Knowledge management started evolving as a formal academic and professional concept since 1995, with a body of university courses and both professional and academic journals dedicated to it. Initially it formed a part or sub-division of either HRM or IT, but today, it’s perceived value has increased, as it has been given a place of importance in the organisational mosaic.
The value of Knowledge Management relates directly to the effectiveness with which the managed knowledge enables the members of an organisation to deal with current situations and effectively envision and shape their future. In the absence of on-demand access to managed knowledge, every situation is addressed, based on the added value a particular individual or group brings to the situation with them. With on-demand access to managed knowledge, every situation is addressed with the sum total of everything anyone in the organisation has ever learned about a situation of a similar regard.
Knowledge Management aids in getting the right information to the right people at the right time, provides them with the tools and techniques for analysing that information and gives them the power to respond to the insight they gain from that information, all in a Blitz Krieg. Knowledge Management Systems enable manufacturing to adjust production to meet demand, based on real-time information from the sales force. It enables just-in-time delivery of supplies and products, as retailers can assess the company's inventory and the company, the suppliers' inventories of raw materials. It also eliminates the countless hierarchies of red tape that impede day-to-day business - paper-based systems that slow business processes; centralised decision-making that wastes the knowledge and experience of the workers, who are closest to products and customers and poorly connected computer systems that prohibit departments from sharing information.
Knowledge Management is a discipline that treats intellectual capital as a managed asset. Knowledge Management isn't a centralised database that contains all the information known by an organisation's workers. It's the idea of gaining business insight from a variety of sources including databases, web sites, employees, business partners and informal networks and cultivating that information wherever it resides. Business insight comes from capturing information and giving it greater meaning via its relationship to other information in the company. And to allay fears, Knowledge Management is not about making plug-and-play workers, dispensable because all they know is recorded for the next person who fills their shoes; it's about delivering information to knowledge workers, symbiotic culture, business processes and technology to make business houses and people successful.
Knowledge Management has come a long way, from its status as a traditional debate between two generations to its modern day glory. The older generation was with concerned information technology loaded processes, such as information collection, storage and distribution and focussed more on old knowledge diffusion rather than new knowledge generation, whereas the new generation believes in spreading knowledge and achieving dynamic results.
Today organisations are extremely dynamic, fast paced and evolving. To harness knowledge is a challenge. Knowledge can be generated at mainly 4 levels, namely the knowledge worker, organisations, processes and technologies.
Knowledge Workers:
Knowledge workers are individuals who effectively utilise knowledge assets within the organisations and make these avenues available to future employees. They are global citizens in the true sense, as they are always on the move and handle operations in different parts of the world. They accumulate knowledge from various sources, which go way beyond regional or national borders. They do not mind experimenting and thinking out of the box and are risk takers, who thrive on adventurous situations. Effective communication skills are not a rarity with them. Their vast experience and expertise is reflected in their business decisions. They believe in integration of knowledge processes and making information available to a number of people. Their ability to multitask and handle different sets of situations at the same time makes them dynamic and iconic. Most of the times, in informal communication circles, they are the prime change agents, who can effectively bring about change in people’s perception and attitudes. A Knowledge Worker's benefit to a company could be in the form of developing business intelligence, increasing the value of intellectual capital, gaining insight into customer preferences, or a variety of other important gains in knowledge that aid the business.
Knowledge Workers work in an environment described as a knowledge network where there is always an increasing need for knowledge to grow and progress continually, whether in a tacit or explicit manner.
Organisations:
As individuals differ, companies and organisations are also different. They are set in different external environments and operate with their unique internal cultures. They have different strengths and weaknesses, which they measure and quantify in various ways. No two companies are similar. Things that work for one might not be applicable to the other. Similarly, their Knowledge Management techniques will also differ. The key is to align one’s managed knowledge in accordance to the organisation’s philosophy.
Organisations should first identify their knowledge assets or sources. Knowing about them is half the battle won. Exploring the human resource database will give information about the employees and their demographics. Analysing business data will also give a lot of vital information, as a lot of people bring in their personal and professional experiences and view points while taking business decisions. The employees, their practices, policies, decisions etc. are sources of knowledge for an organisation. All an organisation has to do is to have in place a structured system, so that everyone in the organisation can gain easy access to this knowledge. Effective Communication and Change Management mechanisms are also essential while freshly introducing Knowledge Management to a company or a new business unit.
Caselet:
British Petroleum, one of the largest petrochemical companies in the world, gave users information about why the company was deploying its Knowledge Management System. It used newsletters and road shows. It published deployment plans and technical standards. It educated its users. After the company implemented its system, it gave users even more information over the intranet and a half- or one-day training course that taught them how to use their new system. Before dropping Knowledge Management in the users' laps, the company answered the big five journalistic questions—who, what, how, why and where—eliminating surprises.
Overcoming cultural and behavioural barriers is another hurdle, which an organisation has to manage. Knowledge Management Systems depend on a company’s culture and how well that culture supports the efforts of the people, who produce the information in it. High-value content, that an empowered staff produces, is more useful in a Knowledge Management System than the drivel that employees produce due to cultures that don't support sharing ideas openly and obviously. For example, one must encourage employees to take time to learn before jumping onto new tasks. Reward failure so that you encourage employees to take risks. One must create a culture that is conducive to sharing information, finding it, and creating knowledge.
Processes:
Process Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, techniques and systems to define, visualize, measure, control, report and improve processes, with the goal of meeting customer requirements profitably. Application of Knowledge Management to processes radically redefines business objectives and makes them more aligned to the needs of the management and the customers. Knowledge Management Processes helps companies deliver products and services and are usually found in technology based companies. But those kinds of systems are just as appropriate in other types of companies, such as those that deliver fast moving consumer goods and capital goods.
Not only can service companies use Knowledge Management Systems to develop better services, they can also use Knowledge Management Processes to coordinate, manage, and improve those services, once they go on the field.
Standardising on a single messaging and collaboration architecture helps ensure that users will be successful and makes the system more manageable in the long run. Collaboration allows product development companies to bring insight from its various departments together to produce results quicker than ever.
Well-designed Knowledge Management Processes can also reduce product failures significantly, ultimately leading to zero-defect policies.
Process Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, techniques and systems to define, visualize, measure, control, report and improve processes, with the goal of meeting customer requirements profitably. Application of Knowledge Management to processes radically redefines business objectives and makes them more aligned to the needs of the management and the customers. Knowledge Management Processes helps companies deliver products and services and are usually found in technology based companies. But those kinds of systems are just as appropriate in other types of companies, such as those that deliver fast moving consumer goods and capital goods.
Not only can service companies use Knowledge Management Systems to develop better services, they can also use Knowledge Management Processes to coordinate, manage, and improve those services, once they go on the field.
Standardising on a single messaging and collaboration architecture helps ensure that users will be successful and makes the system more manageable in the long run. Collaboration allows product development companies to bring insight from its various departments together to produce results quicker than ever.
Well-designed Knowledge Management Processes can also reduce product failures significantly, ultimately leading to zero-defect policies.
Technology:
The goal of technological initiatives is to pour a firm foundation for building Knowledge Management Solutions. The success of Knowledge Management depends on the users' interaction with the company's information, so the initiatives enable them to use tools, with which they are already familiar, without requiring them to learn new ways of working. These initiatives also allow business houses to leverage existing investments in technology as well as existing sources of information, delivering information to users from every source that is relevant to them. Finally, these initiatives ensure that users who need information have access to it, whether they're using computers plugged in to walls or getting quality time on their favourite airline.
Digital dashboards give users one familiar place to go to, in which they can share knowledge and gain insight from important business information. They provide a rich environment for displaying and organising information, with which knowledge workers are already familiar.
Exchange Web Storage Systems seamlessly integrate information from a variety of sources and allow Knowledge Workers to access that information from already familiar user interfaces. It combines the functionality of the file system, the web, and a collaboration server, providing a single location for storing and managing information.
Wireless solutions allow Knowledge Workers to access information anytime from anywhere. New types of mobile devices such as phones, pagers, tablet PCs and handheld computers ensure that they can access the information they need, when and where they need it.
Intelligent interfaces enable Knowledge Workers to interact with computers in more natural ways. Types of intelligent interfaces include natural language processing, handwriting recognition and speech recognition.
How Knowledge Management will help Business Houses evolve?
The extent to which an organism engages in healthy rule-making and learning will, to a large degree, determine its outcomes in life. An agent that rarely tests its rules will tend to perform more poorly in practice than one that constantly challenges, upgrades, and refreshes them. A business that rarely revises its approach to the marketplace or its operating routines will tend to ossify and atrophy. On the other hand, companies that engage in healthy levels of rule-making and revision are inherently more capable of adjusting to changes in their environment. Indeed, organisational agility depends, to a large extent, on just how well an organisation’s learning and knowledge systems work.
Knowledge Management will not only bring about changes in the functioning of an organisation but change the whole approach and attitude with which business is carried out. Managed knowledge will work on the “Darwinian Principle” of “Survival of the Fittest” and ensure overall development of personnel, business processes and technologies and give them a long term sustainable competitive advantage.
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