1 / 23

A process view of knowledge management: it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it

A process view of knowledge management: it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it. 11th European Conference on Knowledge Management Universidade Lusíada de Vila Nova de Famalicão Famalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010. Professor John S. Edwards. Overview.

kaya
Download Presentation

A process view of knowledge management: it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. A process view of knowledge management:it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it 11th European Conference on Knowledge Management Universidade Lusíada de Vila Nova de FamalicãoFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010 Professor John S. Edwards

  2. Overview • Many organisations still find knowledge management a bit of a struggle • Need to think (more) about process • What process thinking means • Where we (you?) might go from here 11th European Conference on Knowledge ManagementFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010

  3. KM is like learning to drive • There’s a big difference between: • Doing the theory test • Sitting in the front passenger seat while someone else drives • Actually driving the car yourself

  4. “Driving” KM • General awareness is one thing… • …understanding is quite another • A commonly heard cry is that “we know about knowledge management as a concept, but how do we do it?”

  5. Doing KM isn’t easy • Over the past ten years or so, our research teams at Aston have seen: • Organisations where KM has been successful • Organisations where an ongoing KM initiative has had little or no impact • Organisations where KM has gone well for a time and then stopped •  Organisations where KM can’t get started

  6. “The Problem” • Managers seem to be happy about the basic principles of KM in isolation • But they have trouble in applying the ideas to their own organisation • Workforce may also have difficulty in doing what the KM recommendations suggest that they should

  7. Why is it difficult? • Not really much disagreement about “good KM”, at least in general terms • The fatal mistake is to treat KM as if it were a game of chess, where thinking of a move is the same as doing it… • …rather than a game of tennis, where doing it is what makes it difficult!

  8. Need to think process! 11th European Conference on Knowledge ManagementFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010

  9. What do processes do? • They flow • They do things for people • They cut across organisational boundaries • They make you think about the demand for knowledge, not just the supply of it 11th European Conference on Knowledge ManagementFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010

  10. People, processes and technology Directories, Communities of Practice New ways to work, build in what you want to achieve Repositories, Knowledge-based Systems

  11. KM History so far • Some say there have been two generations: • First generation KM – emphasis on Technology • Second generation KM – emphasis on People • …perhaps it’s time for more emphasis on Process? • Others, like Mouritsen and Larsen (2005) that there have been two waves: • The first, knowledge in individuals • The second, knowledge as intellectual capital • The second includes much more focus on process 11th European Conference on Knowledge ManagementFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010

  12. What do we need to be able to do to processes? • Identify processes • Design/plan processes • Implement processes • Facilitate processes • Monitor processes • Analyse processes • Mend processes • Retire processes 11th European Conference on Knowledge ManagementFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010

  13. Identify Analyse Design Monitor Facilitate Mend Retire Implement Or, as a diagram 11th European Conference on Knowledge ManagementFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010

  14. Changing a Process can be especially risky…Let’s watch some videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUvagsM176o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msXKYgTCDec 11th European Conference on Knowledge ManagementFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010

  15. Knowledge management (KM) and risk management (RM) • Risk management has increased priority/visibility at present • Global financial crisis • Natural disasters (global warming, pandemics) • Increased fear of terrorism • Recently we have been working on KM and RM, two sectors we have been researching being financial services (Eduardo Rodriguez) and health care (Athina Anthropopoulou)

  16. Biggest similarity – silo mentality • In hospitals, risk communication has to go up the silos and “over the top” • They say they cannot cut across at lower levels as no-one has the boundary spanning knowledge • In financial services, it seems different departments simply do not talk to each other, although it seems likely that they could understand one another • Middle managers in both cases focus “down” more than “up”

  17. Processes cut across silos • Despite what they say, especially in hospitals, those involved in “adjacent” or connecting activities within a process must be able to share knowledge • This doesn’t mean they have to have completely the same knowledge • It does mean they must have enough common knowledge to communicate where their responsibilities overlap • This requires that someone must oversee this communication (may be management, leadership or just facilitation) • May be a need for better ba 11th European Conference on Knowledge ManagementFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010

  18. Another non-process failure • A manufacturing company who thought that better IT support was the answer to a lack of knowledge sharing, but only the IT people wanted to share knowledge in this way 11th European Conference on Knowledge ManagementFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010

  19. Process successes • Bou and Sauquet (2004) – documenting the process of helping the unemployed to find a job; a proper process view with an awareness of knowledge led to very different documentation • Spies et al (2005) – implementing an intelligent search engine in Allianz required close attention to what the searchers did with it, and this was different between different departments • Apostolou et al (2007) – implementing a system in a management consultancy using what they called a “KM-enabled business process” • Barcelo-Venezuela et al (2008) – stress the importance of core processes; what the business – a university in their case – actually does 11th European Conference on Knowledge ManagementFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010

  20. And one of my own… • Public transport timetabling information – they thought they needed a “knowledge base” – a codified system • But a study from a process viewpoint revealed that codification would be solving the wrong problem • The major knowledge sharing issues were only about new staff • So the best approach to take was one of improving the induction process 11th European Conference on Knowledge ManagementFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010

  21. Key themes to watch for • Breaking the silos • Leadership and roles • Someone has to have the overview as a process • How does this relate to knowledge champions or CKOs, CIOs? • Learning – must be in the context of the activities that the task involves • Managing risk/uncertainty 11th European Conference on Knowledge ManagementFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010

  22. Do…and Don’t… Do: • Lead from the top • Make sure to cut across boundaries • Think in terms of an ongoing KM activity, not a “project” that is done and finished Don’t: • Go against the organization’s culture • Expect people (or systems) to change overnight • Ignore the exceptions to the process

  23. References • Apostolou D, Abecker A and Mentzas G (2007) Harmonising codification and socialisation in knowledge management. Knowledge Management Research & Practice 5(4), 271-285. • Barcelo-Valenzuela M, Sanchez-Schmitz G, Perez-Soltero A, Martín Rubio F and Palma J (2008) Defining the problem: key element for the success of knowledge management. Knowledge Management Research & Practice 6(4), 322-333. • Bou E and Sauquet A (2004) Reflecting on quality practices through knowledge management theory: uncovering grey zones and new possibilities of process manuals, flowcharts and procedures. Knowledge Management Research & Practice 2(1), 35-47. • Maier R and Remus U (2003) Implementing process-oriented knowledge management strategies. Journal of Knowledge Management 7(4), 62-74. • Mouritsen J and Larsen HT (2005) The 2nd wave of knowledge management: The management control of knowledge resources through intellectual capital information. Management Accounting Research 16(3), 371-394. • Spies M, Clayton AJ and Noormohammadian M (2005) Knowledge management in a decentralized global financial services provider: a case study with Allianz Group. Knowledge Management Research & Practice 3(1), 24-36. 11th European Conference on Knowledge ManagementFamalicão, Portugal, 2-3 September 2010

More Related