mgmt-630 knowledge management all subjective questions

8/6/2019 MGMT-630 Knowledge Management ALL Subjective Questions

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Please read the following instructions carefully before attempting assignment:

This assignment covers lesson no. 25-29

Last date for submission of assignment is 10th july,2008

Make sure that you upload the solution before due date. No solution will be

accepted after the due date.

Note: If you are unable to upload your solution file on VULMSthen VU email server can only be used to send attached file. E

mail received from any other email server like yahoo, gmail,

hotmail, etc shall not be entertained at any cost.

Give the answer according to question, no mark will be given for irrelevant material. Dont rely only on handouts, use other reference books also. Plagiarism will be strictly dealt. Cheating or copying of assignment is strictly prohibited; No credit will be given to

copied solution. Once you have uploaded the assignment on LMS, it will not be replaced under any

condition.

Q.1 Explain how much technical skills, professional experienceand a university degree is important for knowledge worker?Discuss your beliefs with examples? (5 marks)

A knowledge worker is expected to have both professional experience

and soft traits such as a sense of culture, political and personal aspects

of knowledge in business. The personal aspects includes open, candid

and effective communication skills, warm and congenial personality that

accommodates knowledge sharing in a group setting sensitivity to

political pressures in the department or organization in general, and

accommodating the job as well as peers within cultural constraints.

Lawyers, consultants and scientists are all knowledge workers. Onedifference between knowledge workers and white collar workers is the

level of education and specialized training. As a rule, the majority of

knowledge workers have a university degree. Knowledge work Is about

creating, manipulating and sharing knowledge in the workplace. Like it or

not employers continue to be more impressed with paper qualifications

than practical experience. A paper qualification might not assure

competence, but its a door opener with long-term potential for the

applicant.


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Q.2 Distinguish between traditional managers and smart

managers? (5 marks)

Traditional managers focus on the present. They are action-oriented,

spending most of the time delegating, supervising, controlling, and

ensuring compliance with set procedures they were once workers or

super employees and were promoted to managers. When they manage

subordinates, they know all aspects of the business, because they were

once there. The goal of management is stability on the job and meeting

deadlines. In contrast, smart managers focus on organizational learning

to ensure operational excellence. Because of continuing change andimprovements in the workplace, they cannot be expected to have

mastered the work of subordinates. As a result, they take on the role of

leaders, where change is the primary goal, clearly the challenge is to get

the department of the organization moving in the direction of the goal in

line with the rate of change. Their focus is on the future, developing

strategies and sharing vision through effective communication with

knowledge workers.

Assignment # 04Spring Semester, 2008

Q. Write down the attractive aspects for a knowledge worker to stay in an organization for a longperiod? (10 Marks)

One factor that affects knowledge worker performance that isn't well understood is the physical workenvironmentthe offices, cubicles, buildings, and mobile workplaces in which knowledge workers dotheir jobs. There is a good deal said about this topic, but not much known about it. Even more

unfortunately, most decisions about the knowledge work environment are made without seriously Forthose companies whose competitive edge depends upon their being able to always remain on the cutting-edge of technology, being located in a place that is able to supply highly educated workers in sufficientquantity and quality is their No. 1 site location requirement.


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The new age economy, with its attendant paradigm shifts in relation to the

human capital, in terms of its acquisition, utilization, development and retention,

has placed a heavy demand on today's HR professional. Today HR is expected to

comprehend, conceptualize, innovate, implement and sustain relevant strategies

and contribute effectively towards giving the company its winning edge. With a

dynamically changing and volatile demand-supply equation, especially against

erratic attrition trends and cutthroat competition no longer restricted to local or

regional boundaries, a need for strategizing and putting in place a robust

mechanism for attracting and retaining top talent becomes vital for the

company's very survival and growth.

The new age workforce comprises mostly of knowledge workers, who are techno-

savvy, aware of market realities, are materially focused and have higher

propensity to switch jobs. They prefer to experiment and explore new

opportunities, are high risk takers with higher aspirations and expectations and

generally have a totally different mind-set about job and careers. In an

organization employees could be broadly classified into four categories:

strugglers and under performers. This constitutes about 1/5th of total human

capital at our disposal and these people obviously qualify to be the first

candidates for the pink slip.

The other two segments comprise of the 'solid performers' and the 'stars' who

are at the higher end of the performance continuum. The former may be

relatively lower in their potential as compared with the latter, but contribute

immensely to the company's overall performance. We could call this as the

'talent' segment. This is the segment we do not want to lose. We've got to

protect this group from the pull of all non-retentive forces and that needs

effective retention strategies that have to be kicked into high gear.

Before we discuss the various retention strategies/plans that could be used for

retaining the talented employee, lets' quickly look at the factors that have a

bearing on talent acquisition and retention.

Factors impacting Talent Acquisition and Retention

The company's brand image crowns the list of the priorities for the job seeker,

other important considerations being; the pay package and other pecuniary

benefits, the class and quality of people that work in the company, the

challenges of the job and attractive of the position and designation, the

opportunities for career growth and professional development and the kind of

technology, he would be exposed to.

From the company's perspective, its brand equity, philosophy, vision, mission,

culture, values and ecology have a direct bearing on talent attraction andretention. Other company-related attributes that impact employee retention

include high demand on performance, need for competencies, broader, deeper

and diverse job expectations, need for re-skilling and re-deployment, career

offerings and growth prospects, goal and role clarity, policies and processes and

organizational communication.

Why to manage talent


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Skills, knowledge and talents are distinct elements of a person's performance.

The distinction among the them is that skills and knowledge can easily be

taught, whereas talents cannot. Further, one must never confuse talents with

skills and knowledge.

Skills are the capabilities that can be transferred from one person to another.

For accountants arithmetic is a skill. Knowledge is of two types: factual things

you know, and experimental understandings you have picked up along the way.

Ask a great accountant when he smiles and he will tell you 'when the booksbalance'.

A love of precision is not a skill, nor is it knowledge. It is a talent. If one doesn't

possess he will never excel as an accountant. So if someone doesn't have this

talent as part of his filter, there is very little a manager can do to inject it.

The recipe of success for any knowledge economy organization hinges on its

ability to leverage human capital, so as to deliver business results. Employee

development and retention plays a pivotal role in their growth. Hence, managing

talent in the LPG era, where cutting edge being provided by HR, has assumed

added importance.

It is slowly drawing on the minds of HR professional that it is easier to get goodpeople but it is very difficult to retain them. Then the next question arises as to

what are the challenges for HR in this regard.

What are the challenges that HR professionals or top management face in

managing talent. First quite often in their bid to attract talent HR oversells the

organization to the new recruit. It is easy to recruit good talent but very difficult

to retain them especially if the foundation of the relationship has been based on

misrepresentation of the truth. The new recruitee feels cheated, and thus sowing

the seeds of self-centeredness.

The next challenge for both HR and the employee is to ensure that there is

clarity in the communication of roles and responsibilities. However, quite often

roles are defined but not the performance parameters. Without proper

techniques and clearly defined parameters, measuring performance will remain

subjective, often based on likes and dislikes of the seniors measuring the

performance.

Finally, having ill-structured compensation packets. For instance, an

organization matching the new recruits last drawn salary in the previous

organization which results in two colleagues in the same grade, performing

similar job drawing widly, disproportionate salaries.

Not withstanding the above listed and other challenges it's everybody'sknowledge that in the knowledge economy an organizations ability to attract and

retain talent is sine-quo-non for success. We are all aware that while it is easier to

get good people it is very difficult to retain them. So the retention strategies

have to be viewed holistically against the total systemic framework of "talent"

the "company" and the 'environment'. Attrition and retention should be seen as

reciprocal phenomena, which have an inverse relationship with each other.

Recruitment and needs for downsizing must also be considered in conjunction.

An understanding of the inherent considerations of an individual who wishes to

join a company and continue to stay, and potential compulsions, which push him

away, would help.


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Further, retention strategies should be designed such that the retentive forces

are maximized and the debilitating forces minimized. Retention strategies

should not be orchestrated in isolation but must from part of the overall

strategies for strengthening the pull on the talent, which in fact include

sourcing, staffing and development strategies in addition.

A robust sourcing strategy is crucial to the exercise since the type of people one

selects should not only fit into the job in terms of skill set but should match the

company culture in terms of attitude, personality and commitment. An effectiveselection process ensures the entry of the right kind of people into the

organization, with the desired loyalty and sense of belonging that goes a long

way in restricting attrition in the long run.

What needs to be done

The first step for individual companies is to develop detailed profiles of the kind of

people they are after by analyzing the job profiles, career paths, background and

experience of their current high performers. Once we know what we are looking

for, there are a number of routes we can take. Some get what they need largely

through acquisitions, which is fine if acquisitions are an intrinsic part of

corporate strategy. Some "outsource" by picking up people they believe arebetter trained elsewhere. Those who can attract the best college graduates and

excel at early development, "in source", instead.

Secondly, aggressive development strategies complement the retention

strategies in a big way. Providing opportunities to the employee for both

professional and career growth and giving the due priority to this important

activity makes the company's position in the market for talent attractive and

compelling. Well articulated strategies in the context of sourcing and

development argument the retention strategies in crafting a powerful employee

value proposition that remains central to the problem of attraction and retention

of top talent.Thirdly, the ability to define, develop and deliver a winning employee value

proposition should be at the core of all retention strategies particularly for large

companies facing challenges from a multitude of smaller companies as

employers. The lure of the latter in terms of excitement, flexibility, impact (a big

fish in a small pond) reward and even equity ownership has to be countered with

a stronger proposition bolstered by the formers magnitude of impact (big fish in

a big pool), depth (vast resources to take risks and to support big decisions) and

variety (large spectrum of expertise and experience to be shared).


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All retention strategies must be built around a compelling, distinctive and

exiting employee value propostion. Further, these strategies must cover three

distinct yet overlapping domains; cultural, transformational and transactional.

So, let us dwell upon the cultural aspects as relevant to the issues under

construction.

a. Culture is somewhat like "the operating system" of the organization. It drives

the organization and its actions. It guides how employees think, act and feel. It

is dynamic and fluid, and it is never static. Some aspects of culture are visible

and tangible and others are intangible and unconscious. Some of the most

visible expressions include the architecture and dcor, the clothing people wear,

the organizational processes and structures, and the rituals, symbols and

celebrations.

Essentially organizational culture is seen in two broad dimensions. The hard

dimensions relate to the functional, technical and control aspects, while the soft

aspects deal with inspiration, emotion, energy, enthusiasm, collaboration and

camaraderie, openness, sense of belonging, etc.A culture that is open, trusting,

nurturing, authentic as well as empowering tends to attract and retain top talent.

b. Transformational strategiesthat impact retention in good measure encompass

mentoring, coaching, counselling, competency and performance development

programs, retraining, re-skilling, re-deployment and job rotation, challenging

assignments, job enrichment and above all promotion of a knowledge building

and knowledge sharing culture.

Total

Marks: 10

Instructions:

Please read the following instructions carefully before attempting the

assignment.

Last date for submission of solution is April 28, 2008.

All instructions will be considered during checking assignment. So, consider all these.

You are required to attempt the assignment as word document. The assignmentsattempted in any other format (except MS Word) will not be accepted and will bemarked zero.

Give the answer according to question, no mark will be given for irrelevant material.

Dont rely only on handouts, use other reference books also.


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Mention the source which you are using for preparing your assignment.

You are allowed to mention definitions, basic concepts in the language and wordswhich are mentioned or written in your source but the application of those conceptsmust be in your language, in your own words, either you are using any referencebooks or any other source.

Use 12 point font in Times New Roman.

Plagiarism will be strictly dealt. Try to explain concepts in your own words.

Make sure that you upload the solution before due date. No assignment will beaccepted through E-mail after the due date.

Cheating or copying of assignment is strictly prohibited; No credit will be given tocopied assignment.

Once you upload the assignment on LMS, it will not be replaced under any condition.

Question 01 5

Marks

Besides using technology, how else can tacit knowledge be transferred?Shadowing and joint-problem solving are two best practices for transferring or recreating

tacit knowledge inside an organization. With shadowing, less experienced staff observes

more experienced staff in their activities to learn how their more experienced counterparts

approach their work.

Another sound approach that Leonard and Swift recommend is joint problem-solving by

expert and novice. Since people are often unaware of how they approach problems or do

their work and therefore cant automatically generate step-by-step instructions for doing

whatever they do, having them work together on a project will bring the experts approach

to light. The difference between shadowing and joint problem solving is that shadowing ismore passive. With joint problem-solving, the "expert" and the "novice" work hand-in-hand

on a task.

Question 02 5

Marks


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What benefits can companies expect from Knowledge Management (KM)?

Some benefits of KM correlate directly to bottom-line savings, while others are more

difficult to quantify. In today's information-driven economy, companies uncover the most

opportunities and ultimately derive the most value from intellectual rather than

physical assets. To get the most value from a company's intellectual assets, KM

practitioners maintain that knowledge must be shared and serve as the foundation for

collaboration. Yet better collaboration is not an end in itself; without an overarching

business context, KM is meaningless at best and harmful at worst. Consequently, an

effective KM program should help a company do one or more of the following:

Foster innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas

Improve customer service by streamlining response time

Boost revenues by getting products and services to market faster

Enhance employee retention rates by recognizing the value of employees'

knowledge and rewarding them for it

Streamline operations and reduce costs by eliminating redundant or unnecessaryprocesses

These are the most prevalent examples. A creative approach to KM can result in improved

efficiency, higher productivity and increased revenues in practically any business function.

Knowledge Management MGMT (630)

Assignment 02

Total Marks: 10

Instructions:

Please read the following instructions carefully before attempting the

assignment.

Last date for submission of solution is May 12, 2008.

All instructions will be considered during checking assignment. So,

consider all

these.


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You are required to attempt the assignment as word document. The

assignments

attempted in any other format (except MS Word) will not be accepted and

will

be marked zero.

Give the answer according to question, no mark will be given for irrelevant

material.

Dont rely only on handouts, use other reference books also.

Mention the source which you are using for preparing your assignment.

You are allowed to mention definitions, basic concepts in the language and

words which are mentioned or written in your source but the application ofthose

concepts must be in your language, in your own words, either you are

using any

reference books or any other source.

Use 12 point font in Times New Roman.

Plagiarism will be strictly dealt. Try to explain concepts in your own words.

Make sure that you upload the solution before due date. No assignmentwill be

accepted through E-mail after the due date.

Cheating or copying of assignment is strictly prohibited; No credit will be

given

to copied assignment.


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Once you upload the assignment on LMS, it will not be replaced under any

condition.


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knowledge Management MGMT (630) Assignment 02


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Question 01

5 Marks

How might a large organization justify the need for a Knowledge

Management

System (KMS)?

Ans- There is an increasing emphasis on enhancing an organizations

business strategy

through the use of systematic knowledge processes, including the

development of

consistent methods of capturing and sharing knowledge. Large

organizations justify the

needs for KMS by

Justifying the need for a KMS

Identifying the system requirements

Clarifying the system specifications

Evaluating potential systems

Selecting the system and/or its relevant components

Implementing the system

Evaluating the system acceptance and adoption


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Question 02

5Marks

Explain four different Modes of knowledge?

Ans- Knowledge is created through four different modes: (1) socializationwhich

involves conversion from tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge, (2)

externalization which

involves conversion from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge, (3)

combination

which involves conversion from explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge,

and (4)

internalization which involves conversion from explicit knowledge to tacit

knowledge.

Marks Obtained

Assignment # 01 Marks: 15

Fall Semester 2007MGMT-630

Knowledge Management

Student ID:

Student Name:


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Please read the following instructions carefully before attempting

assignment:

This assignment covers lesson no. 01 10 Last date for submission of assignment is as per

announcement.

Make sure that you upload the solution before due date. No solution will beaccepted after the due date.

Note: If you are unable to upload your solution file onVULMS then VU email server can only be used to send

attached file. Email received from any other email server

like yahoo, gmail, hotmail, etc shall not be entertained at any

cost.

Give the answer according to question, no mark will be given for irrelevantmaterial.

Dont rely only on handouts, use other reference books also. Plagiarism will be strictly dealt. Cheating or copying of assignment is strictly prohibited; No credit will be given

to copied solution. Once you have uploaded the assignment on LMS, it will not be replaced under

any condition.

Question # 01

Marks 05

Which came first knowledge or management - and why?

When the earliest civilizations appeared, they were largely constrained by their

natural environment and by the climate. Religion, Science and Art were largelydetermined by extra-human factors, such as seasons and floods. Over the course of

many centuries, humans have adjusted to change the equation in their favor,

reducing the impact of natural events on their civilization and increasing the impact

of their civilization on nature (for better and for worse). Knowledge has been, first and

foremost, a tool to become the "subject" of change, as opposed to being the "object"

of change. One could claim that the most important inventions date from prehistory,

and that "history" has been nothing more than an application of those inventions.

Here is a quick rundown (in parentheses the earliest specimen we found so far and

the place where it was found): tools (2 million years ago, Africa), fire (1.9 million


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years ago, Africa), buildings (500,000 BC, Japan), burial (70,000 BC, Germany), art

(28,000 BC), Farming (14,000 BC, Mesopotamia), animal domestication (12,000 BC),

boat (8,000 BC, Holland), weapons (8,000 BC), pottery (7,900 BC, China), weaving

(6,500 BC, Palestine), money (sometime before the invention of writing,

Mesopotamia), musical instruments (5,000 BC, Mesopotamia), metal (4,500 BC,

Egypt), wheel (3,500 BC, Mesopotamia), writing (3,300 BC, Mesopotamia), glass(3,000 BC, Phoenicia), sundial (3,000 BC, Egypt).

Once the infrastructure was in place, knowledge increased rapidly on all fronts: agriculture,architecture, bureaucracy, politics, religion, writing, economics, transportation, art, etc. Humanknowledge was expanding so rapidly so it needs to be managed. Into the new millennium, Scienceis faced with several challenges: unifying Quantum and Relativity theories; discovering themissing mass of the universe that those theories have predicted; understanding how the brainmanufactures consciousness; deciphering the genome; managing an ever larger community ofknowledge workers; using genetics for medical and agricultural purposes; and resuming theexploration of the universe.

With modern tools, the process of knowledge transfer is inherently difficult, since

those who have knowledge may not be conscious of what they know or how

significant it is. Thus know-how is sticky and tends to stay in peoples heads.

Human beings resist taking on new challenges their existing beliefs. What this means

for the transfer of knowledge is that simply making new knowledge available doesn't

typically result in it being transferred. If you want new knowledge to be imparted to

people who hold contrary views, then you need to learn a different way of

communicating. Knowledge and information have become the medium in which

business problems occur. As a result, managing knowledge represents the primary

opportunity for achieving substantial savings, significant improvements in human

performance, and competitive advantage. So one can say in knowledge

management, knowledge appears first and then there is need to manage it with theevolution of management theories.

Question # 02

Marks 05

Make valuable distinctions between business processing,

knowledge processing, and KM?

Solution:

Knowledge Management

(KM)Knowledge Processing Business Processing


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Knowledge Management is

a management discipline

that focuses on enhancing

knowledge processing

Knowledge Processing is

what organizations do to

produce and integrate their

knowledge

A business processing all

linked activities that create

value by transforming an

input into a more valuable

output. Both input and

output can be artifactsand/or information and the

transformation can be

performed by human

actors, machines, or both.

Activities

It aims at

enhancing

Knowledge

Processing

Goal is to enhance

knowledge

production and

integration

It enhances

organizational

learning

It helps guard

against

malfeasance

It enhances

innovation.

Roughly

equivalent to

innovation

management

Focuses on

enhancing

knowledge

Activities

It separates and

differentiate

behaviors that

produce &

integrate

knowledge

It includes

learning and

innovation

knowledge

sharing.

It is epistemic, not

operational or

Business

Processing

oriented.

It aims closing

knowledge gaps,

not gaps in

business states.

Accounts for the

knowledge used in

Business

Processing

Outcomes include

new knowledge,

e.g., strategies,

business

processes, HR

Activities

Primary purpose

of the business is

operational.

Roughly

equivalent to

business

processes in

conventional

sense

Often

transactional

aimed at closing

gaps in business

states.

Includes all value

chain functions

and their

management.

Outcomes include

profitability,

growth, market

share, cycle

times, customer

retention,

employee

retention, etc.

Business

processing

behaviors account


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programs, mktg.

strategies, etc.

Can also

characterize KP

performance (e.g.,rate of innovation,

organizational

capacity to learn

and adapt, etc.)

for business

outcomes, but not

exclusively so.

Input:

Knowledge Production

Input:

Outcomes of KM

Input:

Outcomes of KP

Outcome:

Creating training

and/or e-learning

programs

Designing and

implementing

policies and

programs for

individual and

group learning

Designing and

implementing

policies and

programs for

communities of

practice

Designing and

implementing IT

applications and

infrastructures

that support

Knowledge

Production and/or

integration (i.e

that support

Knowledge

Processing).

Outcome :

Attending training

programs

Turning to

colleagues for

advice and

counsel

Conductingresearch

Developing new

operating

guidelines or

procedures

Participating in a

community of

practice in order

to create and/orshare knowledge

Turning to a best

practices system

for guidance

Working on a task

force to develop

strategy

Outcome :

Performing work

in an ordinary

fashion

Conducting the

business of the

firm

Processingbusiness

transactions

Following

established

business

processes

Doing work in

accordance with

ones jobdescription

Working with

customers in an

ordinary manner

Working with co-

workers in an

ordinary manner


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Creating

innovation

incentive and

reward plans

R&D Executing the

business strategy

of the firm.

Question # 03 Marks 05

An Example

This example uses a bank savings account to show how data, information, knowledge, and wisdomrelate to principal, interest rate, and interest.

Data: The numbers 100 or 5%, completely out of context, are just pieces of data. Interest,principal, and interest rate, out of context, are not much more than data as each has multiplemeanings which are context dependent.

Information: If I establish a bank savings account as the basis for context, then interest, principal,and interest rate become meaningful in that context with specific interpretations.

Principal is the amount of money, $100, in the savings account.

Interest rate, 5%, is the factor used by the bank to compute interest on theprincipal.

Knowledge: If I put $100 in my savings account, and the bank pays 5% interest yearly, then at the end of one year thebank will compute the interest of $5 and add it to myprincipal and I will have $105 in the bank. This patternrepresents knowledge, which, when I understand it, allowsme to understand how the pattern will evolve over time and

the results it will produce. In understanding the pattern, I know,and what I know is knowledge. If I deposit more money in myaccount, I will earn more interest, while if I withdrawmoney from my account, I will earn less interest.

Wisdom: Getting wisdom out of this is a bit tricky. The principle is that any action whichproduces a result which encourages more of the same action produces an emergent characteristiccalled growth. And, nothing grows forever for sooner or later growth runs into limits.

If one studied all the individual components of this pattern, which represents knowledge, theywould never discover the emergent characteristic of growth. Only when the pattern connects,interacts, and evolves over time, does the principle exhibit the characteristic of growth.

QuestionIf this knowledge is valid, why doesn't everyone simply become rich by putting money in asavings account and letting it grow?

Solution:

People don't get rich because

If bank itself becomes a customer, how it will give money to people for loan.

The main source of income of bank is interest on loans. If all people do the same activity ofsaving, the flow of money diminishes and economic cycle will bring to a standstill.


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People don't put money in a savings account in the first priority; they invest their money inthe business, and excess deposit into bank.

When people find things they need or want more than being rich, so they withdraw money.

Withdrawing money reduces the principal and subsequently the interest they earn on thatprincipal.

Question # 01

Marks 07

A business manager, a programmer, and a psychologist all want to

become KM designers. Which do you feel will have the least

difficulty? Why?

Employees and teams constantly accumulate a wealth of knowledge about core

competencies, efficiency and productivity, processes, sales, production, R & D,

markets and other elements critical to profitability.

To design a knowledge management following are the four processes and for a

person it is necessary to go through them according to his own field.

ProcessMeans of Knowledge

collection

Capturing Data entry

Scanning

Voice input

Interviewing

Brainstorming

Organizing Cataloging

Indexing

Filtering

Linking


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Codifying

Refining Contextualizing

Collaborating

Compacting

Projecting

Mining

Transfer Flow

Sharing

Alert

Push


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KM Designer ProcessMeans of Knowledge

CollectionDifficulty level

Business manager

Capturing

Data entry

InterviewingLow

Programmer

Data entry

BrainstormingModerate

Psychologist

Data entry

Scanning

Voice input

Interviewing

Brainstorming

High

Business manager

Organizing

Cataloging

Filtering

Codifying

Low

Programmer

Indexing

Filtering

Codifying

Moderate

Psychologist

Cataloging

Indexing

Filtering

Linking

Codifying

High

Business manager Refining Contextualizing

Collaborating

Projecting

Low


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Mining

Programmer

Contextualizing

Collaborating

Compacting

Mining

Moderate

Psychologist

Contextualizing

Collaborating

Compacting

Projecting

Mining

High

Business manager

Transfer

Sharing

AlertLow

Programmer

Flow

Sharing

Push

Moderate

Psychologist

Flow

Sharing

Alert

Push

High


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Question # 02

Marks 08

A knowledge organization derives knowledge from several sources.Identify those sources of knowledge for an organization.

Solution:

A knowledge organization is a management idea, describing an

organization in which people use systems and processes togenerate, transform, manage, use, and transfer knowledge-based

products and services to achieve organizational goals. A knowledge

organization also links past, present, and future by capturing and

preserving knowledge in the past, sharing and mobilizing

knowledge today, and learning and adapting to sustain itself in the

future.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

A knowledge organization derives knowledge from following

sources:

Customer Knowledge: Their needs, who to contact, customer

buying power, buying pattern etc.

Product Knowledge: The products in the market place, who is

buying them, what prices they are selling at,

and how much money is spent on such product.

Financial Knowledge: Capital resources, where to acquire capital

and at what cost, and the integrating in

financial practices.


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Personnel Knowledge: The expertise available, the quality service

they provide, and how to go about finding

experts, especially in customer service.

Question # 01

Marks 09

Multiple experts were used to capture knowledge for the Residential Real Estate KM

System. The reasons are:

1. One objective of this KM system is to integrate the expertise in real estate tax

and finance, which requires two separate experts.2. The procedure of making a buy or lease decision is complex and intenseprocess for a single expert to provide all necessary information to come upwith a decision. The nature of the problem also suggests that to make adecision, one has to consider both tax and financial issues. Thus multipleexperts are necessary to divide the scope into manageable pieces.

3. Multiple experts give the ability to compare and contrast the knowledgecaptured. The real estate finance expert has deep knowledge in the tax field aswell. He was particularly helpful in confirming the tax information capturedfrom the tax expert. Confirming the validity of the proposed recommendationand solution is critical considering the continuously changing tax law. Oneexpert might not be aware of the change, while the other.

a. In your opinion, is the use of multiple expert approaches justified for thisproject? Explain.

b. Can the use of two knowledge developers to tackle the problem be justified?What are the conditions for a multiple knowledge developer approach tobuilding this system? Explain.

Solution:

a) A single expert is ideal when you are building a simple KM system with fewrules; problem is in restricted domain; when not too much communication isrequired to knowledge capture; and sharing or leakage of information is notmatter. Single expert always works on a single line of reasoning which makes itdifficult to evoke in-depth discussion of the domain and also single expertsknowledge is sometimes dispersed.

In the current situation of Residential Real Estate KM System, system is not

easy and has wide range of problems of tax, finance, lease, purchase and sale,

also the problems in each area is not restricted in a certain domain and


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communication between experts is continuously required to process a deal, so

in this case the use of two expert is justifiable.

b) Complex problem domains like tax, finance, lease, sale and purchase benefit

from the expertise of more than one expert especially if knowledge isdispersed and numbers of partial experts are available. As real estate financeexpert has deep knowledge in the tax field as well so he can contribute a lotwith tax expert. A pool of experts is most often needed to capture sufficientreliable knowledge to build complex KM system.

Working with multiple experts stimulates interaction that often produces

synthesis of experience. Bringing in a number of experts is bound to enrich the

quality of knowledge captured. Due to information and experience of real state

expert and tax expert can reach a at quality decisive point very early.

Listening to variety of views allows the knowledge developer to consider

alternative ways of representing the knowledge. Two heads are usually better

than one, provided they agree to work together environment for generating

thoughtful contribution.


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Question # 02

Marks 06

Cite three companies that qualify as learning organizations. What makes themunique?

The Learning Organization is a concept that is becoming an increasingly widespread

philosophy in modern companies, from the largest multinationals to the smallest

ventures. What is achieved by this philosophy depends considerably on one's

interpretation of it and commitment to it. The Learning Organization is an

organization that learns and encourages learning among its people. It promotes

exchange of information between employees hence creating a more knowledgeable

workforce. This produces a very flexible organization where people will accept andadapt to new ideas and changes through a shared vision.

"A Learning Organization is one in which people at all levels, individuals and

collectively, is continually increasing their capacity to produce results they really care

about."

The essence of organizational learning is the organization's ability to use the

amazing mental capacity of all its members to create the kind of processes that will

improve its own"

(Nancy Dixon 1994)

"A Learning Company is an organization that facilitates the learning of all its

members and continually transforms itself"

(M. Pedler, J. Burgoyne and Tom Boydell, 1991)

"Organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results

they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where

collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to learn

together"

(Peter Senge, 1990)


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The important points to note about learning organizations:

Are adaptive to their external environment Continually enhance their capability to change/adapt

Develop collective as well as individual learning Use the results of learning to achieve better results

Types of Learning in a Learning Organization

A learning organization is not about 'more training'. While training does help develop certain typesof skill, a learning organization involves the development of higher levels of knowledge and skill.Following four types of learning is done in a learning organization:

1. Learning facts, knowledge, processes and procedures

2. Learning new job skills transferable to other situations

3. Learning to adapt

4. Learning to learn

Characteristics of a Learning Organization

Observation and research identifies four types of factor:

Learning Culture

An organizational climate that nurtures learning. There is a strong similarity with

those characteristics associated with innovation.

Processes - processes that encourage interaction across boundaries.

These are infrastructure, development and management processes, as opposed to

business operational processes (the typical focus of many BPR initiatives).

Tools and Techniques

Methods that aid individual and group learning, such as creativity and problem

solving techniques.

Skills and Motivation

To learn and adapt.


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Examples of Learning Organization

There are many example of companies which can be called as Learning Organizationbut to understand look at the following examples.

1. Shell describes learning as the only sustainable competitive advantage.2. Toyota 14 management principles make Toyota the worlds greatest

manufacturer. One of these 14 principles is Become a LearningOrganization. Many have tried to become learning organizations, but, no onehas succeeded like Toyota.

3. Apple Computer Japan: In order to implement Learning Organizationtechniques, Apple implemented five Disciplines which are essential to a

learning organization: Team Learning, Shared Visions, Mental Models, PersonalMastery and Systems Thinking.

briefly define tacit and explicit knowledge ---3

benifits to orignizations of KVA analysis-----5

Define Learning orignizations----------------3

Describe the crucial requirements for the successful implementation

of knowledgesharing systems------5

Describes Knowledge maps --------5

Concept mapping ----------------------3

1. What are the key Attributes of Intelligent Behavior (3 Marks)


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mgmt-630 knowledge management all subjective questions

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