2014 2nd International Conference on Technology, Informatics, Management, Engineering & Environment

Bandung, Indonesia, August 19-21, 2014

Knowledge Management System Readiness Analysis

(Case Study at Human Resource Consulting Company)

Anak Agung Gde Agung

Program Studi Komputerisasi Akuntansi, Fakultas Ilmu Terapan
Universitas Telkom
Bandung, Indonesia
agung@tass.telkomuniversity.ac.id

Abstract— Knowledge is one key to achieve competitive The management recognized that knowledge possessed by
advantage to an organization. As a company with high employee the employee as a valuable asset. They need to be captured and
turnover rate, a human resource consulting company in Jakarta stored so they can be retrieved when needed. As an initial step,
suffers loss of knowledge possessed by resigned employee. the management wanted to map the employee’s understanding
Various efforts have been made to equip new employees to have of the importance of knowledge sharing. They also wanted to
knowledge as employees being replaced. Nevertheless the know in what way the KMS could be implemented. Those
knowledge of the new employee cannot match the knowledge of were two main issues which will be addressed in this research.
the resigned employee for a long time. Knowledge possessed by
employee is considered to be valuable asset. They need to be II. KNOWLEDGE
captured and managed. In response to this problem, this research
maps the employee’s understanding of the importance of A. Knowledge
knowledge sharing. This research also give recommendation in Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values,
what way the knowledge management system could be contextual information, expert insight and grounded intuition
implemented, based on the company’s culture. that provides an environment and framework for evaluating
and incorporating new experiences and information [1].
Keywords: human resource consulting firm, knowledge
management system, readiness, focus group discussion Knowledge is defined as information that change
something or someone, which is happened when the
I. INTRODUCTION information is used as a base to act or when the information
This study was conducted in one of Human Resource enables someone or the organization to take effective action
Consulting firm in Jakarta. Focusing in human resource than before [2].
development, the company is responsible for assisting clients
Knowledge is located inside people and organization.
in integrating business processes, programs and practices of
Knowledge often documented and related to process, practice
human resources effectively. The company also provides
and routine activity of the organization.
feedback to the client to maximize human resource’s
performance. This causes most employees spend their time Knowledge can be classified into two types [1]:
outside the office.
• Tacit knowledge is knowledge that is contained in
The company has a problem related to employee turnover. one's mind, which is obtained through experience,
Monthly employee resignation rate averaged at 2.12%, with the
highest rate is at 6.98%. The company does not have a • Explicit knowledge is tacit knowledge which have
mechanism or Knowledge Management System (KMS) to been decoded and documented.
document and distribute knowledge possessed by the
employees so that if there are employees who resigned, the
company loses the employee’s knowledge.
Various efforts have been made to equip new employees to
have knowledge as employees being replaced. These efforts
include new employee orientation, training and sharing with
employees who have more experience. During this orientation,
new employees will be placed in each division for certain
period of time, so the employee can understand work in each
division. This also means during this period, the employee can
only contribute a little or make no contribution, and some point
Figure 1. SECI Model
can slowing down the company. Nevertheless the knowledge
of the new employee cannot match the knowledge of the
This type of knowledge can be converted from one into
resigned employee for a long time.
another, known as SECI model [3].

978-1-4799-4805-5/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE 206

 The professional intellect of an organization operates in
four levels of knowledge, according to their importance. This
level is also known as Quinn’s level of knowledge [4]:
• Know what, which represents an essential knowledge
has been acquired through learning, such as extensive
training and certification. The knowledge is essential,
but not sufficient, and not yet implemented.
• Know-how, which represents the ability to apply the
knowledge that has been acquired to complex real-
world problems.
• Know why, which represents the understanding of an
event that is gained through experience. It is a deep
knowledge of the web of cause-and-effect relationship
underlying a discipline. In this stage, one can act
intuitively using the knowledge he had.
• Care why, which represents the will, motivation and
adaptation for developing the creativity that exist
within a company.
Knowledge management is defined as management of
organizational knowledge for creating business value and
generating a competitive advantage [1].
Some reasons why many organizations treat knowledge as
strategic resource and implement knowledge management [5]:
• Globalization and competition, many companies rely
on their knowledge to create strategic advantage.
• Application of knowledge can add the value of good or
service, which can increase price of the good or
service.
• Restructuring and downsizing, without an effective
mechanism for managing knowledge, the company can
repeat the same mistakes that have occurred previously
or to pay for the knowledge that has been previously
owned.
• Sharing of best practices, companies can cut expense
by managing knowledge possessed by employees
which can be applied on similar situations in the future.
• Successful innovation, companies that implementing
knowledge management found that with knowledge
networking, they can make product or service faster
and better.
In order to implement successful knowledge management
strategy, some important factors are needed [6]:
• Correct flow of information and knowledge. The focus
in this factor is: what we need to know?
• Technology to store and distribute knowledge. The
focus in these factors are: how to add, maintain and
distribute what we know?
• Suitable work culture that can motivate the use of
knowledge. The focus in these factors are: how to
motivate employees to share knowledge and to use that
knowledge?
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B. Focus Group Discussion
Focus Group Discussion (FGD) is a research method that
aims to identify problems or specific needs by conducting
interviews with a group of people who are directly involved
with the problems or needs. In FGD, each participant can
express his opinion freely [7].
Focus group discussions have the following characteristics:
• Participants have homogeneous characteristics, which
have similar experiences and interests of the issues
discussed.
• The number of FGD participants should be between six
to ten people. If the participant is less than six, can lead
to less diversity and dominance occurs against a certain
opinion, whereas if more than ten participants can lead
the discussion difficult to control due to too many
opinions.
• Information taken in FGD is not used as a reference for
decision making (consensus), but information relating
to attitudes, views and feelings of the participants to
the problems encountered.
• The resulting data can provide a qualitative overview
and understanding of the attitudes, perceptions and
feelings of the participants.
• Questions in the FGD should be simple, easy to
understand, spontaneous and logical.
Recommendation can be proposed from focus group
discussion data using these steps [8]:
Figure 2. Data Analysis Method
III. VARIABLE OF THE STUDY
There are two variables used in this study. They are:
A. Readiness
Readiness describes the ability of the company to adapt
when KMS is to be used. Readiness variable consists of:
• Culture: a corporate culture that supports the sharing
and use of knowledge embodied in the company's
policies and activities that support the sharing of
knowledge and respect for knowledge. Question to be
discussed such as: how the relationship between
superior and staff? Is there an activity arranged by the
company to facilitate discussion? How the document is
saved? What motivate the employee to share
knowledge to others? Is there a reward for the best
knowledge shared?
• Technology that will be used to implement the KMS,
availability of infrastructure, system design and system
implementer. Question to be discussed such as: what
media already or likely to be used? How is the
availability of the infrastructure?
B. Knowledge management system design TABLE II. FGD PARTICIPANT

Variable that will be used in the KMS design consists of: Code Position Division
• Knowledge: knowledge screening/selection, R1 Senior Consultant Training
knowledge classification, knowledge distribution,
R2 Consultant Employment Solution
feedback and knowledge rating. Question to be
discussed such as: how the knowledge was distributed? R3 Consultant Assessment
Who can have access to a specific knowledge? How to R4 Senior. Consultant Training
rate the usefulness of the knowledge?
R5 HR Officer/Consultan Human Resource
• Personnel: job specification and job description of the
knowledge officer. Question to be discussed such as: is R6 Senior Consultant Research and Development
the responsibility attached to a specific person (officer) R7 Senior Staff Finance
or distributed to certain employee?
R8 Senior Staff Finance
• Policies and rules on knowledge sharing and
knowledge usage. Question to be discussed such as:
how to reward knowledge contributor? How to deal B. Summary of FGD
with ‘silent’ employee, who never share knowledge? Raw data from all eight participants then analyzed to
obtain the summary of answers from various main issues
TABLE I. VARIABLES OF THE STUDY within a variable. Below is the summary for culture sub
variable.
Variable Sub variable Indicator
Culture that supports the sharing TABLE III. SUMMARY: CULTURE SUB VARIABLE
and using of knowledge
Culture Policies/activities to share
knowledge Main Issue Summary of Answers
Readiness Award for knowledge sharer
Relationships between employees
Technology to be used fairly open, not rigid and supporting
Technology and each other. Bosses cannot be found
Infrastructure availability Relationship between
infrastructure every time because of their activity
System implementer availability your boss/subordinate
outside the office. Communication was
Knowledge screening done by various media, using the
Knowledge classification phone, email or chat.
Knowledge Knowledge distribution Importance of
Knowledge Knowledge feedback suggestion/direction All respondents felt suggestion from
management Knowledge rating from coworkers to be coworkers and boss is very important
system design KM officer’s job specification used as input for because it can affect the quality of the
Personnel making decisions or action taken.
KM officer’s job description
Policy regarding knowledge action
Policy sharing and knowledge usage The company form a team consists of
Reward and punishment Policy so the employees across divisions. Implement
employees can be sharing activities once a month for all
active in knowledge division and twice a month within a
IV. FGD RESULT AND INTERPRETATION sharing division. Budget allocation for training
and development.
A. FGD Participant To broaden and deepen the knowledge
Motivation to share
Focus group discussion conducted to eight senior knowledge
and insights and to share knowledge to
employees from each division. Participants are chosen from other employee
middle managerial level position or above. It is very important There is no special reward, but
employees feel happy and satisfied for
to capture insight from upper level management, since their Positive impact by the
sharing. Sharing was made to be fun
commitment to knowledge management process is essential. knowledge
and non-encouraging employees to do
They responsible for creating the knowledge vision, share the the sharing.
vision throughout the employee and creating a culture. Upper
level management must recognize its importance and backup
the development of knowledge management programs and Table IV shows the summary for technology and
policies [9]. Change of paradigms and consciousness need to infrastructure sub variable.
be started at the managerial top-level [10].

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 TABLE IV. SUMMARY: TECHNOLOGY AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Main Issue Summary of Answers
SUB VARIABLE
Dedicated personnel or
Dedicated personnel, but for now can
Main Issue Summary of Answers current personnel with
be handed to available employee.
additional task?

Using email, messaging, phone, or Manage knowledge and feedback,

Authority and
through meeting. Activities that require user management and privilege,
responsibility
Media that can be used employees to be out of the office depend motivate other employee.
to share knowledge on each division. Employees have high
ability in using internet (email, chatting,
browsing). Below is the summary for policy sub variable:

There is not enough room in the office TABLE VII. SUMMARY: POLICY SUB VARIABLE
Room occupancy in to accommodate employee but
the company management have plan to move to a Main Issue Summary of Answers
bigger office.
IT is focused as support but in the near Reward mechanism, to be included in
Information Policy to encourage
future management will enhance its employee's KPI, using reminder
Technology (IT) knowledge sharing
function. Already had server, web system.
development in near
domain, internet and local area network Appreciation for
future
access. contributor whose Reward system, affected to
Personnel to knowledge considered performance appraisal and position.
No specific employee, sharing and
coordinate knowledge useful to the company
documenting are coordinated by each
sharing and
division. Give encourage to employee to share
documentation Treatment for inactive
knowledge, standardize knowledge
Personnel to develop employee
The company already has IT division. sharing policy.
IT

Below is the summary for knowledge sub variable:
be interpreted several issues as follow:
TABLE V. SUMMARY: KNOWLEDGE SUB VARIABLE
Main Issue Summary of Answers
Knowledge can be screened by other,
Knowledge screening
depend on privilege. Privilege should
mechanism
be controlled by manager.
Internal and external issue, and
Knowledge classification classified further by topics. External
issue can be classified per client.
Every employee can access to
Knowledge accessibility knowledge according to their
privilege
Every employee can make feedback to
Feedback mechanism knowledge according to their
privilege
From the summary of the answers from each variable, can
• From the culture sub variable, relationship between
employee well underway and cultural sharing has
formed. Employees have understood the importance of
sharing. The company also has made some effort and
policy for employees to be active in sharing activities.
• From the technology and infrastructure sub variable,
meeting and other media for sharing already used by
the employee. Occupancy room in the company is high
enough so meeting on a large scale would be difficult.
The company is developing IT and has had its own IT
division. Internet and network access already had and
used by the company. Sharing activities are usually
coordinated by each division and there are no
employees who are specifically designated to handle
sharing activities.

Most implementative, most • From the knowledge sub variable, respondents suggest
Quality of knowledge accessible, most commented, most that there should be privileges leveling in knowledge
complete (5W+H) and its feedback. Knowledge stored grouped into
internal and external knowledge for further subdivided
Table IV shows the summary for personnel sub variable. based on the topic. This knowledge then can be
accessed by other employees. Knowledge quality can
TABLE VI. SUMMARY: PERSONNEL SUB VARIABLE be measured by the level of implementable, the
number of employees who access it and the
Main Issue Summary of Answers completeness of knowledge.
• From the personnel sub variable, to manage
Have knowledge to strategic knowledge, the respondents suggest that there should
Knowledge officer management. Strong commitment,
criteria proactive, broadminded. Have good
be specific employees who have a good knowledge of
administrative ability. strategic, in addition to be able to motivate other
employees for sharing. The employee is also
responsible for managing the system and the
knowledge itself.

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 • From the policy sub variable, to encourage sharing
culture, respondents suggest there needs to be a reward
mechanism, weather it is in the form of material or
non-material. In addition, the sharing activity can be
made in the performance indicator appraisal and affect
employee placement for position within the company.
For the implementation, there should be a standardized
policy.
From the first and second point above, it can be summarize
that communication between employees runs well. Employees
have implemented knowledge sharing by using any available
media. Knowledge sharing is not well managed. It is then
possible to increase the impact of knowledge sharing for the
business.
KMS using IT technology, such as website or portal is very
likely to be implemented. The company already has IT division
that can develop and maintain the system and the infrastructure
needed. Employees in some divisions are required to be off the
office. Web-based KMS can provide knowledge repository to
such high mobility employee. Most of the employees already
familiar with media like email, chatting and browsing, giving
less effort for training.
From the third point forward, obtained a description of the
selection mechanism and access to knowledge, criteria and task
of the knowledge officer and the change in company policies
related to the implementation of KMS.
V. CONCLUSION
Focus Group Discussion conducted with eight senior, upper
level management can be used to assess readiness in the
company. While this method can be used to another domain or
culture, choosing the proper participant is the key. Other
crucial element is the facilitation. Facilitator should maintain
neutrality, keep the group focused, keep the individual from
dominating and encourage passive individual.
The employees have understood the importance of sharing
and have implemented sharing using various media. Employee
use the knowledge in their job, but the knowledge is still not
well organized. No specific person assigned to manage the
knowledge yet. According to Quinn’s level of knowledge, the
company lies in the second level, the Know-How. Thus, there
is opportunity to develop KMS to achieve competitive
advantages.
Employees have been aware of the importance of sharing
and already active sharing through various media. Having a
web-based KMS is highly possible because of the availability
of infrastructure and human resources (IT division). Effort for
training can be reduced since most of the employee already
familiar to IT-based application. Knowledge representation
using object oriented XML language can be considered when
designing KMS [11]. With the web-based KMS, knowledge
sharing can be done anywhere, anytime. This would fit with the
characteristic of job which requires to work outside the office
most of the time. Using IT based system would shift current
culture and paradigm. Consciousness and commitment must be
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raised throughout all employees to make sure employee will
use the new method of sharing.
Shifting culture and paradigm can be painful process for
manager. There are four major obstacles, the first is cognitive.
Employee must understand why the change is needed. The
second is resource. Change in organization will move resource
from one area to another area. Management should make
priority to maximize the use of resources, and to make sure
there will be no resource shortage. The third is motivation from
the employee to make change, and company will have to
facilitate their needs. Some employee may already understand
why they need to change, but not motivated to move on. In this
case, management must force them to change, since they can
make bad influence to the rest of the employee. The last
obstacle will be the company politics. Management have to
make sure all employee headed toward the same direction
regarding personal or group interest [11]. Future study should
be carried out to assess possible obstacles and strategy to
overcome the obstacles.
The success in implementing KMS depends on continuous
and consistent programs and policies, such as socialization,
seminars, rules on how sharing can impact directly or indirectly
to the salary. Formal policy and guidelines should be prepared.
It may consist of modification in organizational structure to
accommodate KM officer, training for employee, guidelines on
how to use the system and make an IT support team.
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