This document is a lecture on knowledge management that covers:
- Definitions of knowledge management, data, information, and knowledge.
- Forces driving knowledge management like increasing complexity and market volatility.
- Approaches to managing knowledge including process, practice, and hybrid approaches.
- Components of a knowledge management system including technologies, communication, collaboration, and storage/retrieval.
- Challenges of knowledge management implementation including reluctance to share knowledge and ensuring system use.
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Refers to isolated facts such as individual
measurements.
No meaning on their own
Do not signify anything
Useless unless placed in some sort of context.
Data are raw facts about the organisation and its
business transactions.
Most data items have little meaning and use by
themselves.
Information is data that has been refined and organised
by processing and purposeful intelligence.
Information, purposeful intelligence, is crucial to the
definition
People provide the purpose and the intelligence that
produces true information.
Data, Information and Knowledge
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
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Data are raw facts that constitute building
blocks of information.
Information science defines data as unprocessed
information.
Information is data that have been organized and
communicated in a coherent and meaningful
manner.
Data is converted into information, and information
is converted into knowledge.
Knowledge: information that is evaluated and
organized so that it can be used purposefully.
Data, Information and Knowledge (cont…)
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Data, Information and Knowledge (cont…)
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Knowledge
Knowledge
Consists of symbols, the relationships
between them and rules or procedures for
manipulating them
Adds context to the information, providing
greater meaning and therefore much greater
use and value
Dynamic and changes with time
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Knowledge (cont…)
Explicit knowledge
Objective, rational, technical
Policies, goals, strategies, papers, reports
Codified
Leaky knowledge
Tacit knowledge
Subjective, cognitive, experiential learning
Highly personalized
Difficult to formalize
Sticky knowledge
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Managing Knowledge
KM is a process that helps organizations
identify, select, organize, disseminate, and
transfer important information and expertise
that are part of the organization’s memory.
KM is the process of systematically and
actively managing and leveraging stores of
knowledge in an organization
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Managing Knowledge (cont…)
Systematic and active management of ideas,
information, and knowledge residing within
organization’s employees
Knowledge management systems
Use of technologies to manage knowledge
Used with turnover, change, downsizing
Provide consistent levels of service
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Organizational Learning
Learning organization
Ability to learn from past
To improve, organization must learn
Issues
Meaning, management, measurement
Activities
Problem-solving, experimentation, learning from past,
learning from acknowledged best practices, transfer of
knowledge within organization
Must have organizational memory, way to save and share it
Organizational learning
Develop new knowledge
Corporate memory critical
Organizational culture
Pattern of shared basic assumptions
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Organizational Learning (cont…)
Organizations are realizing how important it is
to "know what they know" and be able to
make maximum use of the knowledge.
Preventing “reinvent the wheel” many times.
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Organizational Learning (cont…)
Thus, organizations need to know:
what their knowledge assets are;
how to manage and make use of these assets to
get maximum return.
KM can improve organization efficiency by providing
framework, tools and techniques to reuse captured
intellectual assets.
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Examples of Organizational Learning (cont…)
“We have four people in Makkah who know
how to solve this problem. How can we get
them to help our team in Madinah?”
"People are leaving the company with a
lifetime's experience. How can we capture and
re-use that?"
"We had a team that did a successful proposal
for aerospace five years ago. Why did they
make the decisions they did? How did they deal
with the customer? What made the team tick?"
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Examples of Organizational Learning (cont…)
"How do we start learning from our
experiences and help our people stop
repeating others' mistakes?"
"We're involved in an exciting project
with four other companies. How can we
all learn how these virtual teams tick?"
"Needs change often these days and
we're always bringing new people into
projects. How can we get them up to
speed and contributing quickly?"
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Through Knowledge Management
Knowledge management
Community of interest
Repositories
Communities of practice
Informal knowledge-sharing techniques
Employee initiated
Created ShareNet
Easy to share knowledge
Incentives for posting
Internal evangelists responsible for training,
monitoring, and assisting users
Top management support
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Knowledge-based Economy
Rapid changes in the business environment cannot be
handled in traditional ways.
Firms are much larger, with higher turnover and
require better tools for collaboration, communication,
and knowledge sharing.
Firms must develop strategies to sustain competitive
advantage by leveraging their intellectual assets for
optimum performance.
Managing knowledge is now critical for firms spread out
over wide geographical areas, and for virtual
organizations.
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Components of Knowledge Management
Systems
Technologies
Communication
Access knowledge
Communicates with others
Collaboration
Perform group-work
Synchronous or asynchronous
Same place/different place
Storage and retrieval
Capture, storing, retrieval, and management of
both explicit and tacit knowledge through
collaborative systems
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KM & Information Technologies
The KMS challenge is to identify and integrate
the following three technologies:
Communication technologies allow
users to access needed knowledge, and to
communicate with each other--especially
with experts.
Collaboration technologies provide the
means to perform group work.
Collaboration technologies use a
database management system to capture,
store and manage knowledge.
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
KM & Information Technologies
Information technology facilitates sharing as
well as accelerated growth of knowledge.
Information technology allows the movement
of information at increasing speeds and
efficiencies
Knowware are technology tools that support
KM.
Collaboration tools, or groupware, were the
first used to enhance collaboration for tacit
knowledge transfer within an organization.
KM suites are complete KM solutions out-of-
the-box.
Knowledge Servers contain the main KM
software, including the knowledge repository.
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Components of Knowledge Management
Systems
Supporting technologies
Artificial intelligence
Expert systems, neural networks, fuzzy logic, intelligent
agents
Intelligent agents
Systems that learn how users work and provide assistance
Knowledge discovery in databases
Process used to search for and extract information
Internal = data and document mining
External = model marts and model warehouses
XML
Extensible Markup Language
Enables standardized representations of data
Better collaboration and communication through portals
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Sharing Knowledge
Some people are reluctant to share knowledge due to the
following reasons:;
No skill in knowledge management techniques.
Willing to share, but not enough time to do so.
Don’t understand knowledge management and
benefits.
Lack of appropriate technology.
No commitment from senior managers.
No funding for knowledge management.
Culture does not encourage knowledge sharing.
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Knowledge Management Initiatives
Aims
Make knowledge visible
Develop knowledge intensive culture
Build knowledge infrastructure
Surrounding processes
Creation of knowledge
Sharing of knowledge
Seeking out knowledge
Using knowledge
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Knowledge Management Initiatives
Knowledge creation
Generating new ideas, routines, insights
Modes
Socialization, externalization, internalization, combination
Knowledge sharing
Willing explanation to another directly or through an
intermediary
Knowledge seeking
Knowledge sourcing
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Approaches to Knowledge Management
Process Approach
Codifies knowledge
Formalized controls, approaches, technologies
Fails to capture most tacit knowledge
Practice Approach
Assumes that most knowledge is tacit
Informal systems
Social events, communities of practice, person-to-person
contacts
Challenge to make tacit knowledge explicit, capture it, add to
it, transfer it
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Approaches to Knowledge Management
Hybrid Approach
Practice approach initially used to store explicit
knowledge
Tacit knowledge primarily stored as contact
information
Best practices
Best practices captured and managed
Methods that effective organizations use to operate
and manage functions
Knowledge repository
Place for capture and storage of knowledge
Different storage mechanisms depending upon data
captured
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Objectives of Knowledge Management
Davenport et al. (1998) describe four broad
objectives of knowledge management
systems in practice:
1. To create knowledge repositories.
2. To improve knowledge access.
3. To enhance the knowledge
environment.
4. To manage knowledge as an asset.
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Essence of KM
1. Knowledge is first created in the people’s
minds. KM practices must first identify
ways to encourage and stimulate the ability
of employees to develop new knowledge.
2. KM methodologies and technologies must
enable effective ways to elicit, represent,
organize, re-use, and renew this
knowledge.
3. KM should not distance itself from the
knowledge owners, but instead celebrate
and recognize their position as experts in
the organization.
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Knowledge Repositories
Specially Structured Databases. Some
systems have been developed in Lotus
Notes/Domino Server and hence utilize
the Notes database structure.
These specialized databases are ideal
for storing tacit knowledge because of
its nature.
Electronic Documents. Others have
been developed around electronic
document management systems.
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Knowledge Management System Cycle
Disseminate
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Knowledge Management System Cycle
Creates knowledge through new ways of doing
things
Identifies and captures new knowledge
Places knowledge into context so it is usable
(Refine)
Stores knowledge in repository
Reviews for accuracy and relevance (Manage)
Makes knowledge available at all times to anyone
(Disseminate)
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
KM Benefits
Reduction in loss of intellectual capital when people
leave the company
Reduction in costs by decreasing the number of
times the company must repeatedly solve the same
problem
Economies of scale in obtaining information from
external providers
Reduction in redundancy of knowledge-based
activities
Increase in productivity by making knowledge
available more quickly & easily
Increase in employee satisfaction by enabling
greater personal development and empowerment
Strategic competitive advantage in the marketplace
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
KM Integration
Since a KM system is an enterprise system, it must
be integrated with other enterprise and information
systems in an organization.
The most important systems to integrate with are;
o Decision Support Systems
o Artificial Intelligence
o Databases and Information Systems
o Customer Relationship Management Systems
o Supply Chain Management Systems
o Corporate Intranets and Extranets
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Factors Leading to Success and Failure of
Systems
Success
Companies must assess need
System needs technical and organizational
infrastructure to build on
System must have economic value to organization
Senior management support
Organization needs multiple channels for knowledge
transfer
Appropriate organizational culture
Failure
System does not meet organization’s needs
Lack of commitment
No incentive to use system
Lack of integration
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Knowledge Management Issues
Buying & Selling
Knowledge
Most firms are
reluctant to sell
knowledge, unless
they are expressly in
the business of doing
so.
A firm’s knowledge is
an asset that has
competitive value.
Encouraging System
Use
Employees must be
motivated properly to
contribute knowledge.
The mechanism for
doing so should be
part of their job, and
their salaries should
reflect this.
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Discussion
How do you manage your personal
knowledge so you can best reuse it?
How do you share your knowledge with
others?
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, College of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
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Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, Faculty of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University
Reference
Irma Becerra-Fernandez, Avelino Gonzalez &
Rajiv Sabherwal: Knowledge Management:
Challenges, Solutions and Technologies.
Prentice Hall, 2004.
Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, Lecture Notes, Taibah
University, 2010.