What is Knowledge Management? Prof. Elaine Ferneley + Prof. Andrew Basden What is Knowledge Management? Prof. Elaine Ferneley + Prof. Andrew Basden [email protected]

What is Knowledge Management? What is Knowledge Management?

Prof. Elaine Ferneley +Prof. Elaine Ferneley +Prof. Andrew Basden Prof. Andrew Basden

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Prof Elaine Ferneley

ObjectivesObjectives

What is Knowledge Management (KM)? What are the driving forces? Role of KM in today’s organization Knowledge Knowledge Management Systems Effective Knowledge Management


Knowledge as Key ResourceKnowledge as Key Resource

“Knowledge has become the key resource, for a nation’s military strength as well as for its economic strength… is fundamentally different from the traditional key resources of the economist – land, labor, and even capital…we need systematic work on the quality of knowledge and the productivity of knowledge … the performance capacity, if not the survival, of any organization in the knowledge society will come increasingly to depend on those two factors” [Drucker,1994]


A world of rapidly growing knowledge ….A world of rapidly growing knowledge ….

>One week in 2007

A person’s lifetimein 18th century


What is Knowledge Management? What is Knowledge Management?

Knowledge management (KM) may be defined simply as doing what is needed to get the most out of knowledge resources.

KM focuses on organizing and making available important knowledge, wherever and whenever it is needed.

KM is also related to the concept of intellectual capital.


Skryme (1999) Knowledge Management Skryme (1999) Knowledge Management DefinitionDefinition

Knowledge Management is the explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge

and associated processes of creation, organization, diffusion, use and exploitation

explicit: knowledge is explicitly recognized; systematic: too important to be left to

chance; vital: focus on what is important; processes: encourage knowledge creating

environment.


Why we need Knowledge Management nowWhy we need Knowledge Management now((http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~alm/kam.html)http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~alm/kam.html)

Marketplaces are increasingly competitive and the rate of innovation is rising.

Reductions in staffing create a need to replace informal knowledge with formal methods.

Competitive pressures reduce the size of the work force that holds valuable business knowledge.

The amount of time available to experience and acquire knowledge has diminished.

Early retirements and increasing mobility of the work force lead to loss of knowledge.


Most of our work is now information based. Organizations compete on the basis of knowledge. Products and services are increasingly complex,

endowing them with a significant information component.

The need for life-long learning is an inescapable reality.

In brief, knowledge and information have become the medium in which business problems occur. As a result, managing knowledge represents the primary opportunity for achieving substantial savings, significant improvements in human performance, and competitive advantage.

Why we need Knowledge Management nowWhy we need Knowledge Management now((http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~alm/kam.html)http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~alm/kam.html)

Creating

Capturing

Sharing

Capitalising

Knowledge

Knowledge Management ComponentsKnowledge Management Components

This course will focus on theseThis course will focus on theseKnowledge Management ComponentsKnowledge Management Components


Information & Communication Technology

Knowledge ManagementKnowledge Management

The composite management of:

Processes Information

People


What are Knowledge Management “Systems” ?What are Knowledge Management “Systems” ?

Social/Structural mechanismsmechanisms (e.g., mentoring and retreats, etc.) for promoting knowledge sharing. Leading-edge information technologiesinformation technologies (e.g., Web-based conferencing) to support KM mechanisms.Knowledge management systems (KMS): the synergysynergy between social/structural mechanisms and latest technologies.


THE KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATIONTHE KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION

The middle layer addresses the KM life cycle

A knowledge organization derives knowledge from customer, product, and financial knowledge. Also from financial practices

Indicators of knowledge: thinking actively and ahead, not passively and behind

Using technology to facilitate knowledge sharing and innovation

Collect

Organize

RefineDisseminate

Culture

Leadership

Technology

Intelligence

Maintain

Competition

KnowledgeManagementProcess

KM Drivers

KnowledgeOrganization

Create


Data, Information, and KnowledgeData, Information, and Knowledge

Data: Unorganized and unprocessed facts; static; a set of discrete facts about events

Information: Aggregation of data that makes decision making easier

Knowledge is derived from information in the same way information is derived from data; it is a person’s range of information


KNOWLEDGE

INFORMATION

WISDOM

Nonalgorithmic(Heuristic)

Nonprogrammable

From Data Processing to Knowledge-based SystemsFrom Data Processing to Knowledge-based Systems

DATAAlgorithmic Programmable

The DIKW PyramidThe DIKW Pyramid


Some ExamplesSome Examples

Data represents a fact or statement of event without relation to other things. Ex: It is raining.

Information embodies the understanding of a relationship of some sort, possibly cause and effect. Ex: The temperature dropped 15 degrees and then it started raining.

Knowledge represents a pattern that connects and generally provides a high level of predictability as to what is described or what will happen next. Ex: If the humidity is very high and the temperature drops substantially the

atmospheres is often unlikely to be able to hold the moisture so it rains.

Wisdom embodies more of an understanding of fundamental principles embodied within the knowledge that are essentially the basis for the knowledge being what it is. Wisdom is essentially systemic. Ex: It rains because it rains. And this encompasses an understanding of all the

interactions that happen between raining, evaporation, air currents, temperature gradients, changes, and raining.


LearningLearning

Learning by experience: a function of time and talent

Learning by example: more efficient than learning by experience

Learning by sharing, education.

Learning by discovery: explore a problem area.


Mechanistic approaches to KMMechanistic approaches to KM

Mechanistic approaches to knowledge management are characterized by the application of technology and resources to do more of the same better.

The main assumptions of the mechanistic approach include: Better accessibility to information is a key, including

enhanced methods of access and reuse of documents (hypertext linking, databases, full-text search, etc.)

Networking technology in general (especially intranets), and groupware in particular, will be key solutions.

In general, technology and sheer volume of information will make it work.


Cultural/behavioristic approaches to KMCultural/behavioristic approaches to KM

Cultural/behavioristic approaches, with substantial roots in process re-engineering and change management, tend to view the "knowledge problem" as a management issue. Technology — though ultimately essential for managing explicit knowledge resources — is not the solution. These approaches tend to focus more on innovation and creativity (the "learning organization") than on leveraging existing explicit resources or making working knowledge explicit.

Assumptions of cultural/behaviouristic approaches often include: Organizational behaviours and culture need to be changed …

dramatically. In our information-intensive environments, organizations become dysfunctional relative to business objectives.

Organizational behaviours and culture can be changed, but traditional technology and methods of attempting to solve the "knowledge problem" have reached their limits of effectiveness. A "holistic" view is required. Theories of behaviour of large-scale systems are often invoked.

It’s the processes that matter, not the technology. Nothing happens or changes unless a manager makes it happen.


Classification of Knowledge Management Classification of Knowledge Management SystemsSystems

Knowledge Discovery Systems

Knowledge Capture Systems

Knowledge Sharing Systems

Knowledge Application Systems

As this course is an IS course we As this course is an IS course we will focus on these Knowledge Management Technologieswill focus on these Knowledge Management Technologies

Documents

What is Knowledge Management? Prof. Elaine Ferneley + Prof. Andrew Basden What is Knowledge Management? Prof. Elaine Ferneley + Prof. Andrew Basden [email protected]