Unlocking

Knowledge
Management:
our
knowledge
to optimize
our work in

Approach And Activities

Asia and
Pacific
 Presentation Outline

 What is knowledge
 What is knowledge management
 The value of knowledge assets
Unlocking
our
 Knowledge Processes
knowledge  The value of KM
to optimize
our work in  The development of KM
Asia and
Pacific  The scope of KM
 Knowledge Management and Information Technology
 KM Activities
 KM Approaches
 Benefits of Knowledge Management
 First, what is knowledge

 In simplest terms, knowledge is the ability of an actor to

respond to a body of facts and principles accumulated over a
period of time

 One way to look at knowledge is as the apogee of the

Unlocking
our
following continuum –
knowledge Data  information  knowledge
to optimize
our work in
– Data=1 unit of fact;
Asia and
– information=aggregation of data;
Pacific
– knowledge=potential for action on information

– Data and information have intrinsic properties, the quality of knowledge

depends on the properties of the agent
 Data

restructure
Data Bases Knowledge
Information Base
Unlocking
our make
knowledge explicit
to optimize
our work in
Asia and use
Pacific

Flow from external

sources
Knowledge Actions
 What is knowledge management

 At its broadest, KM is the ‘process through which

organizations generate value from intellectual and
knowledge based assets’
Unlocking
our
knowledge
to optimize  The purpose of KM is to gather, categorize, store
our work in
Asia and
and spread all knowledge that is needed to make the
Pacific organization both grow and prosper. It is not as
much a technology change as it is a cultural change,
but technology is a primary enabler of KM practices.
 The value of knowledge assets

 There are two types of knowledge assets –

– Explicit or formal assets like copyrights, patents,
templates, publications, reports, archives, etc.

Unlocking – Tacit or informal assets that are rooted in human

our experience and include personal belief, perspective, and
knowledge values
to optimize
our work in  Knowledge assets are often described as the
Asia and
Pacific
the intellectual capital of an organization
– The value of intellectual capital is often intangible
– A popular measure is the difference between the cost of
capital assets and the cost of replacing them
 Knowledge Processes
Knowledge Technology Communication
Generation And Application

Sharing & Class’n,

Creation & Dissemination
Enriching Storage &
Capture
Retrieval

Unlocking • Publications
• Research
our • Teams • Documentation
• Studies • Policy advice
knowledge • Databanks
• Institution
to• Assessments
optimize • Committees -Lessons Learned
building support
•
ourField
workExp.
in -Best Practices • Seminars/
•Asia
Dialogue • Networks
and with -Research Findings forums
Partners
Pacific • Websites
• Online services
• Targets
• Reporting
Organization • Incentives
Constraints/ • Systems
Support • Technology
• Skills
• Resources
 The value of KM

 It is important to manage knowledge assets because

– Organizations compete increasingly on the base of knowledge (the

only sustainable competitive advantage, according to some)

Unlocking – Most of the work is information based (and often immersed in a

our computing environment)
knowledge
to optimize
our work in – The products, services, and environment are more complex than
Asia and ever before
Pacific
– Workforces are increasingly unstable leading to escalating
demands for knowledge replacement/acquisition

 Knowledge management is fast emerging as a core strategy,

that organizations worldwide are adopting to manage and
leverage organizational knowledge for sustainable business
advantage.
 Good Examples Of Successful KM Programs

 Ford Motor Company's Manufacturing Best Practices Program

improves the efficiency of manufacturing processes and the
quality of products.

 Rolls-Royce's Knowledge Acquisition and Modeling Process

improves project management processes.
Unlocking
our  BP's knowledge management program started with the
knowledge
exploration and production process, but now includes project
to optimize
management processes.
our work in
Asia and
Pacific  Shell Oil's Global Learning and Development involves
continuous learning around the exploration and production
process.

 The Knowledge and Learning Practice at the World Bank

Institute focused on improving development projects funded
through the World Bank.
 The development of KM

 Knowledge began to be viewed as a competitive asset in the 80s,

around the same time that information explosion started
becoming an issue

 The trend was fueled by the development of IT systems which

Unlocking made it simple to store, display, and archive classified, indexed
our information
knowledge
to optimize
our work in  The process received a fillip after Drucker (and others) stressed
Asia and the role of knowledge as an organization resource, and Senge
Pacific
popularized ‘learning organizations’

 Seeds of KM may also be found in business practices like TQM

and BPR to which KM is often compared
 The scope of KM

 Today, most companies define the scope of

KM as –

Unlocking – KM mechanics (tools for information

our
knowledge management)
to optimize
our work in – KM culture (knowledge as a social activity)
Asia and
Pacific
– KM systems (knowledge sharing as part of an
organization’s DNA)
 KM mechanics

 Information management may well be considered the

first wave of KM (and is still often considered
synonymous with KM)

Unlocking
our  Information management tries to make the right
knowledge
to optimize information available to the right person at the right
our work in time through a variety of database driven information
Asia and
Pacific applications

 Information management tools try to capture the

human experience of knowledge through the
collecting, classifying, disseminating, searching,
indexing, and power of technology
 KM culture

 All knowledge has a social and evolutionary

facet

Unlocking  There is a crying need to continuously subject

our
knowledge
knowledge to re-examination and modification
to optimize
our work in
Asia and  It is important to keep the human and social
Pacific
elements of organization involved in all stored
knowledge
 KM systems

 KM succeeds fully when it is woven into the

fabric of an organization and becomes
intrinsic to an organization’s processes
Unlocking
our
knowledge
 Common practices include –
to optimize – Formal KM leadership
our work in – Formal rewards and recognition for KM oriented work
Asia and
Pacific – Tools and mechanisms that encourage knowledge sharing
– Development of knowledge bases
– Intellectual asset management
– Metrics to evaluate KM initiatives
 Knowledge Management and
Information Technology
 While technology can support KM, it is not
the starting point of a KM program. Make KM
decisions based on who (people), what
Unlocking (knowledge) and why (business objectives).
our
knowledge Save the how (technology) for last.
to optimize
our work in
Asia and
Pacific  Organizations can attain maturity in KM only
through healthy coexistence of technology,
processes and people.
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: ACTIVITIES

 1) Searching for knowledge and receiving knowledge

 2) Restructuring the knowledge
 3) Making knowledge explicit
Unlocking  4) Associating the knowledge with the actions
our described in the process model
knowledge
to optimize  5) Making knowledge available for actions which
our work in
Asia and need it and delivering it to the right agents in the right
Pacific moment
 6) Updating knowledge and change management
 7) Quality management
 Knowledge Management and General Management

 All these tasks cannot be separated from the

general management activities.
 Knowledge is used when actions are
Unlocking
our
performed and actions are organized by the
knowledge management.
to optimize
our work in  Actions on the other hand change the
Asia and
Pacific knowledge, e.g.
– organizational changes
– change in the employees
– change of the context (new products, customers etc.)
 Therefore knowledge management is a
central element of management.
 ACTIVITY (1): Searching and Receiving
Knowledge
 Data, information and knowledge does not come from itself
 Some sources of knowledge are known, others have to be found
 The management’s task is to:
– Get an overview over sources and organize the search for them
– Determine the times (or periods) when sources have new knowledge
Unlocking – Organize the access to and the flow from the sources
our – Receive the demanded knowledge properly
knowledge – Classify and receive the knowledge which came in but not on demand
to optimize Sources
our work in
 Document Oriented Knowledge Structure
Asia and
Pacific  Tables
 Content Oriented Knowledge Structures
 Linguistic tools, Thesaurus etc. are useful.
 ACTIVITY (2): Restructuring Knowledge

 The task of the knowledge management is to

organize
– Restructuring
Unlocking
– Pointing out weaknesses and getting other sources
our
knowledge
 Restructuring has two aspects:
to optimize – Restructuring of a single input document
our work in
Asia and – Embed in or distribute the input over the whole knowledge
Pacific structure

Different agents may need knowledge pieces in different forms

or formats
 ACTIVITY (3): Making Knowledge Explicit

 It is the purpose of data mining techniques to make

knowledge in data bases explicit.

Unlocking
 The knowledge management has to organize this:
our – Where are weak points ?
knowledge
to optimize – Which information can be helpful for improvement ?
our work in – How to obtain the information ?
Asia and
Pacific
 Knowledge in texts can at least partially be made
explicit by
– Extracting key words
– extracting phrases
– extracting abstracts
 ACTIVITY(4): Which Knowledge for What ?

Knowledge in business:
 Is oriented on business processes

 Influences partially the general structure of the

processes
Unlocking  Has to allow a fast and optimal representation of the
our
knowledge knowledge in actual contexts
to optimize
our work in Important
Asia and Define information goals and a plan to achieve them in
Pacific
order to have optimal effects

The value of a piece of knowledge is the difference of

costs connected with the action when performed with
or without the knowledge.
 ACTIVITY(5): Organizing the Use of Knowledge

 Missing Knowledge creates errors

 Too much knowledge confuses

Knowledge for each task has to be accessible

 for the right persons
Unlocking
our  at the right time
knowledge  at the right place
to optimize  in the needed format
our work in
Asia and
Pacific

This task is very complex and uses different

techniques.
 ACTIVITY (6): Change Management

 Knowledge is not invariant but undergoes continuous

changes. There are external reasons for this (the
context changes) as well as internal reasons (e.g.
organizational changes).
Unlocking
our  These changes have to be reported at the right time
knowledge to those agents who need it.
to optimize
our work in  The report can be given on demand as well as pro-
Asia and
Pacific active.
 The change management organizes this in a
systematic way.
 ACTIVITY (7): Quality Management

 Quality decreases over time due to changes (external

as well as internal) if no reaction takes place.

 The quality of the processes has to be controlled

Unlocking continuously:
our – Observation of the environment data
knowledge – Observation of the process
to optimize – Interpretation of observed data on the basis of quality models.
our work in
Asia and
Pacific  The results of the control are transformed into actions
which re-establish the quality.

 The knowledge manager has to ensure the quality of

the knowledge and has in particular to deal with
knowledge gaps.
 Knowledge Management Approaches

 In a posting to the Knowledge Management

Forum, Karl-Erik Sveiby identified two
"tracks" of knowledge management:
Unlocking
our
knowledge • Management of Information: "… knowledge =
to optimize
our work in Objects that can be identified and handled in
Asia and information systems."
Pacific

• Management of People: knowledge consists of

"… processes, a complex set of dynamic skills,
know-how, etc., that is constantly changing."
 Mechanistic approaches to knowledge
management
 Mechanistic approaches to knowledge management are characterized by
the application of technology and resources to do more of the same
better.
Assumptions
– Better accessibility to information is a key, including enhanced
methods of access and reuse of documents (hypertext linking,
databases, full-text search, etc.)
Unlocking – Networking technology in general (especially intranets), in particular,
our will be key solutions.
knowledge – In general, technology and sheer volume of information will make it
to optimize work.
our work in Assessment:
Asia and +ve
Pacific  relatively easy to implement for corporate "political" reasons
 the technologies and techniques are familiar and easily understood.
-ve
 it’s simply not clear whether access itself will have a substantial impact
on business performance,
 Unless the knowledge management approach incorporates methods of
leveraging cumulative experience, the net result may not be positive, and
the impact of implementation may be no more measurable than in
traditional paper models.
 Cultural/behavioristic approaches to
knowledge management
 Substantial roots in process re-engineering and change management

 tend to view the "knowledge problem" as a management issue. Technology — though

ultimately essential for managing explicit knowledge resources — is not the solution.

 focus more on innovation and creativity (the "learning organization") than on

leveraging existing explicit resources or making working knowledge explicit.
Unlocking Assumptions
our  Organizational behaviors and culture need to be changed
knowledge
 It’s the processes that matter, not the technology.
to optimize
 Nothing happens or changes unless a manager makes it happen.
our work in
Asia and
Pacific Assessment:
 The cultural factors affecting organizational change have almost certainly been
undervalued, and cultural/behavioristic implementations have shown some benefits.

 But the cause-effect relationship between cultural strategy and business benefits is
not clear

 Positive results achieved by cultural/behavioristic strategies may not be sustainable,

measurable, cumulative, or replicable
 Systematic approaches to knowledge
management
 Systematic approaches to knowledge management retain the traditional faith in
rational analysis of the knowledge problem: the problem can be solved, but new
thinking of many kinds is required.

Assumptions :
– It’s sustainable results that matter, not the processes or technology … or your definition of
"knowledge."

– A resource cannot be managed unless it is modeled, and many aspects of the

Unlocking organization’s knowledge can be modeled as an explicit resource.
our
knowledge – Cultural issues are important, but they too must be evaluated systematically. Employees
may or may not have to be "changed," but policies and work practices must certainly be
to optimize changed, and technology can be applied successfully to business knowledge problems
our work in themselves.
Asia and
– Knowledge management has an important management component, but it is not an
Pacific activity or discipline that belongs exclusively to managers.

Assessment:
+ve:
 rationalists in the business world are taking a systematic approach to solving the "knowledge
problem." You’ll also find evidence of such approaches as well as a less formal use of the term
systematic knowledge management

 Systematic approaches show the most promise for positive cumulative impact, measurability,
and sustainability.
 Benefits of Knowledge Management

Unlocking
our
knowledge
to optimize
our work in
Asia and
Pacific