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Building a Knowledge Enterprise
(The Monitor (Uganda) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Because knowledge has become the single most important factor of production, managing intellectual assets is a crucial task for the success of any organization.
Unfortunately, there is no universal definition of knowledge management (KM), just as there is no agreement as to what constitutes knowledge in the first place. KM is briefly defined as the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets.
Most often, generating value from such assets involves codifying what employees, partners and customers know, and sharing that information among employees, departments and even with other companies in an effort to devise best practices. It is important to note that the definition says nothing about technology; while KM is often facilitated by IT, technology by itself is not KM.
Think of a taxi driver working for Taxi Service Company as a simplified example of a knowledge worker. Good taxi drivers do more than drive passengers from A to B. When asked, a good taxi driver will give advice to his passengers, such as "get the best forex deals from XYZ forex bureau, or get the best local food at this restaurant." Useful advice may lead to a bigger tip at the end of the trip.
The passenger having derived benefits from the driver's advice, may be more likely to use that taxi company again. If a good taxi driver is willing to share what he knows with other company drivers, then they all may eventually earn bigger tips.
How would KM work to make this happen? The drivers' supervisor may decide to reward drivers for sharing their tips by offering them more time off or cash bonuses. Once the best advice is collected, company management would publish the information in notebooks and distribute them to all company drivers.
The end result of a well-designed KM program is that everyone wins. In this case drivers get bigger tips, bonuses and more time off, passengers get a better experience of their visit as they are equipped with useful information, and the company owners win because more satisfied passengers lead to repeat business.
KM has assumed greater urgency in global business over the past few years as millions of workers prepare to retire over the coming decade. When these workers finally walk out, the knowledge they gleaned about their jobs, companies and industries over the course of their long careers walks out with them--unless companies take measures to retain their insights. In addition, organizations lose valuable knowledge every time an employee departs - whether for another job, due to illness or other factors.
Explicit and tacit knowledge
Not all information is valuable. Therefore, it's up to individual companies to determine what information qualifies as intellectual and knowledge-based assets. In general, however, intellectual and knowledge-based assets fall into one of two categories: explicit or tacit. Included among the former are assets such as patents, trademarks, business plans, marketing research and customer lists. As a general rule of thumb, explicit knowledge consists of anything that can be documented, archived and codified, often with the help of IT.
Much harder to grasp is the concept of tacit knowledge, or the know-how contained in people's heads. The challenge inherent with tacit knowledge is figuring out how to recognize, generate, share and manage it. While IT in the form of e-mail, groupware, and related technologies can help facilitate the dissemination of tacit knowledge, identifying tacit knowledge in the first place is a major hurdle for most organisations.
Harnessing tacit knowledge
Shadowing and joint-problem solving are two best practices for transferring or recreating tacit knowledge inside an organization. With shadowing, less experienced staff observe more experienced staff in their activities to learn how their more experienced counterparts approach their work. This happens all the time in organizations, when more junior staff work under more experienced employees.
Another sound approach is joint problem-solving by expert and novice staff. Since people are often unaware of how they approach problems or do their work and therefore cannot automatically generate step-by-step instructions for doing whatever they do, having them work together on a project will bring the expert's approach to light.
The difference between shadowing and joint problem solving is that shadowing is more passive. With joint problem-solving, the "expert" and the "novice" work hand-in-hand on a task.
The benefits of KM
Some benefits of KM lead directly to bottom-line savings, while others are more difficult to quantify. In today's information-driven economy, companies uncover the most opportunities -- and ultimately derive the most value -- from intellectual rather than physical assets.
To get the most value from a company's intellectual assets, knowledge must be shared and serve as the foundation for collaboration. Yet better collaboration is not an end in itself; without an overarching business context, KM is meaningless at best and harmful at worst.
Consequently, an effective KM program should help a company do one or more of the following:
lFoster innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas
lImprove customer service by streamlining response time
lBoost revenues by getting products and services to market faster
lEnhance employee retention rates by recognizing the value of employees' knowledge and rewarding them for it
lStreamline operations and reduce costs by eliminating redundant or unnecessary processes.
Next week we will look at how to implement knowledge management processes in your organization.
Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media. (allafrica.com)
Copyright 2007 The Monitor (Uganda) , Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media , Source: The Financial Times Limited
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