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Developing Corporate Knowledge Management through Social Media.

07.10.2008

Petra SänttiPetra.santti@hut.fi

Supervisor: Timo KorhonenInstructor: Jaakko Vilen

Target organization: Fidenta

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Contents.• Background• Research questions• Knowledge Management• Social Media

• Study framework• Process of developing Knowledge Management through Social Media• Research methods

• Results:• Demand for Knowledge Management development• Technical Social Media solutions• Social Media Mindset and operation models

• Conclusions• Recommendations for future studies

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Background.• Quality measurements (CMMI, EFQM) in the target organization have

revealed some internal areas that need to be developed:(1) knowledge distribution, (2) communication and (3) idea development”

• Social Media is starting to be essential for a company if it wants to be successful also in the future

• Old ways to work are not enough to ensure success in the future• New interactive ways to communicate and work together are needed• Digital natives are entering workplaces• Social Media enables interactivity, flexibility and participation• Customers expect personated solutions planned for their specific needs

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Research questions.• The research questions of this study in developing corporate Knowledge

Management are:• How to utilize common explicit and tacit knowledge more effectively? • How to develop internal work task targeted communication?• How to boost the emergence of innovations?

 • Social Media possibilities are researched in the target organization’s

intranet to find out solutions to research questions.

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Knowledge Management.• Knowledge Management is an organizational process of gathering,

organizing, analyzing and sharing of knowledge to create an environment in which employees are able to raise the level of their knowledge and may make the use of this knowledge to be more effective and productive. (Alavia and Lediner 1999; Brelade and Harman 2001)

• All employees are the users of the Knowledge Management System

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Social Media.

• Technology: • Collective Web applications and tools

that people use to share information, opinions, insights, experiences andperspectives with each other

Some popular examples

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Social Media.• Technology:

• Collective Web applications and tools

• Mindsets: • Open communication• Shared power to decide• Interactivity• Collaboration• Free sharing and

using of knowledge

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Study framework.

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Process of developing Knowledge Management through Social Media.

Research specifies:1) Demand to develop knowledge management and utilize Social Media in internal working activities

2) Required Social Media solutions that answer the demand

3) Operation models required to start using social media in Fidenta

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Research methods.1) Demand to develop Knowledge Management• Quality measurements, Probe, Questionnaire,

Employee interviews

2) Required Social Media solutions that answer the demand to develop Knowledge Management

• Literature, Seminars, Brainstorming

3) Operation models to utilize Social Media functionalities• Literature, Questionnaire, Interviews

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Results.1) Demand to develop Knowledge Management• Demand related to knowledge distribution, communication, developing

ideas• Problems related to existing tools• Demands related to customer and partners

2) Required Social Media solutions that answer the demand to develop Knowledge Management

• New technical solutions• Improvement of existing solutions• Experience about possible future tools

3) Operation models to utilize Social Media functionalities• New operation model• Corporate culture change• Solution use activation• Usage instruction

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Results – 1) Demand for Knowledge Management development.

• Employees should be able to share their knowledge more openly • Sharing of experiences (free communication) should be supported better• Employee possibilities to influence should be developed• Corporate culture should support knowledge sharing• Knowledge gaps and losses between projects should be reduced• There should be effective tools that support project processes• Employees need information about colleague competences and existing projects• Intranet content must be relevant, up to date and easy to find• New ways for developing ideas are needed (all employees included)• Discussion forum use and instant messenger use should be increased • Weak signals should be collected

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Results – 2) Required Social Media solutions.

2008 2009 Later

1. Wiki area planning1. Wiki area planning

Demand to develop Knowledge Management through Social Media

Demand to develop Knowledge Management through Social Media

Implementation of Wiki areaImplementation of Wiki area

Building of SharePoint My SiteBuilding of SharePoint My Site

3. Interactive idea base planning

3. Interactive idea base planning

4. Piloting of virtual world use

4. Piloting of virtual world use

Planning of virtual world use in Fidenta

Planning of virtual world use in Fidenta

Building of idea baseBuilding of idea base

2. Developing of personnel index

2. Developing of personnel index

SharePoint My Site planningSharePoint My Site planning

Quick wins and small improvements•Project tools (project workspaces), Blog use, Instant messenger improvement, Team workspaces, RSS use, User ratings of pages, etc..

Strategic actions 2009-2011

Quick wins and small improvements•Project tools (project workspaces), Blog use, Instant messenger improvement, Team workspaces, RSS use, User ratings of pages, etc..

Strategic actions 2009-2011

Pilot–WikiPilot–Wiki

Idea base utilizationstarts

Wiki area utilizationstarts

Personnel indexutilization

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Results – 3) Social Media Mindset and operation models.New solutions will be successful only if:• There is a planned way to start using them (e.g. building a corporate

wiki)• Their usability is better than the usability of previous solutions (e.g.

registration, passwords, user interface) • There are no competing solutions (e.g. old solutions read-only)• Employees are informed, encouraged and trained to use them (e.g.

training event, rewards, time)• There should be moderators that are in charge of the solutions• Systematical use of the information got from the solutions (especially

idea base)• Employees have possibilities to participate and influence• Mindsets of corporate managers support use of the new solutions

• “Freedom and possibilities to influence with proper amount of control”

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Results – 3) Social Media Mindset and operation models.

What can go wrong?1) Choosing the right operation models to find relevant Social Media solutions

for the company’s business • Right solutions vs. limited resources (€)• Support and encouragement

(2) Overcoming cultural barriers• Attitude changes leading to behavior changes• Ability to adapt new working methods• Experts and knowledge workers

(3) Privacy• Anonymous vs. open publishing • Loss of control

(4) Solution user behavior• Compromised quality – loudest voice wins• Digital natives versus digital immigrants

(5) Time related challenges• Time used to not work related activities

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Conclusions.• Intranet has a big impact on corporate business if it is utilized effectively• Besides finding out the suitable solutions for developing Knowledge

Management, it is extremely important to find ways to encourage and convince employees to use and utilize the solutions

• Meaning of Intranet is to empower employees and open the corporate culture by giving employees possibilities to influence

• The company benefits in increasing amount of ideas and innovations made. A stronger work motivation is a boost to innovations

• The company benefits in more effective and flexible working • Employee satisfaction and eagerness to stay in the organization rise

• It is important to have a block of employees as Intranet content producers instead of a centralized communication unit that is only responsible for content management

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Recommendations for future studies.• Social Media use with customer (open innovations, common Social Media

solutions, customer possibilities to influence on corporate business making)

• People based point of view – What is the meaning of user mindsets in adopting new ways to work and new solutions

• Process of changing corporate culture – Radical changes in ways to work• The differences in the use of Social Media and other solutions between

digital natives and digital immigrants – also the weaknesses of digital natives

• Ability of the corporate management to think over the development needs of the company and e.g. recognize weak signals that the company should utilize in the future

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Questions?