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The Knowledge Organization Model
In order to become a more knowledge aware organization, certain components or
building blocks need to be in place. If we liken the Knowledge Organization as the brick
and mortar of the buildings where many of us work, it may look like figure below. This
model is intended to offer an understanding of the pieces needed to become a knowledge
organization and how they interact.
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Organizational Effectiveness |
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Communication Mgt |
| Process Mgt |
| Content Mgt |
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Key sections of the Knowledge Organization Model
Mission Statement - The Corporate Objective:
The foundation of a Knowledge Organization is the Corporate Mission Statement. Why are
we in business in the first place? Not having a clear understanding for the existence of
your business is like a race car without a steering wheel. Sooner or later (most likely
the former) a crash is going to happen.
On top of the Mission Statement (the foundation) we build everything else.
Aligning the knowledge management initiative goals with
the corporate mission statement or business unit objectives is vital for the long-term success
of both the initiative and the organization. What good does it do your company to
have information, knowledge or experience that is not being utilized?
Devoting resources (whether internal or external) to capturing, storing,
maintaining, and developing information or people skills is a waste of
resources that could be better used elsewhere to gain a competitive
advantage.
Content Management (capturing, organizing and storing):
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By itself, a document or a database does not constitute knowledge. It is how the information
contained within the document or database is used that determines if it becomes knowledge.
Knowledge is information in action.
It is often the items shown in this section that
"get the most press" when talking about KM. This is due to
either the marketing muscle of the vendors or that these components
are the most visible to the end-user. Although they tend to be
more visible, that does not mean they are the most important
components. Although a mistake, too often this area is the only focal point for
organizations starting a KM initiative.
What holds the components of the Content Management
section together is another overlooked
discipline - Records Management. Because of the great amounts of data we accumulate and
produce with today's technologies, the attitude of retaining every bit of information is
running amuck. But can we find it, or even better, do we know it even
exists?
Organizing the various repositories and tools must
be done, but with a clear understanding of each area's importance to
the business goals.
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Process Management (identifying knowledge within everyday
processes):
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This section acts as the transport vehicle that captures, moves, retrieves,
and points to valuable information, experiences, and expertise that flow
through an organization - but may not be typically captured during everyday
work processes.
Value is added to
information as it is used, acting as a building block that can be later turned into
knowledge by its users.
Within this area is the identification of Best Practices,
Subject Matter Experts, and Lessons Learned, as well as individual
facilitators who encourage knowledge to be shared.
Many times the primary focus is on accumulating data when discussing Knowledge
Management. Data can become quickly outdated by the time it is captured and organized.
Instead of taking the gather and store approach in all cases to enhance an
information base, why not a directory or meta data to act as a pointer
to various information resources.
Developing a Corporate Yellow Pages or Directory of Knowledge,
that lists the information repositories that are available (applications,
their purpose, databases, document sources, Subject Matter Expert
identification tools, etc.) or cross functional work groups (project teams,
their purpose, process improvement teams, etc.) would have a
dramatic effect on overall productivity (eliminate re-inventing the wheel). These Yellow Pages would not house
the information the user seeks, but act as a pointer towards where to go for it.
The user then can decide if the journey for that information is worth the effort.
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Communication Management (where the real sharing occurs):
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At the top of the Knowledge Organization
is the collaboration of the people - both inside and outside of the
company. It is here that the raw
information is made into knowledge. Until the day where computers can read the electrons
within our brains, creating a knowledge repository using computers alone can not be done.
For it is through the experiences of the people and how they interact amongst themselves
that we see knowledge flourish.
Often, the most successful knowledge transfer within an organization has nothing to do
with technology or formal reporting structures, but with informal social groups. The
infamous water cooler discussion groups often become a valuable source of
information. The idea of "not knowing what you don't know" is uncovered during
these random get-togethers. Many companies today have put in place formal social activities
outside of the normal workday that not only build employee moral, but also develop
stronger "knowledge links" throughout the company.
Traditional learning tools and practices must be
integrated into the KM initiative to become a learning organization.
Deploying e-learning technology without a keen understanding of
learning behaviors often is an expensive lesson that is not learned
until many months or years down the road.
Too often, the collaboration and idea exchange that builds upon each communication
event is left out when discussing Knowledge Management by technologists. But it is
critical to the drive towards becoming a Knowledge Organization. Collaboration is the glue that holds this section
together.
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The Pillars of the Organization ( Executive Support & a
Sharing Culture)
Without support and participation from senior management, a KM initiative is
destined to fail - quickly becoming the management flavor of the month.
No matter how strong the informal knowledge links are within a company, it is
imperative that any knowledge management initiative has firm executive support behind
it to develop grass root initiatives and sustain/enhance the culture for a successful
transformation into a Knowledge Organization.
Creating the right culture that encourages the sharing of knowledge is key to KM.
Executive support is needed to add new incentives and
recognition programs that can assist in further development of a sharing
culture.
Although not intended this way, some employee incentive programs actually act as disincentives
for people to share information and experiences. How does an "Employee of the
Month" award encourage someone to share their knowledge? Many times it can act as an
incentive to hoard information (so others will not beat them on their way to
winning the award next month). Understanding how existing incentives
align with the KM goals and if they should be enhanced or should new
incentive/recognition programs be implemented is important.
But incentive and recognition programs are not the sole means to modifying an
organization's culture. An approach that leverages all the components of the
Knowledge Organization and integrated them with existing practices, skills,
and experience to form a cohesive strategy will slowly "tweak"
those organization's cultures over time. Cultural changes does not happen
overnight. If it took years to develop the existing culture, why would it
take days or months to change it?
Without the two pillars of the Knowledge Organization -
management support and a sharing culture, the time, people and money devoted
to the KM effort may have been better utilized elsewhere.
Information Flow within the Knowledge Organization
Moving within the Knowledge Organization is the constant flow between the different
components, much like how an elevator transports people and objects between floors. There
has to be strong interaction between all disciplines to provide an even and logical flow
of information.
Information that resides in a tangible form, whether on paper, in a computer or in some
other format, remains explicit information. When this information is accessed and acted
upon by someone, it then becomes knowledge. In many cases, this knowledge is valuable only
to that person or to a particular project.
When this knowledge is transferred from the individual back to a tangible form, it
becomes information again, ready for use by someone else to be transformed back into
knowledge.
The Knowledge Life Cycle
As the diagram above shows, when explicit information is accessed and is acted upon, it
turns into implicit knowledge for a person or group. When that implicit knowledge is then stored in
a format that is accessible to others, it returns to explicit information, ready to be
used by others.
With a strong interaction and exchange of ideas between the users of information, a
company creates perpetual motion within the knowledge life cycle, if these exchanges are
identified or captured.
Tacit knowledge has to be continually enhanced through communication to others and then
re-circulated back into explicit information for later use. The biggest hurdles that
hamper this flow tend to be political in nature. Until the egos and territorial issues are
overcome, a company cannot become a true knowledge organization. methods to
minimize these tactics can be injected into an organization's work practices
(incentives, recognition, support of Communities of Practice, etc.).
The Goal (Organizational Effectiveness):
The components of the Knowledge Organization cannot act independently. They rely on
each other to further enhance the process, since Knowledge Management is not a
destination, but an ongoing process.
Becoming a learning organization is part of the process
that links the knowledge management components together leading to the
ultimate goal - organizational effectiveness. Being an effective
organization leads to innovation, which is the only true competitive
advantage an organization can have.
Stephen F. Goodfellow is President of Access Systems, Inc.
You can contact him via e-mail or
by phone (315-682-1188).
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