presents

CAPTURING TACIT KNOWLEDGE INTO KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

NITIN POTDAR, PARTNERnitin@jsalaw.com

BASICS …BY ALBERT EINSTEIN

1. Information is not knowledge…..

2. The only source of knowledge is experience….

DATA! DATA!! AND DATA!!!

• Millions of books/ periodicals/ newspapers/ research reports/ interviews/ videos/ movies.

• 23 Crores web pages indexed in 2009, and 7.03 Crores websites indexed by Yahoo! as of August 2005. Approx billions of emails sent everyday, billions of images & videos uploaded on several servers.

• As we talk hundreds of new books are being written, thousands of interviews/ news items are being reported and lakhs of webpages are being uploaded on the internet!

WHY MANAGE DATA?

• To avoid resources & time in identifying right information.

• To help creating latest/ updated solution.

• Avoid duplication of work or ‘reinventing the wheel’

• To identify new opportunities, and build on previous work.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT VALUE CHAIN

DATA

RELEVANT INFORMATION

EXPLICIT TACIT

How does a bicycle work? Theory How to ride a bicycle?

EXPLICIT(easily collected, organized and transferred)

• Documents, • Correspondence, • Reports & interviews,• Diagrams, • Database,• Audio & Video Visuals,• Webpage.

TACIT (context-specific, personal & hard to

formalize)

• Skills sets• Observation• Comments• Insights• Experience

• Perspectives• Judgment• Wisdom• Attitude.

WHY TACIT KNOWLEDGE IS CRUCIAL

• Mere information of law is no longer an USP…..• Clients pay for ‘solutions’ not ‘information’• Information imperfections do not exist in the practice of

law• Real-time transactions require firms to offer real-time

solutions• Practice of law requires firms to adapt and replicate

knowledge into readily usable form

KNOWLEDGE VARIANTS

• EXPLICIT Can be codified in tangible form Can be easily communicated and shared Characteristics – “Know-What”, “Know-Why” and

“Know-Who”

• TACIT Highly personal and therefore inexpressible Not easy to visualize and hard to express Characteristics – “Know-How” Is highly elusive

TACIT KNOWLEDGE: CHALLENGES

• ARTICULATION CHALLENGES Tacit knowledge is a mixture of deliberations, subjective

insight, intuition and judgment Difficult to articulate and store Requires extensive personal contact and mentoring

• CULTURAL CHALLENGES Sharing not part of corporate culture Insecurity / Lack of Trust Lack of absorptive capacity Intolerance for creativity ‘Not-invented-here’ or ‘proprietary’ syndrome

TRANSFERRING TACIT KNOWLEDGE

MOVEMENT OF TACIT KNOWLEDGE

“Movement of tacit knowledge within the organization is a distinct experience, not a gradual process of dissemination, and depends on the characteristics of everyone involved…..more of a mindset issue!”

TYPICAL DAILY INFORMATION FLOW

• Business News Papers– News/ Reports/ Opinions/ Interviews/ images.

• Books/ Periodicals• Documents received

– Emails/ Agreements/ Opinions/ Research Memos.

• Phone & Video Calls• Official Meetings/ Discussions• Social meetings.

How much do we systematically store & how much do we share?

INDIVIDUALLY DEALING WITH DAILY INFORMATION FLOW

• Create systematic folders and sub-folders on the Computer– Documents

• Agreement for Sale• Escrow Agreement

– Correspondence– Opinions

• While storing any document name it correctly and fill in the in the “Summary”.

• Install “Google Desktop” or similar search engine.

• More importantly start sharing.

MODES OF TRANSFERRING – TACIT KNOWLEDGE

Socialization Externalization Combination Internalization

MODES OF TRANSFERRING contd..• SOCIALIZATION - Tacit to Tacit

Occurs through apprenticeship, mentoring or collegial relations. Also described as “implicit learning” or “learning by doing”

• EXTERNALIZATION – Tacit to ExplicitWritten down or communicated through anecdotes, narratives, conversations, memos, emails, presentations, group discussions, etc. Also described as “articulation”

• COMBINATION – Explicit to ExplicitKnowledge transferred though standardized and systematic procedures. For ex., through a computer database

• INTERNALIZATION – Explicit to TacitResults in distribution of knowledge throughout the organisation and beyond.

PROCESS OF CAPTURING TACIT KNOWLEDGE

• Organizational culturePromoting knowledge-sharing tradition

• Discipline creating individual discipline and corporate discipline.

• Using technologyCapturing and recording knowledge on Information Systems, including document management, web-sites/ intranet.

PROCESS OF CAPTURING TACIT KNOWLEDGE (Contd.)

• Partner TrainingSenior Partners to contribute training in a drop-in fashion and share real-life experiences

• Insulating against attritionOrganize deal de-briefs, discussions on transactional dynamics

• Meetings and conferencesOrganizing deal debriefings, informal discussions to discussion transactional dynamics

INDIVIDUAL DISCIPLINE

• Storing information systematically on computers,

• Writing short memos/ notes / observations/ explanations/ footnotes.

• Key to success is …..start sharing knowledge with others & without any expectations!

Before you shut this PPT, please forward it to your 9 friends………..and see the results in 24 hours!

nitin@jsalaw.com Vakils House, 18 Sprott Road

Ballard Estate, Mumbai 400 001. IndiaT: +91 22  4341 8505  F: +91 22  4341 8616