Intro to Knowledge management

Knowledge audit

Knowledge audit, definition

• “Systematic investigation, examination, verification, measurement and evaluation of explicit and tacit knowledge resources and assets, in order to determine how efficiently and effectively they are used and leveraged by the organisation”

Ann Hylton

Broad aims

• Leveraging the organization’s knowledge• Creating new knowledge or promoting innovation• Increasing collaboration and hence enhancing the

skill level of employees

Knowledge audit: form

• A review of the organization’s knowledge assets (codified as well as implicit)and associated knowledge management systems

26% 42% 20% 12%

Where Does Corporate Knowledge Reside?

Paper Employee’s Electronic Electronic

Documents Brains Documents Knowledge Base

Knowledge strategies

組織知識的儲存

員工個人的知識儲存

在職員工

鼓勵員工記錄與分享

師徒制

保留具核心知識資源的員工

專家黃頁或知識地圖

離職員工

知識外化

建立人際網路

群組團隊的知識儲存

群組開會記錄

專案的結果報告

群組互動討論板

組織系統的知識儲存

電腦化及自動化

文件管理系統

知識庫

實務社群

Knowledge audit: contents (Liebowitz, p6, p.7)

• Identify what knowledge currently exists in a targeted area

• Identify what knowledge is missing in a targeted area

In a nutshell

• “in order to solve the targeted problem, what knowledge do I have, what knowledge is missing, who needs this knowledge and how will they use the knowledge?”

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Knowledge Audit ( Liebowitz, p5)

• In order to solve the targeted problem:– what knowledge do we have, – what knowledge is missing, – who needs this knowledge, – and how will we use the knowledge?

Leverage an organization’s knowledge

To identify• Information glut or scarcity • Lack of awareness of knowledge elsewhere in the

organization • Significant “reinventing the wheel”• Not knowing where to go for expertise in a specific

area• Inability to keep abreast of relevant information• Common use of out-of-date information

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Knowledge Reuse• Provides for the capture and reapplication of knowledge

artifacts (episodes in memory, stories, relationships, experiences, rules of thumb, and other forms of knowledge acquired by individuals or groups)

• Relies as much on the use of negative experiences, flawed reasoning, or wrong answers as on correct results

Goals of knowledge audit

• what knowledge is needed to support overall organizational goals and individual and team activities.

• gives tangible evidence of the extent to which knowledge is being effectively managed and indicates where improvements are needed.

• explains how knowledge moves around in, and is used by, that organization.

• provides a map of what knowledge exists in the organization and where it exists, revealing both gaps and duplication.

• provides an inventory of knowledge assets, allowing them to become more visible and therefore more measurable and accountable.

More concrete objectives

• Attain and preserve knowledge required to perform the organization’s critical processes & tasks

– Knowledge reuse– Organizational learning

• Study the knowledge sharing “climate” (e.g. social capital or other institutional infrastructure/norms, tools, leadership…)

• Study and develop a deeper understanding of existing communities (groups that share resources, provide support and show reciprocity)

• Develop a KM strategies according to your findings – Strategy: a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal

KM strategy

I know I don’t know

I know I know “I know” I know “ I don’t know”

I don’t know I don’t know “I know” I don’t know “I don’t know”

Self aware

In reality

Unknown unknowns

• Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know.

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

Types of knowledge existing and missing

• 1. Essential to business performance• 2. Essential for the company’s competitive

advantage• 3. Important for leading to innovations and

new business areas in the future• 4. Outdated and no longer useful

KnowledgeManagement

Socialcapital

Humancapital

Structuralcapital

KnowledgeManagement

Socialcapital

Humancapital

Structuralcapital

Today’s intellectual

capital

Organizational

learning

Future intellectual

capital

Fig. Intellectual capital grows with use

Deliverables of a Knowledge audit

• - A list of knowledge items (K-needs & current K-assets) in the form of spreadsheets

• - A knowledge network map which shows the flow of knowledge items

• - A social network map that reveals the interaction among staff on knowledge sharing

• These deliverables will help an organization in identifying the gap between “what is” at present and “what should be” in the future from a KM perspective.

Managing Explicit knowledge

• Assemble it• Validate it• As much as possible, standardize and simplify it • Keep it up to date• Leverage it • Make sure everyone who needs it know that it exists, where

to get it, and how to use it. • Automate and accelerate the processes of retrieving and

applying it• Add to it • Sue any bastard who steals it

Questions asked, Liebowitz, p.4• 1. Business concept (公司部門的業務 )

– Task analysis • 2.Enterprise know-how(如何利用、創造知識 )

– Contents (types of knowledge) and sources • Task decomposition

– Forms (implicit vs. explicit)/Wasko and Faraj (last page)

• 3.Knowledge workers(小組工作的情形、如何進行在職訓練、是否人盡其才 )

• 4.Knowledge mediated through IT(如何使用，僅處理資料或有管理知識 )

• 5.Organizational culture and design(whether the organizational design and culture impede or enhance innovation and knowledge sharing)

Task analysis

• Task complexity – Lin, p.294– Lin, p.525

• Information environment – Lin, p. 521

Where does knowledge reside?

• Knowledge as object• Knowledge embedded in people• Knowledge embedded in community

– Collective knowledge

Knowledge spiral

• Find cases, stories that demonstrate knowledge spiral theory•

Collective knowledge

• The accumulated knowledge of the organization stored in its rules, procedures, routines and shared norms which guide the problem-solving activities and patterns of interaction among its members.

Knowledge audit procedures1. Task analysis

2. Identify what knowledge exists (Liebowitz, p. 6)• Identify explicit knowledge (e.g. snapshots of corporate information)• Identify tacit knowledge pools• Conversions between explicit and implicit knowledge (knowledge

spiral)

3. Identify where that knowledge resides• Paper records, • local gurus who possesses what sorts of knowledge, (e.g. Mavens,

Connectors, Salespersons in the social networks)• Map knowledge processes (way it is captured, shared, used & saved)

Knowledge audit cont.

4. Identify what knowledge is missing (Liebowitz, p. 7)• Assess corporate objectives, skills, competencies against best

practices• Perform a gap analysis - who needs the knowledge & why

5. Report and recommend suggestions for improvement

Tasks analysis

• identifying the worker’s key decision making areas and tasks, and drills down to evaluate the types, level, and location of info and Knowledge required to support those decisions

• To understand, in great detail, which knowledge is present and its role

Final project

• For this project, each group will conduct a knowledge audit for an organization (loosely defined here, it can be an unit or a team created to perform a certain set of functions or tackle specific problems). To complete the project, follow the following steps:

Task analysis

• Analyze the unit's task and information environments Decide your unit of analysis: is it task based, team/group based, or institution based? +Provide the institutional context within which the organization/unit operates. +What are the objectives of the organization? +What is the nature of its tasks? (e.g. in terms of complexity, duration, uncertainty, mutual dependence...etc. +What kinds of knowledge is needed to achieve its objectives? And through what channels are the knowledge acquired and shared?

• a. Analyze the unit's task and information environmentsDecide your unit of analysis: is it task based, team/group based, or institution based.Provide the institutional context within which the organization/unit operates. What are the objectives of the organization?What is the nature of its tasks? (e.g. in terms of complexity, change of pace uncertainty, mutual dependence...etc.) What kinds of knowledge is needed to achieve its objectives? And through what channels are the knowledge acquired and shared?

Analysing tasks, activities, functions, outputs and outcomes of an organisation or of a particular area of an organisation and understanding the dependencies that exist.

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

What are the benefits?

Enables a common language across agencies

Assists you to decompose outcomes

Draws an explicit link between activities you undertake with the outcome being delivered

Identifies efficiencies, deficiencies and implications

Functions are the largest unit of business activity.

They represent major responsibilities that are managed by an organisation/area.

Activities are the major tasks which support and assist in achieving the work function.

An outcome is the end result derived from the output.

Tasks are the lowest level of effort they breakdown the activities.

A cluster of tasks may often seem unrelated.

Tasks can exist in several clusters at the same time.

TASK

TASK

TASK

ACTIVITY

ACTIVITY

ACTIVITY

ACTIVITY

ACTIVITY

ACTIVITY

FUNCTION

FUNCTION

OUTPUT OUTCOME

An output is the deliverable from the function/s.

Task analysis: maximising the re-sale value of a car TASKS ACTIVITIES FUNCTIONS OUTPUTS OUTCOMES

Change oil and water

Check air in tyres

Replace worn tyres

Replace headlight bulb

>

> Clean the car

Replace faulty or worn

parts

>

>

>>

Service the car

Maintenance

Presentation

>

>Speedometer Cable

A car that is:

Well maintained;

well presented; and

mechanically sound

Car re-sale value is maximised

Change spark plugs

Clean windows

Wash wheels

Vacuum interior

Polish paintwork

Identify what knowledge currently exists in a targeted area

• b. Identify the locations where the knowledge resides in the unit (See, for example, Wasko & Faraj, 2000).– Concepts

• Prepare a taxonomy or map of the kinds of knowledge needed, and present it visually using ConcepMap or other concept mapping tools.

– Stories • Apply the spiral of knowledge theory by Takeuchi &

Nonaka (1995), see if you could elicit one or two stories or anecdotes that demonstrate the dynamics between implicit and explicit knowledge within the unit.

Knowledge as object Knowledge embedded in people

Knowledge embedded inCommunity

Definition of knowledge Justified true belief That which is known The social practice of knowing

Organizational knowledge Contents of organizational memory including documents and electronic databases

Sum of individual knowledge Knowledge existing in the form of routines and shared languages, narratives and codes

Technologies that support exchange (decision integration)

Knowledge repositories andintelligent search agents

E-mail, phone, knowledge maps, and directories

Discussion groups, listservs,chat rooms, white boards

Assumptions and design implications

Knowledge is codified and becomes a structural asset of the firm

Knowledge exists in the minds of people and is difficult to share

Knowledge develops in thecontext of a community

Knowledge is decontextualized

Requires identification ofexperts and interaction for the transfer of tacit knowledge.

Members immersed in knowledge flows.

Assumes new knowledgecreation occurs from increased access to codified knowledge

Potential information overload for experts

Leverages people's desire to participate in a community

Knowledge must be considered a public good

Knowledge ownership Organization Individual Community

Motivations for exchange Self-interest Self-interest Moral obligation

Promotion of knowledge exchange

Extrinsic and financial rewards

Reputation, status, obligation Generalized reciprocity, self-actualization, access toCommunity

Wasko & Faraj, 2000

Diagnosis

• c. Identify the specific KM methods that are currently in use, comment on their strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, report the role of IT plays in KM.

• d. develop a knowledge strategy for your organization – Identify what knowledge is missing in a targeted area

Social network analysis

• e. Trace the knowledge flow (optional).Conduct a social network analysis of the informal network within the organization.

Recommendations

• f. Make recommendation to KM activities. Based on your analysis, recommend management tools or strategies that you believe will help achieve its objectives more effectively.

Corporate portal

• g. Design a corporate portal using Joomla or other Content Management Systems (CMS) tailored to the needs of its user communities. g. Write a report (10 to 14 pages) and prepare for an oral presentation (20 minutes) for your project.

Task decompositionOutcome/Deliverables

Types of knowledgeneeded

Internal/external sources/tools

Complexity,uncertainty

Info environment pace

Research Papers;Theses; Presentation; grant proposal; data

Information retrieval;Statistics; Software and programming ; English editing;Social network analysis, bibliometrics

Journal databases; conference ;dropbox; email; Mendely, google scholar, researchgate etc. Weekly meeting

high Fast

Teaching Syllabi; lecturing

Teaching methods; course materials; software

Textbook; search engines; Ceiba; brown bag; workshop

High/medium

Relatively fast

Service Journal editing, reviewing, networking

Reviewer selection; review process

Submission/reviewing system;

Medium Relatively stable

Hot spots

• Gratton, L. (2010). Hot Spots: Why Some Teams, Workplaces, and Organization Buzz with Energy-And Others Dont's

• Hot spots = (Cooperative Mindset x Boundary Spanning x Igniting Purpose) x Productive Capacity

Cooperative mindset

• Candidate selection • Encourage team rather than individual performance • Positive executive leadership • Mentoring and coaching • Creation of symbols, stories and language of

cooperation – E.g. givers and takers

• Informal activities and events

Igniting purpose

• Beyond petroleum of BP• Google rules

HOT SPOTS

InnovationThrough novelcombinations

ExplorationThroughsynthesis

ExploitationThrough shared

expertise

Within the group Outside the group

Extent of Boundary Spanning

Acquaintancesand associates

Close friends and Strong relationships

Depth of Relationships

Productive capacity

• The extent to which individuals are competent in the five productive practices:– Appreciating others’ talents– Making commitments/feeling obligated to each

other – Resolving conflicts– Synchronizing time – Establishing a rhythm