CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR KM IMPLEMENTATION

Abstract:

The globalization of business, the shift from production-based to a knowledge-based

economy, the growth of information communication technology, the strive to become learning
organizations and the emergence of needs for knowledge workers have made knowledge
management practice must today across all types and all levels of firms.However,because the
concept is so new, there exist different views among practitioners and even researchers on how a
knowledge management program can be designed and implemented in organizations. This paper
posits that knowledge management consists of critical enablers such as employee training, team
work, employee empowerment, bench marking, top management leader ship, organizational
constraints, performance measurement, information system infra structure that are critical to the
success of a knowledge-based organization. These critical factors will provide a greater
understanding to the researchers and practitioners of the enablers of successful knowledge
management program.

Key words: Knowledge, knowledge management, critical success factors, knowledge

management initiatives. Knowledge management frame work, knowledge management
implementation…..

Methodology/approach/Design: Existing studies on CSFs were reviewed and limitations were

found… Based on comprehensive literature review this study identifies different critical success
factors of Knowledge management implication that affects the stability of different organizations
in greater extent. And the present case is conceptual in nature based on secondary sources of
data.

Article type: Literature review

Findings: The overall results from the empirical assessment were positive, thus reflecting the
appropriateness of the proposed CSFs.
Objective: The main objective of this paper is to identify the best practices that would make
knowledge management program works in an organization. This paper posits that management
program depends on several factors…like employee training, bench marking ,shared
knowledge………etc And this paper proceeds to present the concept of knowledge management,
then the key success factors emerged from the literature and explored.

INTRODUCTION: Society has recognized the value of knowledge for centuries. Intellectual
reflections on knowledge have been pursued for as long as records of human activities are
available. For hundreds of years, owners of family members have passed off their commercial
wisdom to their children, master craftsmen have painstakingly taught their trades to apprentices
and workers have exchanged ideas and know-how on the job. However, the terminology of
knowledge management was not widely used until the middle nineties (chaw et al., 2003).The
knowledge management getting significant attention in both the academic and business world.
This is evident from the drastic increase of publications related to KM (Von Krogh,
Nonaka&Aben, 2001).This claim is further supported by international conference organizers
who acknowledged that KM was a top theme for business and management in
2002(chourides,Longbottom&Murphy,2003).Further KPMG(1999)reported in 2000 that Km has
been practiced by 80 percent of the biggest companies in the world In Malaysian, a study by
Chong (2006) indicates that 58.5 percent Malaysian It companies have made significant
investments in KM while 21 percent of the organizations plan to invest in KM within a year .
Another study by Chong and yew (2005) on Malaysia telecommunication companies also
indicate that 59 percent of the 289 middle managers surveyed view their businesses as
knowledge intensive.

Before goes on to discuss the CSFs, it is important to review the definitions of KM .This is
because it is difficult to see how these CSFs fit into an organization’s KM initiatives without
prior understanding of what is KM.

DEFINITION OF KM: KM is a broad subject which encompasses a wide range of disciplines…

1. Wiig (1993) defines KM as a systematic, explicit and deliberate building, renewal and
application of knowledge to maximize an enterprise’s knowledge related effectiveness and
returns from its knowledge assets.

2. According to Martin (2000), KM is related to the wider discipline of management in the

context of over lapping and synergistic relationships in such activities as learning and innovation,
benchmarking and practices, strategy.

LITERATURE REVIEW: The transition to the knowledge based economy, the design and
functioning of the knowledge based organization it is impossible without a knowledge based
management. Thomas Clarke and Christina Rollo (Th. Clarke, Christina Rollo, 2001), defines
knowledge based management as “the organizations dedication to develop the knowledge
production and flux, to transmit and utilize the knowledge’s with a view to create economic
value”. Unit Beijerse in Questions in knowledge management: defining and conceptualizing a
phenomenon (journal of knowledge Management 1999) considers that the knowledge
management can be defined as a strategic oriented way of motivation and facilitation of the
company’s members engagement in the development and utilization of their cognitive capacities
through the valorization of its information sources, experience and capabilities of its members.
The essence of knowledge management is built on intellectual capital, whichincludes Human
capital, social capital and corporate capital.

Critical factors for KM Implementation

The fallowing are the critical success factors for effective Knowledge management
implementation…..

1. Employee training: Training is an important enabler to km implementation because it not

only provides employees and managers an avenue to fulfill their responsibilities, but also
creates effective work behavior to support KM principles.There is two important aspects of
training. First , employees have to be sent to attend training programmes related to KM , such as
the importance of knowledge sharing, importance of KM to organizations and so on……
The best example for practicing Employee training is

“RAYTHEON PROFFESSIONAL SERVICES”.

About company:

TYPE: Public

INDUSTRY: Aero space and defense

FOUNDED: Cambridge, MA

FOUNDERS: Vannevar bush, Laurence k.marshell

Raytheon professional services excels at managing large scale , highly complex training
solutions and helps company resolve there must complex training needs by helping them align
learning with their organizations business goals. We have a track record of delivering on client
critical success factors like: speed to market , cost reduction, satisfaction.

2. Bench marking: Bench marking is defined by camp (1989) , is the systematic or ongoing
process of searching for industry wide best practices that lead to superior performance. It has
been identified to play a critical role in successful KM implementation.

O’ DELL (1996) provides evidence where many large firms have adopted bench marking as a
significant, systematic technique for measuring the companies’ performance toward its strategic
goals.

Organizations must be aware that once it has benchmarked best practices, it is easier to develop
knowledge strategy (capture, share and management of organizational knowledge) and apply the
useful knowledge around the organizations ( Davis, 1996 ; day & wendler, 1998) .
Benchmarking is not limited just to process improvement or reuse, but it extends far beyond and
promotes the growth and acceptance of a learning culture through out the organizations.

The best example for practicing “Bench marking is software benchmarking organization
(SBO).
The software benchmarking organizations launches a new service offering free first-order
benchmarking studies online. Using this service software development companies can
benchmark the performance of a given project against data specific to their application domain.
The required inputs for the report are the product size, duration, required effort and main
programming in language used during development they can be anonymous or customized with
project names and e-mailed as PDF formatted documents to a specific address.

3. Shared knowledge:

Knowledge sharing is an activity through which knowledge is exchange among people, friends,
and members of a family, a community or an organization. The sharing of knowledge constitutes
a major challenge in the field of KM. because some employees resist sharing the knowledge with
the rest of the organization.

“Knowledge having is not an asset knowledge sharing is an asset “

The best example for encouraging knowledge sharing organization is ICTS

INTERNATONAL

ICTS INTERNATIONAL is an Israeli firm based in the Netherlands that develops products
and provides consulting and personnel services in the field of aviation and general security .
it can develops it’s products and services with the help of knowledge sharing .

4. Egalitarian (knowledge – friendly) culture:

Many researchers have insisted that knowledge – friendly culture must be present or nurtured in
order to achieve KM implementation success. Since KM is considered radical innovation in
organizations, it is regarded as intervention to the organization’s culture.

The best example for the Egalitarian is the human resource department

The human resource department should take the responsibility for teaching the change in
mindset required to implement KM by offering news, updates and training (salleh- goh, 2002) .
5. Empowerment:

Empowerment refers to a feeling of control and self- efficiency that emerges when people are
given power in a previously powerless situation. It means eliminating the bureaucratic controls
and creating a sense of freedom so that people can commit all their talents and energies to
accomplish their shared goals.

The best example for the empowerment of employees is human resource management

Empowered employees are given autonomy the freedom, independence and discretion over their
work activities.

6. Information systems infrastructure:

Many researches have supported the notion that effective and efficient knowledge management
is unthinkable with out information systems.

A majority of business managers believe in the powers of computers and communication

technologies that lead to knowledge management implementation success in organizations.

The best example for the information systems infrastructure is LARSEN TURBO AND IBM

Limitations of the study: The present study has two main limitations….1.Non profit- profit
organization 2. It does not concentrate on six sigma

Conclusion: Knowledge management is emerging as a significant organizational and

management challenge. The pressure of the emergence of the global knowledge-based economy
and recognition of knowledge as key and intangible asset are making the effective management
of knowledge priority. To become learning organizations, it is essential that organization
continuously update their organizational knowledge and create ones in order for them to survive
and grow. To do this the presence of the proposed CSFs in supporting the organizational
knowledge intensive processes are especially critical.
 It is hoped that the factors proposed in this study would provide organizations with better
perspective on how their knowledge activities can be effectively manage in order to maximize
their knowledge- related effectiveness returns from knowledge assets. With effective
management of knowledge, organizations will be able “to reap benefits and become successful
in today’s competitive environment”...

References:

Camp, R.C. (1989). Bench marking: the search for industry best practices to lead to superior
performance. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: quality press.

Davis, T. (1996). Managing knowledge – work support functions. Journal of general

management, 22 (1) 68-86

KPMG international, U.K (1999) . Knowledge management research report 2000. United
Kingdom: KPMG consulting.

Lang, J.C (2001) managerial concerns in knowledge management. Journal of knowledge

management 5(1), 43- 59

Martin , B. (2000) .knowledge management within the context of management : an evolving

relationship .Singapore review , 22(2) , 17-36

O’ Dell, C. (1996). A current review of knowledge management best practices . In

proceedings of conference of knowledge management and the transfer of best practices. London
: business intelligence .

Salleh,Y..&Goh,W.K(2002).Managing Human Resource towards Achieving knowledge

management. Journal of knowledge management,6(5),457-468.

Wiig,KM(1993)Thinking about thinking-How people and organizations create, Represent and

use knowledge.