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Designing a knowledgemanagementperformanceframework
Jinette de Gooijer
Introduction
A common theme in contemporary
organisations is the concern of managers for
achieving cultural change through radical
management approaches. Knowledge
management is one such management
approach, and is portrayed in the popular
business literature as an innovation with the
potential to affect the whole of an
organisation's business, especially its processes
and information systems (Cole, 1998; Harvard
Business Review, 1998; Myers, 1996). The
issue of how to measure the success of a
knowledge management approach is one
which is still being explored by organisations,
researchers and management consultants.
Most of the solutions offered are geared
towards profit-making commercial firms:
measuring intellectual capital and the
intangible assets on a company's balance sheet
for example. (Edvinsonn and Malone, 1997;
Sveiby, 1997) These solutions have limited
application for public sector management, and
especially when applied to measuring cultural
change within an organisation.
In this paper, I will describe an approach for
embedding knowledge management within
the overall business performance
management model of public sector
organisations, and for discerning the degree to
which people use knowledge management in
their work. This latter point alludes to the
adoption of knowledge management by an
individual and tracking changes in her or his
behaviour. I will use a case study of the
Victorian Department of Infrastructure to
illustrate the two models.
Knowledge management in thedepartment
Public sector management in the state of
Victoria, Australia is experiencing profound
change as it adopts a contractual model of
public service. Since 1992, when a
conservative government was elected, a major
reform of government agencies has occurred.
This is manifest in large reductions in staffing
levels and the amalgamation of several small
departments into five mega-agencies whose
roles are to develop policy rather than directly
deliver services. Service provision to welfare
recipients or users of public utilities, for
example, is delivered from the private or
The author
Jinette de Gooijer is the Director of Innovative Practice
Consulting Pty Ltd, Victoria, Australia and also at the
Faculty of Constructed Enivronment, RMIT University,
Melbourne, Australia.
Keywords
Knowledge management, Performance, Behaviour,
Framework, Measurement
Abstract
Measuring the business benefits of knowledge
management is difficult. Even more so for public sector
agencies whose outcomes are social benefits, rather than
simple profit. Describes an approach for measuring the
performance of knowledge management strategies for a
public sector agency in Victoria, Australia. Knowledge
management is defined as those actions which support
collaboration and integration. Two models are presented
for measuring knowledge management performance and
knowledge management behaviours: a performance
framework based on the balanced scorecard approach,
and a behaviour framework that identifies levels of
practice demonstrated by individuals. The Knowledge
Management Performance Scorecard maps the objectives
for knowledge management across the balanced
scorecard's key result areas The Knowledge Management
Behaviour Framework identifies seven levels of
knowledge management skills for demonstrating
collaborative behaviour. The framework also outlines
what might be typical behaviours of managers and the
roles they would assume in relation to individuals at each
level.
Electronic access
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
http://www.emerald-library.com
303
Journal of Knowledge Management
Volume 4 . Number 4 . 2000 . pp. 303±310
# MCB University Press . ISSN 1367-3270
community sector under contractual
arrangements to the relevant government
agency (Alford et al., 1994).
In Victoria's public sector, the knowledge
worker is a policy-maker, strategic planner,
contract manager, information processor and
developer of performance management
systems. With the separation of policy-making
from direct service provision, the integration
and connectedness of information concerning
service and policy is critical. This is the crux
for knowledge management in the public
sector. And for public sector managers, the
question it gives rise to is: how will we know if
we have achieved a business benefit from
taking a knowledge management approach?
The Department of Infrastructure is one of
the smaller agencies in Victoria and was
formed in 1996 from the departments of
planning, transport and major projects. It
employs about 700 staff who are engaged in
policy development, strategic planning,
managing major projects in land use,
transport and building, the research and
monitoring of infrastructure use, and a
program of privatisation of infrastructure, of
which public transportation has been one of
the largest. Knowledge is an important
commodity used by the Department. It is also
a knowledge-creating organisation.
Knowledge is created by employees through
research and policy-making, and used in the
Department's consultation with communities
and businesses. It is a department employing
many specialists. Managing the flow of this
specialist knowledge is one issue the agency
recognised early when it focused on
developing its information technology base.
Perhaps being an agency concerned with
infrastructure helped it recognise the
importance of a good information technology
infrastructure to support knowledge flow.
By 1999 the Department had implemented
a networked information infrastructure that
connected all staff in its urban and regional
sites. A knowledge management strategy was
defined, and a steering committee in place
charged with planning, implementation and
overall coordination. The problem remained
of developing a performance management
framework for measuring the impact of these
initiatives.
Within the Department of Infrastructure,
the need for measuring the outcomes of
knowledge management was related to a
business vision of achieving an integrated
strategic approach to the state's infrastructure
development. The belief was that a new
business model needed to be created for
achieving this vision, and that knowledge
management was that model. Thus the
question: what benefit can be demonstrated by
knowledge management for the Department of
Infrastructure's business? was expected to be
resolved by designing a performance
management framework that measured
knowledge management outcomes. These
outcomes included increased collaboration
within the Department and with its
stakeholders and project partners, improved
information sharing amongst staff and with
stakeholders, faster response to the changes in
the Department's external environment, and
better coordination of development projects
under the agency's responsibility.
An extensive review of organisational
practices in measuring knowledge
management initiatives had failed to surface a
model that could be directly applied to the
Department. Two key differences that needed
to be accommodated, and which I aver are
what distinguishes public sector management
from management of commercial enterprises,
are that, firstly, public sector agencies are not
involved in a simple transaction of services
between themselves as a supplier and others
as customers. The relationship is far more
complex and better described as one between
the agency of government and diverse
stakeholders. Second, although it is currently
fashionable to describe public sector agencies
as business operations, they are not profit-
making concerns. Financial management is
only one accountability of many, and not the
primary task.
One particular requirement of the
Department of Infrastructure was that the
framework needed to be clearly linked to
public policy performance indicators. These
were defined as levels of outcomes, with the
minimum level described as: `̀ Awareness and
understanding of knowledge management
principles''; the next level as `̀ Use of tools,
information and knowledge''; then `̀ Changed
behaviours''; and, at the maximum level of
performance, `̀ Improved organisational
performance''.
These different levels present some
problems of logic. For instance, the first two
levels have a clearly stepped link: the use and
application of knowledge management is
premised on there being an awareness of what
304
Designing a knowledge management performance framework
Jinette de Gooijer
Journal of Knowledge Management
Volume 4 . Number 4 . 2000 . 303±310
it is and the tools available for employing the
principles. One can assume that awareness
precedes use. I make the assumption here that
one needs to know the utility of a tool before
one can successfully employ it to a task.
There is a monumental leap though from
use of tools to changed behaviours. Behaviour
is a learned response to the dynamics of a
system. The use of tools is only one
component of those dynamics. Here, the
assumption is that one can step from a specific
behaviour to a whole repertoire of behaviours,
as well as measure the performance of an
individual in isolation from their response to
the system. This raises questions of: What are
the knowledge management behaviours which
need to be exhibited? What is different about
them that would indicate `̀ changed behaviour''
from otherwise accepted behaviour in the
organisation? What, other than `̀ use of tools,
information and knowledge'', would constitute
knowledge management behaviour? What
other factors in the organisational climate
might impact upon behaviour? How will these
be taken into account?
The final level, improved organisational
performance, represents another leap from
individuals' performance to that of the whole
system. What are the links here that need to
be made explicit and unambiguous?
The resolution of these problems lay in two
areas: linking knowledge management to the
overall business performance framework; and,
organisational culture change. This lay open
the notion that a knowledge management
performance management framework was not
one all-encompassing model but two inter-
connected ones.
By adapting some of the existing models
described in the literature to the requirements
of the Department of Infrastructure, a viable
model emerged. The model is comprised two
frameworks: a Knowledge Management
Performance Scorecard, and a Knowledge
Management Behaviour Framework.
Some assumptions about a knowledge
management performance management
system have been made by the author. These
are:. A Knowledge Management Performance
Framework is not in isolation from the
organisation's business performance
framework.. There is clear and direct alignment
between individual work plans, team
goals, business unit objectives and the
organisation's key result areas.. There are clear benchmarks against
which performance can be measured.. Performance indicators are
unambiguous.. Knowledge management is a business
principle and is embedded in all aspects
of the organisation's work.
Knowledge Management PerformanceScorecard
The Department wanted a framework that
could provide a practical umbrella for more
detailed performance measures. The
framework needed to show how knowledge
management impacted on all areas of the
Department's operations. Knowledge
management performance measures needed
to be embedded in the overall business
performance model, and not be a marginal
`̀ add-on'' to the core measures. Several
approaches were reviewed. None was
identified as specifically applicable to
knowledge management in a public policy
setting. Models considered ranged from the
intellectual capital approach (Edvinsonn and
Malone, 1997), to reframing existing business
data models (Allee, 1997). Neither of these
alone seemed helpful enough for the
Department of Infrastructure's environment.
Three approaches offered some sensible
and pragmatic ideas. They were:
(1) a knowledge management map, based on
the structure of an information ecology
framework that considers the whole of an
organisation's culture, structure and
processes (Russell, 1995);
(2) tacit and explicit knowledge transfer
processes (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995);
and
(3) the notion of sensemaking as a key
element in electronic work and computer-
mediated communication, described by
Weick in a very early study on information
technology use (Weick, 1997).
I don't have the space to describe each of
these approaches, but it is sufficient to say
that they provided pointers to the
performance areas the Department needed to
consider. The elements in the knowledge
management map ± strategy, infrastructure,
products and services, relationships, culture
305
Designing a knowledge management performance framework
Jinette de Gooijer
Journal of Knowledge Management
Volume 4 . Number 4 . 2000 . 303±310
and behaviour, processes, and content ±
offered a structure which could be applied in
a public sector performance management
system.
Ultimately, it was by considering the overall
business performance model in which a
knowledge management performance
framework had to sit, that a solution was
found. This was by considering a balanced
scorecard as the overall performance model,
and then mapping the knowledge
management performance elements across
the model. This formed the Knowledge
Management Performance Scorecard.
The Knowledge Management Performance
Scorecard adapts the balanced scorecard
approach (Kaplan and Norton, 1996) in
which an organisation measures its
performance in four key result areas:
(1) financial performance;
(2) internal business processes;
(3) customers; and
(4) growth.
The model, in its original conception, is
focused on broadening out the measures of
performance in a profit-making firm. In
recognition that the overall success of a firm
depends on all aspects of its business
performing well, the balanced scorecard takes
into account internal factors as well as the
relationship a firm has with its customers and
shareholders. The model is highly attractive
for this reason, especially in its capacity to
embrace the knowledge characteristics of an
organisation's business.
In choosing to use the balanced scorecard as
an umbrella for developing a knowledge
management performance framework, there
were features which sat at odds with the
purpose and tasks of a public sector agency.
For the Department of Infrastructure in its role
as an agent of government, the idea of
customers is problematic. First, the
Department is not engaged in an economic
transaction with consumers. Second, the
services the Department provides are strategic
policy and planning advice on public
infrastructure. Third, if the Department has a
customer, in the strict sense of the word, it is
probably its government ministers, who
determine the funding of the Department.
Since the outcomes of the Department's work
are experienced by the residents, businesses
and investors of Victoria, the term stakeholders
makes far greater sense than customers.
The second feature of the balanced
scorecard that needed review was the key result
area of (organisational) growth. In an era of
small government, the idea of organisational
growth is ludicrous. Since growth, in terms of
the balanced scorecard, encompasses the
notion of organisational learning for growth, it
made sense to reframe this into organisational
learning and name this key result area People.
The four revised organisational key result areas
appear in Table I.
The next step in formulating a performance
management framework involved mapping
the key result areas for knowledge
management across the scorecard. The key
result areas were considered to be:. strategy;. products and services;. information infrastructure (technology
and content);. processes;. relationships; and. culture and behaviour.
Inevitably strategy is embedded in every aspect
of the organisation, and thus the performance
of a knowledge management strategy will be
measured in all four areas of the scorecard.
Products and services is also an element that
lends itself to being measured in more than
one key result area.
The final framework is given in Table II.
The next step was in setting objectives,
expected outcomes, initiatives and
performance indicators for each of the
knowledge management key result areas. The
expected outcomes for each of the defined
objectives were grouped under the
Department's public policy performance
indicators. This provided a clear connection
between the policy performance framework
and knowledge management objectives. An
example of this is given in Table III.
The design allows for high detail at the
business unit and individual level. This is its
major advantage, that it can be cascaded
clearly down from the organisational level to
Table I Balanced scorecard for public sector performance management
Financial
performance
Internal business
processes Stakeholders People
What do we
need to do
to succeed
financially?
What business
processes do we
need to excel at?
How should we
appear to our
stakeholders?
How will we
sustain our
ability to learn
and develop?
306
Designing a knowledge management performance framework
Jinette de Gooijer
Journal of Knowledge Management
Volume 4 . Number 4 . 2000 . 303±310
divisional, group and individual workplans.
Its major disadvantage is that people's
behaviour and organisational culture cannot
be realistically framed in terms of such a
rational planning model. Another approach
was needed for this. This is the function of the
Knowledge Management Behaviour
Framework.
Knowledge Management BehaviourFramework
There is a basic premise about introducing
knowledge management to any organisation
which informs the Knowledge Management
Behaviour Framework. It is that knowledge
management is a radical innovation or change
to an organisation's operations, and thus is to
be regarded as an intervention on the
organisation's culture. The value of regarding
it as an intervention is that the principles and
practices for managing change processes will
be considered in implementing knowledge
management.
The second framework designed for the
Department of Infrastructure identifies and
describes the use of knowledge management
tools, systems, resources and practices as
behaviours to be learnt when individuals
progressively adopt knowledge management
in their work. The behavioural framework,
defined in terms of learning and learned
behaviours, is directly linked to the key result
area people: culture and behaviour in the
Knowledge Management Performance
Scorecard.
The framework is informed by the
concerns-based-adoption-model (CBAM)
developed by Gene Hall and his associates at
the University of Texas at Austin in the early
1970s (Somerset, 1995). CBAM has two
dimensions to its system of describing how
organisations and individuals adopt
innovations. One is that individuals feel
various concerns about adopting new ways of
doing things, and that secondly their
behaviour will reflect these concerns through
differing levels of use they make of the new
innovation or change.
The CBAM makes several assumptions about
change. It assumes that change is a process, not
an event, is made by individuals first then
organisations, is a highly personal experience,
[and] entails developmental growth in feelings
and skills (Somerset, 1995).
Table II
Financial
performance
Internal business
processes Stakeholders People
What do we
need to do
to succeed
financially?
What business
processes do we
need to excel at?
How should we
appear to our
stakeholders?
How will we
sustain our
ability to learn
and develop?
Knowledge management key result areas
Strategy
Products and
services
Strategy
information
infrastructure
(technology and
content) processes
Strategy
relationships
Product and
services
Strategy
culture and
behaviour
Table III Knowledge management performance objectives
Key result area
Objectives Expected
outcome
Initiatives Performance
indicators
Stakeholders: relationships
To increase the
capacity for
integration and
collaboration
Changed
behaviours
% increase
in inter-
organisational
communications
Encourage more
formal and
informal
networks using
team rooms
No. of team
rooms and
participants in
each
Internal business processes:
information infrastructure
(technology and content)
To build
awareness
amongst all
staff of
knowledge
management
tools,
processes and
practices
Awareness and
understanding
All staff are
familiar with the
concepts and
practices of
knowledge
management
Use of tools,
information,
knowledge
Increase in use of
knowledge
management
tools and
adoption of
knowledge
management
practices
FAQ page on
knowledge
management is
placed on
intranet
All staff attend
awareness
training in
knowledge
management
tools
Knowledge
management
team room is
established and
attracts growing
number of
members
Metrics on use
of FAQ page
and
refreshment
rate of its
contents
No. of staff
trained
No. of
participants in
and
contributions
to knowledge
management
team room
discussions
and
documents
307
Designing a knowledge management performance framework
Jinette de Gooijer
Journal of Knowledge Management
Volume 4 . Number 4 . 2000 . 303±310
CBAM asserts that people go through
predictable stages in adopting an innovation.
These stages are shown in Table IV.
Individuals exhibit a progressive order of
adoption from non-use to renewal. Non-use
might arise because individuals do not have
the time to learn about the new way of doing
things, or perhaps because they are concerned
that the new way is counter-productive. When
individuals begin to take action in learning
more about the changes to be adopted, they
are exhibiting a new level of use, that of
orienting themselves to what the change has
to offer. In deciding to begin using a changed
practice or innovation, individuals are
preparing themselves for more fully adopting
the new. A person who begins to use the
innovation has to grapple with organising and
managing her or his program of work in order
to establish a basic effectiveness. This is
coined as mechanical use in the CBAM
system. At the routine level, individuals have
attained a degree of stabilisation, and it is a
small step from here to developing some
refinements by which the impact of the
innovation can be modified to suit specific
needs of the work. The final stages describe
individuals engaged in integrating the
innovation within a team or larger group
context, and finally, having fully integrated
the innovation or change, individuals begin to
seek modifications in response to the need for
improved business performance.
What is especially attractive about this
system of describing levels of use, is that it
legitimises the learning that people experience
when adopting organisational change. Too
often, the implementation of change in
organisations is accompanied by an implicit
expectation that individuals will leap from
non-use to integration in one rapid step.
Another feature that makes this model
attractive for assessing the adoption of
knowledge management by individuals, is that
it is directly linked to the development of a
person's knowledge. This builds an inherent
integrity into the framework: learning and
knowledge are directly linked.
How was the CBAM system adapted for
describing knowledge management
behaviours within a performance
management framework?
First, it was assumed that knowledge
management was an innovation to be adopted
throughout the whole organisation by every
individual.
Second, the levels of use were described in
terms that related to people's skills in
knowledge management. The order from 0-6,
representing first to last stages, was retained.
Table V shows these levels.
Third, it was beneficial to describe what
role an individual might take up at each level,
and what behaviours would characterise both
the level and the role. Table VI outlines these.
The framework as it is presented in Table
VI bears a close relationship to the kind of
competency models found in many
organisations that have implemented
employee performance management systems.
An element missing in these systems, and one
which I consider critical when implementing
change, is the role supervisors or managers
adopt in assisting staff to learn and adapt their
work to the changes expected of them.
This relationship between supervisor and
supervisee is a critical success factor in both
implementing change and assessing its
effectiveness. The Knowledge Management
Behaviour Framework includes this element,
and is what gives it further integrity.
Table IV Levels of use in the CBAM
Order Level
Last 6 Renewal
| 5 Integration
| 4b Refinement
| 4a Routine
| 3 Mechanical use
| 2 Preparation
| 1 Orientation
First 0 Non-use
Table V Levels of skill in adopting knowledge
management
Level Knowledge management skills
0 Awareness but non-use of knowledge
management tools or practices
1 Seeks information about knowledge
management
2 Personal experimentation with knowledge
management tools and practices
3 Personal implementation of knowledge
management practices
4 Engaged with impact and consequences of
knowledge management behaviour
5 Actively collaborates in all aspects of work
6 Refocussing knowledge management skills
on new business opportunities
308
Designing a knowledge management performance framework
Jinette de Gooijer
Journal of Knowledge Management
Volume 4 . Number 4 . 2000 . 303±310
Knowledge management is defined
specifically within the Department of
Infrastructure as those actions which support
collaboration and integration. Clearly
collaborative action in the relationship
between a manager and her or his staff
establishes a core practice of knowledge
management at its most critical interface. The
Knowledge Management Behaviour
Framework specifically defines this interface.
Table VII describes the roles and behaviours
anticipated of managers.
All of these actions are supported by the
knowledge management tools, systems,
resources and practices of the organisation. At
the Department of Infrastructure these
include: tools such as Lotus Notes team
rooms; an intranet system that enables access
Table VI Roles and behaviours for the levels of knowledge management skill
Level
Knowledge
management skills
Possible role for
someone at this
level Typical behaviours
0 Awareness but non-use
of knowledge
management tools
or practices
Maintainer of current
competency and
behaviour
Has little concern and low awareness about
knowledge management tools or practices
Interest may or may not be present
Needs to understand how knowledge management
will directly benefit individual's interests
1 Seeks information
about knowledge
management
Early learner Wants descriptive information and opportunities to
see knowledge management tools in use
Explores realistic expectations about benefits and
costs in acquiring knowledge management skills
2 Personal
experimentation with
knowledge
management tools
and practices
Follower Establishes rapport with people more skilled in
knowledge management practices
Accesses and uses knowledge management
resources and tools provided by others
Seeks personal support through access to facilitators
and other help
3 Personal
implementation of
knowledge
management practices
Implementer Begins to focus more on team issues and
collaborative opportunities
Clarifies how knowledge management can be
applied to other aspects of individual's work
Is continually building skill and increasing use of
knowledge management tools, probably on a
daily basis
Identifies knowledge resources, creates and
contributes own knowledge to organisation's
knowledge systems
4 Engaged with impact
and consequences of
knowledge
management behaviour
Problem-solver Independently and routinely applies knowledge
management practices
Competent in capturing and organising knowledge
for others' use
Clearly demonstrates collaborative knowledge
behaviours
Encourages other people to share expertise and
participate in group problem-solving
5 Actively collaborates in
all aspects of work
Leader Advocates and promotes collaboration to others
Models knowledge management practices,
especially learning and feedback into business
processes
6 Refocussing knowledge
management skills on
new business
opportunities
Investigator/
Innovator
Engages in creative inquiry and analysis of business
outcomes and strategies
309
Designing a knowledge management performance framework
Jinette de Gooijer
Journal of Knowledge Management
Volume 4 . Number 4 . 2000 . 303±310
to internal and external information;
resources of an electronic library storing
departmental documents and objects;
communities of practice; and, personal
practices in which knowledge resources are
identified, created, contributed, captured and
organised, accessed, shared, applied, weeded
and archived by each individual in the normal
course of daily work.
Conclusions
Implementation of the frameworks is still at
an early stage. The design is to be trialled
within one divisional group, then evaluated
and refined before full implementation.
By distinguishing between organisational
performance and individual behaviour, the
design of these frameworks provides for
`̀ hard'' business measures to be linked to
`̀ fuzzy'' social measures in a coherent way.
Importantly, learning, which is a fundamental
precursor to and an activity within knowledge
processes, is explicitly acknowledged and
included in knowledge management
performance.
References
Alford, J. et al. (1994), The Contract State: PublicManagement and the Kennett Government, DeakinUniversity, Burwood.
Allee, V. (1997), The Knowledge Evolution: ExpandingOrganizational Intelligence, Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, MA.
Cole, R.E. (1998), `̀ Knowledge and the firm'', CaliforniaManagement Review, Vol. 40 No. 3, Special issue.
Edvinsonn, L. and Malone, M.S. (1997), IntellectualCapital, HarperCollins, New York, NY.
Harvard Business Review (1998), Harvard BusinessReview on Knowledge Management, HarvardBusiness Review Press, Boston, MA.
Kaplan, R.S. and Norton, D.P. (1996), `̀ Using the balancedscorecard as a strategic management system'',Harvard Business Review, January-February,pp. 75-85.
Myers, P.S. (Ed.), (1996), Knowledge Management andOrganizational Design, Butterworth-Heinemann,Boston, MA.
Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H. (1995), The Knowledge-Creating Company, Oxford University Press,New York, NY.
Russell, R.H. (1995), Implementing the InformationEcology Framework, Ernst and Young, Boston, MA(Center for Business Innovation Working Paper).
Somerset Consulting Group (1995), Concerns BasedAdoption Model, RMIT University, Melbourne.
Sveiby, K.E. (1997), The New Organizational Wealth:Managing and Measuring Knowledge-Based Assets,Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, CA.
Weick, K.E. (1997), `̀ Cosmos vs. chaos: sense andnonsense in electronic contexts'', in Prusak, L. (Ed.),Knowledge in Organizations, Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, MA, pp. 213-26.
Table VII Roles and behaviours for managers
Level
Role for manager in
response to someone
at this level Typical behaviours of manager
0 Provide vision Focus on the individual
Acknowledge that little concern and low
awareness is legitimate
Make individuals aware in a positive way
Use promotional tools
1 Information provider Focus on the individual
Get them in touch with an enthusiastic
person competent in knowledge
management
Help the early learner clarify needs and
identify training opportunities
2 Counsellor Focus on the individual, supported by
group processes
Answer all questions, listen to problems,
build success expectancy
Establish milestones and realistic timelines
in developing knowledge management
behaviours: celebrate and reward
achievements
3 Leader Focus on team development and
performance
Establish consulting pairs or support
groups
Use demonstration projects to increase
personal confidence and skill
Provide lots of opportunities for group
discussions, especially informal ones, to
allow cross-fertilisation of ideas
4 Supervisor Encourage cross-functional working parties
for identifying problems and exploring
solutions
Put individuals in contact with others who
are ahead and behind them in their levels
of competency with knowledge
management
5 Mentor Encourage collaborative problem-solving
with customers and suppliers
Give opportunities to go outside the
organisation for learning and sharing
expertise
6 Coach and sponsor Allow considerable scope for individual to
explore other ways of doing things
Provide resources for testing new ideas
310
Designing a knowledge management performance framework
Jinette de Gooijer
Journal of Knowledge Management
Volume 4 . Number 4 . 2000 . 303±310