PROPOSAL: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

COURSECODE: BPIN 3053

COURSE: MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
BATCH: A211
GROUP: C

NAME: AIN NATASHA

BINTI ZULKIFLI
MATRIC NUMBER:
270906
CONTENTS

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ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................................3
1.0 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................4
1.1 Data, Information and Knowledge...................................................................................5
1.2 Types of Knowledge...........................................................................................................6
2.1 Knowlege Management......................................................................................................7
3.0 Knowlege Management System......................................................................................10
4.0 CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................14
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................15

ABSTRACT

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Over the past several years there have been intensive discussions about the
importance of knowledge management within our society. The management of knowledge is
promoted as an important and necessary factor for organizational survival and
maintenance of competitive strength. To remain at the forefront organizations need a
good capacity to retain, develop, organize and utilize their employees' capabilities.
“Knowledge'” is at centre stage (Davenport et al., 1998). KM and related strategy
concepts are promoted as important and necessary components for organizations to survive
and maintain their competitive keenness. It has become necessary for managers and
executives to address “KM” (Goodman and Chino sky, 1997). KM is considered a
prerequisite for higher productivity and flexibility in both the private and the public
sectors. The word Knowledge Management (KM) has grown remarkably during the past
decade. The purpose of this study is to raise awareness of knowledge management and its
potential to support organizations in achieving their business objectives. The research will
also identify the concrete steps and cultural change required for government departments in
order to more effectively use and share knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to explain
in greater detail what is meant by knowledge management and why it matters. This will
be followed by consideration of some of the challenges with respect to its
implementation in organizations. Finally, considerations in relation to its implementation in a
corporate sector context are raised.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

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“Knowledge Management (KM) is managing the corporation’s knowledge through a
systematically & organizationally specified process for acquiring, organizing,
sustaining, applying, sharing, renewing both the tacit and explicit knowledge of
employees to enhance organizational performance and create value”. Knowledge
management is about facilitating the processes by which knowledge is created, shared
and used. It is about changing the way everyone works, which requires changing people’s
behaviors and work patterns. Knowledge management is essentially about people - how they
create, share and use knowledge, thus knowledge management programmes should have
both a “collecting” and a “connecting” dimension. The collecting dimension involves
linking people with information. It relates to the capturing and disseminating of explicit
knowledge. The connecting dimension involves linking people with people - specifically
people who need to know with those who do know, and so enhancing tacit knowledge flow
through better human interaction and communication processes, so that knowledge is widely
disseminated and not just held in the heads of a few. Successful implementation of
Knowledge Management System (KMS) has been observed in many organizations, where
they use the system with real interest and enthusiasm.

1.1 Data, Information and Knowledge

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Data is the facts and figures which relay something specific, but which are not organized in
any way and which provide no further information regarding patterns, context, etc. I will use
the definition for data presented by Thierauf (1999): "unstructured facts and figures that have
the least impact on the typical manager."

Next, for data to become information, it must be contextualized, categorized, calculated and
condensed (Davenport & Prusak 2000). Information thus paints a bigger picture; it is data
with relevance and purpose (Bali et al 2009). It may convey a trend in the environment, or
perhaps indicate a pattern of sales for a given period of time. Essentially information is found
"in answers to questions that begin with such words as who, what, where, when, and how
many" (Ackoff 1999).

IT is usually invaluable in the capacity of turning data into information, particularly in larger
firms that generate large amounts of data across multiple departments and functions. The
human brain is mainly needed to assist in contextualization.

Lastly, Knowledge is closely linked to doing and implies know-how and understanding. The
knowledge possessed by each individual is a product of his experience, and encompasses the
norms by which he evaluates new inputs from his surroundings (Davenport & Prusak 2000). I
will use the definition presented by Gamble and Blackwell (2001), based closely on a
previous definition by Davenport & Prusak:

"Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, expert

insight, and grounded intuition that provides an environment and framework for evaluating
and incorporating new experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the mind
of the knowers. In organizations it often becomes embedded not only in documents or
repositories, but also in organizational routines, practices and norms."

In order for KM to succeed, one needs a deep understanding of what constitutes knowledge.
Now that we have set clear boundaries between knowledge, information, and data, it is
possible to go one step further and look at the forms in which knowledge exists and the
different ways that it can be accessed, shared, and combined. I will discuss this in the section
titled "The Different Kinds of Knowledge".

1.2 Types of Knowledge

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Generally knowledge is of two types.Those are explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge.

Explicit knowledge is the knowledge that which can be searchable knowldge and we can
found very easily.Which is we can write and share and collaborate very easily.It is always
available in the world in many forms.

While tacit knowledge is the knowledge that we have in the peples mind.Tacit knowledge is
critical knowledge.It is just stored in human mind.

The differences between the Explicit and Tacit knowledge is explicit knowledge is searchable
while Tacit knowledge is available only in peoples mind only. Next, explicit knowledge is
searchable, shareable and we can write also and we can do many thing to avail the explicit
knowledge while Tacit knowledge is not shareable unless a person interested to share it to
people. Then, it is easy to share the explicit knowledge but tacit knowledge is very critical to
share by writing or verbalizing it.

Any way sharing of both Explict knowledge and Tacit knowledge is very important in
knowledge management to achieve goals of an organization or personal goals.

2.0 Knowledge management

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Knowledge meaning: “Knowledge is an understanding of someone or something, such as
facts, information, descriptions, or skills, which is acquired through experience or
education by perceiving, discovering, or learning. Knowledge can refer to a theoretical
or practical understanding of a subject.”

Management meaning: Management is an individual or a group of individuals that accept

responsibilities to run an organization. They Plan, Organize, Direct and Control all the
essential activities of the organization. Management does not do the work themselves.
They motivate others to do the work and co-ordinate (i.e. bring together) all the work for
achieving the objectives of the organization.

Knowledge management is an activity practised by enterprises all over the world. In the
process of knowledge management, these enterprises comprehensively gather information
using many methods and tools. Then, gathered information is organized, stored, shared, and
analyzed using defined techniques. The analysis of such information will be based on
resources, documents, people and their skills.Properly analyzed information will then be
stored as 'knowledge' of the enterprise. This knowledge is later used for activities such as
organizational decision making and training new staff members.

There have been many approaches to knowledge management from early days. Most of early
approaches have been manual storing and analysis of information. With the introduction of
computers, most organizational knowledge and management processes have been
automated.Therefore, information storing, retrieval and sharing have become convenient.
Nowadays, most enterprises have their own knowledge management framework in place.

The framework defines the knowledge gathering points, gathering techniques, tools used,
data storing tools and techniques and analyzing mechanism. Knowledge management is the
conscious process of defining, structuring, retaining and sharing the knowledge and
experience of employees within an organization. The main goal of knowledge management is
to improve an organization's efficiency and save knowledge within the company. Often it is
referring to training and learning in an organization or of its customers. It consists of a cycle
of creating, sharing, structuring and auditing knowledge, in order to maximize the
effectiveness of an organization’s collective knowledge. Jennex (2005) defined KM as the
practice of selectively applying knowledge from previous experiences of decision making to
current and future decision-making activities with the express purpose of improving the
organization’s effectiveness.

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Also, in some organizations, KM may be used only to manage unstructured knowledge. This
may meet those organiza-tions’ needs, but again, the KM community is not comfortable
accepting that KM handles only unstructured knowledge. Another key definition of KM
includes Holsapple and Joshi (2004), who consider KM as an entity’s systematic and
deliberate efforts to expand, cultivate, and apply available knowledge in ways that add value
to the entity in the sense of positive results in accomplishing its objectives or fulfilling its
purpose. The entity’s scope may be individual, organizational, transorganizational, national,
and so forth.

Then, Alavi and Leidner (2001) in their seminal work concluded that KM involves distinct
but interdependent processes of knowledge creation, knowledge storage and retrieval,
knowledge transfer, and knowledge application. It is important to note that none of these
definitions of KM ise purely technical in nature. They all include information system (IS)
support, but they also include organizational con-siderations, and all include an impact on
organizational productivity and effectiveness. This is important, because many experts
consider KM to be a form of IS. However, while the IS component is important, in order for
KM to be effective as a change or transformation tool, it must include more; it requires
management support and an organizational culture.A better understanding of KM is obtained
by incorporating the concepts of organizational memory (OM) and organizational learning
(OL).

Jennex and Olfman (2002) found that the three areas are related and have an impact on
organizational effectiveness. Organizational effectiveness is how well the organization does
those activities critical to producing what the organization sells. OL is the process the
organization uses to learn how to do these activities better. OL results when users utilize
knowledge. That OL may not always have a positive effect is examined by the monitoring
of organizational effectiveness. Effective-ness can improve, get worse, or remain the same.
How effectiveness changes influences the feedback provided to the organization using the
knowledge. KM and OM are the processes used to identify and capture critical knowledge.
Knowledge workers and their organizations “do” KM; they identify key knowledge artifacts
for retention and establish processes for capturing it. OM is what IT support organizations
do; they provide the infrastructure and support for storing, searching, and retrieving
knowledge artifacts

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3.0 Knowledge Management system

Jennex (2005) viewed a KM system as that system created to facilitate the capture, storage,
retrieval, and reuse of knowledge. This perception of KM and KM systems is that they

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holistically combine organizational and technical solutions to achieve the goals of
knowledge retention and re-use in order ultimately to improve organizational and individual
decision making. This is a Churchman (1979) view of KM that allows KM systems to take
whatever form necessary to accomplish these goals. For some organizations, this may mean
that the KM system es-sentially is a document management system. However, as a
community, we don’t want KM perceived essentially as a document management technology.

The process of knowledge management is universal for any enterprise. Sometimes, the
resources used, such as tools and techniques, can be unique to the organizational
environment. The Knowledge Management process has six basic steps assisted by different
tools and techniques. When these steps are followed sequentially, the data transforms into
knowledge.

Step 1: Collecting

This is the most important step of the knowledge management process. If you collect the
incorrect or irrelevant data, the resulting knowledge may not be the most accurate. Therefore,
the decisions made based on such knowledge could be inaccurate as well. There are many
methods and tools used for data collection. First of all, data collection should be a procedure
in knowledge management process. These procedures should be properly documented and
followed by people involved in data collection process. The data collection procedure defines
certain data collection points. Some points may be the summary of certain routine reports. As
an example, monthly sales report and daily attendance reports may be two good resources for
data collection.

With data collection points, the data extraction techniques and tools are also defined. As an
example, the sales report may be a paper-based report where a data entry operator needs to
feed the data manually to a database whereas, the daily attendance report may be an online
report where it is directly stored in the database. In addition to data collecting points and
extraction mechanism, data storage is also defined in this step. Most of the organizations now
use a software database application for this purpose.

Step 2: Organizing

The data collected need to be organized. This organization usually happens based on certain
rules. These rules are defined by the organization. As an example, all sales-related data can
be filed together and all staff-related data could be stored in the same database table. This

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type of organization helps to maintain data accurately within a database. If there is much data
in the database, techniques such as 'normalization' can be used for organizing and reducing
the duplication.

This way, data is logically arranged and related to one another for easy retrieval. When data
passes step 2, it becomes information.

Step 3: Summarizing

In this step, the information is summarized in order to take the essence of it. The lengthy
information is presented in tabular or graphical format and stored appropriately. For
summarizing, there are many tools that can be used such as software packages, charts (Pareto,
cause-and-effect), and different techniques.

Step 4: Analyzing

At this stage, the information is analyzed in order to find the relationships, redundancies and
patterns. An expert or an expert team should be assigned for this purpose as the experience of
the person/team plays a vital role. Usually, there are reports created after analysis of
information.

Step 5: Synthesizing

At this point, information becomes knowledge. The results of analysis (usually the reports)
are combined together to derive various concepts and artefacts. A pattern or behavior of one
entity can be applied to explain another, and collectively, the organization will have a set of
knowledge elements that can be used across the organization. This knowledge is then stored
in the organizational knowledge base for further use. Usually, the knowledge base is a
software implementation that can be accessed from anywhere through the Internet. You can
also buy such knowledge base software or download an open-source implementation of the
same for free.

Step 6: Decision Making

At this stage, the knowledge is used for decision making. As an example, when estimating a
specific type of a project or a task, the knowledge related to previous estimates can be
used.This accelerates the estimation process and adds high accuracy. This is how the
organizational knowledge management adds value and saves money in the long run.

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Many advantages accrue to organizations that have efficient knowledge management
systems. These include reducing the iterations in subsequent projects, leveraging existing
knowledge to improve on the processes, achieving synergies between processes and
functions, and generally improving productivity because of the convergence of all these
aspects. The key aspect about having an efficient knowledge management system is that one
need not reinvent the wheel. In other words, organizations can derive benefits from the
knowledge that is present in the system and hence, reduce the work needed to do the same or
similar tasks again. For instance, if a particular organization has stored knowledge about
previous projects in the KM system, then subsequent projects having the same or similar kind
of tasks or deliverables can benefit from the existing knowledge by reusing the artifacts,
documents, and knowledge units that are there in the KM system. This reduces iterations for
projects as the similar deliverables can be submitted without having to redo the same thing
repeatedly. This is one of the most important reasons why corporates go in for KM systems
as having an efficient KM system results in quantum jumps in productivity.

Example of a Successful Knowledge Management System: Infosys

The previous articles in this module introduced the term knowledge management and
presented some real world examples of how knowledge management works in contemporary
organizations. This article examines the ways and means to build a successful knowledge
management system and the process by which essential components of the knowledge
management systems can be designed and incorporated. To take the example of the famous
Indian IT major, Infosys, the company and its founders have an abiding commitment to
knowledge management as is exemplified in their assertion that their key assets are their
people and that their brand derives its value from intellectual capital. Towards this end,
Infosys has a highly successful knowledge management system in place that is vertical as
well as horizontal in design and approach. It is vertical because it covers all the components
of the traditional hierarchy driven organizations and it is horizontal because it incorporates
the entire gamut of divisions and groups in its ambit.

The key aspect about the knowledge management system is that it does away with
hierarchical boundaries meaning that all employees are treated equal in the creation, sharing,
and dissemination of knowledge. In other words, any employee at any level can contribute
and any employee at any level can participate in discussions and knowledge sharing with
those higher or lower in the hierarchy.

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4.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

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Knowledge management is an essential practice for enterprise organizations. Organizational
knowledge adds long-term benefits to the organization in terms of finances, culture and
people. Therefore, all mature organizations should take necessary steps for knowledge
management in order to enhance the business operations and organization's overall capability.

Then why is knowledge management important? Knowledge management is important

because it boosts the efficiency of an organization’s decision-making ability. In making sure
that all employees have access to the overall expertise held within the organization, a smarter
workforce is built who are more able to make quick, informed decisions that benefit the
company.

Based on the above critical review, it is understood that Knowledge management is the
biggest factor for competitive advantage for contemporary business organization. Today,
organizations are realizing that Knowledge Management (KM) is a valuable asset that can be
managed as effectively as physical assets in order to improve performance. With the
growing competition day by day, every organization needs to innovate and implement new
and exemplary methods to sustain themselves in the competitive world. Innovation comes
with knowledge both tacit and explicit contributed to the organization by its human resource.
Though the term knowledge management and the concept have evolved during the 1970s,
there are still some organizations which have not adopted the concept. However, the
ignorance of knowledge management may affect the progress and growth of the organizations
in the years to come. Hence every organization has to realize the importance of knowledge
management and implement the same within their organizations to attain competitive
advantage. Knowledge management is a tool which helps in the successful running of a firm
because with people comes knowledge and with knowledge comes growth. The focus of
knowledge management is connecting people, processes and technology for the purpose of
leveraging corporate knowledge.

Innovation is easier to foster within the organization, customers benefit from increased access
to best practices and employee turnover is reduced.

4.0 REFERENCES

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1. Maria MaErtensson (2000), “A critical review of knowledge management as a
management tool”, Journal of Knowledge Management Volume 4, Number 3, MCB
University Press. ISSN 1367-3270, pp: 204-215.

2. A.Arun Kumar (2012) “Knowledge Management: A Conceptual Understanding”,

International Journal of Research in Commerce, IT & Management VOLUME NO. 2, ISSUE
NO. 8 (AUGUST) ISSN 2231-5756, pp: 135-142.

3. “A Review of Knowledge Management in the Irish Civil Service” 2005 ISBN 1

904541 27, ISSN 1393-61905, Institute of Public Administration, 57-61, Lansdowne Road
Dublin 4 Ireland, www.ipa.ie.

4. Dr. D.C. Johri1,e.tal(2013) “Knowledge Management – Its Sources & Contribution in

Modern Business Organizations”, Science Technology & Management Journal by AISECT
University, March ISSN: 2778-4187, pp: 1-4.

5. COSOP Source Book, Volume 2 – Section XIX.

6. “Knowledge Management in Education: Defining the landscape” By Lisa A. Petrides and

Thad R.Nodine, The Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, March
2003, pp: 1-34. 7. Chandana Goswami (2008), Knowledge Management in India: A
Case Study of An Indian Bank,The Journal of Nepalese Business Studies, Vol. 1, Dec, pp:
37-49.

8. Tarnaveanu Diana ,A Model of Decision Support System in Economy, WSEAS

TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS 10/2010; 7(4):444-453.

9. Anderson Consulting Global Knowledge Management Team,Bulletin of the American

Society for Information Science and Technology 12/2005; 26(2):22 - 23. DOI:
10.1002/bult.146.

10. L sattler,Participative management: an empirical study of the semiconductor

manufacturing industry,Nat. Microelectron. Res. Centre, Univ. Coll. Cork,IEEE Transactions
on Engineering Management (Impact Factor: 0.94). 12/1999; DOI: 10.1109/17.797961.

11. Kostas Metaxiotis,E-health versus KM-based health: a dilemma in researchers' minds,

International Journal of Electronic Healthcare (IJEH), Vol. 1, No. 3, 2005.

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12. Kostas MetaxiotisE-health versus KM-based health: a dilemma in researchers' minds,
International Journal of Electronic Healthcare 02/2005; 1(3):303-15. DOI:
10.1504/IJEH.2005.006477.

13. Mårtensson, Maria, A critical review of knowledge management as a management tool,

Journal of Knowledge Management, Volume 4, Number 3, 2000, pp. 204-216(13)

14. Dr. D.c.johri1 ,ashishkhare, knowledge management – its sources & contribution in
modern business organizations, anusandhan science technology & management journal by
aisect university, march 2013.

15. Book: a review of knowledge management in the irish civil service.

16. http://www.skyrme.com/kmroadmap/csfs.htm

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