Lecture 3 Introduction to Knowledge Management

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Lecture 3 Introduction to Knowledge
Management
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Learning Outcomes

• Introduce Knowledge Management concept
• Disentangle some of the ambiguity surrounding
  Knowledge Management terminology
• Define terminology relevant to KM field

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The Evolution of Knowledge

• Knowledge focus not new - Greek philosophers
  Plato, Socrates and Aristole
• Hunter-gatherer
• Agricultural Revolution
• Industrial Revolution - Division of Labour Adam
  Smith, 1776
• Knowledge Revolution - Process and Knowledge

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Why Focus on Knowledge

• The modern world is swept by change. New
  technologies are emerging constantly, new markets
  are opening up. There are new competitors but
  also great new opportunities. Our success
  depends on how well we exploit our most valuable
  assets knowledge, skills and creativity. These
  are the key to designing high value goods and
  services and advanced business practices. They
  are at the heart of a modern knowledge driven
  economy
• Tony Blair, PM

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• The emergence of the Knowledge economy means that
  companies can no longer expect the products and
  services which made them successful in the past
  to keep them viable in the future companies now
  require quality, value, service, innovation, and
  speed to market for business success these
  factors will become more crucial in the future
• Davenport Prusak, 1998

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• in an economy where the only certainty is
  uncertainty the one source of competitive
  advantage is knowledge
• Nonaka, 1994
• Knowledge is now the main cost, the main
  investment, the main employer and the main
  product of the knowledge economy
• Skyrme Amidon, 1997

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Why Knowledge Management?

• Most organisations do not manage their knowledge
  well
• They lose knowledge through downsizing and staff
  turnover
• They buy in expertise they already possess
• They do not know what they know

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Fad or Fundamental?

• To a growing number of companies, KM is more
  than just a buzzword or a sales pitch, it is an
  approach to adding or creating value by more
  actively leveraging the know-how, experience and
  judgment resident within, and in many cases,
  outside of an organisation
• Ruggles, 1998

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• The central premise behind Knowledge Management
  is that all factors that lead to superior
  performance - organisational creativity,
  operational effectiveness and quality of services
  and products - are improved when better knowledge
  is made available and used competently
• Karl Wiig, Knowledge Research Institute

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The KM Journey

• Knowledge Management is a journey. It is not
  new. Managing knowledge has taken place ever
  since a cave person passed a tool to their
  partner.
• Whats different today is that were starting to
  develop a language to talk about this fuzzy and
  intangible stuff. We need to develop visual
  frameworks to help people build this language.
  If we can visualize, we can measure and if we can
  measure, we can manage
• Gordon Petrash, Dow Chemical

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Emergence of Knowledge Management

• 1994 Stewart, Drucker, Romer
• 1995 Nonaka Takeuchi, The Knowledge Creating
  Company
• 1995 - Leonard-Barton, Wellsprings of Knowledge
• 1995 - Knowledge The Strategic Imperative,
  Houston, USA
• 1997 Knowledge Inc., Knowledge Management
  Review, Journal of Knowledge Management
• 1997 Skyrme Amidon, Creating the
  Knowledge-based Business

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Why the confusion?!?!

• Difficult to define due to heterogeneous range of
  interests, perspectives and issues connected to
  the field.
• KM has received contributions from Computer
  Science (AI, Software Engineering), Business and
  Management (BPR, TQM, Continuous Improvement),
  Sociology, Psychology, Human Resource Management,
  Organisation Behaviour, Accountancy, etc.

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Roots of a knowledge focus
Business transformation
Learning organisation
Innovation
Knowledge
Information Management
Intellectual assets
Knowledge-based systems
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Is not to...

• The idea is not to give the right answer, but
  to create a framework for people and
  organisations to start the process of finding
  their own questions and answers to understand
  how they learn, how they share and how they use
  their knowledge
• Cope, 1998

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Elements of Knowledge

• Timetable Example

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Knowledge Hierarchy

• Wisdom
• Knowledge
• Information
• Data

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Data

• Data is a set of discrete, objective facts about
  events that are usually stored in some form of
  information technology system
• Davenport Prusak, 1998
• Data is raw. It simply exists and has no
  significance beyond its existence. It can exist
  in any form, usable or not. It does not have
  meaning of itself
• Bellinger et al., 2000

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Information

• Information is data with meaning
• Davenport Prusak, 1998
• Information is data that has been given meaning
  by way of relational connection
• Bellinger et al., 2000
• Information is data that are processed to be
  useful provides answers to who, what,
  where and when questions
• Ackoff, 1998

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Knowledge

• Knowledge is justified, true belief
  Plato
• Knowledge is power Francis Bacon
• Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience,
  values, contextual information, and expert
  insight that provides a framework for evaluating
  and incorporating new experiences and
  information. It originates and is applied in the
  mind of knowers. In organizations, it often
  becomes embedded not only in documents and
  repositories but also in organizational routines,
  processes, practices and norms
• Davenport Prusak, 1998

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Dimensions of Knowledge

• Tacit Knowledge
• Tacit knowledge is personal knowledge in the
  form of skills, know-how experience, intuition,
  insights, feelings and beliefs
• Davenport Prusak, 1998
• tacit knowledge cannot be put into words we
  know more than we can tell
• Polanyi, 1966

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Dimensions of Knowledge (2)

• Explicit Knowledge
• Explicit Knowledge is knowledge contained in
  oral or written language intended for consumption
  or access by others. It is knowledge that has
  been formulated and formalised, and is typically
  found in books, documents, manuals, formulae,
  presentations, lectures, etc.
• Davenport Prusak, 1998

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Wisdom

• Wisdom is knowledge with insight. The
  combination of experience and knowledge with the
  ability to apply them
• The Antidote, 1998
• the ability to use knowledge sound judgement
• English Dictionary, 1999

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Definitions of Knowledge Management

• Knowledge Management is knowledge creation,
  which is followed by knowledge interpretation,
  knowledge dissemination and use, and knowledge
  retention and refinement
• De Jarnett, 1996
• Knowledge Management is the process of
  critically managing knowledge to meet existing
  needs, to identify and exploit existing and
  acquired knowledge assets and to develop new
  opportunities
• Quintas et al., 1997

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• Knowledge Management caters to the critical
  issues of organisation adaption, survival and
  competence in face of increasingly discontinuous
  change. Essentially, it embodies organisational
  processes that seek synergistic combination of
  data and information processing capacity of
  information technologies, and the creative and
  innovative capacity of human beings
• Malholtra, 1997

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• Knowledge Management is the process of creating
  new mindsets, models, skills and technologies
  that capture, organise and employ information,
  experience and knowledge application, to gain
  collective expertise across the organisation,
  which in turn facilitates competitive advantage
• Moffett, 2000

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Knowledge Management Models

• 3 broad categories of KM models
• Knowledge Category Models
• Social Constructionist Model
• Intellectual Capital Models

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Knowledge Category Models
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Knowledge Category Models
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Knowledge Category Models
Figure No 3 - Knowledge Category Model (Boisot,
1998)
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Intellectual Capital Models
Figure No 5 Intellectual Capital Model of KM
(Chase, 1997)
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Social Constructionist Models
Figure No 6 - Knowledge Management Model
Demerest, (1997)
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Social Constructionist Models
Figure No 7 - Modified Version of Demerests
Knowledge Management Model (McAdam and McCreedy,
1998)
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MeCTIP Model (Moffett, 2001)
External
Internal
Process
P3
Orgnal Climate
Technical
P1
P4
Macro Environment
P5
P6
Internal Technical Climate
Informational
P2
P7
P8
Personal
Organisation Environment
P9
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Components of Model

• Macro-Environment - economic, technical, social
  agents of change. These include globalisation,
  technological development, Partnerships and
  Alliances, Customer-focused markets, rise of
  e-economy
• Organisational Climate - structure, strategy,
  goals, culture, employee emancipation, reward
  systems, change management business improvement
  initiatives
• Internal Technical Climate - technological
  infrastructure, response to technical change

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Components of Model 2

• Technical - system standardisation, capability,
  technical usability, technological tools for KM
• Informational - information fatique, infofamine,
  infoglut, knowledge silos, power-bases,
  information auditing
• Personal - knowledge roles, skills, trust,
  motivation, empowerment, self-reflection,
  learning networks, communities of practice,
  dialogue, collaboration, innovation

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Task

• 1 page summary
• What is Knowledge Management?
• Include at least 5 academic references