Book Review
Title: Knowledge Management
Tools and Techniques
Edited: MadanMohan Rao
Dr.Madanmohan Rao is a leading
knowledge management consultant and the author of Leading with Knowledge.
I read three selected chapters
from the book.
Knowledge Management at
Accenture by Svenja Falk
Hewlett-Packard: Making Sense
of Knowledge Management by Bipin Junnarkar and Joan Levers
From e-Learning to e-Knowledge
by Jon Mason
The chapter “Knowledge Management
at Accenture” by Svenja Falk covers key lessons learned from 10 years of
knowledge management at Accenture. Accenture is one among the top global
leading management consulting and technology services company. Accenture
collaborates with its clients and help them realize their vision and create
tangible value. I wanted to read this chapter as I have worked there for two
years and I know how importance they give for Knowledge and its transfer across
the company.
The majority of knowledge workers
in leading consulting firms today are well versed with IT tools in the work
place and have expectations of a “one-stop shop” solutions for their
knowledge needs. Accenture’s KM system evolved through four phases: early enabling infrastructure,
knowledge as byproduct, actively managed knowledge, and knowledge-enabled
enterprise.
The
knowledge repository called Knowledge Xchange (KX) hosts content ranging from
proposals and client deliverables to white papers and links to experts. On a
monthly basis, 400000 orders for knowledge capital are generated and over 2000
contributions for knowledge capital are made. KX is well managed and updated
that the database includes proposals, links to experts, client deliverables,
Methodologies, white papers etc. The web-based intranet portal KX also provides
access to Accenture`s research wing to incorporate the data part of the
business questions and solutions. It also offers firm-wide training
opportunities and fosters communities. Looking beyond the numbers, KM at
Accenture has helped increase the rate of innovation, decrease the
time to competency and improve productivity. Falk has cited an
example of a German utility company which faced challenges of a deregulated
market. The client team was able to sort out the problem from another team`s solutions.
Thus Accenture was successful to make its employees learn from each other`s
solutions and mistakes. A key observation is that the information quality
management will emerge as an important competitive differentiator in the
future. Knowledge Management evolves as a business discipline rather than an
application. Today 300 people globally coordinate activities to ensure that the
right knowledge is brought to the right people at the right time. They focus on
the systematic progress of achieving organizational goals through the capture,
synthesis, sharing and the use of information, insights and experiences.
The chapter Hewlett-Packard:
Making Sense of Knowledge Management by Bipin
Junnakar and Joan Levers takes into account the changing face of
Knowledge Management in HP after its merger with Compaq. Both the companies had
successful premerger KM programs. Collaboration is now seen as one of the key
priorities for the company. A company- wide KM group has been formed to define
the company KM strategy and robust processes for KM implementation. They used
an “adapt and go” approach to quickly evaluate and select the processes
and systems that can be used in the combined company. The interesting fact was
that even though both the companies had KM programs it was not a differentiator
at all for them.
The KM team also participates in the
definition of HP`s enterprise architecture. The KM tools and Technology Forum
defines the standard tools and processes for KM within the company. The KM
leadership framework aims at modeling a positive KM culture and behaviors so
that other groups within the company can learn from us.KM technology building
blocks include Data mining, groupware, knowledge repositories and expertise
locator systems. I could see how all the aspects of KM which we have learned
has been incorporated in KM building blocks of HP. The HP “Community of
Practice Handbook”, a collection of instructions, tools, and templates, to help
organizations form communities of practice was released by mid 2000s. A
building block approach is being used to devise KM solutions efficiently.
Seminars about KM conducted by world-renowned experts are Webcast on the
intranet. HP`s education department is developing an online curriculum about
KM.
Collaborative knowledge
networking to join the “power of many”- the knowledge of the employees-with the
power of now”-instant access to information- to speed up the decision making
process is another major milestone the KM group has achieved. To elaborate on
the same, the author has cited an example of HP`s enterprise software group ‘s
KM attempt in their customer support area. They first conducted interviews to
understand the current state- how were things working, what tools were used,
how satisfied the employees were with their tools and so on. Then they came up
with the future state to determine how everything would be in an ideal world.
This helped them identify the gaps and develop a plan of action to address
those gaps.
Towards the conclusion the author
has come up with a question of why so many decisions go astray. The answer to
the problem is person`s subjectivity and the mind`s inability to process more
than a handful of details at any moment. It is actually adding to the problem
and it becomes harder to process the data. Here comes the importance of KM
implementation i.e. the ability of a company to use effectively the knowledge
of their people. The chapter ends with the recommendations for KM
practitioners. Key learning and recommendations include the importance of
striking a good balance between tangible and intangible measures, aligning KM
strategy with the business strategy, couple the efforts with the business
metrics and sharing credit for KM
success.
The last chapter I read was “From
e-Learning to e-Knowledge “by Jon Mason. It starts with an interesting quote by
Peter Drucker.”A manager is responsible for the application and
performance of knowledge.” This thought provoking chapter focuses on
yet another emerging frontier: the growing synergies between knowledge
management and e-learning and the convergence of work and learning.
E-learning is gaining importance as
knowledge scaffolding in the 21rst century ,where home, work, and entertainment
environments are becoming increasingly Internet enabled and seamlessly mobile.
Content management and workflow
management tools are infrastructural commonalities between e-learning and KM. Despite
early growing pains, standards will play a pivotal role in shaping the
internet-enabled future of teaching and learning, thanks to organizations like
IMS Global Learning Consortium, the IEEE Learning Technology Standards
Committee, and CEN/ISSS WS- LT (The committee leading learning technology standardization
in Europe).The author avers that the convergence of work and learning has been
a hot topic for a decade. It can be seen to be taking place in the delivery of
services like education and training sectors moving towards an integrated
service delivery.
E-learning is been maturing
moving away from its cottage industry phase. “Content is King” can be seen as
an outdated slogan and it just forms the “I” of the new buzz word “ICT” where
“C” stands for connectivity, community etc. The chapter also discusses about
the failure ventures of e-learning which include Fathom, whose design was with
little understanding of sustaining online culture. Early heady days of dot com
boom proved that failed business models don`t necessarily equate with any
failure of e-learning as a driver of change.
Learning, especially on-the-job learning
has now become a key competency in knowledge-based economies. Such learning in
KM driven organizations can take place via mentoring in face-to-face CoPs,
e-learning in digital environments, or blended learning. Further on down the
road, Web Services and next generation Internet technologies will further
enmesh knowledge and learning processes. Standardization is proceeding on other
fronts as well, thanks to consortia like Workflow management Coalition, the HR-XML
Consortium, OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of structured Information
Standards), and GKEC ( the Global Knowledge Economics Council).
Knowledge is a word that has rich
semantics despite its linguistic status as a noun. It is a subject to continual
change in the same way as consciousness changes from moment to moment. Jon has
drawn a knowledge model with seven facets. They are Know what, Know who, know
how, Know when, Know why, Know where, Know if. He describes every facet
based on a web based perspective and concludes that the progression from
e-learning to e-knowledge is not a linear history. Today’s world demands the
development of e-learning and the convergence of knowledge-based systems with
e-learning systems. But all these are conditioned by uncertainties as is the
world. Knowledge is conditional as is learning. As a last point, John Brown`s
question “ What do we know that we didn`t know ten years ago? That learning and
knowledge are the result of multiple intertwining forces: content, context
and community”
These 3 chapters enable the
reader to understand and evaluate the vast offerings of KM solutions in the
three areas of technology, content and services. The focus was mainly on how KM
and IT practitioners actually use these tools and techniques.
