Case study

Whos leading knowledge management?

When Raylene Ridges was appointed to SimCo as the inaugural
chief information officer, the whole organisation inhaled in horror.
This was the woman who, in 5 years at CorpEx, had not managed
to create an effective IT system. Her ex-colleagues had indicated
that she had few leadership skills of any sort, and tended to rely
on others to get things done. They wished SimCo well, while
expressing relief and incredulity that any organisation might see
her as a potential CIO. The Simco work community were appalled.
They had awaited the appointee to this new role with great
enthusiasm.
The CEO was inundated with veiled or very direct queries from the
employees as to why Raylene was seen to have the desirable
attributes to support this key strategic role. we went through
due process, he responded. we used a head hunter, and gave a
very detailed outline of all the tasks which needed to be done.
But did you think about the leadership needed? asked his frantic
employees.
well, of course, he replied. That goes without saying.
And that was exactly the case. As the employees further explore
the selection criteria, they realized there was no mention of
leadership, or strategic focus. Raylene Ridges had been
appointed to set up a system for knowledge management. The
CEO wanted a knowledge environment where knowledge was
captured and clearly available through an integrated system
----just as his colleague in smitties was developing.
Key leaders of the SimCo community met to discuss how they
could work around and through Raylene. The managers of Human
Resources, staff Development, Business services and the
Information Service reviewed their approach to integration and

knowledge sharing. They agreed they were all supportive of the

process and recognized the need for some preparatory work
before Ridges arrived. Following extensive and very constructive
negotiations, they agreed a meeting with the CEO where they
presented a clear review of the key elements of knowledge
management leadership which they believed needed to be
integrated into any planned process. They proposed that an
Executive Knowledge leadership Committee should be formed to
enable coherent development of the knowledge management
context and to support the new CIO on her arrival.
The CEO listened carefully to their arguments for the committees
formation. He could appreciate their case for knowledge
integration and felt that the committee had potential. On the
other hand, he felt that committees often failed to achieve
anything, particularly managerial committees where each
stakeholder might seek to control the overall agenda. After
considerable reflection, he suggested that the group should
redevelop the proposal to emphasise how they would operate as
an executive knowledge team to build a coherent knowledge
strategy. He also asked them to present a plan for the overall
integration of the knowledge philosophy to the company Board in
6weeks time2 weeks after Ridges takes up her position. At this
presentation, they were to particularly explore the leadership
mechanisms which would be integrated into the proposed
process. A review of the knowledge leadership composition would
then be done if their case was sufficiently persuasive.
The managers met the next day to plan their strategy. They
recognized they had three key challenges :
1. Design a viable and practical team approach to knowledge
management.
2. Plan their induction of Ridges into their group so that she felt
committed and involved with the plane
3. Build a persuasive case to sell to the Board.

Questions:
1) The group needs to determine how it might work as a
team. What are the pros and cons of operating at this
level as a self- managed versus a leadership- directed
team? Could different approaches be used at different
times? Who should lead, if the leadership directed model
was preferred?
2) Ridges might be quite resistant to the thought of joining
an executive knowledge team. How might the group
present the case for her involvement?
3) The presentation to the Board is clearly an important
event. What are the main arguments the group would
wish to outline? What types of evidence for their proposal
should be presented? Would storytelling be a presentation
option?
4) What challenges would the group face in becoming a
leadership team? What issues would the group need to
consider in terms of operation, accountability and
communication?
5) The team will need to build a strategic vision of their
knowledge project. What aspects of people, products,
processes and the business context should be explored in
developing this vision?
6)