1. KM Tools IKM Workshop - China 23-25 May, 2005 Deependra b. Tandukar, ICIMOD
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5. KM Tools After action reviews - generally done after completion of the project - enables to find out what happened, why it happened, what went well, what needs improvement and what lessons can be learned from the experience Note - focuses on whole the process, not individual performance - learning opportunity, and depends of willingness of participants to be open
6. KM Tools Best practices - sharing of practices, specially the methodology that represent the best effective way of achieving the goal - most of the best practice knowledge are tacit ie held in people’s head so it combines two elements – explicit knowledge such as best practice database (connecting people with information) and methods for sharing tacit knowledge such as communities of practice (connecting people with people) Benefits - avoid reinventing the wheel - identify and replace poor practices; saving costs and improving efficiency Note - promote actively best practices - evolving process
7. KM Tools Communities of practice - network of people who share a common interest in a specific area of knowledge and are willing to work and learn together to develop and share that knowledge - CoPs are different from workgroup or team Benefits - avoid reinventing the wheel - cut across departmental boundaries and formal reporting lines Note - generally topics discussed must be linked to the members’ daily work - life cycle depends on what its members want and need
8. KM Tools Extranet - common spaces in which one can give access to external subscribers through a password and user id - allows subscribers to follow various discussion threads on a topic or a document - virtual space Benefits - let people work together, even at a distance - let people share, create and apply knowledge - all participants can post documents and comment Note - must keep documents up to date and archive documents that are obsolete
9. KM Tools Exit interviews - conducted with employees leaving an organisation Benefits - vital knowledge is not lost to the organisation when people leave Note - the purpose of the interview is not to gather knowledge itself, but to gather useful knowledge that will actually be used - The less you capture knowledge on a regular basis, the more you need to capture it at exit
10. KM Tools GIS - Geographic Information System - acquisition, processing, transformation, extraction, storage, presentation Benefits - can find what exists at a particular location - improved map service - improved analysis eg. of areas, distances, patterns - track and monitor growth and development over time - improved policy formulation and decision making Examples - Kirtipur Municipality Development - Kathmandu planning
11. KM Tools Knowledge centre - typically provides a focus for collecting, organising and disseminating both knowledge and information - enhanced version of a library Benefits - bring core knowledge management responsibilities and activities under a single umbrella rather than leaving it to dispersed individuals and teams - avoiding duplication of effort and resources - pooling expertise Note - concerned with 'active' not 'archive' knowledge - fully up-to-date with what is happening in the organisation including current priorities and work in progress - 'who is doing what now' - more concerned with connecting people with people
12. KM Tools Knowledge fair - seminars, workshops, and exhibitions arranged to make people aware of technologies and information that are applicable and useful across different sectors Benefits - people focus on what interest them - immediate interaction with the presenter - excellent tool for networking Note - support of senior management - costs for room, equipment, resources - Location is crucial to the success of the event
13. KM Tools Knowledge harvesting - to make some of the tacit knowledge: know-how of experts and top performers in an organisation more explicit - training, manuals, best practices Benefits - individuals can access experts’ knowledge when and where they need it, without being dependent on the availability of that expert - vital knowledge is not lost to the organisation when people leave - learning curve of new people joining the organisation is shortened Note - not all tacit knowledge can be made explicit - knowledge gathering and sharing is unlikely to happen if people feel they would be at a disadvantage by sharing their knowledge, eg, experts may feel that their status or job security depends on keeping their knowledge to themselves Goal - to capture an expert’s decision-making processes with enough clarity that someone else could repeat the same processes and get the same results
14. KM Tools Knowledge map - visual representation with details such as location, quality, accessibility, relation Approaches - knowledge resources and assets, showing what knowledge exists in the organisation and where it can be found - knowledge flows, showing how that knowledge moves around the organisation from where it is to where it is needed Benefits - highlights islands of expertise - Improves decision making and problem solving by providing applicable information
15. KM Tools Peer assists - team of people working on one project or activity call a meeting or workshop to seek knowledge and insights from people in other team(s) Benefits - allows to gain input and insights from people outside the team - reusing the existing knowledge/experience rather than reinventing the wheel - do not require any special resources or any new, unfamiliar processes
16. KM Tools Social network analysis - mapping and measuring of relationships and flows between people, groups, organisations - in contrast to an organisation chart which shows formal relationships, a social network analysis chart shows informal relationships - who knows who and who shares information and knowledge with whom Benefits - to visualise and understand the many relationships that can either facilitate or impede knowledge creation and sharing - raise awareness of the importance of informal networks
17. KM Tools Storytelling - use of stories in organisations as a communication tool to share knowledge Benefits - communicates ideas conveying a rich yet clear message - allow people to convey tacit knowledge - memorable so their messages tend to ‘stick’ and they get passed on - help to close the ‘knowing-doing gap’ Note - doesn’t always work - avoid telling a story for the first time at a high-profile, high-risk occasion
18. KM Tools White pages - a tool to help people to find others with the knowledge and expertise they need for a particular task or project - a staff directory, but with details about their knowledge, skills, experience and interests Benefits - simple to create - effective in helping organisations to ‘know what they know’ - allow people to find the tacit knowledge they need Note - formal communities of practice, project teams can be included - IT outsourcing, consultancy services, etc can be included
19. KM Tools Effective knowledge management can take place only when people are effortlessly able to share their individual ideas with others Thank you