ESSENTIALS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE
Shallow and Deep Knowledge: Shallow or readily recalled surface knowledge indicates minimal understanding of the problem area. Deep knowledge is acquired through years of experience Knowledge as Know-How: Knowledge based on know-how, or build up lessons of practical experience, is what is needed for building expert systems

Common Sense as Knowledge: Common sense is another type of knowledge that all human beings possess in varying degrees and in varying amounts. It is a set of personal experiences and facts acquired over time and the type of knowledge that humans are likely to take for granted

Reasoning and Heuristics: Reasoning is relating one concept to another concept. Heuristics means reasoning with exact facts. Procedural knowledge to Episodic Knowledge: Procedural knowledge is an understanding of how to do a chore or carryout a procedure. It is knowledge enclosed in the use of a procedure. Episodic knowledge is knowledge based on experiential information or episodes.

Explicit and Tacit Knowledge: Tacit knowledge is knowledge embedded in the human mind through experience and jobs. Explicit knowledge is knowledge codified and digitized in books, documents, reports, etc.

ORGANIZATION KNOWLEDGE CREATION PROCESS

1 2 3 4 Knowledge creation Knowledge Acquisition / Capture Knowledge Organization

Knowledge Sharing
Knowledge Renewal

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER VIA TEAMS

Initial knowledge Outcome is realized Team performs a job Outcome compared to action

New knowledge reusable by same team on next job Knowledge captured and codified in a form usable by others New experience/ knowledge gained

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.

KNOWLEDGE CREATION

KM is not a technology; it is an activity enabled by technology and produced by people An alternative way of creating knowledge is via teamwork A team compares job experience to job outcome translates experience into knowledge Such newly acquired knowledge is carried to the next job Maturation over time with a specific job turns experience into expertise
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KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION / CAPTURE

Applied Brain Drain !!

Knowledge acquisition is a process by which the experts thoughts and experiences are captured. Knowledge Capture Techniques: On site observation Brainstorming Electronically aided brainstorming Protocol analysis a diagnostic process Repertory Grid Delphi method Nominal Group Technique (NGT Concept mapping

KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION / CAPTURE

Knowledge Capture Techniques: On site observation :: Drawn from anthropology / sociology concept of Participant Observation The knowledge developer does more listening than talking; avoids giving advice and does not pass judgement on what is observed. Brainstorming: An unstructured approach to generating ideas about a problem Introduce the brainstorming session Give the experts a problem to consider Prompt the experts to generate ideas Watch for signs of convergence Electronically aided brainstorming usage of smart boards and other IT tools.

EXAMPLES
1. On-site observation was used by one knowledge developer to build a teller KM system for a commercial bank, a project that took 2 months to complete. She sat in a booth adjacent to a senior teller with 7 years of experience. The purpose of the project was to build a KM system to determine when a cheque exceeded the set limits ($500, in this case) and what to do about the problem without requiring an officers signature.

KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION EXERCISE

1. Organize the class into teams 2. Each team should work out 5 major recommendations for How to develop the perfect corporate presentation 3. Use the following techniques: Onsite observation inputs based on your experience during your internships Use the brainstorming approach within your team 4. Each team should present their 5 recommendations. Expected are: Personal examples of what you observed during internship Something more than just a Bus Com textbook summary.

KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION / CAPTURE

Protocol analysis a diagnostic process Attempt to find out diagnostic methodology How does a doctor arrive at a diagnosis? How do two people solve the same problem :: mathemetical puzzles, arithmetic progression, etc Depends heavily on the use of scenarios Experts are asked to verbalize their solutions Protocol analysis = Analysis of thinking aloud

KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION / CAPTURE

Repertory Grid Originally evolved as an interview technique Uses factor analysis to identify key issues and knowledge items Used to gain insight into such issues as: why a particular sales representative has a high success rate; how to differentiate employees who are effective in a new environment; how an interviewer is more accurate than others; Etc Method is to develop constructs and use factor analysis to identify most important constructs good formal education / poor formal education coped well with normal stress levels / went to pieces under stress Younger / older

KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION / CAPTURE

Delphi method 1. In the first round, A panel of experts is asked to prepare individual anonymous opinions about an issue 2. Each expert is given a summary of other experts opinions in the second round, and asked to make a second opinion

3. Step 2 is repeated 2-3 times and the final summary is prepared

Important features: 1. Anonymity: Because opinions are obtained anonymously, the danger that the response of one expert will bias another is removed 2. Controlled feedback: Through a controlled set of rounds, the Delphi method allows each expert to rethink any previous answers in the light of the anonymous feedback received from other experts 3. Statistical group response

KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION / CAPTURE

Nominal Group Technique (NGT 1. Uses structured written responses idea writing to develop details about knowledge items Concept mapping:

Represents knowledge in graphs:

Nodes and Links based on the concept of Semantic Nets to identify nodes of meaning and links between them: Language : vocabulary represent the nodes and grammar the links between them

KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION / CAPTURE

Concept mapping:
wore glasses Has Led Birthday Independence movement GANDHI wrote

Experiments with Truth

KNOWLEDGEACQUISITION EXERCISE
IPTV India is a startup firm that will focus on Internet Protocol TV i.e. streaming of TV channels over the Internet into the home instead of via satellite. The core technologies high speed bandwidth and connecting a PC/laptop to a TV for large screen display are now available. Your task , as a group, is to devise a process to select the CEO. Explain the different Knowledge Acquisition techniques you will use and why. Explain the final selection process.

KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION
1. Indexing keywords

2. Abstracting Conceptual / concrete

3. Cataloguing 4. Records Management 5. Bibliography

THE KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION

Culture Competition
Collect

Technology

Create
Maintain Knowledge Organization

Organiz e Refine

Intelligence

Knowledge Management Process

Disseminate

Leadership

KM Drivers

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IMPEDIMENTS TO KNOWLEDGE SHARING

Personality Attitude based on mutual trust Vocational reinforcers Work norms

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IMPEDIMENTS TO KNOWLEDGE SHARING

Personality Compensation Recognition Ability utilization Creativity Good work environment Autonomy Job security Moral values Advancement Variety Achievement Independence Social status

Organizational culture

Vocational reinforcers

Knowledge sharing

Attitude Company strategies and policies

Work Norms

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NONAKAS MODEL

Tacit to tacit communication (socialization). Experience among people in face-to-face meetings Tacit to explicit communication (externalization). Articulation among people through dialog Explicit to explicit communication (communication). Best supported by technology Explicit to tacit communication (internalization). Taking explicit knowledge and deducing new ideas

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NONAKAS MODEL
TACIT TO TACIT (SOCIALIZATION) E.G., TEAM MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS TACIT TO EXPLICIT (EXTERNALIZATION) E.G., DIALOG WITHIN TEAM ANSWER QUESTIONS

EXPLICIT TO TACIT (INTERNALIZATION) E.G., LEARN FROM A REPORT

EXPLICIT TO EXPLICIT (COMMUNICATION) E.G., E-MAIL A REPORT

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KNOWLEDGE ARCHITECTURE
ARCHITECTURE : Systematic and interdependent combination of people, content and technology that accomplishes specified objectives

People core: Evaluate current documents people use Identify knowledge centers The technical core: The total technology required to operate the knowledge environment Content People
Technology

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KNOWLEDGE ARCHITECTURE CHARACTERISTICS

Available Accurate Effective Accessible

People

Content

Technology

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KNOWLEDGE ARCHITECTURE CHARACTERISTICS

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KNOWLEDGE ARCHITECTURE CHARACTERISTICS

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KNOWLEDGE AVAILABILITY

External to organization facilities such as powerful search engines to access external knowledge Internal knowledge:

Pervasive sharing infrastructure - eg. Save all documents to a knowledge base at the time of creation Sharing culture can be built by Content People seeding the knowledge base with both external and internal Technology knowledge

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THE CONCEPT OF MEMES

First proposed by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene The concept of a meme is similar to that of a gene The theory of natural selection first articulated by Charles Darwin is that all biological evolution is the constant struggle for survival of genes over each other highly validated model Dawkins proposed an analogous model for the evolution of ideas. ..Some characteristics of ideas :: They tend to perpetuate their structure and to breed, they can fuse, recombine, segregate their content, and in fact can evolve, so perhaps natural selection plays a role

THE CONCEPT OF MEMES

Jacques Monod in Chance and Necessity: Properties of Memes: Performance :: the capacity to bring change in the behaviour of the person or group that adopts it Spreading Power :: ability to attach itself to a person (host) who passes it on to another person Eg. Jokes ?? This meme about memes has proved to have high performance and spreading power !!!

IMPLICATIONS OF THE MEME CONCEPT TO KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT (AND CHANGE)

1. The most powerful idea or knowledge item is not necessarily the most likely to propagate. 2. Knowledge items that are best fitted to the environment will propagate most efficiently 3. There are many barriers that limit the spreading power of knowledge. 4. Knowledge that is incrementally useful has high spreading power 5. Knowledge that is transmitted in a likeable way with humour, empathy, appealing to the lighter side - is more likely to gain acceptance

IMPLICATIONS OF THE MEME CONCEPT TO KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT (AND CHANGE)

6. Organizations need a large number of small, incrementally useful knowledge items rather that a few Big Ideas 7. Ideally, there should be a steady stream of such highutility, reasonably sized knowledge chunks. 8. With increasing acceptance of the systematic spread of knowledge, the organization can reasonably expect a slow change in mindset amongst more and more employees - from Knowledge Followers to Knowledge Creators. 9. Such Knowledge Creators will be the future leaders of the enterprise. 10. The Big Idea should be disseminated to a small

THE CONCEPT OF MEMES AS APPLIED TO KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT When an employee reads a knowledge item from a knowledge base, the employee is surveyed to assess the performance potential and spreading power of the knowledge item

Based on this feedback, metadata about the item is created in the knowledge base (metadata = data about data) This allows knowledge to be organized in terms of their relative utility
Such concepts used very powerfully by search engines such as Google.

KNOWLEDGE ACCURACY

Metadata about the accuracy of knowledge items can also be added to the base Use of keywords, tags, etc Ease of addition of metadata is a key requirement

People Content

Technology

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KNOWLEDGE EFFECTIVENESS & ACCESSIBILITY

Metadata about the effectiveness of knowledge items to increase this parameter Use of technology (mobile access, etc) to increase accessibility
People Content

Technology

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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS Knowledge Management System :: A system for managing, organizing, filtering, analyzing, and disseminating knowledge in all its forms within an organization Knowledge Ecosystem: People Networks Knowledge Networks Technology Networks Based on the concept that a Network = Nodes connected by Links

Organizational Network Analysis: software supported methodologies that allow knowledge mapping in an organization . Very large number of easy-to-use software tools to assist

ORGANIZATION KNOWLEDGE MAPPING ISSUES & TECHNIQUES

Knowledge Mapping ongoing mission within the organization and supply chain to discover the location, ownership, value and use of knowledge artifacts, to learn the roles and expertise of people, to identify constraints in the flow of knowledge, to highlight opportunities for leveraging existing knowledge Core implementation issues: Escalating rate of growth and diversity of knowledge Increasing specialization of management disciplines

KNOWLEDGE MAPS
1. Location, ownership, validity, timeliness, domain, sensitivity, access rights, storage medium, use statistics, medium and channels of organizational data, information and knowledge

2. Organizational documents, files, systems, policies, directories, competencies, relationships, authorities

3. Boundary objects, knowledge artifacts, stories, heuristics, patterns, events, practices, activities 4. Explicit and tactical knowledge as linked to strategic drivers, core competencies and market intelligence

ORGANIZATIONAL BENEFITS
Encourage reuse of knowledge and prevent reinvention Highlight islands of expertise and how to connect them Discover effective and emergent communities of practice as learning is happening Provide a baseline for measuring progress Reduce the burden on experts Improve customer response, decision making and problem solving Highlight opportunities for learning and leveraging of knowledge Provide an inventory of intangible and tangible knowledge assets

KNOWLEDGE GENERATION

Knowledge codification and refinement Knowledge transmission Web enabled IT tools: Database tools Process Modelling and Management Workflow Management Search engines, navigation tools and Portals Visualization tools Collaborative tools

BUILDING KNOWLEDGE CORPORATIONS

The portal based approach has become popular: Enterprise Knowledge Portal: This provides capabilities to every member of the knowledge community to access learning and research work in partnership with peers and even with customers on matters of importance and engage in discovery of new projects as and when required Market Portal: At many courier companies, moving from an era where customers had to wait patiently or make numerous telephone calls to trace the progress of their parcels or packages, has put the power into the hands of the customer, giving them the ability to directly carry out through the value

BUILDING KNOWLEDGE CORPORATIONS

Collaborative portal: Intelligent linkage products implemented as a collaborative portal solution can ensure that linkages are established across the value chain and the supply mechanisms and planning processes of suppliers, subcontractors and distributors operate in harmony with that of the corporation.

KM PORTALS

IMPLEMENTING KM IN ORGANIZATIONS
1. Knowledge Need Identification :: K-Need 2. Knowledge Acquisition Framework :: K-Acquisition 3. Knowledge Net Design :: K-Design 4. Knowledge Net Implementation :: K-Net