Knowledge Management
Session Two
Organizational Knowledge Management
Intellectual capital
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Intellectual capital is combination of the Intellectual property (IP) held by a business and the people in that business that can exploit and increase it.•
‘The difference between the market value of apublicly held company and its official net book value is the value of its intangible assets’ (Svieby, 1997)
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‘Intellectual material – knowledge, information, intellectual property, experience – that can be put to create wealth’ (Stewart, 1997)•
‘The economic value of two categories of intangible assets of a company: organisational (“structural”)Reasons for measuring intellectual capital
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To improve management practices?•
For external analysts, bankers, brokers, customers, etc.•
Can we measure the tacit ‘know how’?•
Are snapshots meaningful?•
Fluctuations in capital markets?•
Dangers of benchmarking?Social capital
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Structural dimension showing the linkages and connections between actors such as the density and hierarchy of networks•
Relational dimension that provides the history of interactions between individuals resulting in certain levels of trust, norms and expectations•
Cognitive dimension that leads to shared meanings, interpretations, mental models and alignment of viewsOrganizational capital
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Pure form such as organisational structure•
Hybrid form – embodied in individuals through socialisation•
Investments will lead to greater worker productivity?•
Differences between structural, human and organisational capital?Intellectual property
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Intellectual assets – documents, drawings, software programs, data, inventions and processes•
Intellectual property – claim ownership to patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets•
In knowledge based economy, do we need to manage intellectual property strategically?•
Offer greatest level of protection•
Gather revenue from licensing agreements•
1998 – ‘method of doing business’ patents in US•
Smart patents – extend the life by using continuation patentsCopyright
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Prevent infringements on copying, distributing, performing or displaying material•
Protect the original works for a longer period of 100 years•
Problems of copyright in the digital age and the potential need for encryptionA learning cycle
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Behavioural learning – ‘single-loop learning’ involves maintaining an organisation’s ‘theory-in-use’•
Cognitive learning – ‘double-loop learning’ involves questioning assumptions and valuesWhat drives organizational learning?
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Making sense of ambiguous situations of high complexity and uncertainty e.g. nuclear attack•
Involves process of ‘situational awareness’ to understand linkages between people, places and events•
Allows inferences to be made of future scenarios•
Lack of situational awareness is primary factor affecting human error•
Use mental models from previous experiences•
‘Cognitive gap’ between mental models and new observations or circumstances•
World is different from expectations•
Meaning arises from labelling and characterisation – socially defined•
Not about truth or accuracy but updating plausible stories through dialogue•
Identity shapes our mental models and actionsSensemaking (2)
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Knowledge acquisition•
Information distribution•
Information interpretation•
Organisational memoryOrganizational learning
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Congenital learning•
Experiential learning (experiments, self-appraisal, unintentional, learning curve)•
Vicarious learninglearning that occurs as a function of observing, retaining and replicating behavior observed in others.
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Grafting•
Searching and noticing (scanning, focused search, performance monitoring)•
Links with organisational communication•
Probability that A will rout information to B (member or unit)•
Probability of delay in routing information by A to B•
Probability and extent of information distortion by A when communicating to BInformation distribution
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Cognitive maps and framing•
Media richness – variety of cues medium can convey and rapidity of feedback•
Information overload – detracts from effectiveInformation intepreatation
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Personnel turnover results in loss of organisational memory•
Non-anticipation of future needs means that memory may not be stored•
Who has the information I want?•
Storing and retrieving information•
Computer-based organisational memoryOrganizational memory
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‘Unlearning is a process through which learners discard knowledge. Unlearning makes way for new responses and mental maps’•
Challenge and negate processes to unlearn world views•
Challenge and negate connections between stimuli and responses•
Challenge and negate connections between responses•
‘…is a learned and stable pattern of collective activity through which the organisationsystematically generates and modifies its routines in pursuit of improved effectiveness’
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Double-loop learning?•
Learning mechanisms (experience, knowledge articulation and codification) lead to dynamic capabilities which, in turn, lead to evolution of operating routinesDynamic capability
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Learning takes place through interactions between people shaped by cultural norms•
Social and political processes impact onorganisation’s ability to absorb new knowledge and practices
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Ability of organisations to absorb and apply new knowledge•
Capacity to learn and solve problems•
Knowledge capacity driven by high previous experience, diversity and commonality•
Knowledge capability driven by problem solving and knowledge transfer abilities•
Gatekeepers important to transfer knowledge across boundariesAbsorptive capacity
Politics and organizational learning
Organizational learning versus learning
organization
Systems characteristics
Drivers for KM systems
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Deming and Juran – most errors arose from ineffective systems rather than operators•
PDCA: Plan, Do, Check, Act•
TQM and continuous improvement•
BPR led to flatter hierarchies•
Lean production including just-in-time and eliminating zero-value activitiesElectronic document management systems
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Convergence of document processing, imaging and IT•
Combines text with digital audio and video•
Forms management allows organisation and structure of data•
Indexing, searching and retrievalChallenges for EDMS
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Privacy – sensitive information•
Currency – can add ‘date of last change’•
Performance – whether the existing bandwidth•
Assist decision making by combining data,analytical tools and models to support structured and unstructured decisions
