Knowledge Cafe:
Implementing Knowledge Management in organisations:
Knowledge Management after much research was proved to be very much essential for an organisation. Now let’s see how this can be successfully implemented in an organisation taking into account the barriers. Earlier, Knowledge management was pertained to only large organisations. As the time is changing now arises a need for implementation of KM in even small and medium sized enterprises. There are many Critical factors to be taken into account for the successful implementation of KM in organisations. Two factors make an impact on an organisation’s success:
• Internal factors: Infrastructure, creation and sharing culture of knowledge, technology, frequent learning, systematic processes
• External factors: Environmental
Analysis:
It is not compulsory that every organisation should follow all the rules, it depends on an organisation Internal factors on what to consider and what not to take into account. Choosing a factor even though it is not necessary may also lead to a system failure. (Amidon and Skyrme 1997). Many people have done a research on the factors out of which IT remained as a common factor. This explains the importance of IT. People like Norton, Arora, Suen, Kaplan, Ahmed and many more have done much research since a long time. It is not necessary that all the SME’s should have in common all these factors. It may vary from one organisation to another depending on the requirements of the organisation. Many people have done research in this field and have identified different attributes based on their study and it is very complicated to generalise these factors completely. Some of the general factors are:
• Leadership of Management and Support: It plays a very important role and is based on the behaviour of management towards the staff and explains the qualities that should be possessed by a leader like the willingness to move around and share knowledge, search and learn for knowledge. Much of support should be from the higher management and on a regular basis.
• Culture: A good culture should be practiced in an organisation where knowledge can be shared, created and implemented.
• IT: It is very much important to use the right tool which should be easily understood by everyone and should be simple to use while satisfying all the requirements.
• Strategy: A definite and clear strategy on how things have to function should be implemented.
• Measurement: Organisation should measure KM so that they come to know where they fall.
• Processes: Processes like the sharing, creation, implementation of knowledge should be run according to a systematic way and implementing different strategies to successfully complete every process.
• Motivation: What si the use of implementing everything unless the staff is not motivated. It makes a big impact on the productivity. Staff may be motivated by acts like incentives depending on their individual contribution to all the processes in a group.
• Resources: Resources should be checked on a regular basis and ensure that resources are available to the individuals accordingly.
• Training: Training also plays a major role where the staff should be trained with the objectives and goals so that they remain object oriented at all times.
• HRM: HRM should be managed properly in organisations to ensure that the new arrived staff have knowledge so that they donot create a negative impact on the team they are going to join. Staff should also be provided with a chance to grow in the organisation inorder to prevent retention so that the knowledge stays within the organisation.
Conclusion:
In order to implement KM in an Organisation the factors should be considered accordingly depending on the organisation or incase a wrong step is taken at this stage it may create a huge negative impact on the growth of the organisation. It may not be necessary that every aspect should be compulsorily implemented in all the organisations as it may vary from one another.Implementation of KM should be given priority like the implementation of IT in an organisation as it helps an organisation to pertain to their standards and produce high quality goods.
References:
• Wong, K,Y, (2005, “Critical success factors for implementing knowledgemanagement in small and medium enterprises”, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 105 No. 3, pp. 261-79. Retrieved on March 31, 2009 from: ugr.es.
• Gillingham, H and Roberts, B 2006, “Implementing Knowledge Management: A Practical Approach”, Journal of Knowledge Management Practice, Vol. 7, No. 1, Retrieved on March 31, 2009 from: google scholar.
• Skyrme, D. J. (1998), Measuring the value of knowledge, Business Intelligence: London.
• Hwang, AS 2003, “Training strategies in the management of knowledge”, Journal of knowledge Management, Vol. 7, No. 3; pp156-166. Retrieved on March 31, 2009 from google scholar.
• Michael H. Zack,2001, ‘If managing knowledge is the solution, then what's the problem?', Knowledge management and business model innovation, Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, PA. Retrieved March 31, 2009 from Acm Digital Library.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
The Role of IT in KMS:
Knowledge Management has become an integral part of most of the organisations. Every Organisation wants to stop re-inventing the wheel and in this process wants to Mange Knowledge. The definition of Knowledge Management varies and it can be told in general forms as the creation, sharing, acquisition, transfer, application, communication, management of Knowledge.
So, where does IT come into picture in all these different steps? Or is IT that important to manage these several steps? Information Technology does play a major role in Knowledge Management. However, it is not necessary that IT alone drives Knowledge Management System. In short, IT supports Knowledge Management Systems. And traditional methods are also present other than IT to support KMS. Traditional methods are also effective, however depends on many aspects when it comes to comparing which one among the two i.e., traditional methods or IT and coming to a conclusion on which one is the best. Smaller organisations can go with the traditional methods instead of employing IT systems, however it depends on the organisation alone whether it want to employ IT or not.
Analysis:
Most of the organisations use Information Technology to store the knowledge from different individuals and create a database of all the entries so that it will be useful in the future. But use of IT is not limited solely to this application. Many of us have a misconception that IT means the use of computers. But, it is not true. It may be the use of technologies like Video Conferencing which helps in the transfer of an individuals knowledge that is Tacit Knowledge. (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995). The main role of IT should be to support the organisation by building a hassle free environment within the organisation and to build co-operation within the individuals rather than just to store the explicit knowledge. (Dougherty 1999). The main use of storing the explicit knowledge is to prevent the risk of Knowledge loss when an individual leaves the organisation. By storing the knowledge in the repositories, such kind of loss can be overcome.
So what are the other efficient ways other than IT? The traditional methods such as usage of Telephones, Meetings, Formal training are also effective. Knowledge transfer occurs through Telephones and is also a quicker way. Group meetings lead to Brainstorming sessions that are very efficient. Howevr, IT also plays a major role when it comes to the usage of Internet and Intranet. Both are highly productive and effivient and help in the transfer of both tacit and explicit knowledge fastly. Emails can also be used to share a single piece of information with many other individuals at a single point of time with low cost, much effective and with much faster results not only within the organisation but also outside the organisation like either with the clients or the customers.
Conclusion:
IT does have many disadvantages in terms of security. There is a danger prone every time regarding the safety of information stored or all the secrets of the organisation may be disclosed to the outer world. However, this is a risk associated with every methoad including the traditional methods also. For example, the telephones may be tapped. So, organisationas must follow strict security in order to prevent the organisation's secrets from leaking out. So, IT is not the only way for the development of KMS but it is also a way that supports the developement of KMS. It may not be true that every company using IT has to be successful and the organisation that is not using IT must incur failure. IT supports KMS.
References:
Knowledge Management has become an integral part of most of the organisations. Every Organisation wants to stop re-inventing the wheel and in this process wants to Mange Knowledge. The definition of Knowledge Management varies and it can be told in general forms as the creation, sharing, acquisition, transfer, application, communication, management of Knowledge.
So, where does IT come into picture in all these different steps? Or is IT that important to manage these several steps? Information Technology does play a major role in Knowledge Management. However, it is not necessary that IT alone drives Knowledge Management System. In short, IT supports Knowledge Management Systems. And traditional methods are also present other than IT to support KMS. Traditional methods are also effective, however depends on many aspects when it comes to comparing which one among the two i.e., traditional methods or IT and coming to a conclusion on which one is the best. Smaller organisations can go with the traditional methods instead of employing IT systems, however it depends on the organisation alone whether it want to employ IT or not.
Analysis:
Most of the organisations use Information Technology to store the knowledge from different individuals and create a database of all the entries so that it will be useful in the future. But use of IT is not limited solely to this application. Many of us have a misconception that IT means the use of computers. But, it is not true. It may be the use of technologies like Video Conferencing which helps in the transfer of an individuals knowledge that is Tacit Knowledge. (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995). The main role of IT should be to support the organisation by building a hassle free environment within the organisation and to build co-operation within the individuals rather than just to store the explicit knowledge. (Dougherty 1999). The main use of storing the explicit knowledge is to prevent the risk of Knowledge loss when an individual leaves the organisation. By storing the knowledge in the repositories, such kind of loss can be overcome.
So what are the other efficient ways other than IT? The traditional methods such as usage of Telephones, Meetings, Formal training are also effective. Knowledge transfer occurs through Telephones and is also a quicker way. Group meetings lead to Brainstorming sessions that are very efficient. Howevr, IT also plays a major role when it comes to the usage of Internet and Intranet. Both are highly productive and effivient and help in the transfer of both tacit and explicit knowledge fastly. Emails can also be used to share a single piece of information with many other individuals at a single point of time with low cost, much effective and with much faster results not only within the organisation but also outside the organisation like either with the clients or the customers.
Conclusion:
IT does have many disadvantages in terms of security. There is a danger prone every time regarding the safety of information stored or all the secrets of the organisation may be disclosed to the outer world. However, this is a risk associated with every methoad including the traditional methods also. For example, the telephones may be tapped. So, organisationas must follow strict security in order to prevent the organisation's secrets from leaking out. So, IT is not the only way for the development of KMS but it is also a way that supports the developement of KMS. It may not be true that every company using IT has to be successful and the organisation that is not using IT must incur failure. IT supports KMS.
References:
- Egbu,C.O and Botterill,K 2002, 'Information Technologies for Knowledge Management: their Use and Effectiveness', 'Electronic Journal of Information Technology in Construction',7, Special issue; 'ICT for Knowledge Management in Construction', 125 37. Retrieved March 31, 2009, from: www.itcon.org/2002/8.
- Alavi,M and Leidner,D 1999, 'Knowledge Management Systems: Emerging Views and Practices from the Field, Communications of the AIS'. Retrieved March 31, 2009, from: google scholar.
- McDermott,R 1999, 'Why Information Technology Inspired but Cannot Deliver Knowledge Management','California Management Review',Vol41,No.4. Retrieved March 31, 2009 from: google scholar.
- Malhotra,Y. eds. 2001, 'Knowledge management and business model innovation', Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing.
Web 2.0 in Knowledge Management:
Services or tools provided should have the ability to help people work as a team or a community in order to gain productive results. Web 2.0 full fills this need by helping people get together and share their opinions or ideas. In the modern era, organisations are concentrating on user satisfaction and providing the users with the services they need rather than releasing products without knowing the needs of the customers. Web 2.0 helps the organisations in achieving this goal by providing them with technologies that help in interacting with each other i.e., interaction between individuals inside the organisation and even between the customers and helping in receiving feedback from every individual in order to improve the product.
What's Web 2.0? There is no specific definition, however it can be understood as an upgrade to Web 1.0 where with the use of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasting, RSS establishes a social networking environment where individuals can interact and contribute their tacit knowledge which upon becomes explicit knowledge through which everyone can benefit. Web 2.0 technologies help individuals consume more information which is the explicit knowledge that has been shared by different individuals. The term Folksonomy coined by Thomas Vander Wal in 2005 has evolved in this context which is an act of collective tagging of relative content which may be by an individual, an expert, the creator of the content or even by the consumer of the information. (Vander Wal, 2005).
Knowledge management is very important to gain success and fruitful results. When do we consider that an Organisation is successful? When it delivers a product that meets the requirements of the consumer. According to Wikipedia, in the recent world many Organisations are making use of the Wikis to help interact with other members and discuss regarding the product and get feedback in improving the product and gain Knowledge from the discussion or Brainstorming. (W ikipedia, 2006).
Image: Framework for knowledge work analysis according to Efimova (2004). Many Universities are also utilizing these technologies to help students in academics. This is done by Podcasting and this helps in enhancing the learnig experience. Using Podcasting, videos of lectures are recorded and transmitted so that the students can view them in their portable media. This is very much useful in the transfer of knowledge and even the implementation of Blogs is also very much useful in the institutions.(Paul Anderson, 2007). We in our university are using Blogging to discuss our course content and in getting feedback from other students and even the lecturers regarding the articles we have posted and this is very much useful to rectify any mistakes and take valuable suggestions from them. In this way there is transfer of Knowledge taking place between us through which many of us have gained Knowledge in some or the other way regarding the information we do not know.
RSS feeds are used to get important updates regarding to the topic we have subscribed for. It indeed contributes to the Knowledge Pool. When any update like suggestions or comments are posted to the topic we have subscribed for, we get the updates in real time and by looking at those updates we can respond immediately in real time and share our knowledge with others which is very much useful for an individual himself or even the community also. Even Social networking websites serve in Knowledge transfer by connecting different people with different backgrounds or ethnicity at a place. All these people can interact and discuss on a topic of their interest and share their knowledge with others. (Paul Anderson, 2007). In Orkut, Facebook and similar sites, there are many communities and one can join any number of communities based on their interest and interact with like minded people and share their knowledge.
Conclusion:
Web 2.0 is very much useful in Knowledge management and improves the way in which people can share knowledge. Not only for the educational institutions but also for organisations. When implemented effectively can acheive fruitful results which is beneficial to each and every one. It also gets together people with similar interests no matter where they are from. And thus uniting ideas from different cultures. Web 2.0 is like a boon to the people who want to share knowledge.
References:
• H, Rollett 2009, The web2.0 way of learning with technologies. Int. J. of Learning Technology. Retrieved March 31, 2009, from: psu.edu.
• O'Reilly, T 2005, 'What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software'. Retrived March 31 2009, from: http://oreillynet.com/1pt/a/6228.
• P, Anderson 2007, What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education. Technical report, JISC, Retrieved March 31, 2009, from: Acm digital library.
• Tredinnick, L 2006, Web 2.0 and business: A pointer to the intranets of the future? Business Information Review, 23, 228–234. Retrieved March 31, 2009, from: springerlink
• A, Ankolekar, et al., 2007, The two cultures: Mashing up web 2.0 and the semantic web. In Proceedings of the 16th International World Wide Web Conference, Banff, Alberta, Canada. Retrieved March 31, 2009, from: www.kasm.nii.ac.jp.
• Safran, C et al., 2007, E-Learning practices and Web 2.0. In: International Conference on Interactive Computer Aided Learning. Retrieved March 31, 2009, from: iicm.edu.
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