KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND IT SUPPORT
Knowledge management systems are information systems which are perceived as facilitating organization learning by capturing important knowledge and making available to all the employees as required.Effective management of knowledge is important for the complexity of organizations. There are many knowledge based systems such as expert systems, information systems etc, Dutta (1997:79).Existing body of work on kms primarily consists of general principles of kms(Davenport 1997b), The major concern is that to have correct amount and type of knowledge which supports to the kms.
Knowledge management systems have been used by the organization recently, so little expectations are framed for the benefits and costs. The best results for the kms is the ability of organizations to be flexible and respond more quickly to changing market conditions, and also to be innovative as well as improving decision making and productivity (Strata, 1997: Harris, 1996). The benefits of kms used by the organization are improving project management, saving time, better serving to the clients and providing better measurement and accountability. Kms are multifaceted, its effectiveness is far more than just technology, cultural and organizational issues.
ROLE OF IT IN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Organizations can be provided with vast electronic libraries with the help of Information Technology, many companies imagined a new world of leveraged knowledge due to Information Technology. E- mail and Internet have made it possible for professionals to locate things , no matter where they are located, like a geologist can compare data of an oil field to any similar field across the world to asses its commercial potential.
"Knowledge is experience. Everything else is just information" by Albert Einstein.
Many companies are thinking that linking people through electronic media, so that they can share the knowledge with each other and produce a new knowledge.For example a computer company group designed an electronic library of system configuration, so designers could draw from the pre- developed components. These companies believe that if they get people to documents their insights and draw each other work, they could create a web of global knowledge, which helps their staff to work with greater effectiveness and efficiency.
Information Technology has inspired this vision but itself cannot bring this vision into being, most of the companies found that leveraging knowledge is very hard to achieve. For example several years ago a IT group installed lotus notes, hoping it would lead to collaboration, but it was only used for E-mails. Studies show that IT normally reinforces an organization norms about documenting, sharing information, and using the ideas of others, computer based decision is no more considered as democratic than face- to -face decision making people need to build a relationship often through face- to -face meeting before they can effectively collaborate electronically.
As IT support in the Kms is the plus point in this paper but I argue with that, because IT doesn't give any kind of guarantee of success to any Kms, IT always focuses on business prospects but not on the organizational performance and competitive advantage strategies.
REFERENCES
G.E. Fryxell,"Managing the Culture of Innovation",L.R. Gonez-M afia and M.W. Lawless, eds., Organizational issues in High Technology Management (Greenwich, CT Jai press, 1990).
T. Burns and G.M. Stalkes, The management of Innovation (London: Tavistock publications, 1961); J.M Beyer "The Twin Dilemmas of Commitment and coherence Posed by High Technology,"(1990), pg 19-36.
Barlett, C. (1996) MC Kinsey and Company: Managing Knowledge and learning, Case 9-396-357, Boston, MA: Harvard business School.
Churchman, C.W. (1972) The Design of Inquiring Systems: Basic Concepts of systems and Organizations, New York, NY: Bencis books.
Harris, D.B (1996), Creating a Knowledge Centric Information Technology Environment. http// www.htca.com/ckc.htm.
Thursday 2 April 2009
Wednesday 1 April 2009
HOW KNOWLEDGE CAN BE MANAGED IN AN ORGANIZATION?
As we know knowledge is the most important factor for any organization, so it is very important to manage the knowledge within the organization.In this paper i will explain some problems of knowledge processing and their solution to provide an appropriate knowledge processing capability. Some main problems of knowledge processing are :
1. Complexity
2. Uncertainty
3. Ambiguity
4. Equivocally
Complexity
Complexity means "a large number of parts that interact in a non-simple way".(Simon 1969, p.195), complex tasks have many steps and factors which effects the performance. Complex problems have many interrelated variables, solutions and methods.(Cambell 1988, Dill and Simon 1986, Simon 1962, wood 1986). The different elements and relationships which are considered simultaneously is a function of knowledge processing capacity which in turn a function of what is known and familiar to organizations and its members (Newll, Shaw and Simon 1962, Stabell 1978). Therefore having superior knowledge enables to manage greater complexity.
The response to complexity is to increase firms capacity to process or to reduce the level of complexity, richer knowledge provides a ability to process complexity. Knowledge stored in the familiar procedural routines provides to perform complex group processes (Cyert and March 1963, Nelson and Winter 1982). Therefore having appropriate knowledge and expertise helps to reduce the complexity. In the absence of knowledge and expertise, the complexity can be reduced by decomposition, i.e by breaking things into similar parts. Therefore organizations facing complexity must develop and bring appropriate knowledge, expertise and skills to solve the issues.
UNCERTAINTY
Information theory defines uncertainty as lack of enough information to choose from an exhaustive and well defined set of possible states, even if that set is not complex (Shannon 1949). According to Rumelt(1984) managing uncertainty is a must for any strategy. Events of strategies like evolution of technology, emergence of market etc can be highly unpredictable. These events provides different firms different opportunities to generate windfall rents etc. Thus firms must set themselves to capitalize on environmental uncertainty (Rumelt 1989). For example organizations deals with strategic uncertainty in such a way which portrays classical information theory.
Uncertainty can be reduced by:
1. Acquiring additional factual information or knowledge about something.
2. Improving acquiring , developing the knowledge and ability to predict, infer or estimate.
3. Organizational and technical resources to locate, refine, store and communicate knowledge reliability and meaningfully.
AMBIGUITY
Ambiguity represents a the inability to interpret or to make sense of something (Machlup 1980, Mackay 1969, Weick 1969). Deep ambiguity represents complete lack of knowledge . The solution of the ambiguity is to re frame a situation to something meaningful by acquiring knowledge from others or by learning and experience, surface ambiguity require a small mount of additional factual information to appropriate knowledge.
Deep ambiguity which means, the knowledge is not available at all it can be resolved by cycles of interpretation, explanation and social ratification. In an organization a key point is to provide rich and interactive face - to - face conversation. For example: British petroleum has done by breaking its organization into 90 autonomous business units to encourage unit interaction (Prokesch 1997). These interaction will develop the expertise and advice networks which can be available when needed.
The above three main explained problems of knowledge processing are combined, they can easily address any situation and solve the problems within organization which helps them in the development of an organization.
References
Bohn, R.E.,"An Informal note on knowledge and how to manage it", Harvard Business School Case Services, 1986.
Driver, M.J and S. Strenfert, " Integrative complexity: An approach to individual and groups as Information Processing Systems"
Aldich, H.E, Organizations and Environments (Englewood cliffs, NJ. Prentice. Hall ., INC, 1979)
Barney,J.B, "Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage", Journal of Management, vol. 17, 1991, pg 99-120.
As we know knowledge is the most important factor for any organization, so it is very important to manage the knowledge within the organization.In this paper i will explain some problems of knowledge processing and their solution to provide an appropriate knowledge processing capability. Some main problems of knowledge processing are :
1. Complexity
2. Uncertainty
3. Ambiguity
4. Equivocally
Complexity
Complexity means "a large number of parts that interact in a non-simple way".(Simon 1969, p.195), complex tasks have many steps and factors which effects the performance. Complex problems have many interrelated variables, solutions and methods.(Cambell 1988, Dill and Simon 1986, Simon 1962, wood 1986). The different elements and relationships which are considered simultaneously is a function of knowledge processing capacity which in turn a function of what is known and familiar to organizations and its members (Newll, Shaw and Simon 1962, Stabell 1978). Therefore having superior knowledge enables to manage greater complexity.
The response to complexity is to increase firms capacity to process or to reduce the level of complexity, richer knowledge provides a ability to process complexity. Knowledge stored in the familiar procedural routines provides to perform complex group processes (Cyert and March 1963, Nelson and Winter 1982). Therefore having appropriate knowledge and expertise helps to reduce the complexity. In the absence of knowledge and expertise, the complexity can be reduced by decomposition, i.e by breaking things into similar parts. Therefore organizations facing complexity must develop and bring appropriate knowledge, expertise and skills to solve the issues.
UNCERTAINTY
Information theory defines uncertainty as lack of enough information to choose from an exhaustive and well defined set of possible states, even if that set is not complex (Shannon 1949). According to Rumelt(1984) managing uncertainty is a must for any strategy. Events of strategies like evolution of technology, emergence of market etc can be highly unpredictable. These events provides different firms different opportunities to generate windfall rents etc. Thus firms must set themselves to capitalize on environmental uncertainty (Rumelt 1989). For example organizations deals with strategic uncertainty in such a way which portrays classical information theory.
Uncertainty can be reduced by:
1. Acquiring additional factual information or knowledge about something.
2. Improving acquiring , developing the knowledge and ability to predict, infer or estimate.
3. Organizational and technical resources to locate, refine, store and communicate knowledge reliability and meaningfully.
AMBIGUITY
Ambiguity represents a the inability to interpret or to make sense of something (Machlup 1980, Mackay 1969, Weick 1969). Deep ambiguity represents complete lack of knowledge . The solution of the ambiguity is to re frame a situation to something meaningful by acquiring knowledge from others or by learning and experience, surface ambiguity require a small mount of additional factual information to appropriate knowledge.
Deep ambiguity which means, the knowledge is not available at all it can be resolved by cycles of interpretation, explanation and social ratification. In an organization a key point is to provide rich and interactive face - to - face conversation. For example: British petroleum has done by breaking its organization into 90 autonomous business units to encourage unit interaction (Prokesch 1997). These interaction will develop the expertise and advice networks which can be available when needed.
The above three main explained problems of knowledge processing are combined, they can easily address any situation and solve the problems within organization which helps them in the development of an organization.
References
Bohn, R.E.,"An Informal note on knowledge and how to manage it", Harvard Business School Case Services, 1986.
Driver, M.J and S. Strenfert, " Integrative complexity: An approach to individual and groups as Information Processing Systems"
Aldich, H.E, Organizations and Environments (Englewood cliffs, NJ. Prentice. Hall ., INC, 1979)
Barney,J.B, "Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage", Journal of Management, vol. 17, 1991, pg 99-120.
WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES
Web 2.0 is a set of internet activities and tools which are concerned with the communication and participation among the users, the use of this technology is increasing day by day by the users.World Wide Web (w.w.w) was invented by Briton Sir Tim Berners-Lee, some of the technologies like:
1 Podcasting
2 Tagging
3 Blogs
4 Wikis
Now i would like to explain the use of some of these technologies in an organization like Middlesex university, how is it implemented in the university and the benefits of these technologies to the university.
Podcasting
A podcasting is a digital media files, usually digital audio files or video, that is made available for download via web syndication.
Web 2.0 is a set of internet activities and tools which are concerned with the communication and participation among the users, the use of this technology is increasing day by day by the users.World Wide Web (w.w.w) was invented by Briton Sir Tim Berners-Lee, some of the technologies like:
1 Podcasting
2 Tagging
3 Blogs
4 Wikis
Now i would like to explain the use of some of these technologies in an organization like Middlesex university, how is it implemented in the university and the benefits of these technologies to the university.
Podcasting
A podcasting is a digital media files, usually digital audio files or video, that is made available for download via web syndication.
RECORDING A COURSE PODCAST IN A CLASSROOM
If a teacher or a student want to record the lecture in a classroom it can be done with the help of pod cast, we can directly upload the course pod cast to your pod cast folder from the classroom computer. But it is important to inform at the beginning of the class. Podcasting can also be used in the office to get any important information.
Recording a public access podcast
Public podcast is different from course podcast, A public podcast is a general interest which is open to the public. On the other hand a course podcast is restricted to students who are registered for the course. General public cannot access a course podcast, unless the instructor makes his/ his course podcast available to the public.
Educational Uses
Podcasting can be used whenever audio or video will enhance student learning, One use of pod casting is to create an archive of class lectures that students can listen to at their convenience.Since many podcasts resemble radio style broadcasts, they are commonly used for news and updates,and because pod casting provides automatic updates,
Podcasting can be used whenever audio, particularly the human voice, and/or video will enhance student learning. One obvious use of podcasting in an educational context is to create an archive of class lectures that students can listen to at their convenience. However, given the distinctive features of podcasting, its potential goes far beyond reproducing course materials and making them available for review. Since many podcasts resemble radio-style broadcasts, they are commonly used for news and updates, and because podcasting provides automatic updates to anyone who subscribes, it provides an easy means of delivering up-to-date content to students, for playback at any time or any place. Instructors can use podcasting technologies to deliver to students items such as the following:
- news/updates;
- guest lectures;
- student presentations;
- student-produced podcasts;
- interviews with guest experts;
- tours/field work activities;
- internship/residency content;
- feedback/evaluations of student work;
- supplementary materials such as speeches, music, and other audio recordings; and
- short language lessons, or other lessons that help students develop listening and speaking skills.
IMPLEMENTATON OF PODCASTING IN MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY
1.With the help of pod casting students can get information of the events in the university.
2. Instructors or students can record the lectures using pod casting.
3.If there is any important information in the lecture like bringing any slides to the class, any material or timings of the class , these things can be done through pod casting.
TAGGING
Tags are nothing but more than keywords used to describe a piece of data that might be a web page , digital photo , or any other digital document .(WIKIPEDIA)
USE OF TAGGING IN UNIVERSITY
If the university wants some information about a student as there are no of students in the university , for example if they the information about me, so to get my information easily they will search in the category of international students and then nationality I.e Indian and then year of joining the university , (international students, nationality and the year are the keywords) so with the help of tagging we can easily get the information about the student.
ATTACK CLOUDING
Attack clouding is like highlighting the subtitles of the main title for example knowledge management is the main title and knowledge sharing, knowledge creation, implementation of knowledge in an organization etc are the subtitles , so if the student wants to look at the lecture of the knowledge management with the help of tagging(attack clouding)he can easily get that here the keywords are lecture name, professor’s name, day room no. so these are the benefits for the students and also for the instructor’s.
META DATA
Meta data is the data about other data of any sort in any media, it’s a data which provides information about or documentation of other data managed within the application or the environment.(wikipedia) which is same as tagging.
Finally i can say that by using web 2.0 technology like podcasting, tagging, meta data,blogs etc we can have more benefits to the organizations like our Middlesex University and also develops the organization.
REFERENCE
- TROUTNER,JOANNE. “BEST SITES FOR EDUCATIONAL PODCASTS”.TEACHER LIBRARIAN 34 NO .3 (2007).
- MUNINDRA KHUND, TULIO LLSOA AND SHERRY HUTSON DECEMBER7, 2006, TULIO LLSOA AND SHERRY HUTSON.
- KAPLAN-LEISERSON, E.2005, "TREND: PODCASTING IN ACADEMIC AND CORPORATE LEARNING", LEARNING CIRCUITS, JUNE 2005.
- SWAIN, H., 2006, "LET THEM TUNE IN", THE TIMES HIGHER, FEB 3RD.(SUMMARIZED ON http:// www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/news/7196/ viewed 1st jan 2007)
Monday 16 February 2009
NONAKA'S SECI MODEL
NONAKA'S SECI MODEL
DESCRIPTION OF THE MODEL:
Nonaka and Takeuchi propose a model for knowledge creating process to understand the nature of the knowledge creation. To make this process effictively this model has three elements:
1. Seci
2. Ba
3. Knowledege assets.
There are two types of knowledge tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge.
Tacit knowledge: Here the knowledge is created from internally of an individual, that means getting the knowledge from the experiences of the individual, it cannot be shown or written.
Explicit knowledge: Here the knowledge is created from the external sources, we can show this type of knowledge in the form of paper or records etc.
The tacit knowledge held by the individuals is converted by there spiral of knowledge through:
1. Socialization
2. Externalisation
3. Combination
4.Internalisation
Socialisation
Socialisation means sharing of knowledge (tacit to tacit) through face to face communication.(Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995)
example: to develop a project in an organisation people use their own lifetime experiences to build up the project.
Externalisation
"Articulating tacit knowledge through dialogue and reflection".(Nonaka and Takeuchi).
Example: In an organisation the knowledge of an individuals tacit knowledge (experience) is taken by other members, that means here the tacit knowledge is converted to explicit knowledge (tacit to explicit).
Combination
It's a combination of various elements of explicit knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi).
Example: Getting the knowedge from variuos explicit knowledge experiences of an individual and applying systemize them into other organisations (explicit to explicit).
Interanalisation
"Learning and aquiring new tacit knowledge in practice" (Nonaka and Takeuchi).
Example: Getting the explicit knowledge by an individual through reading, listening, observation is converted into tacit knowledge.
BENEFITS OF THE SECI MODEL:
1. It gives the framework for management of the relevent processes.
2. Supports the dynamic nature of knowledge and knowledge creation.
LIMITATIONS OF THE SECI MODEL:
1. It is based on the study of Japanese organisation, which is mostly rely on tacit knowledge.
2. The linearity of the concept does'nt support? It can go counter clockwise or anti clockwise.
CRITICISM OF NONAKA'S MODEL
Acoording to Kodama, Guerrieri and Pietrobelli(2004,2005,2007) said that;
"there is no general unique way of creating knowledge because although the underlying processess could always be in the same industry, country or cluster considerations sculpt organizational learning and even these conditions face ongoing evolution and change"
Gourly argues that combination and internalisation appears to be ambiguous notions that conflate knowledge creation and transfer in Nonaka's theory.
Engestron's(1999), "Discover that problem finding is an important part of innovation missing from the seci model".
MY VIEW ON CRITICISM FOR NONAKA'S SECI MODEL
As said above socialization is limted to an extent and externalisation is limited or not applicable, but socialisation takes place only when the sharing of knowledge is allowed in the organisation.
Example: Special agencies like FBI, CIA or any secret agencies, the members of the organisation due to security and confidentiality purpose. So we can sayu that knowledge of an organisation is not transformed into all process of seci model.
Some of the leading companies dont share their knowledge or information with other companies due to competion of capturing the market.Here externalisation is not used or restricted to certain level. Nonaka's knowledge management model (1995) is mostly discussed based on japanese working environment, but different countries have different employment culture.
CONCLUSION
All the knowledge creation process of the seci model could rarely applicable, but according to my learning knowledge of this model i can say that complete application of this model is not applicable. There are many factors such as confidentiality of the data, organisational culture, language etc are influencing the successful application of the seci model.
REFERENCES
1. IKUJIRO NONAKA,HIROTAKA TAKEUCHI (1995)- THE KNOWLEDGE CREATING COMPANY.
2. HAGHIRIAN P, (2003). DOES CULTURE REALLY MATTER? CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON THE KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER PROCESS WITHIN MULTINATIONAL CORPORATION.
3. GREGORIO MARTIN- DE- CASTRO, PEDRO LOPEZ- SAEZ AND JOSE E. NAVAS-LOPEZ (2007). PROCESS OF KNOWLEDGE CREATION IN KNOWLEDGE -INTENSIVE FIRMS: EMPHIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM BOSTON'S ROUTE 128 AND SPAIN.
4. POLANY, M.1966, THE TACIT DIMENSION, GARDEB CITY, NY: DOUBLEDAY AND CO.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MODEL:
Nonaka and Takeuchi propose a model for knowledge creating process to understand the nature of the knowledge creation. To make this process effictively this model has three elements:
1. Seci
2. Ba
3. Knowledege assets.
There are two types of knowledge tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge.
Tacit knowledge: Here the knowledge is created from internally of an individual, that means getting the knowledge from the experiences of the individual, it cannot be shown or written.
Explicit knowledge: Here the knowledge is created from the external sources, we can show this type of knowledge in the form of paper or records etc.
The tacit knowledge held by the individuals is converted by there spiral of knowledge through:
1. Socialization
2. Externalisation
3. Combination
4.Internalisation
Socialisation
Socialisation means sharing of knowledge (tacit to tacit) through face to face communication.(Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995)
example: to develop a project in an organisation people use their own lifetime experiences to build up the project.
Externalisation
"Articulating tacit knowledge through dialogue and reflection".(Nonaka and Takeuchi).
Example: In an organisation the knowledge of an individuals tacit knowledge (experience) is taken by other members, that means here the tacit knowledge is converted to explicit knowledge (tacit to explicit).
Combination
It's a combination of various elements of explicit knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi).
Example: Getting the knowedge from variuos explicit knowledge experiences of an individual and applying systemize them into other organisations (explicit to explicit).
Interanalisation
"Learning and aquiring new tacit knowledge in practice" (Nonaka and Takeuchi).
Example: Getting the explicit knowledge by an individual through reading, listening, observation is converted into tacit knowledge.
BENEFITS OF THE SECI MODEL:
1. It gives the framework for management of the relevent processes.
2. Supports the dynamic nature of knowledge and knowledge creation.
LIMITATIONS OF THE SECI MODEL:
1. It is based on the study of Japanese organisation, which is mostly rely on tacit knowledge.
2. The linearity of the concept does'nt support? It can go counter clockwise or anti clockwise.
CRITICISM OF NONAKA'S MODEL
Acoording to Kodama, Guerrieri and Pietrobelli(2004,2005,2007) said that;
"there is no general unique way of creating knowledge because although the underlying processess could always be in the same industry, country or cluster considerations sculpt organizational learning and even these conditions face ongoing evolution and change"
Gourly argues that combination and internalisation appears to be ambiguous notions that conflate knowledge creation and transfer in Nonaka's theory.
Engestron's(1999), "Discover that problem finding is an important part of innovation missing from the seci model".
MY VIEW ON CRITICISM FOR NONAKA'S SECI MODEL
As said above socialization is limted to an extent and externalisation is limited or not applicable, but socialisation takes place only when the sharing of knowledge is allowed in the organisation.
Example: Special agencies like FBI, CIA or any secret agencies, the members of the organisation due to security and confidentiality purpose. So we can sayu that knowledge of an organisation is not transformed into all process of seci model.
Some of the leading companies dont share their knowledge or information with other companies due to competion of capturing the market.Here externalisation is not used or restricted to certain level. Nonaka's knowledge management model (1995) is mostly discussed based on japanese working environment, but different countries have different employment culture.
CONCLUSION
All the knowledge creation process of the seci model could rarely applicable, but according to my learning knowledge of this model i can say that complete application of this model is not applicable. There are many factors such as confidentiality of the data, organisational culture, language etc are influencing the successful application of the seci model.
REFERENCES
1. IKUJIRO NONAKA,HIROTAKA TAKEUCHI (1995)- THE KNOWLEDGE CREATING COMPANY.
2. HAGHIRIAN P, (2003). DOES CULTURE REALLY MATTER? CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON THE KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER PROCESS WITHIN MULTINATIONAL CORPORATION.
3. GREGORIO MARTIN- DE- CASTRO, PEDRO LOPEZ- SAEZ AND JOSE E. NAVAS-LOPEZ (2007). PROCESS OF KNOWLEDGE CREATION IN KNOWLEDGE -INTENSIVE FIRMS: EMPHIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM BOSTON'S ROUTE 128 AND SPAIN.
4. POLANY, M.1966, THE TACIT DIMENSION, GARDEB CITY, NY: DOUBLEDAY AND CO.
Wednesday 11 February 2009
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Knowledge management is a process through which organisations generates value from their intelluctual and knowledge - based assets like employes, partners, customers.Knowledge management is of two types:
1. Tacit knowledge
2. Explicit knowledge
Tacit knowledge
Tacit knowledge cannot be described easily as it is unwritten, it is eventually held by every normal human being based on their emotions, insights, experiences etc.Tacit knowledge approach gives the understanding of knowledge that individuals have and how they transfer their knowledge within an organisation.
Tacit knowledge is very personal in nature and it is not easy to extract knowledge from the individuals head. This approach believes thattransfer of knowledge from one individual (knowledge carriers) to other individuals which leads to the sharing of the knowledge within the organisation, which leads to the creation of new knowledge.
EXAMPLE
When the Toyota company wanted to transfer knowledge of its production sustem to new employes in a new factory site. So they sent these employes to the existing companies for the training and work alongside the experienced employees. After the training they are sent to the new factory and work along with the experienced workers ane these workers assure that the knowledge of Toyota's finely tuned production process is fully planted in their new site.
EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
Explicit kowledge can be expressed in the form of paper or words etc, its very easy to communicate, store and distribute this kind of knowledge.Explicit is like improvising the individuals knowledge to create new knowledge and the development of the systems.
Explicit knowledge approach believes that useful knowledge of the individuals in an organisaton can be articulated and made inti explicit, they also believe that formal organisations processess can be used to help individulas articulate the knowledge they have to create knowledge assets.
EXAMPLE
In 19990's Motorola was the global leader in in providing the best pagers in the market. To maintian theie leadership in the market they have decided to upgrade their products every 12 to 15 months. Whenever the new team designers were upgrading the product they were given the details of their last model, like design of the product so that they can make the better product from the last product. So this manual is passed to the next new team and this go on. Inthis way, motorola sought to make explicit and capture the knowledge developed by its enginers during each project.
IMPLEMENTATION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMNT
For example think of a golf caddie, they do more than carry clubs and track down the golf balls, they also advice to the golfers. Accurate advice may lead to the good play by the golfer at the end of the day,this leads to a bigger tip for the caddie. If the caddie is willing to share his advice with the other caddies, then eventually all the caddies may earn good tips, here the question arises how could knowledge management work to make this happen? The sponsor or the event manager may decide to reward caddies for sharing their tips with ither caddies, once the best advice is collected, the course manager would publish the information in notebooks and distirbute the information to all the caddies. The end result of a well designes knowledge management program is that everyone wins, as caddies get bigger tips, golfers play betterbecause they benefit from the collective experience of caddies and the course owner wins because better scores lead to better business.
DATA, INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM
Majority of people are not sure about the meanings of the above terms, they think that these terms have the same meaning, so i think it would be better we would discuss these terms and come to one conclusion.
DATA:
Data is set of records, it represents the statement of the event, its a raw data with no knowledge of relationship, it does'nt have meaning by itself. for example: records of the company.
INFORMATION:
Information is like the next step of the term data, where the information covers the understanding if relationship in the context of subject. For example, information about the current cstomers or employees of the company, information about the new customers or employees of the company.
KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge is the improvised version of information or we can say it it the attachment of intelligence to the information, so we can get the specific details of the information. For example: How many employees left the company?
WISDOM:
Wisdom is like the best usage of the available knowledge, wisdom gives more understanding of fundamental principles.
So i can say that , as we move from data to wisdom, we can go up a level of maturity, we can get more intelligence from the raw data to make it more useful.
REFERENCES
1. MERIDITH LEVINSON, (2001), KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMNET DEFINATION AND SOLUTIONS. (WWW.C10.COM)
2. SANCHEZ, RON (2004), "CREATING MODULAR PLATFORMS FOR STRATEGIC FLEXIBILITY" DESIGN MANAGEMENT, 58-67.
3. SACHEZ, RON (2001). "MANAGING KNOWLEDGE INTO COMPETENCES. THE FIVE LEARNING CYCLES OF THE COMPETENT ORGANISATION".
4. SPEAR, STEVEN AND H.KINT BOWEN (1999)." DECODING THE DNA OF THE TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM", HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1999,
5. STEIN, JOHAN AND JONES RIDDLESTRALE(2001).2managing the dissementation of competences".
Knowledge management is a process through which organisations generates value from their intelluctual and knowledge - based assets like employes, partners, customers.Knowledge management is of two types:
1. Tacit knowledge
2. Explicit knowledge
Tacit knowledge
Tacit knowledge cannot be described easily as it is unwritten, it is eventually held by every normal human being based on their emotions, insights, experiences etc.Tacit knowledge approach gives the understanding of knowledge that individuals have and how they transfer their knowledge within an organisation.
Tacit knowledge is very personal in nature and it is not easy to extract knowledge from the individuals head. This approach believes thattransfer of knowledge from one individual (knowledge carriers) to other individuals which leads to the sharing of the knowledge within the organisation, which leads to the creation of new knowledge.
EXAMPLE
When the Toyota company wanted to transfer knowledge of its production sustem to new employes in a new factory site. So they sent these employes to the existing companies for the training and work alongside the experienced employees. After the training they are sent to the new factory and work along with the experienced workers ane these workers assure that the knowledge of Toyota's finely tuned production process is fully planted in their new site.
EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
Explicit kowledge can be expressed in the form of paper or words etc, its very easy to communicate, store and distribute this kind of knowledge.Explicit is like improvising the individuals knowledge to create new knowledge and the development of the systems.
Explicit knowledge approach believes that useful knowledge of the individuals in an organisaton can be articulated and made inti explicit, they also believe that formal organisations processess can be used to help individulas articulate the knowledge they have to create knowledge assets.
EXAMPLE
In 19990's Motorola was the global leader in in providing the best pagers in the market. To maintian theie leadership in the market they have decided to upgrade their products every 12 to 15 months. Whenever the new team designers were upgrading the product they were given the details of their last model, like design of the product so that they can make the better product from the last product. So this manual is passed to the next new team and this go on. Inthis way, motorola sought to make explicit and capture the knowledge developed by its enginers during each project.
IMPLEMENTATION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMNT
For example think of a golf caddie, they do more than carry clubs and track down the golf balls, they also advice to the golfers. Accurate advice may lead to the good play by the golfer at the end of the day,this leads to a bigger tip for the caddie. If the caddie is willing to share his advice with the other caddies, then eventually all the caddies may earn good tips, here the question arises how could knowledge management work to make this happen? The sponsor or the event manager may decide to reward caddies for sharing their tips with ither caddies, once the best advice is collected, the course manager would publish the information in notebooks and distirbute the information to all the caddies. The end result of a well designes knowledge management program is that everyone wins, as caddies get bigger tips, golfers play betterbecause they benefit from the collective experience of caddies and the course owner wins because better scores lead to better business.
DATA, INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM
Majority of people are not sure about the meanings of the above terms, they think that these terms have the same meaning, so i think it would be better we would discuss these terms and come to one conclusion.
DATA:
Data is set of records, it represents the statement of the event, its a raw data with no knowledge of relationship, it does'nt have meaning by itself. for example: records of the company.
INFORMATION:
Information is like the next step of the term data, where the information covers the understanding if relationship in the context of subject. For example, information about the current cstomers or employees of the company, information about the new customers or employees of the company.
KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge is the improvised version of information or we can say it it the attachment of intelligence to the information, so we can get the specific details of the information. For example: How many employees left the company?
WISDOM:
Wisdom is like the best usage of the available knowledge, wisdom gives more understanding of fundamental principles.
So i can say that , as we move from data to wisdom, we can go up a level of maturity, we can get more intelligence from the raw data to make it more useful.
REFERENCES
1. MERIDITH LEVINSON, (2001), KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMNET DEFINATION AND SOLUTIONS. (WWW.C10.COM)
2. SANCHEZ, RON (2004), "CREATING MODULAR PLATFORMS FOR STRATEGIC FLEXIBILITY" DESIGN MANAGEMENT, 58-67.
3. SACHEZ, RON (2001). "MANAGING KNOWLEDGE INTO COMPETENCES. THE FIVE LEARNING CYCLES OF THE COMPETENT ORGANISATION".
4. SPEAR, STEVEN AND H.KINT BOWEN (1999)." DECODING THE DNA OF THE TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM", HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1999,
5. STEIN, JOHAN AND JONES RIDDLESTRALE(2001).2managing the dissementation of competences".
Thursday 22 January 2009
ORGANISATION vs COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE(cop)
ORGANISATION
Its an social arrangement which deals with collective goals,controls its performance and has a boundary which seperates from its environment.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE:
Any organisation is made up of more than one person working in a particular organised structure. Consider a company as an organisation it is owned by the shareholders that choose directors to look after their interests, and the directors appoint managers and other staff to run the company on a day to day basis.
The managing director takes responsibility of the company like targets of the company, keeping an eye on all the departments of the company etc. So in a organisation like a manufacturing company there are many departments and each depatment is taken care of carefully, for example production department is supervised by production manager, so all the respective departments mangers give their respective reports to the managing director and according to the report the managing director calls for the decision. By this we can say that in
any organisations all the decisions or the day to day work are done in an organised way where the time factor plays an important role.
Other organisations have structures for example some organisations have marketing department for market research and market planning.Many manufacturing organisations are divided up on functional lines, production department is most important department in most of the organisations. So we can say that in any organisation to achieve their main goal all the things are to be done in an organised manner like dispatching the goods in time or else there will be loss to the company and also to the public.
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE(COP)
Its a social learning process that occurs and shared socialcultural practices which can emerge and evolve when the people have the common goals interact as they reach towards those goals.
A community of practice is a group of people sharing common interest to achieve a common goal . They possess knowledge, which is the key role for the success of the organisation, the main objective is to get knowledge assets.
WHAT IS DONE IN A COP ?
1. Sharing the knowledge to grow your own knowledge and the group.
2. Develop knowledge assets.
3. Measure the value they add to the organisation.
4. Ensures continuous improvement and innovation.
ROLES IN A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
SPONSOR:
The sponsor might be a senior manager who can link to the COP to specific organisations programs and projects, which builds the road for the community success. He believes in the value of sharing of knowledge and promotes participation in COP activities. More than one person may share sponsorship, this may be important if community membership spams multiple organisations.
Sponsors related responsibilities:
1. Manage official relationships.
2. Makes community participation a prioroty for its members.
3. Promote the COP
MEMBERS
Members are those people who populate COP, they might be connected by their interests in a business process or might be similar professions, this activities include:
1. Sharing knowledge and their personal experiences.
2. Participating in discussions, raising issues, questions and concerns regarding the common area of practice.
The members might be expects on the subject matter or those who are eager to learn and develop within COP.
In any COP its not compulsory to do the things in a proper way or organised way, its totally different from organisation, here decisions and the work can be flexible and it doesnt effect the people when the decisions are made late or after the tne required time.
MY VIEW
In any organisation like a manufacturing company all the work and all the decisions like production or goods or dispatching of goods or marketing strategies all the important decisions must be done in an organised way wherein the time factor plays a vital role. For example in a manufacturing company if the goods are not dispatched in time then the company would be in loss and also loss to the public.
In community of practice all the meetings or the decisions in the meetings are flexible here the time factor is not so important and also does'nt effect the public much. For example Orkut which is a social network sometimes it is not active due to some technical problems, it simple says to try later which doesnt make much difference to the public . So in my view i say that community of practice has a upper hand(advantage) than organisation (company).
REFERENCES
1. JUDI SUNDROCK, 2001, BUILDING AND SUSTAINING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE.
2. MC DERMOTT, R. (2001). CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT.
3. SCHEIN, E.H.(1993). ON DIALOGUE, CULTURE AND ORGANISATIONS LEARNING, ORGANISATIONAL DYNAMICS, 22(2), 40-51.(WWW.THE TIMES 100).
4. KIM, D.H.(1993, FALL). THE LINK BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING SLOAN.(WWW.THE TIMES 100).
Its an social arrangement which deals with collective goals,controls its performance and has a boundary which seperates from its environment.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE:
Any organisation is made up of more than one person working in a particular organised structure. Consider a company as an organisation it is owned by the shareholders that choose directors to look after their interests, and the directors appoint managers and other staff to run the company on a day to day basis.
The managing director takes responsibility of the company like targets of the company, keeping an eye on all the departments of the company etc. So in a organisation like a manufacturing company there are many departments and each depatment is taken care of carefully, for example production department is supervised by production manager, so all the respective departments mangers give their respective reports to the managing director and according to the report the managing director calls for the decision. By this we can say that in
any organisations all the decisions or the day to day work are done in an organised way where the time factor plays an important role.
Other organisations have structures for example some organisations have marketing department for market research and market planning.Many manufacturing organisations are divided up on functional lines, production department is most important department in most of the organisations. So we can say that in any organisation to achieve their main goal all the things are to be done in an organised manner like dispatching the goods in time or else there will be loss to the company and also to the public.
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE(COP)
Its a social learning process that occurs and shared socialcultural practices which can emerge and evolve when the people have the common goals interact as they reach towards those goals.
A community of practice is a group of people sharing common interest to achieve a common goal . They possess knowledge, which is the key role for the success of the organisation, the main objective is to get knowledge assets.
WHAT IS DONE IN A COP ?
1. Sharing the knowledge to grow your own knowledge and the group.
2. Develop knowledge assets.
3. Measure the value they add to the organisation.
4. Ensures continuous improvement and innovation.
ROLES IN A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
SPONSOR:
The sponsor might be a senior manager who can link to the COP to specific organisations programs and projects, which builds the road for the community success. He believes in the value of sharing of knowledge and promotes participation in COP activities. More than one person may share sponsorship, this may be important if community membership spams multiple organisations.
Sponsors related responsibilities:
1. Manage official relationships.
2. Makes community participation a prioroty for its members.
3. Promote the COP
MEMBERS
Members are those people who populate COP, they might be connected by their interests in a business process or might be similar professions, this activities include:
1. Sharing knowledge and their personal experiences.
2. Participating in discussions, raising issues, questions and concerns regarding the common area of practice.
The members might be expects on the subject matter or those who are eager to learn and develop within COP.
In any COP its not compulsory to do the things in a proper way or organised way, its totally different from organisation, here decisions and the work can be flexible and it doesnt effect the people when the decisions are made late or after the tne required time.
MY VIEW
In any organisation like a manufacturing company all the work and all the decisions like production or goods or dispatching of goods or marketing strategies all the important decisions must be done in an organised way wherein the time factor plays a vital role. For example in a manufacturing company if the goods are not dispatched in time then the company would be in loss and also loss to the public.
In community of practice all the meetings or the decisions in the meetings are flexible here the time factor is not so important and also does'nt effect the public much. For example Orkut which is a social network sometimes it is not active due to some technical problems, it simple says to try later which doesnt make much difference to the public . So in my view i say that community of practice has a upper hand(advantage) than organisation (company).
REFERENCES
1. JUDI SUNDROCK, 2001, BUILDING AND SUSTAINING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE.
2. MC DERMOTT, R. (2001). CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT.
3. SCHEIN, E.H.(1993). ON DIALOGUE, CULTURE AND ORGANISATIONS LEARNING, ORGANISATIONAL DYNAMICS, 22(2), 40-51.(WWW.THE TIMES 100).
4. KIM, D.H.(1993, FALL). THE LINK BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING SLOAN.(WWW.THE TIMES 100).
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