Icac 2 Rev

Editor's Notes

• #2: Ref: Awad. Chap.1,3 Jashapara Chap.1 Nonaka and Takeuchi. Chap. 3.
• #4: Success is NOT due to their manufacturing skills; or access to cheap capital; or close and cooperative relaitonships with customers, suppliers and govt. agencies; or lifetime employment and other human resources management practices. They are successful because of their skills and expertise at “organisational knowledge creation”. 2. They look outside and into the future anticipating changes in the market, technology, competition or product. They are Willing to abandon what was long been successful To these companies change is an everyday event and a positive force.
• #5: Nonaka: Knowledge creating Co. p.3-6 What is unique about the way Japanese companies bring about continuous innovation is the linkage between the outside and the inside. K that is accumulated from outside is shared widely within the organisation, stored as part of the company’s knowledge base and utilized by those engaged in developing new technologies and products. A conversion of some sort takes place; it is this conversion process - from outside to inside and back outside again in the form of new products, services, or systems - that is the key to understanding why Japanese companies have become successful. It is precisely this dual internal and external activity that fuels continuous innovation within Japanese companies. e.g. Honda – energy efficient engine; Canon – single lens reflex cameras; Sony – aggressive export strategy.
• #6: Ernst&Young estimates 80% of a company’s intellectual resources is not applied to business processes. The above figure shows the reasons for launching KM Projects.
• #7: Eg. Space shuttle in Aug 2005. How the astronauts as a team used their experiences to fix the problem and land safely. This has created new knowledge base. Knowledge update is creating new knowledge based on ongoing experiences and then using the new knowledge in combination with the initial knowledge to come up with updated knowledge for knowledge sharing.
• #8: How a team translates experience into knowledge. A team commits to performing a job over a specific time period such as weeks or months. A job is more than a task. It is a series of specific tasks carried out in a specific order, format or sequence. In the end, a job is completed and the results are either successful or disappointing. The team looks back and compares the experience it had when starting the job to the outcome. This comparison is what translates experience into knowledge. When it performs the same job in the future, the team takes corrective steps, modifying actions based on the new knowledge they have acquired.
• #9: Awad.95. K sharing is not that straightforward,whether it is the individual expert or the “expert” team. Personality is one factor. E.g. people who are extroverts, display self-confidence, and feel secure tend to share experiences more readily than those who are introspective, self centred, or security conscious. People with a positive attitude, who trust others, and who work in an environment conducive to knowledge sharing tend to be better at sharing than those working in a “cutthroat” environment. One may conclude that the totality of attitude, personality, work norms, and vocational reinforcers determines how likely people are to view knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer in a positive light. Personality Extraverts – display self-confidence and tend to share experiences Introverts – self centered or security conscious Attitude based on mutual trust Positive attitude Vocational reinforcers Vocational needs met by job reinforcers are more likely to favor knowledge sharing Work norms
• #10: Nonaka:K creating Co. p.10. Metaphor is highly effective in fostering to the creative process. Analogy is much more structured than a metaphor in making a distinction between two ideas or objects Story of Honda City.1 . To come up with a product concept different from anything the co. had ever done before. 2. To make a car that was inexpensive but not cheap. The team came up in the image of a sphere – a car simultaneously “short” in length and “tall” in height. They reasoned it would be cheaper and lighter and also more comfortable and solid than traditional cars. Learning comes from direct experience. e.g. a child learns to eat, walk and talk through trial and error. Similarly managers learn from their experience. E.g. J.B. Hi Fi advertised Samsung TVs for $15! Which was $3500!!! SIS – Steal ideas Shamelessly e.g. AT&T, Xerox, GE
• #11: tacit knowledge – According to Polanyi , tacit knowledge is personal, context-specific and hard to formalise and communicate. explicit knowledge - explicit knowledge or “codified knowledge ” refers to K that is transmittable in formal, systematic language. Nonaka – 60. Some distinctions between tacit and explicit knowledge are shown above. Knowledge of experience tends to be tacit, physical and subjective, while Knowledge of rationality tends to be explicit, metaphysical and objective. Tacit knowledge is created “ here and now” in a specific, practical context referred to as “analog” quality. Sharing Tacit knowledge between individuals through communication is an analog process that requires a kind of “ Simultaneous processing” of the complexities of issues shared by individuals. On the other hand, Explicit Knowledge is about past events or objects “there and then” and is oriented toward a context-free theory. It is sequentially created by “digital” activity.
• #12: SOCIALIZATION is a process of sharing experiences and thereby creating tacit knowledge like technical skills.An individual can acquire tacit knowledge directly from others without using language. Eg. Apprentices learn craftsmanship from their masters not through language but through observation, imitation and practice. In business setting on-the-job training uses the same principle. The key to acquiring tacit knowledge is experience. Eg. Of SOCIALIZATION – Honda organises brainstorming camps and informal meetings for detailed discussions to solve difficult problems. EXTERNALIZATION Conceptualising an image and expressing its essence in language – it is often inadequate, and insufficient. E.g. MAZDA RX-7 is described as “an authentic sports car that provides an exciting and comfortable drive”. COMBINATION – is a process of systemising concepts into a knowledge system. This involves combining different bodies of EXPLICIT knowledge. Individuals exchange and combine knowledge through documents, communication networks, meetings etc. eg. Formal education – your assignment INTERNALIZATION-”Learning by doing”. Experiences through Socialisation, externalisation and combination are internalised into individuals’ tacit knowledge bases in the form of shared mental models or technical know-how, they become valuable assets. Eg. GE, documents all customer complaints and inquiries in a data base at its centre in Louisville, Kentucky.
• #13: Organisational Knowledge Creation is a continuous and dynamic interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge. First the socialisation mode usually starts with building a “field” of interaction. This field facilitates the sharing of members’ experiences and mental models. Second, the externalisation mode is triggered by meaningful “dialogue or collective reflection”, in which using appropriate metaphor or analogy helps team members to articulate hidden tacit knowledge that is otherwise hard to communicate. Third, the combination mode is triggered by “networking” newly created knowledge and existing knowledge from other sections of the organisation, thereby crystallising them into a new product, service or managerial system. Finally “learning by doing” triggers Internalisation. Socialisation yields “sympathised Knowledge” such as shared mental models and technical skills. Externalisation yields “conceptual Knowledge” such as the concept of “Tall Boy” in Honda Combination gives “Systemic Knowledge” such as a prototype Internalisation produces “Operational Knowledge” about project management, production process and policy implementation.
• #15: p.84
• #16: p.84 Phase 1 – Sharing TK: Individuals are the main source of TK and start the focus on TK which is the rich, untapped source of new knowledge. Build mutual trust as individuals emotions, feelings are shared. E.g. Matsushita Home Bakery Team apprenticed themselves to the head baker at the Osaka International Hotel to capture the essence of kneading skill through bodily experience.
• #17: p.85 (Nonaka) – once a shared mental model is formed in the field of interaction, the self-organising team then articulates it through further dialogue in the form of collective reflection. The Honda development team made ample use of figurative language such as “Automobile Evolution,” “man-maximum, machine minimum”, and “Tall Boy”.
• #18: p.86. The organisation must conduct this justification in a more explicit way to check if the organisational intention is still intact and to ascertain if the concepts being generated meet the needs of society at large. Qualitative – vision established by top management – Honda’s vision of making a car that was inexpensive but not cheap .
• #19: This is similar to Combination Phase.
• #20: Inter-organizationally it can mobilize knowledge of affiliated companies, customers, suppliers, competitors through interaction. E.g. customers reactin or feedback to a new product may initiate a new cycle of product development. E.g. APPLE Computer. When they come up with new ideas for a product, they bring it to customers to seek their reaction. Depending on the reaction or feedback, a new round of development may be initiated.
• #21: Awad p.98. Identify where knowledge resides and how to capture it. By knowledge Centres, we mean areas in the organisation where knowledge is available for knowledge capture. In the fig. A retail organisation with 4 knowledge centres. These centres become the skeletal framework for knowledge capture.
• #23: Through ] Brainstorming Concept Mapping – it is a network of concepts that consists of nodes and links. A node represent a concept and a link represents the relationship between concepts. Mind Mapping – consists of a key word or concept. The Knowledge developer draws around the central word several main ideas that relate to that word. A mind map has only one main concept. HOW TO RETAIN TACIT KNOWLEDGE IN ORGANISATIONAL MEMORY?
• #24: KM strategy: Strategic Management Perspectives – Actions arising from KM practices will result in some form of competitive advantage Common form of KM strategies Codification strategy and Personalization strategy KM strategy : Actions arising from KM practices will result in some form of competitive advantage Common form of KM strategies: Codification strategy; Personalization strategy Strategy is driven by customer needs and expectations. Competitive advantage – is that makes a business successful. It may result from innovation, reputation or relationship with customers. Lower price than other similar products. Codification – focuses primarily on computer use, whereby knowledge is carefully coded and stored in databases for each access. Personalization- makes use of computers to help people communicate knowledge not to store it. The emphasis is on knowledge sharing via direct person-to-person contacts.
• #25: The gap between what your company is doing and what it should be doing represents its strategic gap. Similarly, your company's knowledge gap is represented by what your company should (and possibly can) know and what it does know in order to support the competitive position that it has adopted. These 2 gaps must be aligned and must feed into each other to bridge existing gaps. Ignoring this comparison trivializes the idiosyncratic nature of strategic alignment. KM strategy then must address how your company’s knowledge gaps in identified critical processes are best bridged. Use knowledge to create value, that is, to innovate. E.g. IKEA (home products retail), Wal-Mart (discount retailing)Compaq were successful because they used their knowledge to innovate and create value.
• #26: recognized as a leader in knowledge management professionals leverage the knowledge and insight of their 100,000 colleagues globally every day provide E&Y professionals with a competitive edge
• #27: Knowledge management may be Accenture’s most important core competency and perhaps the single item that gives them their greatest strategic advantage. They are eight years along their knowledge management journey and have transitioned their knowledge system from a communications vehicle to a tool fully integrated into their consulting practice and internal operations. They believe that, “knowledge management is the engine that transforms ideas into business value.” Accenture defines knowledge management as, “a systematic process for creating, acquiring, synthesizing, sharing, and using information, insights, and experiences to achieve organizational goals.”
• #33: Components of Knowledge Management Systems Communication technologies - allow users to access needed knowledge and to communicate with each other. Collaboration technologies - provide the means to perform group work. Groups can work together on common documents at the same time (synchronous) or at different times (asynchronous) Storage and retrieval technologies - ( database management systems ) to store and manage knowledge.
• #34: p.356 A KM portal is a single point of access to multiple sources of information and it provides personlised access. They assure secure and reliable interface to participants in a business process and collaborate with users through the integration of external Web-based applications or internal back-office systems. Portals: Simplify access to data stored in various application systems Facilitate collaboration among employees Assist the company in reaching its customers Allow producers and users of knowledge to interact. To be useful in creating knowledge, information must reach knowledge workers in the most convenient, complete and accurate way. Portals are among the most powerful tools to help achieve these goals. Portals can provide an integrated framework for linking people, processes and knowledge and play a central role in simplifying managerial complexity, increasing operational productivity and adding value to a company’s business operations. Portals employ distribution channels such as the Internet, intranets and extranets. Enterprise Knowledge Portals Are goal-directed toward knowledge production, knowledge acquisition, knowledge transmission, and knowledge management Are focused on enterprise business processes Provide, produce, and manage information about the validity of the information they supply Include all EIPs functionalities
• #35: BUSINESS-TO-EMPLOYEE PORTAL at Ford Motor Company Ford used Plumtree Portal. 200,000 Employees can find and share the content and services they need to support customers, market news, product specifications, performance metrics etc. Benefits – Increased Return on Investment on IT; Increased Productivity; Close collaboration
• #36: Main goal is to provide a single point of access to all information sources; Therefore, portals must be the ultimate tools for universal integration of all enterprise applications. Portals must have the following functionalities: Gathering – capturing in a common repository, documents created by knowledge workers in various locations Categorization – organise it in a meaningful way for navigating and searching. Portals should support categorisation for employees, partners and customers levels Distribution – in the form electronic documents Collaboration-achieved thru messaging, workflow, discussion databases etc. Publish – to a broader audience Personalization – allows individuals to enhance their productivity. Search/navigate- tools for identifying and accessing specific info. Knowledge worker can either browse or submit a query.
• #37: EKP – Enterprise Knowledge Portals One application is the use of intelligent agents in ERPs such as CRM portals, specifically in areas of competition. As the relationship between companies and their customers become more complex, the enterprises need more information and advice on what these relationships mean and how to exploit them. Intelligent agent technology offers some very interesting options for addressing such needs. Services: Customized customer assistance with online services Customer profiling based on business experiences Integrating profiles of customers into a group of marketing activities Predicting customer requirements Negotiating prices and payment schedules Executing financial transactions on the customer’s behalf
• #40: Technologies enable advanced functionality in knowledge management systems and form the base for future innovations. Artificial Intelligence (AI methods: expert systems, neural networks, fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms, etc.) Assist in identifying expertise Elicit knowledge automatically and semi-automatically Provide interfacing through natural language processors Enable intelligent searches through intelligent agents. Intelligent agents are software systems that learn how users work and provide assistance in their daily tasks. Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) is a process used to search for and extract useful information from volumes of documents and data. It includes tasks such as: knowledge extraction data archaeology data exploration data pattern processing data dredging information harvesting