Information and Knowledge Management

Class 4: Knowledge Management Evolution

Marielba ZacariasProf. Auxiliar DEEI

FCT I, Gab 2.69, Ext. 7749mzacaria@ualg.pt

http://w3.ualg.pt/~mzacaria

SummaryKnowledge as an asset

Origins of the knowledge worker

Types of Intellectual Capital

Initial definition of the types of knowledge

Knowledge Management vs Re-engineering

Web 2.0 Tools

Document sharing

Origins

Born with language

Formally emerges from developing

formal procedures

products

“leverage” or “know-how” embedded within work practices

Origins• post-war

• knowledge created during II world war

• proliferation of

• universities

• more knowledgeable workers

• creates knowledge society

• need to manage such knowledge

At that time..• USA Organizations

• bureaucratic

• hierarchical structures

• high formalization, segmented, centralized

• impersonal environments

Europe and Asia• Post-war reconstruction

• New ways of organizing and managing organizations

• employes more involved in defining and planning businesses

• managers & employees got together

• focus on quality

In USA..• Market share starts coming down

• Perception of inefficiencies, fragmentation and resistance to change

• Middle of the 90s

• Formal knowledge management practice

• first in academy...

“Knowledge Worker”

• Peter Drucker

• Landarmarks of Tomorrow (1959)

• Creates the term “Knowledge worker”

• New class of employee from industrial worker (white collar vs blue collar)

• with unprecedented education levels

Tacit vs Explicit• Michael Polanyi

• The tacit dimension (1966)

• Difference between tacit and explicit knowledge

• Focus on knowledge

• not only as a product..

• but also as a process (acquisition and deployment)

• Enfasis on tacit knowledge

• Does not exist without human interaction (social process)

• Is MORE than Information Management

Shared Principles

• J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman

• In Search for Excellence (1982)

• Succesful organizations in competitive environments

• Shared values and practices regardles of their size, mission, product and client base

The value of IT

• Paul Strassmann

• Information payoff (1985)

• Shows the impact of IT on productivity

• Importance of means to measure and assess the value of human capital

• The concept of knowledge as an identifiable and quatifiable asset emerges

Re-engineering

• Michael Hammer and James Champy

• Reingeneering the Corporation (1992)

• The situation is so desperate that the only solution is to forget everything and redesign the organization from scratch (white sheet)

• The process paradigm is introduced

Process Paradigm

vendas

contabilidade

produção

Gerar ordem

Emitir ordem

Verificar crédito

Aprovar crédito

Gerar factura

Assembl. produto

Enviar produto

The case of Ford

vendedor

vendedor

Contas a pagar

Copia ordem compras

Ordem compra

Nota de envio

factura

pagamento

materiais

mat

eriai

s

Contas a pagar

compras Ordem compra

Sistema

Results

• Showed that

• Procedures & rules not effective any more

• Renovated several enterprises

• Several failures

• A lot of firings

Re-engineering forgot..

• Replacing outdated knowledge for knowledge that would be quickly outdated

• Essential knowledge management principles

• continuous improvement and learning

• focus on people as knowledge sources

Knowledge as an asset• Acknowledgement of

• quality

• customer satisfaction

• innovation

• critical assets

• Innovation as an essential source of competitive advantage

The continuity principle• In contrast to re-engineering, knowledge

management

• assumes continuous monitoring

• foster continuous change

• aims at continuous innovation

• Continuity understood as a the required change frequency to satisfy market needs

New Roles• CKO (Chief Knowledge Officer)

• The Knowledge Creating Company

• Nonaka 1995

• SECI model

• 1995

• Knowledge Management peak of popularity

The role of IT• Scanning of

• Explicit but unstructured knowledge

• Document Management

• for explicit knowledge

• Workflows

• Process Management

• systemic knowledge

• Process analysis and improvement

• Data & Text mining