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AMITY GLOBAL

BUSINESS SCHOOL Bhubaneswar

Module-II
Knowledge Management Concepts

By
Dr.Sushree Sangita Ray
Amity Global Business School
Bhubaneswar
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BUSINESS SCHOOL Bhubaneswar
Knowledge Management Concepts

• Introduction to KM, KM myths, understanding knowledge ,


• Types of knowledge,
• Knowledge management system life cycle ,
• Introduction to the models of knowledge management . Concept and
Characteristics of Knowledge Based Organizations.
• Managing Knowledge for organizational Knowledge and Role
related Technology behind KM,
• Implementation of KM in an organizations,
• Various parameters of implementation,
• Expert Systems, various knowledge capturing techniques.
Knowledge transfer in e-world and its related concepts .
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Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge
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• Data: 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.
• The definition for data presented by
Thierauf (1999): "unstructured facts and
figures that have the least impact on the
typical manager."
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• 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).
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• Knowledge: 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). Gamble and Blackwell (2001), based
closely on a previous definition by Davenport &
Prusak:
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• "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
knower. In organizations it often becomes
embedded not only in documents or repositories,
but also in organizational routines, practices and
norms."
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• 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.
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AMITY GLOBAL Explicit Knowledge
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• This type of knowledge is formalized and


codified and is sometimes referred to as
know-what .
• It is therefore fairly easy to identify, store,
and retrieve.
• This is the type of knowledge most easily
handled by KMS, which are very effective at
facilitating the storage, retrieval, and
modification of documents and texts.
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• Explicit knowledge is considered simpler in


nature and cannot contain the rich
experience-based know-how that can
generate lasting competitive advantage.
• Explicit knowledge is found in databases,
memos, notes, documents, etc.
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• This type of knowledge was originally


defined by Polanyi in 1966. It is sometimes
referred to as know-how and refers to
intuitive, hard to define knowledge that is
largely experienced based.
• Because of this, tacit knowledge is often
context dependent and personal in nature.
• It is hard to communicate and deeply rooted
in action, commitment, and involvement.
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• Tacit knowledge is also regarded as being


the most valuable source of knowledge,
and the most likely to lead to
breakthroughs in the organization.
• Gamble & Blackwell (2001) link the lack of
focus on tacit knowledge directly to the
reduced capability for innovation and
sustained competitiveness.
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• KMS have a very hard time


handling this type of knowledge.
• An IT system relies on
codification, which is something
that is difficult/impossible for the
tacit knowledge holder.
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• An IT specialist for example will


troubleshoot a problem based on his
experience and intuition. It would be very
difficult for him to codify his knowledge into
a document that could convey his know-
how to a beginner. This is one reason why
experience in a particular field is so highly
regarded in the job market.
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• The exact extent to which IT systems can


aid in the transfer and enhancement of
tacit knowledge is a rather complicated
discussion.
• For now, suffice it to say that successful
KM initiatives must place a very strong
emphasis on the tacit dimension, focusing
on the people and processes involved,
and using IT in a supporting role.
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• Tacit knowledge is found in the minds of


human stakeholders.
• It includes cultural beliefs, values,
attitudes, mental models, etc. as well as
skills, capabilities and expertise (Botha et
al 2008).
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• Embedded knowledge refers to the


knowledge that is locked in processes,
products, culture, routines, artifacts, or
structures .
• Knowledge is embedded either formally,
such as through a management initiative to
formalize a certain beneficial routine, or
informally as the organization uses and
applies the other two knowledge types.
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• The challenges in managing embedded


knowledge vary considerably and will often differ
from embodied tacit knowledge.
• Culture and routines can be both difficult to
understand and hard to change.
• Formalized routines on the other hand may be
easier to implement and management can
actively try to embed the fruits of lessons
learned directly into procedures, routines, and
products.
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• IT's role in this context is somewhat limited but it does


have some useful applications.
• Broadly speaking, IT can be used to help
map organizational knowledge areas; as a tool in reverse
engineering of products (thus trying to uncover hidden
embedded knowledge); or as a supporting mechanism
for processes and cultures.
• However, it has also been argued that IT can have a
disruptive influence on culture and processes,
particularly if implemented improperly.
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• Due to the difficulty in effectively managing embedded


knowledge, firms that succeed may enjoy a significant
competitive advantage.
• Embedded knowledge is found in: rules, processes,
manuals, organizational culture, codes of conduct,
ethics, products, etc. It is important to note, that while
embedded knowledge can exist in explicit sources (i.e. a
rule can be written in a manual), the knowledge itself is
not explicit, i.e. it is not immediately apparent why doing
something this way is beneficial to the organization.
AMITY GLOBAL Knowledge management
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• Knowledge management is essentially about getting


the right knowledge to the right person at the right time.
• This in itself may not seem so complex, but it implies a
strong tie to corporate strategy, understanding of where
and in what forms knowledge exists, creating
processes that span organizational functions, and
ensuring that initiatives are accepted and supported by
organizational members.
• Knowledge management may also include new
knowledge creation, or it may solely focus
on knowledge sharing, storage, and refinement.
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Knowledge Management

• “Knowledge Management is the process of


capturing, distributing, and effectively using
knowledge.” (Davenport, 1994)
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• "Knowledge management is a discipline that


promotes an integrated approach to
identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving,
and sharing all of an enterprise's information
assets.
• These assets may include databases,
documents, policies, procedures, and
previously un-captured expertise and
experience in individual workers."
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• The organization, capture, use, and analysis of the


impact of a group's collective knowledge. In the
business world, the definition of knowledge
management also includes the maintenance of a
knowledge base or portal where specific knowledge
related to the company is housed.
• Only a few initiatives can truly transform how an
organization operates, and knowledge management is
one of them.
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What is a Knowledge Management Process


• A knowledge management process is the way in which a
business manages knowledge, including its capture, storage,
organization, verification, security, distribution, and use.
• This process, when effective, informs accurate and beneficial
decision-making, stimulates collaboration and innovation
throughout the organization, and enhances internal and
external communication and efficiency.
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Steps in knowledge management processes
• Discovery: The process of knowledge management begins with discovery.
Knowledge discovery is the process of extracting information from data
that can be useful to your organization’s strategy, operations,
communication, and relationship development. Using data mining to
identify patterns, trends, or correlations within large sets of transactional or
customer relationship data is an example of discovery.

• Capture: Knowledge capture is acquiring the knowledge your


organization already possesses—within individual employees, teams,
documents, or processes—as well as external knowledge, so it can be
documented, communicated, and shared to the benefit of your business.
Conducting an audit of your existing documentation and encouraging
content creation in knowledge areas where you have gaps are key to
capturing knowledge.
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• Organization: Knowledge organization means describing, classifying,


categorizing, and indexing information so it can be easily retrieved,
navigated, reused, and shared among employees, teams, and other critical
users. The right knowledge management system can help you sort and
segment knowledge so information is readily accessible by the people who
need it most.

• Assessment: In order for knowledge to drive beneficial business decisions,


spark collaboration and innovation, and improve internal and external
processes, you must ensure that knowledge is verified and validated. That
means integrating processes that ensure any information your organization
intends to apply is accurate, complete, consistent, and up to date.
Automatic validation features within your knowledge management system,
as well as regular reviews by your internal experts, are critical.
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• Sharing: Knowledge sharing encompasses both making knowledge


available to those who actively seek it within your organization and
directly communicating appropriate knowledge to a user who could
potentially apply it for the benefit of your business. Team leaders should
regularly encourage, and possibly incentivize, knowledge sharing.

• Reuse/application: Knowledge reuse or application is when an individual


or team can take captured (and organized/assessed) knowledge and apply
that knowledge to enhance efficiency, improve business operations,
complete a strategic task, communicate more effectively with colleagues or
customers, etc. A documented lesson learned from one employee’s
complex customer interaction may streamline the process for a colleague in
a similar situation, for example.
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• Creation: Knowledge creation is when individuals or teams within your


organization add what they’ve learned—through practice, process
navigation, internal and external interactions, independent research, and
other experiences—to the organization’s collective knowledge.
• That individual knowledge can then be shared, reused, and applied, as well
as expanded upon by future knowledge seekers.
• Establishing content creation guidelines and regularly communicating the
value of – and praising/rewarding the completion of—new relevant content
can help you establish a culture of knowledge creation among your teams.
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Application of KM
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• Community Practices
• Knowledge Creation
• Knowledge Capture
• Collaboration
• Content Management
• Social Network Analysis
• Intranet
• Web conferencing
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• Portals
• Digital Workplace
• Knowledge Base
• Enterprise Social Network
• Document Management
• Record Management
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Podcast
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• Videos
• Gamification
• Process Automation
• E-learning
• Artificial Intelligence
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Tools and Techniques


• Infrastructure: groupware, intranets, document management, KM
suites
• Thinking: concept mapping, creativity tools
• Gathering, discovering search engines, alerting, data mining,
intelligent agents
• Organizing, storing data warehousing, OLAP, metadata, XML
• Knowledge worker support: case-based reasoning, decision
support, workflow, community support, simulation
• Application specific: CRM, expertise profiling, competitive
intelligence
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• It is the systematic management of an


organization's knowledge assets for the
purpose of creating value and meeting
tactical & strategic requirements; it
consists of the initiatives, processes,
strategies, and systems that sustain and
enhance the storage, assessment,
sharing, refinement, and creation of
knowledge.
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Implementing knowledge management thus has several dimensions including
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Implementing knowledge management thus has several dimensions including

• Strategy: Knowledge management strategy must be dependent on


corporate strategy. The objective is to manage, share, and
create relevant knowledge assets that will help meet tactical and
strategic requirements.
• Organizational Culture: The organizational culture influences the
way people interact, the context within which knowledge is created,
the resistance they will have towards certain changes, and
ultimately the way they share (or the way they do not share)
knowledge.
• Organizational Processes: The right processes, environments,
and systems that enable KM to be implemented in the organization.
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• Management & Leadership: KM requires competent and


experienced leadership at all levels. There are a wide variety of KM-
related roles that an organization may or may not need to
implement, including a CKO, knowledge managers, knowledge
brokers and so on.
• Technology: The systems, tools, and technologies that fit the
organization's requirements - properly designed and implemented.
• Politics: The long-term support to implement and sustain initiatives
that involve virtually all organizational functions, which may be
costly to implement (both from the perspective of time and money),
and which often do not have a directly visible return on investment.
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Information Management vs Knowledge Management

Information and IM Knowledge and KM

•Focus on data and information •Focus on knowledge, understanding,


•Deal with unstructured and and wisdom
structured facts and figures. •Deal with both codified and un-
•Benefit greatly from technology, codified knowledge. Un-codified
knowledge - the most valuable type of
since the information being conveyed
knowledge - is found in the minds of
is already codified and in an easily practitioners and is unarticulated,
transferrable form. context-based, and experience-based.
•Focus on organizing, analyzing, and •Technology is extremely useful, but
retrieving - again due to the codified KM's focus is on people and
nature of the information. processes
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Information and IM Knowledge and KM

•Is largely about know-what, . IT is great for transferring explicit,


codified knowledge, but it's role in the
i.e. it offers a fact that you can transfer of deeper, internalized
then use to help create useful knowledge is more complex. Since this
knowledge, but in itself that kind of knowledge is passed from
person to person, through interaction,
•fact does not convey a course collaboration, mentoring, etc. and
of action (e.g. sales of product preferably in an unstructured
x are up 25% last quarter). environment, IT tools for KM have to
support this function.
•Is easy to copy - due to its They are therefore not merely passing
codified and easily transferrable on information, but also act as tools to
nature. bring people together, to enhance
communication, to allow the storage
and transfer of unstructured thoughts
and notes, etc.
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•Focus on locating, understanding, enabling, and


encouraging - by creating environments, cultures,
processes, etc. where knowledge is shared and
created.
•Is largely about know-how, know-why, and know-
who
•Is hard to copy - at least regarding the tacit
elements. The connection to experience and
context makes tacit knowledge extremely difficult
to copy.
•This is why universities cannot produce
seasoned practitioners - there are some things
(the most important things) that you simply
cannot teach from a textbook (or other codified
source of information/explicit knowledge). These
are learnt in the field and understood on an
intuitive level. You cannot easily copy or even
understand this intuition without the right
experience, context, etc. - and it is this intuition
that represents the most valuable organizational
knowledge.
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Building Knowledge Management Frameworks


• What are the components of a knowledge
management framework?
• At the most basic level, KM consists of the
following steps:
– Identification of needs
– Identification of knowledge resources
– Acquisition, creation, or elimination of knowledge related
resources/processes/environments
– Retrieval, application and sharing of knowledge
– Storage of knowledge
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• Knowledge management frameworks are typically very


different and can be presented in a wide variety of ways.
• Since KM is closely related or dependant on other
disciplines (such as strategy, information management,
project management, etc.) and it is enabled by a wide
range of processes and systems, a model can become
very complex indeed.
• This is why there is no such thing as an integrated and fully
detailed knowledge management framework, i.e. one that
captures all relevant aspects with appropriate detail. Each
model must choose its focus and origin, as well as its
limitations.
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• There are essentially three questions that a knowledge


management framework may choose to answer:
• What/How
• Why
• When
• "What/how" refers to the actual processes of knowledge
management.
"Why" refers to an indication of the reasons behind using
one method or the other.
"When" refers to the timing for using one method or
another, and is very closely related to "why".
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The KM Process Framework by Bukowitz and Williams


(1999)
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• This KM model depicts the process that defines the strategy for
management to build, divest, and enhance knowledge assets. It
is a model that emphasizes the "why" and "when" aspects.
• The strengths of this model rest on its strategic focus, which
essentially puts knowledge management action into context. It
is also worth noting that the notion of "divestment" is included -
something which is often missing from KM models.
• KM initiatives are the result of the response to tactical and
strategic changes and needs. The model provides a great
overview of the strategy behind KM but it does not include any
deeper insight into what initiatives are suitable in a given
instance.
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The KM Matrix by Gamble and Blackwell (2001)
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The KM Matrix by Gamble and Blackwell (2001)

• This KM model presents a general theoretical framework,


as well as specific guidelines for implementation..
• The KM process is split into four stages.
• First management must locate the sources of knowledge.
• Then they must organize this knowledge so as to assess
the firm's strengths and weaknesses and determine its
relevance and reusability.
• This is followed by socialization, where various
techniques are used to help share and disseminate it to
whomever needs it in the organization.
• Finally, the knowledge is internalized through use.
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• As all sequential models, the steps are not to be taken literally, but
they do provide an excellent overview of the role of the KM
manager.
• However, one limitation of this model is its focus.
• The overall strategic role outline by Bukowitz and Williams is not
included.
• Secondly, KM's role here is limited to knowledge sharing, omitting
the processes of knowledge acquisition/creation and divestment.
• This is a perfectly legitimate approach to KM where the focus is on
the sharing and retrieval of existing knowledge, but it does not fulfill
the scope of the knowledge management definition outlined on this
site.
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The Knowledge Management Process Model by Botha
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The Knowledge Management Process Model byBhubaneswar
Botha
et al (2008)
• This model attempts to offer a more realistic
overview of the KM process. The three broad
categories overlap and interact with one
another. Like Gamble & Blackwell, the focus is
on managerial initiatives. Here too the strategic
focus (the "when" and the "why" as opposed to
the "what") is omitted. It is noteworthy that this
model does include the creation of new
knowledge as a specific KM initiative.
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• The model further shows which of the three categories are more
people oriented and which are more technology focused. Whether
or not knowledge sharing should be largely technology focused is
certainly debatable and it is something that I will address in future
sections. However, for better or for worse, this is largely how
organizations tend to approach the issue i.e. as a technological
rather than organizational and social challenge.
• We have now looked at three models that take very different
approaches to KM. There is one other important aspect relating to
KM that has not been directly dealt with by these models. I am
referring now to the measurement of effects that lets management
know whether the implemented initiatives are achieving the desired
results. This is dependent upon data and information management
but is paramount for future KM initiatives.
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Benefits
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• improve quality of service to users


• improve user satisfaction
• increase adoption of self service
• Higher first call resolution rates
• Reduce time to diagnose incidents and problems
• Reduction in training time and costs
• faster adoption of new or changed services
• increase responsiveness to changing business
demands
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• Step 1: Identify the various business issues


• The first step is to identify the various business issues by conducting an
internal analysis of your firm. Unless you know what the problem areas are,
you won’t be able to align the knowledge management systems with the
business goals and objectives. You must thus try to evaluate or assess the
variety and quantity of the information that your business has stored in
databases, on the web, as well as that which employees possess through their
personal experiences and knowledge. Efforts must be made to do a cost-
benefit analysis, evaluate the complexity of system structures, get to know
training costs, security issues, updating costs and analyze existing business
practices.
• Running away from the fear of the huge amounts of information present to be
stored or managed is something that keeps many businesses away from the
implementation of KM systems. But this reaction does not address the
business issue related to managing your corporate knowledge systematically
and, hence, will only increase it over time.
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• Step 2: Prepare for transition


• Once problem areas have been identified, the next step is to prepare yourself, your
employees as well as the entire workplace for the transition. Application and
implementation of KM systems deal with cultural changes at the workplace rather
than change in technology alone. Your employees may try to resist the change or
may even try to oppose it. To avoid this or deal with it you must follow a smart or wise
approach and bring about gradual changes. Give yourself and your employees time
to get slowly used to using a new KM system, provide them with the aid and training
to adapt to new systems and make sure this phase is dealt with patience and
understanding.
• Most people have a natural inclination and desire to learn and share their knowledge.
Each and every employee belonging to your organization wants things to be easier
and more effective. You must thus make efforts to make them understand the
importance of implementation of knowledge management systems so that they can
embrace change happily.
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• Step 3: Get together a dedicated team


• To make the implementation of knowledge management system
successful, a strong team with an experienced team leader is extremely
important. You cannot execute the implementation process without putting
someone in charge. Getting together a dedicated team helps to streamline
the implementation and get a focused approach for reaching the objective.
You must bring together a team consisting of a wide range of expertise so
that the skills and experience of each team member can be united for a
high-impact result. The team leader you select must possess strong
project management skills, extensive experience, broad knowledge and
top-level people skills. He/she must have good leadership qualities and
should be able to understand the importance of knowledge management.
• The team you gather must chart out a well-detailed plan before starting
the process of implementing a company-wide KM system. You must be
closely involved in the process to ensure everything runs smoothly.
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• Step 4: Evaluate technology needs and prioritize them


• The next step is to evaluate and assess the various technology needs and
then prioritize them. You must try to figure out the various sources of
knowledge needed to solve the business problems. In order to implement
knowledge management systems throughout the workplace, it is imperative
to know the potential costs that will be incurred, the expertise and the
technology tools that you currently don’t possess but would be required.
Identification of what is needed and then evaluating what you have already
got will help you determine what is missing. Do not jump the gun and
purchase expensive technology without discussing it with the core team or
concerned individuals.
• Once you have made the decision of purchasing the needed technology,
you must try to determine the best sources for getting that technology.
Compare prices, quality, and brand and only then choose the most
affordable yet suitable source.
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• Step 5: Determine the major attributes of knowledge management system


• Now the next step involves determining the major aspects or attributes of knowledge
management system. You now need to define the key features by drafting a checklist
to make sure that the technology that you will be acquiring will be able to address the
business problems and will also enhance the overall profitability. The following are
some of the key features of KM systems:
• Open – Open systems are those which enable the employees to have access to any
information from their current location.
• Distributed – Distributed systems are such systems whose components are well
distributed across various servers so as to enable access of knowledge to various
branches or offices of your business across the globe.
• Measurable – The system must be measurable in the sense that it must be able to
measure who accesses which information from which location and so on. Measurable
systems enable better management and analysis of the effectiveness of the overall
knowledge management within your organization.
• Customizable – A KM system must be extremely customizable and flexible in order
to make way for better usability and better individual experience.
• Secure – A KM system must be secure for the threat of loss of information, the threat
of duplication and other security issues.
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• Step 6: Rolling out the building blocks


• The implementation process of your knowledge management systems must
be a phased-out process to ensure that the overall objective can be divided
into smaller goals to ease out the procedure and make it more efficient. The
following are some of the building blocks which you can use for successful
implementation of KM systems at your workplace:
• Phase 1 – This phase involves the search for text-based electronic data
sources so as to retrieve advanced information with the ultimate goal of
improving ROI on existing knowledge.
• Phase 2 – This phase requires Knowledge Mining Software as the
technology building block in order to improve the process of finding useful
knowledge.
• Phase 3 – Automated Categorization Tools can be used to reach the goal of
improving the overall speed of categorizing knowledge and improving its
accuracy.
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• Phase 4 – The 4th phase involves rolling out of the Knowledge


Warehouses so as to improve security, functionality and overall
performance of knowledge management.
• Phase 5 – This phase involves allowing users to contribute their
knowledge to the Knowledge Warehouses so as to welcome
contribution and expand the database of information.
• Phase 6 – This is the phase including the pre-building of knowledge
maps through Knowledge Mapping software in order to enable
quicker access to knowledge.
• Phase 7 – Phase 7 involves execution of the Knowledge Directory
software to locate those individuals who possess a certain required
knowledge.
Amity Global Business
AMITY GLOBAL School, Bhubaneswar
BUSINESS SCHOOL Bhubaneswar

• Step 7: Link knowledge to people


• When your organization is faced with a certain business
problem, then help of knowledge databases may be
needed. These databases are not just records and
reports of existing information but also solutions or
knowledge possessed by employees. In such a situation,
finding out who knows what can be a time consuming
and hence it is better to link knowledge to people in
advance as a part of the overall implementation of
knowledge management systems. There are 2 major
ways to do so, and they are given as follows:
AMITY GLOBAL
BUSINESS SCHOOL Bhubaneswar

• A knowledge directory: A knowledge directory helps employees of your


company to find out subject-specific experts within the organization so that
they can share the knowledge possessed by them. This directory could act
as a platform where a user can find out the list of experts who are most
capable of solving a particular problem. This very link between people and
knowledge makes knowledge management different from other applications
that manage explicit knowledge.
• Content management: Content management also forms a crucial part of
knowledge management systems and is another way to link people with
knowledge. You must hire content managers or use the existing ones who
will be responsible for gathering information, editing and updating it, as well
as ensuring that it is useful and accurate. Maintenance of content or
information is of vital importance and can prove to be a lot of importance
when an employee is looking for certain data for a project or for finding a
business solution.
AMITY GLOBAL
BUSINESS SCHOOL Bhubaneswar

• Step 8: Launch the KM system


• With the help of the sufficient amount of funding as well
as important resources, the implementation of
knowledge management systems can be achieved. Now
that you know what your goal is and now that you have
addressed the cultural issues and met technology needs,
it is time to launch the program. Once the program is
launched, you may come across certain problems,
issues and gaps that you need to address as you move
forward.
AMITY GLOBAL
BUSINESS SCHOOL Bhubaneswar

• Step 9: Measure and constantly Improve your KM


system
• Only after launching or implementing company-wide
knowledge management system will you come to know the
areas that are not working as per your expectations.
Formulate ways to measure the effectiveness of the program
and then make efforts to fill the gaps and make required
improvements. After making the improvements, compare old
results with the new ones and measure the difference. See
how your performance has improved and continue to
incorporate these improvements as you go ahead. Do not be
too quick to dismiss the program because it takes time
AMITY GLOBAL
BUSINESS SCHOOL Bhubaneswar

THANK YOU

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