Knowledge Management

Why Knowledge Management

 The heart of knowledge creation is:

Data Information Knowledge

[Quantitative/ [Data endowed [Information
Experiences/ with purpose/ which is
Perceptions/ meaning] understood and
Events/Activities] can be applied
to real life situation]
 Knowledge originates in indivduals minds and embedded in
organisational routines,processes, practices, systems and norms

 Knowledge is synonym of IR/Intellectual Asset

Example of per second billing
Exercise 1:

Data Information Knowledge

Year Sales Revenue Sales Volume

Rs Crors Units
2006 100 1000
2007 120 1100
2008 150 1400
2009 200 1500

Exercise 1A: Trace some of the changes in business

models/transformation to application of knowledge

Exercise 2: Comprehensively identify data, information and

knowledge in the context of your institute
Information
Processed data
Simply gives us the facts
Clear, crisp, structured, and simplistic
Easily expressed in written form
Obtained by condensing, correcting,
contextualising, and calculating data
Devoid of owner dependencies
Handled well by information systems
Key resources in making sense of large
volumes of data
Evolves from data; formailsed in databases,
books, manuals and documents
Formaiised, captured , and explicated; can
easily be packaged into a reusable form
Knowledge
Actionable information
Allows making predictions, casual
associations, or predictive decisions
Muddy, fuzzy, partly unstructured
Intutive, hard to communicate, and difficult to
express in words and illustrations
Lies in connections, conversations between
people, experience-based intuition, and
people’s ability to compare situations,
problems and solutions
Depends on the owner
Also needs informal channels
Key resources in intelligent decision making,
forecasting, design, planning, diagnosis and
intuitively judging
Formed in and shared among collective minds
;evolves with experience, successes, failures,
and learning over time
Often emerges in minds of people through
their experiences
Different Ways of Creating Information by Adding Meaning to Data – The Five C’s

Additon to Data Result

Condensed Data is summarized in more concise form,
and unnecessary depth is eliminated
Contextualised We know why the data was collected
Calculated Analyse the data, similar to condensation of
data
Categorised The unit of analysis is known
Corrected Errors have been removed,missing “data
holes” have been accounted for

The business case for Knowledge Management (KM)

KM is the process of identifying, capturing, organising, and disseminating intellectual

assets critical for organisation’s longterm performance

Revisit the current business paradigm of change mentioned in change mngt

Exercise 3: Why Knowledge Mngt?

 Discussion on: When does Knowledge become an Asset and a Distinguishing Resource?

 Distinction between Explicit Knowledge and Tacit Knowledge

 Explicit Knowledge is Knowledge that can be shared with others- documented,

categorised and transmitted (set of facts, principles, application of processes)

 Tacit Knowledge is Knowledge which draws on the accumulated experience and

learning of a person, hard to reproduce or share.

 Group discussion and presentation on

(A) Role of leadership and organisation culture in knowledge management
Sharing Knowledge: Reasons and Impediments

Enablers Impediments
High levels of trust Fear and suspicion
Rewards for sharing Unintentionally rewarded for hoarding
Team-based collaborative work Individual effort without recognition and
rewards

Aligned mission, vision ,values and strategy Individual accountability and rewards
Joint team-wide accountability and reward Functional focus
Process focus Lack of alignment
Focus on customer satisfaction Not-invented-here syndrome
Open to outside ideas Too busy to share
Eye on competition Internal competition
Collaborative and cross-functional work Incompatible IT
Need to share Compartmentalisation of functional groups
Localised decision making Centralised top-down decision making
Group accountability and rewards Employee-owner interest conflict
Implicit values of collaborative knowledge cultures
Regular
Knowledge communication
sharing is actively across levels
encouraged by &organisational
supervisors and Colleagues
units is
leaders invite sharing&
demonstrated
learning
Employees are
kept informed of
events, issues and Working
innovations Collaborative together is seen
Knowledge as a core
cultures activity
Openess, honesty
and concern for Learning is
others is incorporated into
encouraged the work
community &
practice
Innovative ideas &
solutions are New ideas are
People prefer to
developed through welcomed and
work together
combined efforts explored
Sources of organisational knowledge

Experience Individual
Knowledge
Tacit
Advice Explicit

Learning Organisational
Knowledge

Errors Corporate
Knowledge
External sources Intranet
Library
Archives
History Information Systems
(B) Explain
(C) Role of Knowledge Mngt in facilitating
transformation in allied signal and Crompton &
Greaves caselets

(D) Case Study on snapshot industries

Diagnostic tools to access organisational knowledge

Knowledge workers and their forms of organisational
knowledge
Knowledge workers may possess many forms of organisational knowledge:
 Know what: knowledge of the characteristics, features and usefulness of the various
sources, systems and/or processes which may be found in the organisation
 Know who: knowledge of the identity of different people, groups and organsiational
units which can act as knowledge sources, and methods of linking with them
 Know how: the application of knowledge to carry out complex tasks requiring
analytical and reflective strategies, such as researching, testing, developing and
innovating
 Know why: the ability to evaluate and review options to identify an appropriate
solution
 Know where: the capacity to identify, evaluate and access appropriate knowledge
sources
 Know when: the application of strategies to balance activities, competing demands,
dynamic requirements and multiple projects
 Know if: the capacity to anticipate future possibilities and plan for them, and to
envisage scenarios and test them before going to a full scale implementation process.
Phases of organisational knowledge creation

Phase: Creates:
Rich and accurate foundation for
Knowledge Sourcing ongoing knowledge formation

Principles, theories and concepts to

Knowledge Abstraction guide ongoing knowledge
development

Abstract concepts which are

Knowledge Conversion converted into applications and
outcomes

Shared understanding and adoption

Knowledge Diffusion of knowledge gained

Knowledge Development & Adaptable and flexible knowledge

which accommodates changing
Refinement context
 Discussion on levels of professional knowledge of Tiwana

 Examining a company’s readiness for Knowledge Mngt

 Group Exercise on “Is your company ready for KM?

 Group Exercise on Identifying barriers to Knowledge

sharing and applying Change Mngt principles

 Creating a Knowledge culture in an organisation

Knowledge culture enablers

Core Values Structural Enacted Values Interaction

support with colleagues

Collaboration Organisational
Quality of
Communication structure Models
interaction
Interaction Transparent decision
Innovation making Leaders
Focus of interaction
Adaptation Information access
Mentorship
Learning orientation Problem solving Opportunities to
Trust Communication collaborate
Team behaviour
Knowledge is valued channels
Knowledge should Human Resource Encouragement to
Co-worker
be shared Management collaborate
interaction

Knowledge Culture
 Leveraging technology for Knowledge Management

 The three fundamental processes to drive KM:

 Knowledge Acquisition/Knowledge Sharing/ Knowledge Utilization
 Technology tools to support the KM processes
Acquisition Database capture tools
Sharing Communication networks
Utilization Collaborative Tools

 Group Exercise to specify the requirements of the tech tools for a

specific organisation as an illustration

 Group Discussions, preparation and presentation of the case study

“Putting theory into practice”.