Comp3503 Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence

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Comp3503Knowledge Management and Business
Intelligence

• Daniel L. Silver, Ph.D.

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Outline

• Introduction
• Background on Knowledge, KM and BI
• Knowledge versus Information
• Two Perspectives on Knowledge Management
• Integrating the Perspectives
• The Knowledge Management Cycle
• Individuals versus Organizations
• Important Areas for Research based on Insights
  from the KM Cycle

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Introduction

• Considerable interest in KM and BI (2005 10
  50B US)
• Hardware and software venders eager to use the
  term or associated terms
• However there is debate as to what KM is or
  should be
• New organization strategy/ management style
• Latest Information Technology (IT)
• Latest name for business information processing
• Critics argue that it is a fad (M. Schrage 01)

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Introduction

• KM is not a fad !
• KM is an important new area of research and
  application in response to new organizational
  problems
• Necessarily going through a period of definition
• Must consider a composite of people and
  information technology issues

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Introduction

• Why should KM and BI matter to you?
• Knowledge becoming substantial asset
• Maximum sharing of information
• Employees leave, business value remains
• Betterment of internal and external structures,
  personal competencies
• Competitive advantage - leading organizations now
  adopting

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Introduction

• Key Technology Components of KM and BI
• Internet / Intranet Groupware
• Content management systems
• Objected oriented distributed methods
• E-Business/E-Commerce business models
• Data Warehousing
• Data Mining

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Background
Competition
Global Opportunities
Employee Turn-over
Organization
Customer Demands
Technological Change
Regulatory Change

• The Problem

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Background

• KM is not a fad !
• Concepts that are emerging via KM are needed by
  organizations to meet todays internal and
  external pressures
• The ultimate goal for an organization is to
  communicate information and manage knowledge with
  the same efficiency and effective as an
  individual

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Background
Employees
Govt Regulators
Industry Associations
Management of Organizational Knowledge
Competitors
Customers Channels
Partners Suppliers

• The Objective

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Background

• KM lacks clear definition
• There are at least two reasons for this
• Debate over knowledge versus information
• Differences between the two major perspectives on
  KM

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Background

• Progression from Data to Wisdom
• Data measures without context
• Information data or derived values within the
  context of other dimensions such as time and
  dollars
• Knowledge information people
• Wisdom knowledge benevolence?

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Background

• Knowledge versus Information
• Information can be encoded and therefore stored,
  processed and communicated
• Knowledge is a combination of information and
  processes that work together to promote rational
  behaviour and achieve desired goals Newell 82
• Knowledge is uniquely linked to action
• An intangible asset the capacity to act desired
  by all organizations Sveiby 92

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Background

• Knowledge versus Information
• This definition subscribes to the autopoietic
  epistemology of Maturana and Varela
• Autopoietic systems are open to information but
  closed to knowledge
• Only information can pass between agents
• Knowledge is created inside each agent based on
  its unique set of experiences
• Knowledge is often lost when converted into
  information that can be handled by IT

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Background
Perspectives on Knowledge Management

• Technology Centred
• Info. Technologists
• Info. and comp. sciences, database, telecomm.,
  analysis
• KM objects
• Information (explicit knowledge) - easily encoded

• People Centred
• Org. Theorists
• Org. behavior, group dynamics, HCI, psychology
• KM process
• Tacit knowledge - difficult to encode

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Integrating the KM Perspectives

• The division between these perspectives is driven
  by differences in educational background,
  personal and profession motives
• The division needs to be eliminated because there
  is an important relationship KM is a
  people-centred philosophy that necessarily
  involves and promotes the use of information
  technologies.

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Integrating the KM Perspectives

• Knowledge is all about linking people with
  data. Ken Orr
• Too many managers still believe that once the
  right technology is in place appropriate
  information sharing will follow. Thomas
  Davenport

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Integrating the KM Perspectives

• The challengeTo construct hybrid KM
  environments in which we use both humans and
  machines in complimentary ways Davenport 00
• The IT proponents must understand that the
  people-centred approach is critical because
  information does not equal knowledge
• The people-centred proponents must accept that IT
  has and will play a critical role in KM

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Knowledge Management Cycle
Environmental data
Individual
Small Business
Large Corporation
Observation and Analysis
Problems Opportunities
Information
S policies, filing cabinets, various
int./ext. DBs P operational systems,
integrated corporate sys. C LANs, intranet,
voice- mail, video - Chaos ?
S agreement, files, simple database
(DB) P brains, small systems C telephone, fax,
email, meetings - Synergy?
INFORMATION Storage Processing Communication
S memory, notes, files P a brain, a PC C
internalized Happy!
Knowledge Consolidation
Theory Generation
Approach Methods
Results

• Business Intelligence

Testing and Application
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Knowledge Management Cycle
Individual
Environmental data
Observation and Analysis
Problems Opportunities
Information
S memory, notes, files P a brain, a PC C
internalized Happy?
Consolidation
Theory Generation
Strategy Approach
Results
Testing and Application
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Knowledge Management Cycle
Small Business
Environmental data
Observation and Analysis
Problems Opportunities
Information
S agreement, files, simple database
(DB) P brains, small systems C telephone, fax,
email, meetings - Synergy?
Consolidation
Theory Generation
Strategy Approach
Results
Testing and Application
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Knowledge Management Cycle
Large Corporation
Environmental data
Observation and Analysis
Problems Opportunities
Information
S policies, filing cabinets, various
int./ext. DBs P operational systems,
integrated corporate sys. C LANs, intranet,
voice- mail, video - Chaos ?
Consolidation
Theory Generation
Strategy Approach
Results
Testing and Application
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Important Areas of KM Research

• Observation and Analysis
• Improving retrieval and filtering of information
  P develop research abilities, library science
  skills, IT adaptive user interfaces,
  content management, KM formalisms (Ontologies,
  KQML)

• Capturing salient and accurate environmental data
  P cultural shift from rapid collection to
  accurate collection, IT methods of at source
  electronic entry (bar coding, handheld, voice
  recognition)

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Important Areas of KM Research

• Theory Generation
• Fostering knowledge creation through small groups
  P facilitate movement of people/ideas between
  groups, IT collaborative software, DW and data
  mining technologies

• Reducing bureaucracy and stimulating creativity
  P balance legal/prof. requirements with
  information sharing, analysis, creativity, IT
  XML, messaging, document management

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Important Areas of KM Research

• Testing and Application
• Promoting full-process involvement P feedback
  methods between designers/strategists and
  workers job-shadowing, linking rewards with
  actual success, IT exec. dashboard

• Measuring business processes and knowledge assets
  P tracking intangible assets (employee
  turnover, days of education), valuing business
  processes that create or transfer knowledge, IT
  methods of automated metrics gathering

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Important Areas of KM Research

• Knowledge Consolidation
• Methods of collective reflection and trust
  building P perhaps most needed, regular points
  reflection, sharing and consolidation, trust is
  the bandwidth of communications

• Retaining knowledge when employees leave P
  exploration of new proactive (personnel rotation)
  and reactive (exit interviews) methods, IT voice
  and video content access (filtering, retrieval)

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Summary

• KM is not a fad .. It is in a necessary period of
  definition
• The people-centred and technology-centred
  perspectives of KM must be further integrated gt
  richer strategy
• The KM Cycle provides clues as to differences
  between how individuals and organizations manage
  knowledge
• An analysis of these differences points to major
  areas of research and application

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Summary

• HYPE
• KM is primarily technology centred
• Data Warehousing
• Data Mining
• Intranets
• Groupware

• REALITY
• KM is primarily a people centred philosophy which
  necessarily involves and will promote the use of
  such technologies

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References

• Access to Recent Information
• Books Working Knowledge How Organizations
  Manage What They Know T. Davenport L. Prusak
  (http//www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASI)
• The Web
• http//www.brint.com/km/
• www.sveiby.com.au
• knowledge management mail-list
  km_at_MCCMEDIA.COM

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THE ENDdanny.silver_at_acadiau.ca
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Knowledge Management

• Intellectual Capital
• Human Capital Knowledge Capabilities Skill
• Structural Capital Everything that remains
  after the employees go home
• Intellectual Capital Human Capital Structural
  Capital
• Intellectual Capital Market Value - Book Value
  (e.g. Microsofts MV 15 BV)

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Knowledge Management

• The Invisible Balance Sheet

Assets
Liability S.H. Equity
Cash
Short-term Loans
Accounts Receivable
Long-term Debt
Tangible
Book Value
S.H. Equity
Equipment Property
Market Value
External Structure
Invisible Share Holder Equity
Intangible
Internal Structure
Competence
Obligation
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Knowledge Management

• Gardner says ....
• Leaders - will move on intangible benefits
• Followers - will move only on tangible
  savings/profits
• Others - will wait and try to catch up