MICROSOFT

CORPORATION
Knowledge Management Report
 Page | 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.....................................................................................................2

About Microsoft Corporation............................................................................2

Knowledge Management of Microsoft Corporation..........................................3

Diffusion of Knowledge....................................................................................5

Knowledge Management and Change.............................................................5

Knowledge Management and Society..............................................................6

Knowledge Management and Global Perspective............................................7

Recommendations...........................................................................................7

References.....................................................................................................10
 Page | 2

INTRODUCTION
Knowledge Management, as defined by Davenport, is a process of capturing, communicating
and efficiently using the knowledge. By knowledge it meant the informational assets or
intellectual capital of an organizations which may include documents, databases, and polices of
that organization. Efficient use or management of such knowledge is vital for an organization in
terms of performance and growth. More the company efficiently manage its intellectual assets,
the greater the performance, progress and growth of the organization in the market. Knowledge
management is different from the information management. Basically, information management
collects, stores, and processes information via various sources. Whereas, knowledge
management shares and reap useful knowledge in order to enhance the performance and
productivity of the organization. Moreover, it also aids in improvising the innovations and
enhancing creative ability of the organization. Plus, with the proficient use of knowledge
management, employees of an organization can become better decision makers and problem
solvers. They might become competency of the organization.

Knowledge is categorized into two basic categories, explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge.
Explicit knowledge means any kind of information which is described or presented in tangible
form. For example, the monthly sales record or yearly financial statements of the organization.
Tactic knowledge means any kind of information which is extremely difficult to present in
tangible form. For instance, the knowledge which is stored in a persons mind, his intellectual
knowledge.

We have selected Microsoft Corporation in order to examine and analyze the knowledge
management application in an organization. And, how modern companies use knowledge
management to enhance their competitive strength.

ABOUT MICROSOFT CORPORATION

Microsoft Corporation is an USA based, technology company which was founded in year 1975
by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. It is market leader in the information technology industry across
the globe. Generally, they provide software and devices for business and personal use. Their
portfolio contains an operating system named Windows, a tablet called Surface Pro, a
smartphone named Microsoft Lumia, and there are other vast variety of products including
 Page | 3

Microsoft Office, Xbox, and Skype. Apart from this, they also offer several services for both
business and personal use. For instance, their valuable services are OneDrive a cloud platform
for data storage, Bing a search engine and several others. Their headquarters are situated in
Redmond and Washington. Furthermore, their operations and activities are spread in
international markets. Additionally, they are component of S&P 500, NASDAQ 100 and Dow
Jones Industrial Average.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT OF MICROSOFT

CORPORATION
As one of the technology leader, Microsoft requires information management and knowledge
management in order to maintain its current status in the steel industry. Currently, Microsoft uses
the strong and developed knowledge management system for sharing of knowledge within its
organization and industry. Primarily, the knowledge management system works as integrated
device which communicates the useful information and knowledge to the relevant departments
and employees.

The knowledge management system at Microsoft was started in 1995 when a project named
Skills Planning under Development was developed by IT department. Basically, it was an online
system designed for competency system for workers and jobs internally. It was established that
individual knowledge and intelligence was not enough for the organizations growth. The
corporation required supreme level of intelligence and knowledge for advancement. Thus, a
platform was created to gather all the corporations intelligence at one place where every worker
can contribute their ideas and knowledge.

In the current knowledge management platform of Microsoft, relevant documents are uploaded
in the knowledge management platform by the team which manages the knowledge management
system platform. Once documents and relevant information is uploaded on the portal then it
could be shared among the various departments and personnel of the organization. Mainly, the
document center is centralized and it is not divided according to the functional areas of the
company.

Additionally, the Microsoft has knowledge management practices which includes Breakfast
meetings and Biz Talk. Breakfast meeting is primarily used for knowledge sharing among the
 Page | 4

whole corporate workers. It helps in developing the knowledge of employees regarding certain
aspects of the companys operations and workings. Whereas, Biz Talk is kind of a knowledge
hub where discussions are carried out regarding companys products and services. It is available
for each individual. So, any person within the organization can post a question regarding
organizations products, services, and operations and it will be answered by the relevant
individual.

Besides document center, there is also section for general announcements, useful links and
database links. This particular section is updated periodically by the team of the knowledge
management system. In addition to this, the management continuously look into methods and
techniques to improvise the knowledge management system in order to enhance the efficiency
and performance of the system which would ultimately lead to the improvement and growth of
the business. In order to get ideas about enhancement of system from the users of knowledge
management system, various articles were uploaded on the platform and website. These articles
also provided assistance to users in learning about the usage of the knowledge management
system. Moreover, a dashboard was created through a website in order to train the managers and
employees about the knowledge management. Training material and study courses were also
made available to the managers and workers.

In order to maintain the strong network among all of the operational bodies around the globe,
company has also incorporated an online library in its knowledge management system platform
where knowledge about the products and services is shared. It also offers e-learning courses and
material to enhance employee skills and knowledge regarding several aspects. Furthermore, there
are sections for blogs and wikis such as SharePoint. Blogs aids employees to freely provide their
stance and opinion on any particular matter regarding the organization. While, wikis provide the
necessary information about various aspects of the organization which enriches the
understandability of the employees.

Keeping in mind the primary purpose of the knowledge management system which is
communicating, sharing, and managing of the information and knowledge, the Microsoft is
utilizing the system at its full capacity. They have everything that a perfect knowledge
management system should have. For instance, sharing of knowledge and generation of ideas
 Page | 5

requires discussion and brainstorming among the employees, and in the current knowledge
management system of the company there is product to initiate discussion among the workers.

However, there is always room for improvement and upgrades. Microsoft can enhance the
efficiency of knowledge management system by implementing artificial intelligence.
Furthermore, they can design ways to minimize the duplication of the information. As this leads
to huge amounts of redundant information and high maintenance costs. Also, the risks of
information leaks need to be catered and security of the knowledge management system can be
improved. As, the leakage of the vital information regarding the corporation can harm the overall
growth and development of company.

DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge can be of different forms. Understanding the various forms of knowledge is initial
step in efficiently managing the knowledge. Within an organization there lies primarily two
classifications of knowledge. Namely, they are explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. Explicit
knowledge means tangible or codified knowledge such as knowledge found in documents or in
solid form. Whereas, tacit knowledge refers to non-codified knowledge which means
experienced based and personal knowledge of employees which cannot be transformed into
tangible form.

Basically, explicit knowledge, due to its tangible form, is easy to store, identify and share.
Knowledge management system can easily handle explicit knowledge. However, greatest
challenge encountered by this type of information is that management have to make sure that
people in organization must have access to their concerned information and knowledge. Also,
this type of information is much simpler and do not contain much experienced-based information
thats why it might not help company in creating long lasting competitive advantage.

On the other hand, tacit knowledge is basically experienced based, hard to define knowledge.
Plus, this type of knowledge is very difficult to communicate and share with others. Despite the
cumbersome nature of tacit knowledge, it is considered most valuable type of knowledge
because it can lead to competitive advantage and breakthroughs. If an organization does not
focus much on tacit knowledge, then it might result in reduced innovation and competitiveness.
 Page | 6

Furthermore, it is quite difficult for knowledge management system to handle this type of
knowledge.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND CHANGE

Knowledge management hazes the limitations between the various functional departments within
the organization. Traditionally, each functional department used to keep their data and
information to themselves. There was no such concept as sharing that data between various
departments. Because it was believed that information of one department is not so useful for
another department. After the use of knowledge management, the boundaries regarding the share
of information was blurred and sharing of data and information was encouraged. Now people use
data of other departments in order to make informed decisions which improved the quality of
decisions.

In utilization of knowledge management in efficient manner, dissolving of boundaries and

limitations among the functional departments, regarding the share of information and data,
played a vital role. Because knowledge management cannot work efficiently within hierarchal
levels. Knowledge management requires peer-to-peer structure or bottom-up structure in order to
be fruitful and beneficial for an organization. Furthermore, knowledge management need to be
worked upon simultaneously with other concepts such as restructuring and cost cutting. Dealing
knowledge management in isolation might not be beneficial for the organization. Because
efficiency of the knowledge management depends upon corporate culture, corporate structure,
motivation of employees, and cross sectional boundaries within the organization. In order to
enhance the efficiency of knowledge management, the management need to focus upon creation
on cross functional teams, because they generate innovative ideas and leads to increase in
individual learning and team learning.

Additionally, there is another matter regarding the knowledge management in terms of change.
Due to rapid change in the technology and advancement in the processes and procedure, the risk
of obsoledge has increased drastically. In layman terms, obsoledge means obsolete knowledge.
With the increase pace in the technological advancement, the probability has increased about the
knowledge that company has acquired to become outdated and obsolete. Also, obsolete
knowledge is piling up in organizations day by day with the rapid change. Based on this outdated
information, managers make operational, tactical and strategic decision. These decisions might
 Page | 7

not work for organization as they are supposed to do because their quality is deteriorated as they
are based on obsolete knowledge.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND SOCIETY

Knowledge management also helps an organization in managing its human capital. Due to
efficient use of knowledge management, employees become more satisfied with their jobs.
Because knowledge management provides empowerment to employees to express their opinions
and ideas. As a result, their personal development increases and ultimately company enjoys the
higher productivity and growth. Furthermore, a satisfied employee is reluctant to leave an
organization. Indirectly, knowledge management aids are retaining the employees for the longer
time periods. Due to which intellectual capital of the company is retained and it is not lost
because of people leaving the company. Moreover, knowledge management creates a democratic
environment within an organization by providing everyone access to the knowledge and freedom
to express their opinions. Besides this, knowledge management enhance the ability to learn
among the employees and workers which makes them better decision maker and problem
solvers. Overall, due to quality workforce, the company remains competitive in the industry.

Besides being beneficial for the employees, knowledge management system can also be
beneficial to the society as a whole. Through knowledge management system a company can
gather its complete supply chain on a single platform. The contribution of knowledge from the
whole supply chain can provide the valuable insights about the markets, competitors, and
customers. This could provide the competitive advantage to the corporation. Moreover, this
might also create the knowledge based community which would be beneficial not only for any
particular organization but also for the whole industry.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Day by day, the scope of the competitive market is expanding. No the organizations are no
longer focused upon national levels. But they are expanding into international waters that is
towards globalization. Primary and significant reason for such change is the profit maximization.
And, share of knowledge has become the new capital which assists growth of the companies. The
knowledge based economy is different from typical economy. Here, knowledge resource adapts
and grow with the use and sharing rather than becoming scarce. Also, the restriction of
 Page | 8

boundaries and geographic locations is eliminated through the use of technology and innovation.
Now, virtual markets and virtual organizations can be creating via technology which can be cost
and time efficient. And, they can cater the whole global market.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Microsoft needs to work on improvising its knowledge management system in order to gain
competitive edge in the industry. We are recommending a framework that might improvise the
current knowledge management system of the company. Initial task before and after the
implementation of knowledge management is that of acquiring and collecting the data and
converting it into knowledge. Therefore, a proper framework should be established by the
company for acquisition of knowledge. After collection of knowledge, the task of validation of
knowledge become significant. It is the duty of management to identify the authenticity and
accuracy of the knowledge collected. Because misleading knowledge can lead to disastrous
future for the organization as decisions are taken based on the collected knowledge. So a proper
team need to be assigned in order to filter out the collected knowledge in order to gain
competitive advantage. Once the knowledge is filtered then the management can divide the
knowledge according to categories and classifications in order to make the use and access of
knowledge easier for the users of knowledge management. The documents can be stored for
longer time periods and can be accessed when they are required. The last stage of the framework
is the utilization of the knowledge. This the most critical part in the knowledge management
system. Because inefficient use of the knowledge can result in unproductive and disastrous
impacts of the organization. Efficiently sharing the knowledge and communicating the
information among the whole organization makes the knowledge management efficient. And, it
makes knowledge the part of the business intelligence that supports the organization in being
competitive and overpowering the traps of the markets.

Now, the strategy that Microsoft can implement is that the management of Microsoft can
introduce reward system for the employees who make contribution in the sharing of knowledge.
This initiative might motivate the employees in participating in sharing of knowledge and
creation of efficient knowledge management system. The rewards can be of monetary and non-
monetary form. Beside employees, Microsoft can create this healthy environment for their
suppliers as well. Suppliers can be motivated to join and contribute in the knowledge sharing
 Page | 9

network. These initiatives depict the importance of knowledge sharing. Also, it reflects the
priorities of the organization. Plus, it shows that time spend by people for sharing the
information is not wasted at all and it is reflected in their career paths. Furthermore, both existing
and new employees of the Microsoft should be trained about the usage of knowledge
management system. The training should focus upon the sharing and making contribution in the
system and the procedure to utilize the companys knowledge management system.

On the whole, efficiently implementing the knowledge management on the strategic level will
provide the Microsoft a competitive edge in the market. They would perform better than their
rivals. Moreover, it will result in improvised productivity as quality knowledge will be readily
and easily available to the employees. Which will assist employees in making high quality
decisions. Also, the costs of the company will also diminish as the company enjoys the benefits
of economies of scale by collecting the information form the external sources. Thus, the fruits of
efficient knowledge management clearly outweigh the costs of knowledge management.
 P a g e | 10

REFERENCES

Definithing.com. (2016). Obsoledge definition | What does Obsoledge mean?. [online] Available
at: http://definithing.com/obsoledge/ [Accessed 28 Sep. 2016].

Frost, A. (2016). Types of Knowledge. [online] Knowledge-management-tools.net. Available at:

http://www.knowledge-management-tools.net/different-types-of-knowledge.html [Accessed 28
Sep. 2016].

Moyak.com. (2016). Knowledge Management: The Essence of the Competitive Edge - tacit,
CKO, intellectual assets, learning culture, Deming, change. [online] Available at:
http://www.moyak.com/papers/knowledge-management.html [Accessed 28 Sep. 2016].

News.microsoft.com. (2016). Facts About Microsoft | News Center. [online] Available at:
http://news.microsoft.com/facts-about-microsoft/#sm.00003t501k695cvlsrm19abb81mxh
[Accessed 28 Sep. 2016].

Quora. (2016). What are some best practices and good tools for sharing knowledge within an
organization?. [online] Available at: http://What are some best practices and good tools for
sharing knowledge within an organization? [Accessed 28 Sep. 2016].

Quora. (2016). What is the relationship between social capital and human capital?. [online]
Available at: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-relationship-between-social-capital-and-
human-capital [Accessed 28 Sep. 2016].

Sharma, (2014). Knowledge Management practices at Microsoft. [online] Slideshare.net.

Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/VanishreeSharma/km-practices-at [Accessed 28 Sep.
2016].

UK Essays. (2016). Best Practice Of Knowledge Management Sharing Management Essay.

[online] Available at: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/management/best-practice-of-
knowledge-management-sharing-management-essay.php [Accessed 28 Sep. 2016].