Managing knowledge

Lenz, Katrin

Managing knowledge

How to implement a knowledge management concept

von Katrin Lenz (Autor:in)

BWL - Unternehmensführung, Management, Organisation

Zusammenfassung

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract:
In an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the sure source of lasting competitive advantage is knowledge. Peter Drucker (1953)
Companies like Microsoft, Netscape, Coca-Cola and Yahoo can be found under the top U.S. companies with the highest market values in 1999. The market value represents the measure of value that the investors and markets associate with the company. However, these companies are not valued for their tangible assets (buildings, inventory, etc.), they are valued for something which cannot be shown on a balance sheet: their intangibles. These include brand recognition, Patents, customer loyalty, innovative business ideas, past achievements, etc. These companies are valued for the knowledge they possess. However, knowledge is of little value, if it cannot be found when needed. Therefore, a successful knowledge management concept is of crucial importance for these companies.
The knowledge management market is growing rapidly and it will continue to advance over the next years. Knowledge management is still a relatively young field with new concepts emerging constantly. Most knowledge management initiatives have focused entirely on changes in tools and technologies, such as intranets and Lotus Notes. But knowledge management is more complex: it covers everything the company does to make knowledge available to everyone.
The twenty-first century gives companies the tools and connectivity to easily obtain, share, and act on information quickly. Knowledge management uses these possibilities and recent studies showed that companies gained a competitive advantage by implementing it. According to Accenture research, a well implemented knowledge management process can improve employee productivity by an average of 60%.
Often, knowledge management is seen as storing documents in a database, thus hoping to enhance knowledge sharing through the implementation of technology. But to successfully apply knowledge management, companies need to implement a process of motivating and inciting people to share information. The old saying Knowledge is power is still popular. The people who are hoarding their knowledge believe that it makes them irreplaceable. However, real power does not come from knowledge kept, but from knowledge shared. People are expected to cooperate, to be open, to participate within the new economy, but resistance can be expected.
Obviously, knowledge management is a combination of […]

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

ID 5042

Lenz, Katrin: Managing knowledge: How to implement a knowledge management concept /

Katrin Lenz - Hamburg: Diplomica GmbH, 2002

Zugl.: Rotterdam, Diplom, 2001

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Managing knowledge

"If you want to invest for one year, grow rice.

If you want to invest for 10 years, grow trees.

If you want to invest for 100 years, grow people."

Confucius

Managing knowledge

I. Executive Summary

Nowadays, where uncertainty is the only constant in business, organizations try to be

flexible enough to adapt to these changes.

Often, knowledge management is seen as storing documents in a database, thus hoping

to enhance knowledge sharing through the implementation of technology. But

knowledge management is more: to capture the implicit knowledge of the employees,

and the need to transform the culture of the company, into one, that supports knowledge

sharing. Moreover, the management has to set the example to encourage the employees

to share what they know. Many organizations fail to build trust among their employees

which is the basis for knowledge sharing.

Obviously, knowledge management is a combination of various factors, namely: a vision,

a cultural change, motivating factors (rewards, incentives), an easy-to-use system, a

committed workforce, etc. Knowledge management is therefore a result of a balance

between the human-resource and the technology-based approach. Information

technology is important in knowledge management, but it plays a rather supporting role.

There is no knowledge management concept that fits every organization, but there are

several important features, one finds in every successful knowledge management

initiative: The basis for encouraging knowledge sharing is trust among your employees and

a chat near the water cooler is often more valuable than forcing employees to store

"whatever they know" in the system. Therefore personal interaction should be encouraged

in an organization. The management needs to set the example, thus starting to share

knowledge and store it in the system to ensure that valuable information is in the system

before everyone else is required to use the system. Involving the employees from the

beginning on is furthermore important in building trust and in avoiding resistance. The

system has to be easy to understand and to use in order to avoid barriers to usage and

knowledge sharing.

The research has shown, that almost everyone who speaks about knowledge

management has a different definition of what it is. For some companies simple document

management might be enough, whereas especially consultancies should practice

knowledge management in all its details to truly exploit their intellectual capital.

Managing knowledge

II. Table of Contents

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

II. TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1: INTRODUCTION ?

1. Crossing the threshold to the age of ideas

1.1. Knowledge as a competitive advantage

1.2. Knaupp Scharpff Associates

1.3. Aims and Objectives of the study

1.4. Summary

PART 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ?

2. What is knowledge management and how can it be implemented?

2.1. Knowledge management The basics

2.1.1. From Data to knowledge

2.1.1.1. Explicit versus implicit knowledge

2.1.1.2. Individual versus collective knowledge

2.1.2. Knowledge management What it is

2.1.2.1. Driving Forces behind knowledge management

2.2. How to implement a knowledge management concept

2.2.1. Four key areas of knowledge management

2.2.1.1. Structure

2.2.1.2. Processes

2.2.1.3. People

2.2.1.4. Tools

2.2.2. The four phases of implementing a knowledge management concept

2.2.2.1. Infrastructure Evaluation

2.2.2.2. Knowledge management system analysis, design and development

2.2.2.3. Deployment

2.2.2.4. Evaluation

2.3. Summary

Managing knowledge

PART 3: METHODOLOGY ?

3. Methodology

3.1. Problem Definition

3.2. Aims and Objectives

3.3. Research Questions

3.4. Research Design

3.5. Access to Data

3.6. Tools of Analysis

3.7. Limitations

3.8. Summary

PART 4: ANALYSIS ?

4. Analysis of the Interviews

4.1.Accenture

4.2. OC & C Strategy Consultants

4.3. Arideon AG

4.4. Knaupp Scharpff Associates

4.5. Summary

PART 5: RESULTS OF THE STUDY ?

5. Findings

5.1. General Findings

5.2. Structure

5.3. Processes

5.4. People

5.5. Tools

5.6. Summary

6. Conclusions

7. Recommendations

8. References

9. Glossary

10. Appendices

10.1. Interview Guideline

10.1.1. Interview Arideon AG

10.2. Additions to Literature Review

10.2.1. The Information Life Cycle

Managing knowledge

Part 1: Introduction

Crossing the threshold to the age of ideas

In this chapter an introduction into the topic as well as an introduction of the company will

be given. This shall enable the reader to understand the importance of knowledge

management as well as the aims and objectives of this study.

1.1.

Knowledge as a competitive advantage

"An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the

ultimate competitive advantage."

-Jack Welch, CEO, General Electric

Apart from the type of industry, companies are becoming increasingly knowledge-based

and intellectual assets take the leading role in defining market value. To put it in another

way: "Today, the most successful companies are becoming brain-rich and asset-poor."

is essential for companies to understand the importance of knowledge management as

well as to incorporate a well-reasoned knowledge management concept. "Knowledge is

a unique resource in that it grows when shared."

Companies like Microsoft, Netscape, Coca-Cola, eBay, and Yahoo can be found under

the top U.S. companies with the highest market values in 1999

. The market value

represents the measure of value that the investors and markets associate with the

company. However, these companies are not valued for their tangible assets (buildings,

inventory, etc.), they are valued for something which cannot be shown on a balance

sheet: their intangibles. These include brand recognition, Patents, customer loyalty,

innovative business ideas, past achievements, etc. These companies are valued for the

knowledge they possess. However, knowledge is of little value, if it cannot be found when

needed. Therefore, a successful knowledge management concept is of crucial

importance for these companies.

The knowledge management market is growing rapidly and it will continue to advance

over the next years. Knowledge management is still a relatively young field with new

Tissen, Andriessen, Lekanne Deprez (2000), p. 130

Harryson (2000), p. 1

Tiwana (2000), p. 25

Managing knowledge

concepts emerging constantly. Most knowledge management initiatives have focused

entirely on changes in tools and technologies, such as intranets and Lotus Notes. But

knowledge management is more complex: it covers everything the company does to

make knowledge available to everyone. It includes the motivation of the employees to

share knowledge as well as the technology to make the knowledge available to

everyone.

The pioneers of knowledge management can be found in many organizations, but the

management consulting firms took a leading role. "When a consultant comes across a

problem that a client is facing, it is often very likely that some other client maybe in some

other country- has faced a similar problem in the past."

Management consulting firms

have to ensure that what individual consultants learned during consulting projects is made

available to everyone in the consulting firm by applying best practices and lessons

learned. Some management consultancies implemented sophisticated knowledge

management concepts that are widely recognized, such as:

Accenture's Knowledge Xchange

Arthur Andersen's Knowledge Enterprise

Ernst & Young's Center for Business Knowledge in Cleveland

KPMG's KWEB knowledge management infrastructure and Cyber Park Avenue

McKinsey & Company's practice development process, and

Booz Allen & Hamilton's Vision 2000.

The twenty-first century gives companies the tools and connectivity to easily obtain, share,

and act on information quickly. Knowledge management uses these possibilities and

recent studies showed that companies gained a competitive advantage by

implementing it. According to Accenture research, a well implemented knowledge

management process can improve employee productivity by an average of 60%.

To successfully apply knowledge management, companies need to implement a process

of motivating and inciting people to share information. The old saying "Knowledge is

power" is still popular. The people who are hoarding their knowledge believe that it makes

them irreplaceable. However, real power does not come from knowledge kept, but from

knowledge shared. People are expected to cooperate, to be open, to participate within

the new economy, but resistance can be expected.

Tiwana (2000), p. 50

Managing knowledge

Knowledge management should become part of everything an organization does, and

be part of everyone's job. "If companies are successful in managing knowledge, they

may even forget that they are doing it."

1.2. Knaupp Scharpff Associates

"In an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the sure source of lasting

competitive advantage is knowledge."

This study is conducted for Knaupp Scharpff Associates in Berlin. Knaupp Scharpff

Associates is a small management consultancy, founded in April 2000 by Dr. Thilo Scharpff.

Knaupp Scharpff Associates consists presently of eight former Price Waterhouse & Coopers

consultants. Knaupp Scharpff Associates specialized in the following areas:

corporate finance and development,

mergers and acquisitions (M & A), and the

setting up of new small- and middle-sized enterprises.

Knaupp Scharpff Associates is highly interested in implementing a knowledge

management initiative, in particular in respect to the future intention of growth. The

consulting projects are processed by Knaupp Scharpff Associates consultants as well as

interims consultants. This shows very clearly that the need for a well-implemented

knowledge management concept is necessary in order to capture, not only the

knowledge of the Knaupp Scharpff Associates consultants, but also that of the interims

consultants. Furthermore, the interims consultants should also have access to the

knowledge management system of Knaupp Scharpff Associates. This study will develop a

knowledge management concept for Knaupp Scharpff Associates, based on theoretical

aspects, as well as interviews with consultancies that already implemented a successful

knowledge management system.

Davenport, Prusak (2000), p. xv

Drucker (1953)

Managing knowledge

1.3. Aims and Objectives of the study

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled

high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think

anew and act anew."

Abraham Lincoln

Knowledge management is still a relatively young field, with new concepts emerging

constantly. Few executives would argue with the premise that knowledge management is

critical but few know precisely what to do about it. Change is the only constant in

business nowadays. Many organizations already implemented successful knowledge

management concepts, whereas some others are just discovering the need for it.

Especially in consultancies, knowledge management is of crucial importance, because

they are dealing mainly with knowledge. Instead of having consultants start every new

project with a blank paper, every management consultancy should implement a

knowledge management initiative. This ensures that consultancies apply lessons learned

and best practices from past projects. Knaupp Scharpff Associates was just founded in

April 2000 and has not yet implemented a knowledge management concept. It already

makes use of Lotus Notes but it is interested in implementing a whole knowledge

management concept.

The aim of this thesis is therefore to draw a concept on how to implement a knowledge

management concept at Knaupp Scharpff Associates. This involves a reward-system, how

to change the corporate culture, how to distribute responsibilities, and how to involve

interims consultants. The objective is to examine existing knowledge management

concepts in consultancies and to derive a concept of how to implement a knowledge

management initiative from them.

1.4. Summary

Knowledge management is regarded as an important factor to enhance the

competitiveness of organizations. Many organizations saw the need of knowledge sharing

and therefore implemented knowledge management initiatives. There are, however,

various opinions of what knowledge management actually is and what needs to be

implemented.

Knaupp Scharpff Associates saw the growing need for a knowledge management system

as well and are highly interested in implementing a solution which suits their needs best.

Managing knowledge

Part 2: Literature Review ?

2. What is knowledge management and how can it be

implemented?

There are various different opinions on what knowledge management actually is. This

chapter presents an attempt to explain what it is and how it can be implemented, but

due to several definitions and approaches to knowledge management, this will be one

explanation among many others. First of all, the term knowledge will be explained to

derive from it a definition of knowledge management. Then four areas of an organization

will be discussed which are of great importance when implementing a knowledge

management concept and finally, four steps of implementing knowledge management

are presented.

2.1. Knowledge management The basics

In this section the basics of knowledge management are presented. These are of crucial

importance in understanding the need for a knowledge management initiative as well as

knowledge on how it is implemented.

2.1.1. From Data to knowledge

Before one is able to fully understand knowledge management, one has to understand

what is meant by knowledge and its different elements. There are numerous definitions of

knowledge. Webster's dictionary gives the following definition: "applies to facts or ideas

acquired by study, investigation, observation, or experience." This definition clearly

indicates, that knowledge evolves with experience, successes, failures, and learning over

time. However, to truly understand knowledge, one first has to differentiate between data,

information and knowledge:

"Data is a set of particular and objective facts about an event or simply the structured

record of a transaction."

The data itself has no meaning. Meaning comes to these raw

facts and figures when they are transformed into some kind of information. According to

Drucker, "information is data endowed with relevance and purpose."

If experiences are

added to the information, it turns into knowledge. "Knowledge emerges in the minds of

Tiwana (2000), pp. 59-60

Tiwana (2000), p. 61

Managing knowledge

people, through their experiences and jobs."

Thomas Davenport and Laurence Prusak

suggest the following working definition of knowledge:

"Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, expert

insight and grounded intuition that provides an environment and framework for

evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It originates and is

applied in the minds of knowers. In organizations, it often becomes embedded not only

in documents or repositories but also in organizational routines, processes, practices,

and norms".

Knowing how to do things effectively and efficiently in ways that other organizations

cannot duplicate is the primary source of profit nowadays. In an information economy,

knowledge and core competencies are key organizational assets. To make the

differences between data, information, and knowledge clear, an example will be used.

An Example: Taking a flight

Suppose you are trying to take an urgent flight from Atlanta, Georgia, to Shanghai, China.

If you are using a travel agent's Website to find an appropriate flight, you are moving

through the different stages from data to knowledge:

The Website provides data about available flights and departure times. Therefore one

is able to collect the raw data needed to find the best flight.

There are two different flights, both are going via London. One is from British Airways

and stops at Heathrow Airport in London, the other one is a Delta flight, which leaves

two hours later in Atlanta and stops at Gatwick Airport in London. This is the necessary

information, one needs to find the most appropriate flight.

You know (from former flights) that flights to the Asian continent are leaving from

Gatwick Airport in London. You also know from previous experiences- that a bus ride

from Heathrow to Gatwick takes an hour. Therefore you realize that the plane that

leaves first will not arrive first. Based on this knowledge, you book the later flight.

2.1.1.1. Explicit versus implicit knowledge

Knowledge can either be in the form of documented information (explicit knowledge) or

in the form of know-how and embedded organizational learning processes within the

company (implicit knowledge). Implicit knowledge resides in people's heads; it is their

Tiwana (2000), p. 58

Davenport, Prusak (2000), p. 5

Modified according to Tiwana (2000), p. 59

Managing knowledge

abilities and the skills they have acquired through practice. Both types of knowledge build

up the internal knowledge base of a company.

2.1.1.2. Individual versus collective knowledge

Another distinction is drawn between individual and collective knowledge. Individual

knowledge represents the personal knowledge of an individual which can be explicit or

tacit. Collective knowledge is the knowledge of an organization. The goal of every

organization is to make the individual knowledge of the employees collective. Therefore

the corporate culture should support knowledge sharing.

After having understood knowledge, one is able to understand the different aspects of

knowledge management. In the next section, the basics of knowledge management will

be explained.

2.1.2. Knowledge management What it is

"Knowledge Management is a fancy term for a simple idea. You're managing data,

documents, and people's efforts. Your aim should be to enhance the way people work

together, share ideas, sometimes wrangle, and build on one another's ideas and then

act in concert for a common purpose."

- Bill Gates, CEO Microsoft Inc.

Sharing knowledge is important: It is one of three business processes for which General

Electric CEO Jack Welch takes personal responsibility (the others are allocating resources

and developing people).

The most frequently used definition of knowledge

management is to get the right knowledge to the right people at the right time so they

can work on it and achieve the best possible outcome. However, knowledge

management is more complex; it also involves the process of motivating employees to

share their knowledge, embedding key information in systems and processes, and

creating new knowledge. "The goal of knowledge management is to build and exploit

intellectual capital effectively and gainfully. "

Intellectual capital (IC) are the intangible

assets of a company, such as know-how, patents, brands, etc. IC has become popular

when in 1994 Skandia AFS published the first report on IC. Nowadays, many companies

manage IC as part of their day-to-day business. "IC is something you can't see, you can't

touch, and yet makes you rich."

www.fortune.com/indext.jhtml?channel=print_article.jhtml&doc_id=00000539 (27.04.2001)

Depres, Chauvel (2000) ; p. 6

Mertens, Heisig, Vorbeck (2001); p. 60

Managing knowledge

The Fraunhofer IPK's Competence Center Knowledge Management recently studied the

state of the art of knowledge management in Europe. Since former studies focused almost

exclusively on North America and the UK, this study focused on German TOP 1000 and

European TOP 200 companies. It was based on the business process classification of the

American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC), which was broadly recognized. The

study led the Fraunhofer IPK to the following definition of knowledge management which

will form the basis of this study:

"Knowledge Management describes all methods, instruments and tools that in a

holistic approach contribute to the promotion of the core knowledge processes to

generate knowledge, to store knowledge, to distribute knowledge and to apply

knowledge supported by the definition of knowledge goals and the identification of

knowledge in all areas and levels of the organization."

This definition shows very clearly, that knowledge management involves more than just

getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right time. It involves everything the

organization does to make knowledge available to the business.

Knowledge management is closely associated with specific people, such as:

Peter Drucker was the first to use the name `knowledge worker' in 1969.

In 1997 the University of Berkeley in California set up a professorship for knowledge

management, which the Japanese professor Ikujiro Nonaka holds.

The Swedish financial services company Skandia AFS was the first to publish a Report of

its IC.

Professor Gilbert Probst developed the `building blocks' for knowledge management,

based on the core processes and problems related to it.

In the middle of the 90s the integrated concept of knowledge management (to

combine the technological and the human resource approach) emerged; professor

Bullinger is one of the advocates of this approach.

Knowledge management can be divided into the technological approach and the

human resource approach. The technological approach focuses on the employment of

information- and communication technologies, whereas the human resource approach

focuses on the people, who are the upholders of knowledge. Nowadays, knowledge

management initiatives combine the two approaches.

Mertins, Heisig, Vorbeck (2001); p. 3

Managing knowledge

Knowledge management is not a new concept: people are aware of the importance of

knowledge since many years. This subject once occupied even Plato and Aristotle and

many other philosophers after their time.

But why did it emerge in recent years? Which

factors contributed to the success of knowledge management as a competitive

advantage? The next section will deal with these questions. Understanding the drivers of

knowledge management is important in understanding the need for a knowledge

management concept.

2.1.2.1. Driving Forces behind knowledge management

International Data Corp. estimates that "FORTUNE 500 companies wasted $12 billion last

year as employees duplicated one another's work and waded through disorganized

files."

The emergence of knowledge management in recent years can be explained by several

external and internal causes.

Various changes in the environment within the last years

have forced companies to find new ways to respond. These are the major external driving

forces:

Globalization. The process of globalization led to increased competition, national as

well as international, and forced companies to be more effective. In global

competition, only the fittest survive.

Sophisticated customers. Customers are in a better position nowadays: companies

need to customize products and "treat customers as kings." Therefore companies

have to find ways to understand customers needs and capabilities better than their

competitors.

Sophisticated competitors. Competing companies implement continuously innovations

and an organization has to continuously learn to stay competitive.

Sophisticated suppliers. Suppliers improve their products continuously as well and one

has to understand these improvements in order to take advantage of it.

Also within companies, several developments changed the use of knowledge and

improved opportunities to manage it. These are the major internal driving forces behind

knowledge management:

Bottlenecks in enterprise effectiveness. Former bottlenecks have been removed, but

they moved from tangible areas to intangible ones, such as knowledge. Therefore one

has to understand these new areas to react effectively to bottlenecks.

Davenport, Prusak (2000), p. xviii

www.fortune.com/indext.jhtml?channel=print_article.jhtml&doc_id=00001577 (27.04.2001)

Despres, Chauvel (2000), pp. 10-12

Managing knowledge

Increased technological capabilities. Recently, many improvements in Information

Technology made knowledge management approaches utilizable.

Understanding of human cognitive functions. One has to understand how knowledge

affects decision-making to incorporate a successful knowledge management

concept.

This section built the basis of understanding knowledge management as well as its

implications. But how does an organization implement a knowledge management

initiative? What are the key areas of knowledge management? And how do you start

when implementing a concept? These questions will be addressed in the following section.

2.2. How to implement a knowledge management concept

2.2.1. Four key areas of knowledge management

The key to effective knowledge management is to define what knowledge and how it is

important to the organization and to create processes to put that knowledge to work.

There are four key areas for successfully building knowledge management capabilities

within an organization:

Structure,

Processes,

People, and

Tools.

2.2.1.1. Structure

"It is the context which gives the message its meaning to the data and turns it into

information."

The first step in developing a knowledge management initiative is identifying the areas in

the organization where knowledge-sharing can help improve business performance.

Therefore one has to focus on the strategic objectives of the firm. The corporate strategy is

important to create the right environment within the company. Its goal is to present the

aims of the organization to suppliers, customers, shareholders, etc. A corporate strategy

shows the employees where the company wants to go and therefore simplifies the process

of participating for the employees. This is also important for the knowledge management

system because then the needed knowledge to fulfill the organization's goals may be

identified. It is essential to start with a strategy that brings people, processes and tools

together and it must include a program for cultural change. A negative scenario is often

Tissen, Andriessen, Lekanne Deprez (2000), p. 186

Managing knowledge

a more effective motivator for change than a positive one. A sense of crisis usually puts the

issues in stark relief, whereas it is often complicated to motivate the employees of an

organization to change if a company is apparently `healthy'.

A helpful tool that assists in deciding which knowledge is important is a knowledge map.

"A knowledge map is an overview of all the knowledge that is vital to the attainment of

strategic business goals."

The knowledge map also shows which domains are critical to

the future of the company.

The core competencies of the organization have to be identified in order to focus on

these areas within the knowledge management system. In doing this, organizations may

easily sustain and increase their competitive advantage. There are mainly two reasons

why companies need to define their value propositions and thus focus on their efforts. First,

focus on guarantees that valuable resources are applied to high-payoff areas. In most

businesses, there are only limited resources to spend on managing knowledge. The second

reason is that this focus helps ensure that the right knowledge is managed. The aim is to

determine what knowledge provides the highest business value, what needs to be

captured, its actual content, and who has it.

By defining what knowledge content counts, companies have a better chance of

obtaining valuable returns. To clarify the objectives helps to succeed in knowledge

management.

Identifying the owners and assisting them in sharing their knowledge is the key challenge of

any knowledge management initiative. This strong focus on motivation is one of the key

factors leading to the success of knowledge management projects.

2.2.1.2. Processes

Standardized processes should allow people to perform the key activities of knowledge

management, namely: create, share, use, collaborate, and improve knowledge.

Therefore the degree of connectivity between these core process activities of knowledge

management have to be evaluated, in order to standardize processes. The main

questions are: How is the created knowledge stored? How is the stored knowledge

shared? How is the shared knowledge used? How is new knowledge created? The result of

this analysis is a profile demonstrating the strong and weak points of the business process

depending on the degree of connectivity between the identified core activities.

The

optimization of the processes aim at closing identified gaps and sequencing the core tasks

of knowledge management. One principle is to use standardized procedures, methods,

tools and results. This is due to the fact that one important barrier to knowledge

Tissen, Andriessen, Lekanne Deprez (2000), p. 232

Managing knowledge

management is the lack of time of staff and managers. "To understand knowledge

management as a work assignment means to incorporate it into daily business without

significantly increasing the workload of employees."

Therefore, the knowledge

management process has to be "baked" into key knowledge work processes.

People are not only the owners and the key enablers in using knowledge as a competitive

advantage, they are also the major limitation. When an organization implements a new

knowledge system such as Lotus Notes, the situation becomes clear: everybody wants to

get knowledge out, but nobody wants to put knowledge in. Maybe because the

ownership of knowledge is thought to make one irreplaceable ("Knowledge is power"),

people are unwilling to share it. "People need to be motivated and inspired to create and

share knowledge."

Companies are faced with a seemingly unsolvable problem: how to

gain the trust of their employees to share knowledge against a continuing trend of

downsizing and reengineering. But without trust, there will be no sharing of knowledge.

"When knowledge is shared in dialogue, the sharer knows it will only get richer. It will be

readjusted and supplemented by others. The result is a natural knowledge sharing

behavior."

Von Krogh, Ichijo, and Nonaka put it in a similar way: "Knowledge workers

cannot be bullied into creativity or information sharing; and the traditional forms of

compensation and organizational hierarchy do not motivate people sufficiently for them

to develop the strong relationships required for knowledge creation on a continuing

basis."

Therefore organizations have to instill a knowledge attitude in which sharing of

knowledge is natural. That implies to judge the knowledge of others in a positive way in

contrast to the not-invented-here syndrome. A corporate culture must support knowledge

sharing within a company. This is without doubt the hardest part in implementing a

knowledge management initiative. "Organizational culture should have several

components with regard to knowledge:

People have a positive orientation to knowledge employees are bright, intellectually

curious, willing and free to explore, and executives encourage their knowledge

creation and use.

People are not inhibited in sharing knowledge they are not alienated or resentful of

the company and do not fear that sharing knowledge will cost them their jobs.

The knowledge management project fits with the existing culture."

There is not "the right" organizational culture to support knowledge management. The

organizational culture may support knowledge sharing, but the employees have to be

willing to share.

Mertins, Heisig, Vorbeck (2001), p.29

Mertins, Heisig, Vorbeck (2001), p.42

Tissen, Andriessen, Lekanne Deprez (2000), p. 182

Tissen, Andriessen, Lekanne Deprez (2000), p. 165

Von Krogh, Ichijo, Nonaka (2000), p. 5

Davenport, De Long, and Beers (1998), p. 16

Managing knowledge

2.2.1.3. People

"Any time there is change, there is opportunity. So it is paramount that an organization get

energized rather than paralyzed."

- Jack Welch, CEO General Electric

Early hopes that knowledge could simply be vacuumed out of people's heads and stored

on databases are proving as naive as they were insensitive. Knowledge-intensive

companies must obtain the key competence of retaining their knowledge workers by

increasing the significance of motivation, rewards and compensation, and performance

appraisal. "If a key knowledge worker leaves, the company loses more than just that

employee; it loses the informal network that employee has constructed around himself or

herself and is in danger of losing clients who see their relationship not necessarily with the

company but rather with the individual concerned."

The set of rules and incentives that

administer knowledge transfer are as vital as the organizational framework itself. Rewards

and incentives need to encourage people not to compete with one another, but to share

and work together. The task of the human resource management is therefore to qualify

and motivate employees for the more efficient deployment of a corporate knowledge

management approach.

But how can employees be motivated in a way that they share

their knowledge and stay with the company for a long time? Daniel Goleman a widely

recognized author in the area of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and leadership qualities -

defines Motivation as "a passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status, a

propensity to pursue goals with energy and enthusiasm."

Although job satisfaction and

morale are important, employee motivation is even more critical to a firm's success as one

can see from Goleman's definition of motivation. There are several theories about how to

the motivate employees, such as:

the Classical Theory of motivation (Workers are motivated solely by money)

the "Hawthorne Studies" ("Tendency for productivity to increase when workers believe

they are receiving special attention from management"

)

Maslow's "Hierarchy of needs" (People have several different needs, such as:

physiological, security, social, esteem, and self-actualization needs. Maslow concludes

that because different people have different needs, they are motivated by different

things)

Herzberg's "Two-factor Theory" (Job satisfaction and dissatisfaction depend on two

factors: hygiene factors, such as working conditions, and motivation factors, such as

recognition for a well done job)

Tissen, Andriessen, Lekanne Deprez (2000), p. 169

Mertins, Heisig, Vorbeck (2001), p. 41

Henry (2001), 128

Ebert and Griffin (2000), p. 185

Managing knowledge

the Expectancy Theory (People are motivated to work toward rewards that they want

and that they believe they have a chance of obtaining)

the Equity Theory (People evaluate their treatment by the organization relative to the

treatment of others)

Deciding what provides job satisfaction and motivates workers is part of the Human

Resource Department's work. There are various strategies that can be applied within a firm

to motivate the employees, such as:

Reinforcement Theory (Encourage/discourage behavior of employees by means of

rewards and punishment)

Management by Objectives ("System of collaborative goal setting that extends from

the top of an organization to the bottom

Empowerment ("Process of enabling workers to set their own work goals, make

decisions, and solve problems within their sphere of responsibility and authority"

)

Participation ("giving employees a voice in making decisions about their own work"

)

Job Rotation Programs (Employees are rotating through various positions in the same

firm). Job rotation offers among others the following advantages:

1. obliging people

to learn new skills, 2. discouraging empire building, 3. providing employees with a

broader view of a company, which lets them appreciate colleague's problems, 4.

forcing management to prepare more than one person for a job, 5. creating

additional opportunities for those who might otherwise be trapped.

Modified work schedules, such as work-share and flextime programs ("Allowing

employees to select, within broad parameters, the hours they work"

)

Telecommuting and Virtual Offices (Form of flextime that allows employees to work

away from standard office settings)

In order to motivate their employees, managers may also apply many different styles of

leadership. Nowadays, more and more leaders find it necessary to change their own

behavior. Since organizations become flatter and workers are becoming more and more

empowered, managers are functioning more as "coaches" or "mentors" than "bosses".

Robin Rowley and Joseph Roevens go even one step further and advice leaders to

undergo four role changes to adapt to changing needs:

Deal Maker: In this role, leaders articulate a vision for change.

Coach: The leader listens to his employees, maybe questions some ideas and supports

his employees in making the company more successful.

Ebert and Griffin (2000), p. 190

Griffin (1999), p. 499

Semler (1995), p. 331

Griffin (1999), p. 502

Rowley, Roevens (1999), p. 182

Managing knowledge

Mentor: The leader is now a strategic advisor, who shares information, informs and

consults and supports his employees to do things their own way.

Top Client: The leader acts now as the top client of the company who demands world-

class delivery from his employees.

Leaders who run through these four stages do truly empower their employees and move

to self-organizing teams which motivates employees.

Money is no longer the prime motivator for most people. But how can they be motivated

then? Which of the theories about motivation fits best for implementing a knowledge

management concept? Mahen Tampoe identified reward strategies to motivate and

compensate the so-called knowledge workers. "Knowledge workers are those who apply

their theoretical and practical understanding of an area of knowledge to produce

outcomes that have commercial, social or personal value."

He identified four key

expectations of knowledge workers concerning rewards. Knowledge workers are therefore

motivated by a mixture of the following:

personal growth (Self development rather than growing managerial or professional

skills)

autonomy (Being allowed to define their own rules)

creative achievement (Work that stimulates them intellectually rather than meeting

targets assigned by the organization)

financial rewards (Salary plus bonus on personal achievement)

The financial rewards were not very important since most of the knowledge workers that

participated in Tampoe's research were in well paid jobs. In which of the theories about

motivation does this reward system fit? "Motivational researchers and theorists who have

studied the motivation of knowledge workers agree that the Expectancy Theory of

motivation is the most appropriate for this category of employee."

The best way of motivating knowledge professionals to stay with a company are therefore

opportunities for self-expression and career development, combined with a fair share of

the profits. According to Tissen, Andriessen, and Lekanne Deprez people can be

motivated by three basic forces:

Personal forces. These come from within people themselves (i.e. strong political views).

Push forces. These come from other people (i.e. family, colleagues).

Pull forces. These come from external factors (i.e. second house, a new car).

All these theories show that rewarding an employee for sharing knowledge needs to be a

combination of several factors.

Mullins (1999), p. 440

Mullins (1999), p. 441

Details

Seiten
Erscheinungsform: Originalausgabe
Jahr: 2001
ISBN (eBook): 9783832450427
ISBN (Paperback): 9783838650425
DOI: 10.3239/9783832450427
Dateigröße: 1 MB
Sprache: Englisch
Institution / Hochschule: Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam – International Management
Erscheinungsdatum: 2002 (Februar)
Note: 1,0
Schlagworte: knowledge management consulting concept wissensmanagement

Autor

Katrin Lenz (Autor:in)