Knowledge Management - the lost art (How do you Become an Effective Manager?)

Name: 1st2thebar

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Product:	How do you Become an Effective Manager?
Date:	23/11/07 (151 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: business growth

Disadvantages: business reforms

DooYoo Review - Knowledge Management - the lost art.
~the importance of 'Knowledge Management' at work~ dated 23/11/2007

* Hi, I thought I would publish online the role of this supposedly forgotton technique 'Knowledge Management'. I hope this report will help you with your career paths.*

-Knowledge Management in business -
Your business is only as good as your Manager's 'Knowledge Management Skills'. Every Manager possesses some form of management skill that got them to their current position; but the ones who incorporate 'Knowledge Management' in their team, are the ones that do succeed, and in return have an edge on their counterparts.
Traditionally, some employees see information and knowledge as 'power' and are very reluctant to share information with other employees. Many of us think the sharing of information in this way is seen as a threat to some employees, as they feel threatened that their jobs may be under threat if others know as much as they do. Making the business prosper in return.

The skills and experience of individuals resides within their own minds, and the challenge for knowledge is to somehow capture this learning and transfer it to others quickly.
If a company knows more about its products, more about its competitor and more about the market than anyone else, it is considered to have a significant advantage over its competitors. This advantage should inevitably lead the company towards a greater market share. In order to do this the company must be able to gather this knowledge and transfer it to its employees quickly to use it for competitive advantage.

In order for corporations to gain the most from synergies, they have to 'know what they know'. Only then can they consolidate the knowledge they have and distribute it to other areas of the corporation. Knowledge and how to use it efficiently is seen as a potential solution to some of the information problems that exist during mergers, and as a way to fill the knowledge gap if downsizing occurs after a merger.
Transfer of knowledge is part of communication. It is felt that the more informed the corporation employees are, the better their ability to manage the business and to add value to the business. Improved communication is just one initiative to target in enabling knowledge management solution; however businesses have been attempting to improve communication internally for many years now.

- Knowledge Management Online resources-
The Internet has had a big impact upon most business industries and the every-day computer user. The ability to search through thousands of documents using a single word search has allowed access to information and knowledge that was previously nigh on impossible to comprehend consuming. We can now access all types of information from the comfort of our living room rather than looking in libraries or research institutes. This super - highway of digital information has led to internal company networks or 'Intranets', which offer a similar service using corporate information. A number of Intranet providers are now offering knowledge management solutions to businesses and have therefore gone some way to influence the need for knowledge management systems.

One of the pioneers in this area; Mr. Peter Drucker has been one of the worlds leading writers on management for the last 50 years. He has written many texts on the philosophy of the workplace and society, and has followed the industrial revolution of the Japanese since the 2nd World War. Drucker (1993) states, however, that Japan's success over the last forty years is not due to their ability to create knowledge, but their ability to communicate and transfer it successfully to the work place. Most of Japan's knowledge of technology and management came from the United States, whilst most of Japan's ability to continually improve was conceived by the Japanese themselves. I for one feel that the quick signage symbols used in their language stroke culture enables a quicker and direct understanding within business models and systems.

How often do individuals get sent on expensive courses or conferences by their businesses? And how often does the business really see a tangible benefit from it? The individual usually gains something from the experience, but on return rarely shares the learning with colleagues. Micro-Soft is the only recognizable business solutions model that has worked very well for most corporations in the Western world; no other models are implemented within a business system; the other noticeable one maybe is SAP in the late 1990's, but that is all.

Knowledge has rarely been cited as a competitive advantage for businesses. However, researchers in the field of sustainable competitive advantage have discovered that knowledge, which includes what the business knows, how it uses what it knows and how fast it can know something new, is the only thing that offers a competitive edge.

In most of these situations strong emphasis is placed on good documentation. The problem is that current documentation methods have provided us with little help in capturing, retaining, and transferring important tacit knowledge. The main problem we have in overcoming this is recognizing 'what we know about what we know'. Many businesses do not even know what knowledge they possess, either on paper; digitally; locked away in a safe somewhere, or in the minds of their employees; some of which may have great ideas in solving major problems; but are never asked or simply never invited into meetings. For these businesses a 'knowledge audit' is required to establish what they know.

The problem lies in the collection, codification, retention and transfer of such valuable assets. We often tend to capture data and information on large computer systems, but by doing this; we leave behind a lot of what is important. We also concentrate on the repository more than on the content of the materials stored so there needs to be more effort made in filtering documents for quality. It is commonly stated in the IT industry that 60-80 percent of the data and information stored on computer systems is never used.

- Please note > Inland Revenue lost digital data comment is due to lack of 'Knowledge Management'-

**A prime example of an inept data system; is the recent fiasco with Child Benefit data and bank accounts being lost by the Inland Revenue and Government. They estimate 25 million people are affected. The real number is more likely to be double, and for some data processing information; it counts individuals two or three times. The knowledge management within the lost data is practically nil, making it impossible to follow-up; If, correct procedures of filtering information took place the UK public would not be put to the sword**

- Knowledge Management continued -
How often in our professional lives have we been asked to contribute to yet another present for a departing colleague? In some cases it can be a monthly donation. As these people leave businesses, not only do they take with them their farewell tokens, but all the knowledge and experience they have gained during their time in that particular business. Some even take their individual experience of projects, lists of clients and contacts, and an awareness of products and processes for themselves or for other businesses. A good knowledge management profile for businesses is to keep good employees' and not lose them at any cost.

There is also the cost of re-inventing the wheel when important people leave businesses. Many employees end up doing the same things time and time again, because they do not know that it has been done previously by someone else, by doing this these employees make the same mistakes that have been made before by predecessors, because the business system has not transferred the learning from these mistakes to the rest of the team. What impact do these examples have for instance on customer service, or new product introduction? Such repetitious re-invention is purely 'waste' which will delay new products to market and will have a negative impact upon customer service. Waste becomes a cost to the business, somewhere down the line, and this cost is ultimately passed to the customer in some form, periodically resulting in no repeat business.

- A great MANAGER = a great TEAM -
To gain knowledge, is to accept knowledge, by listening or reading or researching, anything. It is remarkable how many times a problem can be solved by collecting information from unexpected sources that isn't work related, relaying it to your team simply as possible and as user friendly as possible. What is very useful is to create a business blue-print bible database; so that employees can check and so therefore not ask other experienced members for advice. Knowledge Management is the most vital part for every organization, with this in-place as your business model, you will become a great manager with a great team.

Thank you for reading, I hope this review was useful to you.

copyright 1st2thebar 2007

Summary: A Guide to 'Knowledge Management'