Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Earl's 7 Schools





Earl’s Seven Schools:

Earl after a five year study on strategies of knowledge management categorised knowledge management into seven types which are called as Earl’s Seven Schools. These schools are inturn put into three groups. Now we will see each of these groups and the types that come under these groups as categorised by Earl.

Technocratic:
Earl termed this group technocratic as the schools that come under this group rely on Information Technology to help the knowledge workers. And a total of three schools come under this group:
Systems;
Cartographic; and
Engineering.

Systems: According to the Systems school, we have to store the knowledge of an expert which can inturn be accessed by other experts or qualified individuals who understand that stored knowledge. This is because it saves time and resources for everyone. When a problem arises, the staff instead of searching for the possible solution and wasting huge amount of time and resources can access the stored knowledge in which the solutions of many problems has been stored by the experts or by individuals through experience and assist their customers who have faced a similar problem and assist them (customers) very quickly without wasting much time and this inturn leads to customer satisfaction.

In the organisation I was working, when ever a customer calls up with a problem first we search our data base to find any possible solution stored before hand by the experts or individuals who have successfully solved such kind of issues before and assist our customers in the same way. This saves us a lot of time in thinking what has to be done to solve that customers issue as that issue has already been faced by someone and they have stored the solution of that problem in the database.

Cartographic: The main aim of this school is to be sure that an expert is always available for the staff when required. When a member of staff is unable to find a possible solution in the database an expert should be readily available in order to give advice on how that problem can be solved.

In our organisation there is a supervisor assigned for every 20 people and incase we were unable to find the solution for a customer’s query we would ask the customer to stay online and then consult our supervisor for a possible solution for that problem.
The main advantage of this school is that making an expert available is always helpful incase an individual looses his track in solving an issue.
This school is best explained by Snowden, 2002 who said “we can always know more than we can tell, and we will always tell more than what we can write down” (Snowden, 2002, p.3).

Engineering: This school has two sub categories’ on which the attention has been drawn which are, “more knowledge is present in management than that exists in business process” and “a way to enhance a business process is to provide the staff with knowledge that is suitable to their work”.

In our dealership when a person comes to buy an automobile each of our staff is advised to take each and every document correctly without any mistake to ensure hassle free delivery of the automobile. Such as, when an automobile is to be purchased by a customer under finance we have to take a copy of his driving license, address proof, bank statement for the past six months, etc., One time or the other our staff forgets to take any one of these and after the delivery of the automobile we will be in problems when we apply for the permanent registration of the vehicle as one or the other document is missing. So we printed a checklist of the document to be collected from the customer and check mark what has to be filed in that customers file which was very useful to us and when a customer takes an appointment, our staff used to tell them what all documents they are supposed to bring with them.

Economic: This is the second group classified by Earl which consists of only one school, which is the
Commercial School: This school states that an organisation must concentrate on increasing the revenue by protecting an organisation’s knowledge and also exploiting it incase. The main aim as stated by this school is to increase the revenue of the organisation in what ever way possible and useful for the organisation in simple terms.

Behavioral:
Earl termed this group as Behavioral as according to him technology is not the only force that drives an organisation but also KM.

Organisational School: This school supports the idea of sharing the knowledge when one is unable to find a straight possible solution to a problem. According to a research done by Xerox, much of the knowledge exists in the minds of the employees than in the database that is available for access with the solution to certain problems (Xerox, 2001a).

In our dealership when a problem arises on repairing any automobile and no solution has been given in the servicing book or any other handbook on how to handle such situations, an informal group discussion is held between al the mechanics, so that any one can come up with a possible solution for the problem and this thing yielded fruitful results many times.

Spatial School: This school states that space should not be a problem for workers who want to share knowledge i.e., restricting the staff to meet in only one room or in only one building.

In our organisation, as told before when a solution for a problem is not found and we were supposed to discuss with each other and find a possible solution we were not confined to a discussion room or any other room for discussion. We can even hold the discussion in the smoking area or even by having a stroll in the garden.
Strategic School: According to this school, knowledge should be considered the bigger picture after achieving success.






The Image of the Earl's schools of knowledge management ("Taming enterprise dementia in public sector organizations”, International Journal of Public Sector Management).


References:

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Sunday, February 1, 2009

Organisation, Community Practice, Social Network

WHAT IS ORGANISATION, COMMUNITY PRACTICE, SOCIAL NETWORK AND THEIR DIFFERENCES ?

ORGANISATION: What is meant by "organise" ? It means to arrange by systematic planning and can be attained by united effort. An Organisation is a place where a group of people take the responsibility of acting together with a common purpose to acheive a collective goal.
For an organisation to be successful there are many aspects to be considered and a few of them comprise of having:
  • a good leadership
  • the members must know team work which is a very important thing for an organisation to last long
  • funding should be appropriate or else the organisation may die

Organisations may vary like organisations that work for profits and non-profit organisations.Non profit organisations, abbreviated NPO are also called as not-for-profit organisations donot work for profits. Their main aim is to serve the public and the members of such kind of organisations are generally volunteers (Kate Luckert n.d)

Example: Red cross

Whereas organisations that work for profits include people investing in that organisation for profits and the entire organisation is focused on a particular product, service or program.

COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE: "Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly" (EtienneWenger 1998). It is not a club of friends or a network which connects people but a domain which contain people of same interests. Its not that people should meet regularly on a daily basis they should interact with each other where ever they wanted to in case. These interactions help them to make a community of practice and they can even work alone. In these interactions they come up with experiences or stories that solve certain problems (EtienneWenger 1998) .The members of a community practice must share a common interest and share their opinions on that topic so that it will be useful for the other members in that community and they can grasp something out of all those experiences and opinions shared(E. L. Lesser and J. Storck 2001).

For example: Mechanics discussing at their lunch time casually about their work experience may not know that these discussions help them in solving the problems they may face.

How is a CoP benefit an organisation:

The freshers into the organisation have a way to discuss their problems and solve them quickly while interacting with their seniors or other members in the community who have experience dealing such kind of problems and thus helps in time saving and help the freshers to learn quickly. The freshers can also discuss useful tips about the topic and exchange that information within the community and gain precious knowledge useful for their career growth and also with that knowledge they can assist customers in a best way. This is also useful in cases where an expertise in that particular field is not available all the times so that when ever the expertise is available they can organise a meet so that they can discuss and solve the respective problems easily and find valuable knowledge through which they can assist the customers needs according to their (customer's) requirements.

This also provides a medium where people can express their ideas and share their challanges in meeting a specific goal. This also paves a way to discover new ideas in solving any problem faced as it creates a medium where different people with a similar interests can find space to develop relationships between individuals.

According to me Social Networking is very useful for an organisation in ways to improve customer satisfaction as individuals can discuss various means in which customers can be satisfied according to the requirements and also the cost in traning the freshers can be reduced as they can interact and gain knowledge from experts in that field and so the individuals also get to know the ideas of the experts in solving a particular issue and hence very useful for organisations as it is saving both time and money of the individuals and the organisation.

SOCIAL NETWORK: Social network is where different people of a common interest meet and that can be done anywhere like a college or a company. In simple terms it is nothing but a group formed by you and your friends to share and explore each others hobbies or activities or interests. In order to minimise the geographical barriers, these days the online social networking has become much popular and hence it can also be termed as an online community meant for people with similar interests to interact with each other and is for people who are interested in exploring other peoples activities and interests. And mostly people who are friends or old classmates or people who want to make new friends or people who want to promote their business or promote something for a social cause use it. These days social networking has become a part of everyday life for many of the people. Social networking can also be used for Business purposes, for social good also. In the case of business purposes it is very useful of small businesses where this kind of virtual networking is very cost effective. And in case of using it for the social good users with similar interests can join in the same community and lend their share of help. However, there are some disadvantages of online Social networking where people bluff others by saying that does not really exist. For example a person who is fat and old can tell the other members that they look thin and are young as it is done online and this happens when the members of that social network did not meet each other and thus creating problems in the future when other members expect that individual to be thin and looking young.

Pros of Social Networking:

  • Users can get exposed to a large virtual network where they come to know about diffeent things easily.
  • Very useful for jobseeker to find jobs through communicating with people in communities.
  • Users get new friends virtually who share similar kind of interests.

Cons of Social Networking:

  • All networking sites may not be used in a professional environment.
  • Many employees are more likely to carry inappropriate conversations at work than before.
  • Members may bluff others easily when they did not meet each other.

ISSUES:

1.> LEADERSHIP:

  • Organisation: A good leadership is a must.
  • CoP: A good leadership is necessary but not a must.
  • Social Networking: No leadership necessary.

2.> INTERACTION OF PEOPLE REGULARLY:

  • Organisation: Interaction on a regular basis is compulsory to make the organisation profitable.
  • CoP: Interaction is necesary, but it my or may not be a compulsion.
  • Social Networking: Interaction depends on the mood of the people.

3.> WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE GET TOGETHER:

  • Organisation: group of people take the responsibility of acting together with a common purpose to acheive a collective goal.
  • CoP: People who share similar interests come together and form a CoP.
  • Social Network: People with similar interests who want to explore the interests and activities of other people.

4.> USED FOR:

  • Organisation: Busines purposes (if it is a profit oriented organisation).
  • CoP: Social purposes, Business purposes.
  • Social Network: Making friends, Business purposes.

REFERENCES:

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Knowledge Infomation Data

What is the difference between Data, Information and Knowledge ?

DATA: "Data are the basic building blocks of information"(Josephine chinying lang 2001).
Data is just raw. It may be used or may not be used. It may be in usable form or may not be (Gene Bellinger, Durval Castro, Anthony Mills n.d). "Data is always specified in some conceptual context. The conceptual context is the one that expresses data in a structured format"(Joseph.M.Firestone 2001).
Data provided should contain a minimum of relationship and behaviour (Sujatha Das 2007).

For example:


  • Lecture 2:00PM - 4:59PM R College Building C207 12 Jan 2009 - 3 Apr 2009 Lecture Bakr M. Abdel-Motelab
  • Laboratory 9:30AM - 12:29PM R College Building C117 12 Jan 2009 - 3 Apr 2009 Laboratory Bakr M. Abdel-Motelab
  • Laboratory 9:30AM - 12:29PM F College Building C117 12 Jan 2009 - 3 Apr 2009 Laboratory Bakr M. Abdel-Motelab

After I first saw the above data I was unable to interpret anything and when I asked a class mate of mine he told me how to understand that data so that I can get some Information out of that. And after that I came to know how that data is important to me.

INFORMATION: Information means giving meaning to the provided data or explaining the data that we have been provided with (Sujatha Das 2007). The meaning may be useful to us but it is not a compulsion that the Information we got from the data is useful (Gene Bellinger, Durval Castro, Anthony Mills n.d).

For Example: We are considering the same data provided in the example field where the meaning of "Data" has been told. So from that data we can get the information as:

There is a Lecture from 2:00PM untill 4:59PM on every Thursday in the college building and the classroom in which this lecture is being held is C207 and the date range of this lecture is from Jan 12 2009 to 3 April 2009 and the section type is Lecture and the Instructors of this lecture are Mr. Bakr M. Abdel Motelab and Mr. Mark Woodman. And there are Laboratory's from 9:30AM untill 12:29PM on thursday and Friday in the college building and the laboratory room is C117 and the date range of this Laboratory is from Jan 12 2009 to April 03 2009 and the section type is laboratory and the Instructors for this Laboratory are Mr. Bakr M. Abdel Motelab and Mr. Mark Woodman.

After I interpreted the data and collected the information of my time-table for the module BIS 4410 Knowledge management strategies I thought of using this information to grasp what ever knowledge I can get.

KNOWLEDGE: Knowledge is collecting the Information appropriately from the information we got from the provided data but not memorising the information (Gene Bellinger, Durval Castro, Anthony Mills n.d). The quality of Knowledge depends on following the rules and regulations are validated and how far we can improve an organisation using this knowledge (Sujatha Das 2007).

For Example: Classes for the module BIS 4410 Knowledge Management Strategies are starting from 12 Jan 2009 in the college building which include both Lectures and Laboratories on the days thursday and friday, however the laboratory on friday is for those who were unable to get a place in the thursday batch and we have to attend these lectures and laboratories regularly so that we will not miss the valuable lectures which are very much useful to understand the module and will not be told twice if we miss any class and on time or the Instructors will not give attendance for the whole lecture or lab for whatever we showed up late and we have to work hard inorder to pass in this module. And as we have lectures and laboratories on these days and the specified timings we have to plan our journey such that we reach on time for the classes and shift the timings of our part time jobs if any accordingly.

So this was the knowledge I acquired from the data provided intially, through which I got some information and by carefully interpreting that information. This knowledge I acquired may not be the same between all my classmates and may differ from one class mate to another as they comprehend the data and information in their own perspective and may gain more knowledge than me.

So, according to my view Data, Information and Knowledge are interlinked and all of them play a major role as without data we donot get Information and without both of them we donot acquire Knowledge. So inorder to acquire knowledge we need to have proper data i.e., data which is meaningful through which information can be drawn out. However, when extracting knowledge from the provided data and the acquired information I think it depends on an individual as of what knowledge he can gain as knowledge depends upon one's understanding and comprehension and changes from one individual to another as said by Wilson T.D (2002).

The above provided example gives a brief description as of how we can distinguish between data, information and knowledge. The example provided is the schedule for our class timings which can be interpreted in different ways and the detailed explanation provided under the Knowledge field is the knowledge that I acquired from the information I got by looking at the provided data.

REFERENCE

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