knowledge management research group ims5024 october 2002s1 introduction to knowledge management...
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Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s1
Introduction to Knowledge Management
Henry LingerKnowledge Management Research Group
Monash University
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s2
One third of managers suffer ill-health as a
direct consequence ofstress associated with
information overload
48% predict that the Internet will play a
primary role in aggravating the problem
Almost 80% cite the rapid increase of internal
communications within companies… as a key
reason for the increase.
43% think that important decisions are delayed as
a result of having too much information
Source: Reuters Business Information 1996Source: Reuters Business Information 1996
Information Overload
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s3
Information Overload cont.
“Information overload is not a functionof the volume of information… it’s a
gap between the volume of information and
the tools we have to assimilate that information into
useful knowledge.”
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s4
American business generates about 90 billion documents per year. Each of these documents is copied an average of 11 times
Source: Windows Magazine
Office workers spend 20% of their time performing document management in non-automated environments
Source: Gartner Group
A typical organization of 1,000 people wastes over $11 million per year through manual document handling and management
Source: Gartner Group
William Booran-Fogarthy, COMPUTECHNICS, 1999
Some facts to consider:
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s5
Why Knowledge is Important
• “In post-Capitalism, power comes from transmitting information to make it productive” Peter Drucker
• In the current turbulent and complex business environment, organizations “need to know” and “make sense” of a changing world
• Four factors are working in concert to synergistically change how, where, what, and when business is done and with whom. The drivers are:– reconceptualisation of geography (globalisation)– an alternate temporal paradigm (7/24)– the dynamics of business relations– the ubiquitiness of convergent technologies
• Global competitiveness entails a continuous process of innovation• Best practice and competences need to be retained and managed• The information economy is based on the exploitation of knowledge
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s6
What Is Knowledge?
• Knowledge - (the knowledge of something) is the ability to form a mental model that accurately represents the thing as well as the actions that can be performed on it and by it
» Sowa, 1994
• Knowledge - (human knowledge is understood as) family of classification patterns related to a specific part of a real or abstract world.
» Slowinski, 1992
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s7
Information vs Knowledge
Information is:• the raw material for production of
knowledge» Alavi, 1997
• the flow of messages or meaning which may add to, restructure, or change knowledge
» Muchup, 1983
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s8
Types of Knowledge
• Explicit knowledge = Digital knowledge• knowledge of rationality
• sequential: there and then
• formal and systematic
• expressed in words and numbers
• Tacit knowledge = Analog knowledge• deeply rooted in experience, ideas, values
• highly personal, subjective, hunches, intuition
• hard to formalize and communicate
• technical:‘know-how’ of the craftsman
• cognitive:ingrained mental modelsNonaka and Takeuchi, 1995
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s9
Tacit to Tacit Explicit to Tacit
Tacit to Explicit Explicit to Explicit
Socialisation
CombinationExternalisation
Internalisation
Knowledge Processes
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s10
A management approach to KM
“…a concept which identifies the tacit knowledge of the members of an organisation as among its most important assets. Through appropriate human resource policies and practices, it seeks to achieve a translation from tacit to explicit knowledge which can be shared among members of the organisation.”
» Nanaka&Horotaka, 1995 cited in Kennedy&Schauder, 1998
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s11
Knowledge and Management: an evolving relationship
• Knowledge is fundamentally important to firms as the basis for creating and appropriating wealth;
• The only sustainable competitive advantage in today’s market could well come from what is known and how fast it can be put to use;
• Productivity increasingly depends upon an ability to re-use knowledge rather than having to create it;
• Innovation is the means by which new knowledge is created, transferred, and applied to ensure desirable business outcomes
Domarset, 1997
Knowledge management is NOT a sub-set of management but fits into a wider management theory.
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s12
An Information Management Approach to KM
“…. accessing, evaluating, managing, organizing, filtering, and distributing information in a manner that is useful to end users … knowledge management involves blending a company’s internal and external information and turning it into actionable knowledge via a technology platform”
– DiMattia, Susan and Oder, Norman (1997)
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s13
Organisational KM
• Knowledge Management is about: – organisations realizing the importance to "know what they
know". – making use of knowledge across the organisation in order to
avoid “re-inventing the wheel”.
• Organisations need to know: – what their knowledge assets are; – how to manage and make use of these assets to get maximum
return;– establish rules and procedures for knowledge sharing and reuse.
• Knowledge resides in many different places:– Data/knowledge bases, – filing cabinets – peoples' heads – distributed right across the organisation.
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s14
KM with Knowledge Assets
• Knowledge assets includes:
… knowledge regarding markets, products, technologies and organisations, that a business owns or needs to own and which enable its business processes to generate profits, add value, etc.
• KM is not only about managing these knowledge assets but also managing the processes that act upon the assets.
• These processes include: – creating knowledge;
– preserving knowledge;
– sharing knowledge, and
– using knowledge.
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s15
Alavi, 1997
Technology
Socio-Cultural Issues
Knowledge Creation/
Acquisition
Knowledge Storage/
Organisation
Knowledge Distribution
Knowledge Application
Knowledge Management Process
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s16
Knowledge Management Technology
• Technology as part of the KM solution can provide:– central access to all knowledge assets through
internal and external Corporate Portals– automation of manual tasks Workflow– exploitation of explicit information and tacit
knowledge • automatic personalisation User Profiles• push technology Agents• knowledge repositories (DB/KBS)• communication facilities
– Messaging/Groupware– Intranets;
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s17
Observations
• KM has always been practiced – but implicitly and not very systematically;
• Managing knowledge is not an option – the option is how deliberate, systematic, and effective it should be;
• In-depth and strategic KM is not a fad – but some techniques are partial solutions sold for profit and may do more harm than good;
• Effective KM requires adoption of additional practices and methods. These are not stand-alone efforts but must be integrated within all other activities and efforts.
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s18
Knowledge Management(Monash SIMS Definition)
Knowledge Management is a broad concept that address the full range of processes by which the organisation deploys knowledge.
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s19
Task-based KM: The KMRG Approach
• Value adding– limits the collection and storage of materials to that required
for task performance– encourages the reuse of existing materials in knowledge
processes
• Changing perspective– tasks are performed in the context of knowledge work in
contrast to knowledge mining in a repository - deriving knowledge from material generated by task performance
• Activity focus– KM evolves around activities, the do-able, rather than the
organisation, the desirable, to facilitate effective implementation
• Operationalise Organisational Learning
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s20
Task-basedKnowledgeManagement
KMSCollaborativeDevelopment
KnowledgeWork
LearningMemoryDecisionMaking
Community
Methods
CaseStudies
Models
Disciplines contributing to KM
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s21
Conceptual
PragmaticTask
A Framework for Task-based KM
Process
Tools
Method
Objective
Structure
GraphRepresentation
Thinking Doing
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s22
Personal/Private
Personal/Public
Consensual
Micro/Individual
Meso/Community
Macro/Organisation
Site of DiscoursePerspective
Task-based KM in an Organisational Context
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s23
Task based Knowledge Management SystemTask based Organisational Memory System
Memory - Individual Perspective
Memory - Community Perspective
Individual taskmodel
Shared knowledge/cognitive structures
Consensual taskmodel
Collective knowledgeof task instances
Individual knowledgeof task instances
Task
Outcomes
Community ofPractice
Knowledge Work
Support
Implementing a task-based KMS
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s24
The Monash Case Studies
• Finance Industry:– Strategy development in banking– Comparative study of KM in Australian and European financial
institutions (joint project with Fuji Xerox)
• Service Sector– Knowledge management for weather forecasting– Integrated risk management in the healthcare sector– Perspectives on KM uptake in Australia– Cross-cultural aspects of KM– Role of Customer Knowledge in consulting company
• Research Organisations– Epidemiology – Biology– Immunology– Lexicography
• Defence Forces
Knowledge Management Research Group IMS5024 October 2002 s25
References
• Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) The knowledge creating company, Oxford University Press
• Senge, P (1990) The fifth discipline: The art and Practice of the Learning Organisation, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, London..
• Davenport, T and Prusak, L (1998) Working Knowledge: How organisations manage what they know, Harvard Business School Press.
• David Skyrme Web Resource: http://www.skyrme.com/
• AIAI (1999) http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~alm/kamlnks.html