What is knowledge management?

At Knowledge Praxis, we define knowledge management as a business activity with two primary aspects:
o

Treating the knowledge component of business activities as an explicit concern of business reflected in strategy, policy, and practice at all levels of the organization. Making a direct connection between an organizations intellectual assets both explicit [recorded] and tacit [personal know-how] and positive business results.

In practice, knowledge management often encompasses identifying and mapping intellectual assets within the organization, generating new knowledge for competitive advantage within the organization, making vast amounts of corporate information accessible, sharing of best practices, and technology that enables all of the above including groupware and intranets. That covers a lot of ground. And it should, because applying knowledge to work is integral to most business activities. Knowledge management is hard to define precisely and simply. (The definition also leapfrogs the task of defining "knowledge" itself. Well get to that later.) Thats not surprising. How would a nurse or doctor define "health care" succinctly? How would a CEO describe "management"? How would a CFO describe "compensation"? Each of those domains is complex, with many subareas of specialization. Nevertheless, we know "health care" and "management" when we see them, and we understand the major goals and activities of those domains.

Business strategies related to knowledge management As you explore other explanations of knowledge management youll detect connections with several well-known management strategies, practices, and business issues, including
o o o o

Change management Best practices Risk management Benchmarking

A significant element of the business community also views knowledge management as a natural extension of "business process reengineering," a fact underscored by the recent announcement that John Wileys Business Change and Reengineering will become Knowledge and Process Management in March, 1997 There is a common thread among these and many other recent business strategies: A recognition that information and knowledge are corporate assets, and that businesses need strategies, policies, and tools to manage those assets. The need to manage knowledge seems obvious, and discussions of intellectual capital have proliferated, but few businesses have acted on that understanding. Where companies have take action and a growing number are doing so implementations of "knowledge management" may range from technology-driven methods of accessing, controlling, and delivering information to massive efforts to change corporate culture. Opinions about the paths, methods, and even the objectives of knowledge management abound. Some efforts focus on enhancing creativity creating new knowledge value while other programs emphasize leveraging existing knowledge. What is "knowledge"? Arent we managing knowledge already? Well, no. In fact, most of the time were making a really ugly mess of managing information. In practice, the terms information and knowledge are often used interchangeably by business writers. Lets choose a simple working definition and get on with it:
Knowledge has two basic definitions of interest. The first pertains to a defined body of information. Depending on the definition, the body of information might consist of facts, opinions, ideas, theories, principles, and models (or other frameworks). Clearly, other categories are possible, too. Subject matter (e.g., chemistry, mathematics, etc.) is just one possibility. Knowledge also refers to a persons state of being with respect to some body of information. These states include ignorance, awareness, familiarity, understanding, facility, and so on.

Email from Fred Nickols, Executive Director Strategic Planning & Management, Educational Testing Service.

Nickols two kinds of knowledge parallel Michael Polanyis often-quoted distinction between explicit knowledge (sometimes referred to as formal knowledge), which can be articulated in language and transmitted among individuals, and tacit knowledge (also, informal knowledge), personal knowledge rooted in individual experience and involving personal belief, perspective, and values. In traditional perceptions of the role of knowledge in business organizations, tacit knowledge is often viewed as the real key to getting things done and creating new value. Not explicit knowledge. Thus we often encounter an emphasis on the "learning organization" and other approaches that stress internalization of information (through experience and action) and generation of new knowledge through managed interaction. Knowledge management: a cross-disciplinary domain Knowledge management draws from a wide range of disciplines and technologies.
o o

Cognitive science. Insights from how we learn and know will certainly improve tools and techniques for gathering and transferring knowledge. Expert systems, artificial intelligence and knowledge base management systems (KBMS). AI and related technologies have acquired an undeserved reputation of having failed to meet their own and the marketplaces high expectations. In fact, these technologies continue to be applied widely, and the lessons practitioners have learned are directly applicable to knowledge management. Computer-supported collaborative work (groupware). In Europe, knowledge management is almost synonymous with groupware and therefore with Lotus Notes. Sharing and collaboration are clearly vital to organizational knowledge management with or without supporting technology. Library and information science. We take it for granted that card catalogs in libraries will help us find the right book when we need it. The body of research and practice in classification and knowledge organization that makes libraries work will be even more vital as we are inundated by information in business. Tools for thesaurus construction and controlled vocabularies are already helping us manage knowledge. Technical writing. Also under-appreciated even sneered at as a professional activity, technical writing (often referred to by its practitioners as technical communication) forms a body of theory and practice that is directly relevant to effective representation and transfer of knowledge. Document management. Originally concerned primarily with managing the accessibility of images, document management has moved on to

making content accessible and re-usable at the component level. Early recognition of the need to associate "metainformation" with each document object prefigures document management technologys growing role in knowledge management activities. Decision support systems. According to Daniel J. Power, "Researchers working on Decision Support Systems have brought together insights from the fields of cognitive sciences, management sciences, computer sciences, operations research, and systems engineering in order to produce both computerised artifacts for helping knowledge workers in their performance of cognitive tasks, and to integrate such artifacts within the decision-making processes of modern organisations." [See Powers DSS Research Resources Home page.] That already sounds a lot like knowledge management, but in practice the emphasis has been on quantitative analysis rather than qualitative analysis, and on tools for managers rather than everyone in the organization. Semantic networks. Semantic networks are formed from ideas and typed relationships among them sort of "hypertext without the content," but with far more systematic structure according to meaning. Often applied in such arcane tasks as textual analysis, semantic nets are now in use in mainstream professional applications, including medicine, to represent domain knowledge in an explicit way that can be shared. Relational and object databases. Although relational databases are currently used primarily as tools for managing "structured" data and object-oriented databases are considered more appropriate for "unstructured" content we have only begun to apply the models on which they are founded to representing and managing knowledge resources. Simulation. Knowledge Management expert Karl-Erik Sveiby suggests "simulation" as a component technology of knowledge management, referring to "computer simulations, manual simulations as well as role plays and micro arenas for testing out skills." (Source: Email from KarlErik Sveiby, July 29, 1996 ) Organizational science. The science of managing organizations increasingly deals with the need to manage knowledge often explicitly. Its not a surprise that the American Management Associations APQC has sponsored major knowledge management events.

Thats only a partial list. Other technologies include: object-oriented information modeling; electronic publishing technology, hypertext, and the World Wide Web; help-desk technology; full-text search and retrieval; and performance support systems. Categorization of knowledge management approaches The term "knowledge management" is now in widespread use, having appeared in the titles of many new books about knowledge management as a business strategy, as well as in articles in many business publications, including The Wall Street Journal. There are, of

course, many ways to slice up the multi-faceted world of knowledge management. However, its often useful to categorize them. In a posting to the Knowledge Management Forum, Karl-Erik Sveiby identified two "tracks" of knowledge management:
o

Management of Information. To researchers in this track, according to Sveiby, " knowledge = Objects that can be identified and handled in information systems." Management of People. For researchers and practitioners in this field, knowledge consists of " processes, a complex set of dynamic skills, know-how, etc., that is constantly changing."
(From Sveiby, Karl-Erik, "What

is knowledge management" )

Sveibys characterization is on target, but it may not capture the full flavor of the important distinctions in approaches to organizational knowledge management. At Knowledge Praxis, we have adopted a three-part categorization: (1) mechanistic approaches, (2) cultural/behavioristic approaches, and (3) systematic approaches to knowledge management. Mechanistic approaches to knowledge management Mechanistic approaches to knowledge management are characterized by the application of technology and resources to do more of the same better. The main assumptions of the mechanistic approach include:
o

o o

Better accessibility to information is a key, including enhanced methods of access and reuse of documents (hypertext linking, databases, full-text search, etc.) Networking technology in general (especially intranets), and groupware in particular, will be key solutions. In general, technology and sheer volume of information will make it work.

Assessment: Such approaches are relatively easy to implement for corporate "political" reasons, because the technologies and techniques although sometimes advanced in particular areas are familiar and easily understood. There is a modicum of good sense here, because enhanced access to corporate intellectual assets is vital. But its simply not clear whether access itself will have a substantial impact on business performance, especially as mountains of new information are placed on line. Unless the knowledge management approach incorporates methods of leveraging cumulative experience, the net result may not be positive, and the impact of implementation may be no more measurable than in traditional paper models. Cultural/behavioristic approaches to knowledge management

Cultural/behavioristic approaches, with substantial roots in process re-engineering and change management, tend to view the "knowledge problem" as a management issue. Technology though ultimately essential for managing explicit knowledge resources is not the solution. These approaches tend to focus more on innovation and creativity (the "learning organization") than on leveraging existing explicit resources or making working knowledge explicit. Assumptions of cultural/behavioristic approaches often include:
o

o o

Organizational behaviors and culture need to be changed dramatically. In our information-intensive environments, organizations become dysfunctional relative to business objectives. Organizational behaviors and culture can be changed, but traditional technology and methods of attempting to solve the "knowledge problem" have reached their limits of effectiveness. A "holistic" view is required. Theories of behavior of large-scale systems are often invoked. Its the processes that matter, not the technology. Nothing happens or changes unless a manager makes it happen.

Assessment: The cultural factors affecting organizational change have almost certainly been undervalued, and cultural/behavioristic implementations have shown some benefits. But the cause-effect relationship between cultural strategy and business benefits is not clear, because the "Hawthorne Effect" may come into play, and because we still cant make dependable predictions about systems as complex as knowledge-based business organizations. Positive results achieved by cultural/behavioristic strategies may not be sustainable, measurable, cumulative, or replicable and employees thoroughly "Dilbertized" by yet another management strategy may roll their eyes. Time will tell. Systematic approaches to knowledge management Systematic approaches to knowledge management retain the traditional faith in rational analysis of the knowledge problem: the problem can be solved, but new thinking of many kinds is required. Some basic assumptions:
o o o

Its sustainable results that matter, not the processes or technology or your definition of "knowledge." A resource cannot be managed unless it is modeled, and many aspects of the organizations knowledge can be modeled as an explicit resource. Solutions can be found in a variety of disciplines and technologies, and traditional methods of analysis can be used to re-examine the nature of knowledge work and to solve the knowledge problem. Cultural issues are important, but they too must be evaluated systematically. Employees may or may not have to be "changed," but policies and work practices must certainly be changed, and technology can be applied successfully to business knowledge problems themselves.

Knowledge management has an important management component, but it is not an activity or discipline that belongs exclusively to managers.

Assessment: Unrepentant rationalists in the business world are taking a systematic approach to solving the "knowledge problem." Youll also find evidence of such approaches as well as a less formal use of the term systematic knowledge management Karl Wiigs Knowledge Research Institute Web site and Gene Bellingers Systems Thinking Web pages. Systematic approaches show the most promise for positive cumulative impact, measurability, and sustainability. Conclusion Where do we stand at the moment, and where do we go from here? We conclude with a thought from Bo Newman, via email:
As attested to in numerous articles in the popular press, knowledge management has already been embraced as a source of solutions to the problems of todays business. Still it has not been easy for this "science" to construct for itself that royal road of self validation. On the contrary, I believe that it is still, at least for the majority of the practitioners and their customers, in the stage of blind groping after its true aims and destination.

Enough said for the moment. Lets change the end of this story.

[edit] Knowledge Management

There is a broad range of thought on Knowledge Management with no unanimous definition. The approaches vary by author and school. Knowledge Management may be viewed from each of the following perspectives: Technocentric: A focus on technology, ideally those that enhance knowledge sharing/growth. Organisation al: How does the organisation need to be designed to facilitate knowledge processes? Which organisations work

best with what processes? Ecological: Seeing the interaction of people, identity, knowledge and environmental factors as a complex adaptive system. In addition, as the discipline is maturing, there is an increasing presence of academic debates within epistemology emerging in both the theory and practice of knowledge management. British and Australian standards bodies both have produced documents that attempt to bound and scope the field, but these have received limited acceptance or awareness. Knowledge Management has always existed in one form or another. Examples include on-the-job peer discussions, formal apprenticeship, discussion forums, corporate libraries, professional training and mentoring programs. However, with computers becoming more widespread in the second half of the 20th century, specific adaptations of technology such as knowledge bases, expert systems, and knowledge repositories have been introduced to further enhance the process. The emergence of Knowledge Management has also generated new roles and responsibilities in organisations, an early example of which was the Chief Knowledge Officer. In recent years, Personal knowledge management (PKM) practice has arisen in which individuals apply KM practice to themselves, their roles and their career development.

[edit] Schools of Thought in Knowledge Management

There are a variety of different schools of thought in Knowledge Management. These include: The intellectual capital movement with Leif Edvinsson and Tom Stewart A focus on collaboration including social planning concepts of community of practice, community consultation processes, public

participation and a range of collaborative technologies. Much of this work originates from research by Etienne Wenger and the Lotus Institute (now absorbed into IBM Research). Other prominent figures include Saint-Onge, McDermott and others. The use of social network analysis to understand interactions between people within organisations, both qualitatively and quantitatively, associated with Valdis Krebs, Stephen Borgatti, Robert L. Cross and others. A body of work derivative of information theory associated with Larry Prusak and Thomas H. Davenport and linked to the conversion of internalized tacit knowledge into explicit codified knowledge (SECI) allowing successful knowledge sharing as highlighted by Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi.

This is probably the dominant school of thought, as represented by publications and includes later developments by authors such as Probst, Von Krough & Malhotra amongst many others including Knowledge Asset Management Management of tangibles & intangibles, living networks, cocreation and whole systems through value networks and value network analysis (Allee). This work also includes linkages and connections to theory associated with the Learning organization Complexity approaches associated with David Snowden (see Cynefin) Max Boisot, J C Spender and others. Variations of this include the use of narrative (Snowden, David M. Boje and others) as a form of fragmented knowledge Systems thinking capacity based approach developed by Parent,

Roy, & St-Jacques proposing a new knowledge management paradigm that views knowledge as a systemic, socially constructed, contextspecific representation of reality. This is in sharp contrast to past approaches, focusing attention on the capacities that must be present in organizations and social systems as a precondition for knowledge transfer to occur. Knowledge in this context is viewed not as an object to be transferred but as a by-product of interactions between individuals with varying capacities.

[edit] Key concepts in Knowledge Management [edit] Drivers of Knowledge Management

There are a number of claims as to the "drivers", or motivations, leading organizations to undertake a knowledge management program. Popular business objectives include gaining competitive advantage within the industry and increasing organizational effectiveness with improved or faster learning and new knowledge creation. As knowledge management programs can often lead to greater innovation, better customer experiences, consistency in good practices, knowledge access across a global organization, and other organizational benefits, many knowledge management programs will usually set some of these as end objectives as well. The government sector represents a highly active area, for example DiploFoundation Conference on Knowledge and Diplomacy (1999) outlines the range of specific KM tools and techniques applied in diplomacy.

Some typical considerations driving a Knowledge Management program include: Making available increased knowledge content in the development and provision of products and services Achieving shorter new product development cycles Facilitating and managing organizational innovation and learning Leveraging the expertise of people across the organization Increasing network connectivity between employees and external groups with the objective of improving information flow Managing the proliferation of data and information in complex business environments and allowing employees to access appropriate information sources Managing intellectual capital and intellectual assets in the workforce (such as the expertise and know-how possessed by key individuals) as individuals retire and new workers are hired

[edit] Knowledge Management enablers

Historically, there have been a number of technologies 'enabling' or facilitating knowledge management practices in the organization, including expert systems, knowledge bases, various types of Information Management, software help desk tools, document management systems and other IT systems supporting organizational knowledge flows. The advent of the Internet brought with it further enabling technologies, including elearning, web conferencing, collaborative software, content management systems, corporate 'Yellow pages' directories, email lists, wikis, blogs, and other technologies. Each enabling technology can expand the level of inquiry available to an employee, while providing a platform to achieve specific goals or actions. The practice of KM will continue to evolve with the growth of collaboration applications, visual tools and other technologies. Since its adoption by the mainstream population and business community, the Internet has led to an increase in creative collaboration, learning and research, ecommerce, and instant information. Organisational enablers for knowledge management programs include Communities of Practice, Networks of Practice, before-, after- and during- action reviews (see After Action Review), peer assists, information taxonomies, coaching and mentoring, and so on.

[edit] Knowledge Management roles and organizational structure

Knowledge Management activities can be a discrete function or a part of an existing departmental function, such as Information Technology, Human Resources, Library functions or Strategy. Organisations can also be project based, using cross-functional teams incorporating specialist skills.

[edit]

Introduction

Knowledge

Types of Knowledge Management

The Essence of Knowledge

At various stages of civilization over the past five thousand years, successions of factors
have formed bottlenecks on the efficiency of human beings, threatening to repress the growth of civilization. Upto the end of 1800s, limits on amount of available arable land caused problems as populations were growing and there were more mouths to feed. Then as large-scale manufacturing came into existence, urban labours became the most valuable asset. Following technological breakthroughs, machinery came into picture of production and it began to improve the automation and industry had no longer to depend on labors to that extent. But due to investment in machinery, capital became all-important. Controlling flow of capital was foremost problem for the industrialists at that time and suddenly capital became the bottleneck to efficiency.

While traditional three factors of production Land, Labour and Capital have become easier to handle, in 21st century, a fourth factor is increasingly and fast becoming a hurdle or bottleneck for companies to grow. This is "Knowledge", which is at the heart of much of todays global economy and managing knowledge has become vital for companies success. KNOWLEDGE Knowledge can be defined as a fluid mix of experience, values, contextual information and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. Knowledge is information in action. Knowledge is what people in an organization know about their customers, products, processes, mistakes, and successes. Unlike the conventional Material assets, which decrease as they are used, Knowledge asset increases with use; Ideas breed new ideas, and shared knowledge stays with the giver while it enriches the receiver.

to someone who has never stood in kitchen or a diagram of machines is indecipherable without an engineering background. The Essence of Knowledge Management Knowledge Management is a process that, continuously and systematically, transfers knowledge from individuals and teams, who generate them, to the brain of the organisation for the benefit of the entire organisation. It is the systematic, explicit, and deliberate building, renewal, and application of knowledge to maximize an enterprise's knowledge-related effectiveness and returns from its knowledge assets. The central theme of Knowledge Management is to leverage and reuse knowledge resources that already exist in the organization so that people will seek out best practices rather than reinvent the wheel. Few other ways to define KM are, Capturing, storing, retrieving and distributing tangible Knowledge Assets such as copyrights patents and licenses. Gathering, organizing and disseminating intangible knowledge, such as professional know how and expertise, individual insight and experience, creative solutions and the like, brands, technology. Creating an interactive learning environment where people readily transfer and share what they know, internalize it and apply it to create new knowledge.

:: Knowledge Management Basics : Journey of KM in Tata Steel : KM Milestones : Home ::

Introduction

Phases

Stakeholders KM Portal

Opportunity of KM

Instruments of KM

Awards & Accolades

of the company which read Tata Steel enters the new millennium with the confidence of learning and knowledge based organization.. Then followed the new vision statement, co-created by the employees in 2001 (Fig. 1) which again identified Manage Knowledge as one of the main pillars in strategy to become EVA+ by 2007. This

KM Portal @ Tata Steel On the corporate intranet a KM Portal has been developed to communicate all KM related matters across the company. It provides an online knowledge repository to the users who can submit, search and use knowledge pieces available on it. The portal also provides a virtual forum where employees can invite and involve other fellow employees or lead experts (specific to interested areas) to discuss and solve the problems faced by them. Relevant Indian and international standards, quality system manuals, standard practices and procedures also feature for ready reference of users. Awards & Accolades Tata Steel has won many laurels for its endeavour and initiatives towards creating a culture of managing knowledge. It was the winner of MAKE Asia award for the year 2003 and 2004 (finalist in the year 2002). In 2005, Tata Steel won the first MAKE India award. It has also earned a distinction among Indian companies to be selected twice as a best practice partner by American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) for its KM process.

Tata Steel has embarked aggressively on the journey of becoming Global Leader with customer driven excellence, integrity and ethical behavior in all our transactions. The rate of success in achieving and exceeding the global standards will be directly proportional to how fast we deploy our knowledge, that we have acquired over last 100 years in minerals and metals business, besides that from customers, partners and other stakeholders, to each unit and person of Tata Steel and thereby expanding the pockets of excellence to cover entire organization. In this endeavor knowledge management initiatives and the modest success that we have had over last few years instills us with confidence of achieving our aspirations. Amit Khanna, Head Knowledge Management, Tata Steel

:: Knowledge Management Basics : Journey of KM in Tata Steel : KM Milestones : Home ::

Tata Steel ranked as no.1 in 2006 Indian MAKE Survey Tata Group recognized as one of the 2006 Global Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) Tata Steel is selected as a Best Practice Partner by APQC Second Time for KM An International Symposium on Knowledge Management was organised at Jamshedpur on December 6-7, 2005 Thrust on usage of knowledge assets through MASS Tata Steel winner of the first Indian MAKE Award, 2005 Launch of Knowledge Debate; a mode of knowledge transfer TATA STEEL Launches Knowledge Manthan TATA STEEL Wins MAKE ASIA 2004 AWARD Tata Steel is the Best Practice Partner in Tata Steel - Asian MAKE Finalist Knowledge Management Tata Steel wins the MAKE ASIA 2003 Award

October 04, 2006 Tata Steel ranked as no.1 in 2006 Indian MAKE Survey Tata Steel has been recognized as the overall (1st place) 2006 Indian

Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) Winner compared to its 6th position far the last year (2005). Other 2006 Indian MAKE Winners are (in alphabetical order): -- Bharti Airtel (Telecommunications) -- Eureka Forbes (Consumer products) -- Infosys Technologies (IT solutions) -- MindTree Consulting (IT consulting & solutions) -- Tata Consultancy Services (IT solutions) -- Wipro Technologies (IT solutions) 2006 Indian Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) Awards ceremony was held on September 28, 2006, in Bangalore, India, as part of "Infovision 2006 - The Knowledge Summit," organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and International School of Information Management (iSIM). Rory Chase, Managing Director of Teleos, announced the result of 2006 Indian MAKE Survey. Mr.R.R.Shah, Member Secretary, Planning Commission, Govt.of India presented the MAKE awards to all the winners. Mr.Amit Khanna, Head-Knowledge Management received the award on behalf of Tata Steel. Tata Steel's 2006 Indian MAKE rankings in the 8 knowledge performance dimensions which are the basis of the MAKE framework are: - creating an enterprise knowledge-driven culture (1st place) - developing knowledge workers through senior management leadership (2nd place) - delivering knowledge-based products/solutions (3rd place) - maximizing enterprise intellectual capital (3rd place) - creating an environment for collaborative knowledge sharing (1st place) - creating a learning organization (1st place) - delivering value based on customer knowledge (1st place) - transforming organizational knowledge into shareholder value (2nd place) According to Rory Chase, managing director of Teleos, "India is emerging as a dynamic center of innovative knowledge management. The annual Indian MAKE study serves as a benchmark to recognize those Indian companies which are leaders in effectively transforming enterprise knowledge into wealth-creating ideas, products and solutions. These companies are building portfolios of intellectual capital and intangible assets which will enable them to out-perform their competitors - both in India and abroad - in years to come." Business leaders, analysts and investors constantly ask: "What are the economic and competitive advantages of pursuing a business strategy based on knowledge leadership?" Based on the findings of the 2006 Indian MAKE study, the benefits are tangible and significant. One of the clearest metrics to demonstrate this fact is Total Shareholder Return (TSR). Last year, the TSR for the 2006 Indian MAKE Winners was 29%, more than five times that of the US Fortune 500 company median of 5.4%.

June 15, 2006 Tata Group recognized as one of the 2006 Global Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE)

The Winners of the 9th annual Global Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) study have been announced by Teleos and TATA Group (primarily due to Tata Steel & TCS) has been named as one of the winners of this coveted award. Toyota is the overall Global MAKE Winner". This is the first time that the Tata Group has been named a Global MAKE Winner. As per the summary report available Tata Group was rated high in two of the following knowledge dimensions Developing knowledge workers through senior management leadership (8th place) Creating an environment for collaborative knowledge sharing (13th place) According to Mr. Rory Chase, MD, Teleos, Tata Steel and Tata Consultancy Services received a similar number of nominations from the 2006 Global MAKE expert panel. Most of Tata Steel's nominations (approx. 90%) were from 2006 Global MAKE expert panel members located in Asia. Tata Steel received particularly high scores in the following knowledge performance dimensions: Creating a learning organization Delivering value based on customer knowledge Areas where Tata Steel can improve are: Maximizing enterprise intellectual capital Transforming enterprise knowledge into shareholder value

According to the 2006 Global MAKE Report, European knowledge-driven organizations are failing to keep pace with their Asian and North American counterparts, and more organizations are relying on innovation for the competitive advantage. The winners of the 2006 Global MAKE study, conducted by Teleos in association with The KNOW Network, are (in alphabetical order):

Accenture Apple Computer BHP Billiton Buckman Laboratories Dell Ernst & Young Fluor Google Hewlett-Packard Honda Motor McKinsey Microsoft Novo Nordisk PricewaterhouseCoopers

 Samsung Group Sony Tata Group 3M Toyota Motor Corporation Unilever

Rory Chase, managing director of Teleos, said: "These organizations have been recognized as global leaders in effectively transforming enterprise knowledge into wealthcreating ideas, products and solutions. They are building portfolios of intellectual capital and intangible assets which will enable them to out-perform their competitors now and in the future." A panel of Global Fortune 500 senior executives and internationally-recognized knowledge management/intellectual capital experts chose the 2006 Global MAKE Winners. The panel rated organizations against the MAKE framework of eight key knowledge performance dimensions which are the visible drivers of competitive advantage and intellectual capital growth. The 2006 Global MAKE Winners have been recognized as leaders in:

creating a corporate knowledge-driven culture developing knowledge workers through senior management leadership delivering knowledge-based products/solutions maximizing enterprise intellectual capital creating an environment for collaborative knowledge sharing creating a learning organization delivering value based on customer knowledge transforming enterprise knowledge into shareholder value

January 24, 2006 Tata Steel is selected as a Best Practice Partner by APQC Second Time for KM

THE American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) selected Tata Steel as one of
the Best Practice Partners in the area of "Leveraging Knowledge Across the Value Chain". The other organizations selected as best-practice partners are Buckman Labs, Raytheon, Caterpillar, and the US Air Force Material Command. All the Best Practice Organizations has been recognized on January 24-25, 2006 at Houston at the Knowledge Transfer Session. The message received from APQC is as follows:-

"Congratulations on being selected as a best-practice partner in APQC's Leveraging Knowledge across the Value Chain consortium benchmarking study! The study sponsors are impressed with the work Tata Steel is doing and are eager to learn from your organization as we continue through this study. The other organizations selected bestpractice partners are Buckman Labs, Raytheon, Caterpillar, and the US Air Force Material Command." APQC is involved in conducting consortium benchmarking study on various business processes. They have a structured methodology for identifying and selecting "Best Practice Partner" for a particular consortium benchmarking study. In the process they have identified Tata Steel as one of the potential best practice partners and after one and a half hour of teleconferencing APQC prepared a case study for Tata Steel which was then discussed with the sponsors of the benchmarking study. After going through the case study of each potential partner, sponsors select the best practice partner. All selected Best Practice Partners share their practices with sponsors and with each other through a virtual site visit and the cycle finishes with one and a half day Knowledge Transfer Session (KTS) in which Best Practice Partners present their case study to all the participating organizations and APQC recognizes them at the end of KTS.

December 6-7, 2005 An International Symposium on Knowledge Management was organised at Jamshedpur on December 6-7, 2005 The Indian Institute of Metals, Jamshedpur and Tata Steel have jointly organized a 2-day symposium on KM at Jamshedpur on Dec 6-7.Knowledge Management The key differentiator for Leaders was the main theme of the symposium. While inaugurating, MD, Mr.B Muthuraman, remarked that in todays business, knowledge is useful only if it is manifested. He stressed that creating a culture of innovation and allowing the freedom to fail are the basic ingredients to create a successful KM system in any organization. DMD(S), Dr.T Mukherjee, in his thematic speech addressed the gathering saying systematic application of knowledge and agile decision-making ultimately helps the company and the country to develop. There were 150 delegates from 45 organizations who gathered for the symposium. 4- Key note addresses by eminent KM experts of India and 13 speakers from organizations spanning almost all sectors of industry, e.g. manufacturing, IT, academia, chemical, power, service, government, etc. shared their best practice in KM. The 2-day symposium culminated with a panel discussion (fig.2) attended by all seven MAKE India winning organizations. The delegates joined hands in giving a standing ovation to the organizers and expressed satisfaction over the 2 days of deliberation on the following four themes: 1. Innovative ways of managing knowledge across value chain 2. Pragmatic understanding of KM converting concept into reality 3. Transforming enterprise knowledge into shareholder value

4. Aligning KM with business needs

2nd August, 2005 Thrust on usage of knowledge assets through MASS (Manthan ab shopfloor se) In order to promote horizontal deployment of available knowledge assets existing in the KM site, a new initiative was launched on 2nd August, 2005. This was inaugurated by Vice President (IR), Mr Avinash Prasad. MASS is an acronym derived from the hindi name Manthan Ab Shop-floor Se. It is a time bound process where one employee (supervisors from shopfloor) is chosen from selected departments for eight weeks. The entire 8-week programme is facilitated by the core KM group and carried out in following phases: Training and defining scope of work Searching of knowledge assets, harvesting with shopfloor employees and experts Identifying good practices Syndication with department and documentation

After completion of three waves the initiative so far has clearly demonstrated the following benefits: There is huge scope for horizontal deployment of available knowledge within the company. Some of the excellent ideas remain confined to their shell due to inadequate thrust on proper knowledge transfer. Structured guidance for a desired goal and interaction with different departments & experts during the wave has helped a lot in changing the way our MASS leaders think and has actually turned them into a real Change Agent at Shop-floor.

August, 2005 Tata Steel winner of the first Indian MAKE Award, 2005 For the first time in 2005, The Teleos MAKE research program instituted Indian Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) award in order to recognize organizations (founded and headquartered in India) for their ability to create shareholder wealth (or in the case of public and non-profit organizations to increase societal capital) by transforming new as well as existing enterprise knowledge into superior products/services/solutions. Tata Steel featured amongst the seven winners declared for this very first year of the award. The 2005 Indian MAKE panel recognized Tata Steel for creating an environment for collaborative knowledge sharing (1st place), and organizational learning (1st place).

The break-even point for a product is the point where total revenue received equals the total costs associated with the sale of the product (TR=TC). [1]A break-even point is typically calculated in order for businesses to determine if it would be profitable to sell a proposed product, as opposed to attempting to modify an existing product instead so it can be made lucrative. Break-Even Analysis can also be used to analyse the potential profitability of an expenditure in a sales-based business.

What is knowledge management? Some definitions

Hari Srinivas Coordinator, GDRC Unfortunately, there's no universal definition of KM, just as there's no agreement as to what constitutes knowledge in the first place. For this reason, it's best to think of KM in the broadest context. Succinctly put, KM is the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets. Most often, generating value from such assets involves sharing them among employees, departments and even with other companies in an effort to devise best practices. It's important to note that the definition says nothing about technology; while KM is often facilitated by IT, technology by itself is not KM. Source: CIO Magazine The act of making tacit knowledge explicit. Tacit knowledge is the knowledge we each carry in our heads about how to do things, who to call and the lessons learned through experience. Making it explicit is recording in some media that allows another person to use it. The media can be a complex computer database or a piece of paper tacked over the water cooler. There are as many definitions of knowledge management (KM) as there are ways to use it. Source: http://www.moviemaven.com/technical/definitions/gloslist.htm Knowledge management is concerned with organizing knowledge repositories (data bases etc.) so as to allow for easy retrieval and exchange of the information stored therein. Important concepts in knowledge management include domains, i. e. fields of related concepts and terms, and ontologies, i. e. structures (typically hierarchies or networks) of interrelated terms for things, concepts, relationships, etc. in a given domain.

Source: Felix Weigel A relatively new concept in which an enterprise consciously gathers and shares its knowledge to further its goals. Some components of knowledge management include data mining and data warehousing (Data Mining: The analysis of data for relationships that have not previously been discovered. For example, the revenues for a particular entre in a restaurant could, if related to other menu-item data, reveal a correlation between the purchase of a particular dessert with that menuitem. Data Warehouse: A centralized repository of operations and transaction information that is captured from diverse sources and is typically housed on a large-scale server). Source: Hospitality Technology - Buyers' Guide Knowledge is a fluid mix of contextual information, values, experiences and r. For an organisation this resides within employees (human capital) and represents a source of creativity, innovation and adaptability to change. Knowledge management is an explicit system to use this capital. Source: Article 13 Co. Knowledge Management is the process of capturing value, knowledge and understanding of corporate information, using IT systems, in order to maintain, re-use and re-deploy that knowledge. Source: OIC Document Management A streamlined approach at improving knowledge sharing across the entire organization. Accessibility of information, documents, best practice methodologies, templates, libraries, and other pertinent information. Hierarchical views of the entire organization, knowledge repositories, company policies, corporate handbook and collaboration Source: Tenrox PSA Knowledge Management is the systematic process of finding, selecting, organizing, distilling and presenting information in a way that improves an employee's comprehension in a specific area of interest. Source: Knowledge Management Server Knowledge Management - Information or data management with the additional practice of capturing the tacit experience of the individual to be shared, used and built upon by the organization leading to increased productivity (Tacit Knowledge - Innovation, creation of new knowledge often comes from collaboration and interaction with experts. These are some of the many ways to create a culture where there is greater collaboration, team work and sharing of ideas.). Source: KMTool Community

Knowledge Map - Mapping the expertise of an organization is valuable for several reasons. Easy access to a map of expertise of the organization can connect people when they need guidance resulting in quicker response rates, reduction of reinvention of the wheel, increased employee satisfaction and more. Maps can be used then to pull people in to assist on current projects or for offering training to employees who have existing good basic skills to equip them with additional skills the organization will need for future projects. Considerations include: skills, expertise, experience, and location. Source: KMTool Community

Accessing Information is not Acquiring Knowledge

Hari Srinivas Coordinator, GDRC It used to be traditional to blame bad decisions with lack of foresight and risk averse leadership. Both reasons have at their core a lack of information that cumulatively led to the bad decision being taken in the first place. But with the advent of advanced computing power, and the networking enabled by the Internet, this reason, of lack of information, no longer holds water. The information is there, collected in sometimes repetitive, overlapping cycles. The issue is therefore no longer a lack of it, but more of accessing and finding the right info at the right time - to be delivered to the right target. The challenge is to match an information need with an appropriate resource. This challenge focuses our attention on two key aspects are: (1) Accessing information - covering the technology dimension. How do we ensure that a decision-maker, in need of information to choose between alternatives and take a decision, is provided that info? How can the information be provided? The question is one of technology - how can a decision-maker access information quickly and efficiently?

(2) Finding information - covering the management dimension. With the advent of the Internet comes a new expression - information overload - of an overwhelming volume of information being delivered without sufficient disseminative justification. How can information be managed better - packaged better - to facilitate effective decisionmaking? Is a 200-page folder detailing the entire activity necessary to take a decision to initiate it (for the deicisionmaker)? Or is a one-pager with a bulleted list giving the salient points sufficient? Knowledge is a construct that is created in the mind of the user, as a result of the cycle of accessing, processing and understanding information. But providing and ensuring access to information per se will not complete the knowledge cycle. Quite clearly, it is the opportunity for value adding to information given to the user, which leads to generation of knowledge and understanding. Thus along with the provision of access to information, lies the need to create a two-way flow of opportunities to generate knowledge. On one hand are value-adding opportunities for the user to contribute experiences, insights and related information to the information being accessed. On the other are opportunities to contextualize and localize the information being accessed to the environment within which the user works. It is this value-adding, interactive give-and-take that leads to the generation of real knowledge.

User Analysis for Knowledge Management

Hari Srinivas Coordinator, GDRC A good knowledge management system has the right combination of different learning technologies and training methodologies to meet the specific learning needs of an

individual or organization and help achieve their goals. This combination can include self-paced and live learning experiences over the Web or other electronic media, traditional instructor-led training, and other forms of instruction. The key defining criteria for knowledge products and services is the needs of the end-user. Some basic issues and principles for developing learning products have looked at the user as a partner in the learning process, and not just a passive receiver. This is done by providing ample opportunity for feedback; opportunities for the user to network and find new people, organizations and institutions, and resources; opportunities to also contribute to the contents of the e-learning packages, etc. This kind of user's needs analysis is an important pre-requisite for the development of a good knowledge system. The table below outlines some of the issues to be considered: Aspect

Issues Who is the eventual end-user? What level does the end-user operate? What is the scope of activities of the end-user? What networks bring the endusers together? What local institutions/organizations work with the end-user? What does the organization's mandate and other guiding documents say of the end-user?

Target Identification

Needs Assessment

Besides the above points,

What are the end-users' targets? What are the end-user's objectives and goals? What will be included in a needs-assessment questionnaire (keeping in mind that these assessment change depending

on the end-users' targets, on the time scale, and scope/level of operation)?

Packaging Information

How can existing projects be 'redesigned' to generate info for e-learning products? How will the above needs assessment exercise help in identifying the format of the elearning package? How can different information packages be developed from the same block of data/information of a project? How can the information format be matched with the differing needs of the end-user? How can the subsidiary of information be maintained delivering the right info at the right time to the right level and the right end-user? How can the info on knowledge products be delivered to the end-user? What events (external and internal to the organization) can be used to disseminate knoledge meta-info, both online and offline? How can effective networking by the organization's staff serve the timely delivery of knowledge products? What appropriate information infrastructure needs to be developed for knowledge management: online and offline? What components of

Marketing

Delivery Modalities

knowledge products need to be on-line and what components need to be offline (electronic and hardcopy)?

Depending on the target enduser, what will be the frequency, format and mode of delivery of the knowledge products? Besides the main knowledge product, what kinds of support systems need to be put in place: ongoing - during the course of learning; and follow-up - as a continuous learning exercise? What kinds of value-added resources need to be delivered to the main e-learning product in order to make it more relevant to different end-users 'individualized' or 'regionalized'? How will queries and comments/suggestions etc. from users be processed? How will it be used to enhance the quality of knowledge products/processes? What will be the components of a M&E system? o Monitoring the enduser's use of the knowledge product itself o Monitoring the enduser's use of knowledge gained
o

Support Systems

Monitoring and Evaluation

Assessment of the quality/quantity of information/knowledge

provided in the knowledge package

Global Convergence and Local Divergence: Implications of Online Information Explosion

Hari Srinivas Coordinator, GDRC Much hype has been made of the Internet, specifically the World Wide Web, and the access to information that it has enabled. With more and more people having access to information online, and more and more people making information available online, the phenomenon of information explosion is becoming a reality. This cycle of uploading and downloading information forms the essence of both the probem and the solution. The negative impacts of information explosion are well known: David Lewis of the International Stress Management Association originated the phrase "information fatigue syndrome." The barrage of data to which we are constantly exposed carries a cost, both physically and mentally. The engendered feelings of helplessness, confusion, and anger will erode work efficiency, family functioning and lead on to other impacts. This situation is further exasperated by lack of information processing skills. But not all the impacts and effects of online information overload is bad:

Access to and availability of more information enables ideas, comparability and interlinkages. Are we doing

the right thing? How are others handling the same problem or situation? There are always problems behind more problems and so there will always be solutions for more solutions. Better and more information enable an integrative and holistic approach to be built by understanding the cause-effect dynamics. Linking the problem at hand to others who have faced similar problems, and have attempted different solutions, enable a broader and deeper understanding of the issues involved. More ideas can be generated as a result of this understanding Access to a broad range and myriad information aids local creativity, inspires action, and generates innovative ideas and ways of doing things. Continual learning is critical for anyone to be able to understanding changing values and behaviour patterns that affect the future. Access to information enables continual learning as an anytime-anywhere process.

Ultimately, filtering the vast pool of information available online to actual needs on the ground is the most critical in overcoming some of the problems associated with information overload. Access to a broader and deeper range of information worldwide facilitates convergence of concepts, visions and ideas at the global level; but also a divergence of approaches based on how information is interpreted and used at the local level.

An Example Global bytes for local bits: Case Studies of Community Sustainability
Sustainability is a buzzword that is used quite often without a proper understanding of its implication. We need to understand that sustainability is not a scientific concept, but a normative set of values, attitudes, perceptions and beliefs - i.e. desirability for a particular future. This is particularly critical at the local or community level. How have communities coped? What have communities been doing to incorporate sustainability principles in their daily lives?

http://www.gdrc.org/kmgmt/index.html

Ten ways to embed knowledge management