ORGANIZATION IN THE KNOWLEDGE ERA

The challenge for an organization is to have a clear understanding of desirable strategic knowledge and the sources of such knowledge in its community.Thus knowledge management is not simply about sharing what one knows-it entails identifying valuable strategic knowledge which should be accessible.

3 Ways to adapt an organization to the knowledge era

• The New Factory focuses on the performance of your intangible capital.

• The New Management is about driving innovation in your organization.

• And the New Accounting explains the link between intangibles and the financial performance and valuation of your business.

• Sharing of valuable organization information throughout organizational hierarchy.

• Strategic Knowledge management helps in indentifying the needs of a firm, organizing flow of information , implementing the plan and evaluating the whole exercise to find gaps and to rectify things in time.

• Strategic Knowledge management helps in achieving the organizational goals.

How to prepare for the Knowledge Era

Changing the organisation's orientation towards codifying and diffusing knowledge is the key to preparing for the Knowledge Era. All the main elements of Knowledge Management are already familiar to organisations (that is, the objects of Knowledge Management and the issues associated with them) but, because of the limitations of paper-based communication, they have been handled in sporadic and isolated ways which have limited their effectiveness.

• The main challenge that this creates for organisations is to lift the emphasis which they place on a number of key skills and technologies in order to create systematic and well-integrated approaches to generating, codifying and diffusing knowledge. The areas which need to be addressed have been cogently summarised by Thomas Davenport of the University of Texas as-

• 1. Knowledge capture, ie, creation of documents and moving them onto computer systems

• 2. Adding value to knowledge through editing, packaging and pruning

• 3. Developing knowledge categorisation approaches and categorising new contributions to knowledge

• 4. Developing information technology infrastructures and applications for the distribution of knowledge

• 5. Educating employees on the creation, sharing, and use of knowledge

KNOWLEDGE

Our knowledge is a drop.

Our ignorance is an ocean.

Knowledge Sharing• Knowledge Management is fundamentally about making the right

knowledge or the right knowledge sources (including people) available to the right people at the right time.

• Knowledge sharing is therefore perhaps the single most important aspect in this process, since the vast majority of KM initiatives depend upon it. Knowledge sharing can be described as either push or pull. The latter is when the knowledge worker actively seeks out knowledge sources (e.g. library search, seeking out an expert, collaborating with a coworker etc.), while knowledge push is when knowledge is "pushed onto" the user (e.g. newsletters, unsolicited publications, etc).

Concept of knowledge Sharing Explicit Knowledge and Knowledge Sharing-

Explicit knowledge is knowledge that has been or can be articulated, codified, and stored in certain media. It can be readily transmitted to others. The information contained in encyclopedias (including Wikipedia) are good examples of explicit knowledge.

Successful explicit knowledge sharing is determined by the following criteria

Articulation: The ability of the user to define what he needs. Awareness: Awareness of the knowledge available. The provider is encouraged to make use of directories, maps, corporate yellow pages, etc. Access: Access to the knowledge.

Tacit Knowledge Sharing – Tacit knowledge is the knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another

person by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. Sharing tacit knowledge requires socialization. This can take many different

forms. Davenport & Prusak (2000) outlined a few relevant factors: 1. Informal networks, which involve the day to day interaction between

people within work environments are considered very important 2. Unlike the formalized structure of the firm, these networks span functions

and hierarchies. They are therefore difficult to identify and monitor. 3. Management should support these networks by providing the means for

communication. Japanese firms have created talk rooms where employees can engage in unstructured, unmonitored discussions.

• Embedded Knowledge Sharing As a reminder, embedded knowledge refers to knowledge locked in products,

processes, routines, etc. Embedded knowledge can be shared when the knowledge from one product or

process is incorporated into another. Management must understand what knowledge is locked within those sources, and they must transfer the relevant parts into a different system. To do this, Gamble and Blackwell advocate the use of:

Scenario planning: The practice of creating a set of scenarios and hypothesizing how they might unfold

by drawing upon the perspectives of experts, the firm's knowledge asserts and so on.

Management Training etc…

Knowledge sharing – a core competence

The new economy has knowledge , creativity and innovation as its currency while today’s consumer are on the edge of being driven more by value and true performance than by brand . The service industry is , moving so rapidly that yesterday’s hero can be a zero today. A transparent platform for knowledge sharing throughout the whole organization is a vital aspect.

How do you persuade people not to leave ? (knowledge retention)

How can you ensure knowledgeable people stay in the organization and don’t take away valuable assets to your competitors ?

The answer…

Since the successful business model of the New Millennium focuses on Knowledge, Innovation and Information, the Human Dynamics of the organization have become critical. Thus, this becomes also an issue of Culture. Many of today’s leading companies have found that by focusing on values, core competencies, core capabilities, behavior, and reward systems based on knowledge sharing and creativity, they have successfully re-designed their businesses, worldwide and with thousands of employees.

Sharing of Strategic knowledge

• Hansen et al (1999) assert that it is not knowledge per se but the way it is

• applied to strategic objectives that is the critical ingredient in competitiveness

Approaches/Strategies of sharing Knowledge

Two approaches to knowledge management have been identified by Hansen et al(1999):

1. The codification strategy – knowledge is carefully codified and stored in databases where it can be accessed and used easily by anyone in the organization .

2. The personalization strategy – knowledge is closely tied to the person who has developed it and is shared mainly through direct person-to-person contacts .

Knowledge and Innovation

The knowledge organization and ROI

What is knowledge? Knowledge is a tool to achieve strategic objectives of any organization.What is knowledge management? Knowledge Management is a system to facilitate learning, innovation

and sharing to achieve the strategic objectives of an organization. What is the knowledge in the context of the organization? Knowledge today the organization has is in terms of its tacit and explicit

knowledge to perform its day today works. We may go for a knowledge audit to identify it. Here care is to be taken that eighty percent of the organization knowledge is tacit. A knowledge audit will identify the knowledge inventory of the organization and a knowledge map can be created. This would facilitate in identifying the future knowledge requirements of the organization to achieve its strategic objectives.

The knowledge organization and ROI

What Does Return On Investment - ROI Mean?A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. To calculate ROI, the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio.

The return on investment formula:

ROI= (Gain from investment – Cost of investment)/ Cost of investment.

The knowledge organization and ROI

So how can a company be sure to achieve a substantial ROI on Knowledge Management?

While starting a new KM project, an origination should benchmark the current performance against the performance of its peers and identify the specific operational metrics needing improvement.

There are three basic types of improvements from a KM initiative namely:

1.Efficiency.2.Effectiveness.3.Innovation.

Energized Learning Organization™ (ELO)Organizations the world over are essentially facing the same challenges of

improving employee engagement, employee retention, innovation, better team work across organizations and low execution skills. There are usually few platforms for active learning and collaboration across business lines.

Energized Learning Organization™ (ELO) is a comprehensive organizational change program that caters to all of the above challenges. ELO facilitates the creation of a self-sustaining culture of learning and innovation which builds higher levels of employee engagement and consistently delivers breakthrough results.

The benefits of this approach would be to build the capacity of the entire organization to initiate and sustain learning without any external support and to put the learning to test by taking up action projects. A high level of commitment to learning and teaching will be built up in the organization. This is indispensable for excellence in the Leadership role.

ESSAR Group a knowledge organization.

• At Essar, we focus on building careers. Essar has a high emphasis on performance, and we link both career growth and rewards directly to merit and achievement. Right from the entry level we draw career maps for each employee

• COACHING & MENTORINGAs Essar expands globally, we work towards making every manager a leader, and mentoring is our primary means of displaying leadership

• ESSAR ACADEMYThrough the academy, Essar aims to build a learning organization for the employee's career advancement

• PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENTWe ensure an Essarite learns new skills and gains enriching experiences

• CADRES PROGRAMMESEssar has exciting entry-level programmes for campus hires

• TALENT MANAGEMENTEssar runs various talent management and engagement programmes to harness employee morale and skills

Case Study• Apple Japan• Until 1989, Apple Japan, the Japanese arm of the multinational Apple

Computing corporation, held only 1 percent of the country's personal computer market. The appointment of a new company president marked the beginning of an era -- he started the drive to increase Apple's presence in the market and accelerated change. The company was to achieve annual sales of $1 billion by the end of 1995.

• To meet this challenge the corporation approached the management consultant firm, Arthur D. Little, who have built up a wealth of experience in information technology and company restructuring. Apple Japan requested a sweeping plan to penetrate the market and increase efficiency within the company. In order to do this, they planned to reposition the brand, expand the range of distributors, improve customer management, and introduce the concept of the Learning Organization into the workplace.

METHODS• In order to implement Learning Organization techniques, Apple was advised to

tackle the Five Disciplines which are essential to a learning organization: Team Learning, Shared Visions, Mental Models, Personal Mastery and Systems Thinking.

• Although group meetings were a regular part of company practice, more time was allowed for group discussions and team education. This kept the work teams well informed and increased every individual's input to their project. With the increased emphasis on team learning, a shared vision was naturally introduced, allowing each member to work towards the same goal irrespective of their position.

• Each employee of the company had their own mental model of how the organisation, their managers and team colleagues operate. By trying to bring each person's mental model into line with the rest of the team, the learning process was made more efficient and teams acted more coherently. Personal Mastery was also addressed by encouraging managers to set their staff challenging but reasonable goals, and introducing training programmes.

• The crucial discipline was Systems Thinking, which brought all the other factors together. This enabled each employee to make decisions, taking the whole system into account, instead of focusing specifically on their own problems.

• These disciplines were implemented by moderate restructuring and a program of education that was applied to everyone in the organization.

Results

• The re-organization resulted in a marked improvement in the company's sales, with growth exceeding the most optimistic projections:

• Market Share grew to 15% in 1995 from 1% in 1989.• Annual sales soared to $1.3 billion in 1994, with the sale of 520 000

computers • Although not all of the success can be attributed to the introduction of the

Learning Organization concept, the results indicate an unprecedented improvement. The learning organization was a major player in instituting this growth.

Quotations

• "The only irreplaceable capital an organization possesses is the knowledge and ability of its people. The productivity of that capital depends on how effectively people share their competence with those who can use it."Andrew Carnegie