Critical IS Management Issue - Current Knowledge and Background: Information System for Collaborative Learning
From Information Systems at Pitt Business
When a business growing up, with expanding its employees, a company need a structure system to collect everyone’s intelligence and share or transfer within the company to improve the company learning and performance. Also, the structured system can also preserve precious knowledge in a long-term no matter the turnover of the employees.
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[edit] Knowledge Management (KM)
Knowledge Management ('KM') includes a range of practices used by organizations to identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge for reuse, awareness and learning , and Knowledge Management programs usually are tied to organizational objectives and are intended to achieve specific outcomes, such as shared intelligence, improved performance, competitive advantage, or higher levels of innovation.
Knowledge Management is much important in this era.
Facing the retirement rush from 76 million aging boomers (born in 1946-1964), corporations are mush aware of the importance of the knowledge management. An organization need to focus on how to keep intelligence from these baby boomers in the company and utilize it even though these baby boomers are retired. The U.S. Federal Government has stated that one of the biggest problems facing its workforce is the loss of knowledge assets as baby boomers retire in droves. Corporations realize that their most important asset, the collective knowledge of their employees, leaves the office every evening. KM provides a solution for capturing and disseminating worker knowledge and maintaining knowledge assets when employees leave.
[edit] Some discussion of Knowledge Management in the trade press
Knowledge Management enhanced creativity:
One of the most critical issues facing corporations today: knowledge management. Firms vying for sustainable competitive advantage, that have a dispersed workforce, are hampered by their capacity to tap into the collective wellsprings of employee ideas. Although increased connectivity does provide the firm with nimbleness and network interoperability yields massive quantities of data, the methodologies that stimulate idea creation remain elusive. Ideally, the extension of the firm should not only provide returns in operational effectiveness and higher employee morale, it should also bring about enhanced creativity that grows in lockstep with the cultures and regions it touches. ~ James W. Gabberty, Columbia Consultants Inc., Wantagh, N.Y. Reader Report: The Workplace Tomorrow, Business Week, September 10, 2007 .
KM must have capabilities to transform knowledge assets into standards-based learning content:
KM today captures and catalogs knowledge assets: documents, forms, lists, histories, images, or anything else in electronic form that someone says is "knowledge". KM does not transform these assets into learning. Many vendors offer specialized database management systems, front-end applications for expensive enterprise database software. It is not apparent that there are new technologies involved and KM today is not learning standards compliant. To be ultimately successful, KM must have capabilities to discriminate between what is important and worth keeping and what is not, and it must have capabilities to transform knowledge assets into standards-based learning content. Otherwise, it is an application of technology that has lots of sales appeal and less substance. Regardless of today's assessment, I feel that KM is a trend worth watching closely for its potential as a key learning portal component. ~ WBTIC
KM implementation Case: Giant Eagle
Distributor Giant Eagle started its Knowledge Management system in 2000; however, its Knowledge Management system almost failed because of the following facts in its business environment:
- Most employees at the chain's 215 stores had never used computers in their jobs before:
In order to use the KM system (a Web portal called KnowAsis supported by Open Text Livelink), they had to make the time to log in and read messages from their peers on proven practices, as well as post their own ideas
- A competitive culture had grown among Giant Eagle's managers chainwide:
Employees competing on a daily basis to have the best sales, the least amount of shoplifting, the happiest employees. This competitive spirit seemed incompatible with the very idea of employees working collaboratively, sharing the information nuggets that might give them an edge over each other.
However, everything is changed by a Giant Eagle deli manager who hit on a way to display the seafood delicacy that proved irresistible to harried shoppers, accounting for an extra $200 in one-week sales. But uncertain of his strategy, he first posted the idea on the KnowAsis portal. Other deli managers ribbed him a bit, but one tried the idea in his store and saw a similar boost in sales. The total payoff to the company, for this one tiny chunk of information, was about $20,000 in increased sales in the two stores. Seeing the bottom-line benefits of sharing knowledge propelled the employees over their initial misgivings, spurring them to try and out-hustle each other on having the best suggestions, rather than the usual metrics. "Now they're competing in the marketplace of ideas," says Russ Ross, senior vice president of IS and CIO at Giant Eagle.~ Lauren Gibbons Paul, How To Create A Know-It-All Company, CIO.com
[edit] Background and current knowledge of Knowledge Management
The first generation of Knowledge Management solution (1994-1997) is focused on information integration, which can establish information repositories, information retrieval and information and knowledge sharing. And the second generation of knowledge management solution emphasizes on knowledge production and its use. Nowadays, the spectrum of KM tools ranges from collaboration solutions, via document management, (Web) content management tools and portals to e-learning solutions, analytical solutions and intelligent agents.
There are two kinds of knowledge are collected in Knowledge Management system, one is Explicit Knowledge and the other is Tacit Knowledge. Both kinds of Knowledge are intangible assets for a company and is derived from its employees, business process, products, customer and supplier information system which all exist in daily business processes. Explicit knowledge includes everything that could be externalized (transferred from a human head into an electronic form) and shared. Tacit knowledge refers to knowledge, which is embedded in individual experience, insights, skills that are highly personal and difficult to communicate. Tacit knowledge is also rooted in the activities of teams, product market, customer’s potential, organization processes, etc.
Following is the hierarchical view of the knowledge processes in enterprises in general and it helps us to get a clear picture of the role of information technologies in knowledge creation, integration and use.
Figure 1: The knowledge creation process
Explicit knowledge is created through several business transformations from data and information. Information is the core of knowledge. The basic element of information is in the form of data that is integrated and placed into a meaningful context to provide information. Data and information code events (experience, knowledge) on a more detailed level. They reside in a structured form in databases and data warehouses (including OLAP cubes) or in an unstructured form (text documents, spreadsheets, presentation slides, drawings, pictures) on the file system, in document management systems, e-mail system, web server, and elsewhere. Knowledge is extracted from structured data and information by using intelligent tools that include statistical models, forecasting models, data mining algorithms (decision trees, associations, and neural networks), etc. Technologies for acquiring knowledge from unstructured data are based on metadata management and schemes for knowledge description/representation (ontologies, semantic nets, knowledge maps).
Key successful factors for Knowledge Management
*Communication
*Trust
*Collaboration
*Networking
*Support from top management
*Security/ Knowledge protection
The 85-15 principle of knowledge management is that 85% of the success of any KM initiative is psycho-sociological and 15% automation. The reason why 85% of the success of any KM initiative is the psycho-sociological is obvious from several perspectives:
1. Knowledge is always a human product and by-product-machines simply store the data that represents this knowledge.
2. The speed at which knowledge can be applied to create new market opportunities are dependent on the human factor.
3. If discount the human factor from KM, all left is a software system and a black box-nothing more-a mere business vanity.
4. A corporate can implement a world class software system but unless the "users" are convinced of its value and relevance, it will remain an unused world-class software system.
[edit] Web 2.0
The concept of web 2.0 is user can upload content as well as to download content from web whereas Web 1.0 only allows people can only read or download information. Web 2.0 technologies also provide a way for people to provide and access information cheaper and faster. Web 2.0 technologies includes weblogs (blogs), social bookmarking, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds (and other forms of many-to-many publishing), social software, web application programming interfaces (APIs), and online web services enhance people to interactive with each others. Not only Web 2.0 enhance people to exchange information and build up relationship with people nearby, such as co-workers or friends, but Web 2.0 also enhance people to share information with people far away from one person’s social networking , such as people in around the countries or in around the world, see figure 2.
Figure 2: The expanding network created by Web 2.0
Source: IBM, Impact of Web 2.0 on software companies
The benefits of using Web 2.0 include:
- Web 2.0 tools helps people to input data more easily: such as Wiki, Blogs, Vlogs
- Web 2.0 tools helps people to get information in real time: such as RSS, APIs , Podcast
- Web 2.0 tools helps people to search information more easily: such as Tag
- Web 2.0 tools helps people to build up relationships: such as Social Networking websites
The following figure shows how business share knowledge from traditional way to Web 1.0 then to Web 2.0:
Figure 3: Km 1.0 Vs. Km 2.0
Source: IBM, The Evolution Of Knowledge Management Km 1.0 Vs. Km 2.0
Traditionally, company can only use private resources such as individual, email, telephone or database and somewhat of public resources, such as books or journals to share or gather knowledge. In the age Web 1.0, more public knowledge is involved because of the internet. People can look for information online and exchange opinion on-line using forum, instant message…etc. In the age Web 2.0, knowledge sharing is more interactive and more immediate.
[edit] Resources from academic coursework
Most of my knowledge for Knowledge Management is learned in my undergraduate and Database Management course and e-Commerce in Katz. In the Database Management, we talked about Enterprise Content Management and how to design the database to collect data and make it easier for users to retrieve the data. In the course: I/S Mgmt Info Systems- Katz/GlaxoSmithKline Web 2.0 and e-Commerce, I learn more Web 2.0 technologies and their application in business functions, also we discuss the application of blogs in a corporate and evaluate the pros and cons for internal blogging and external blogging. Above courses make me have idea to use web 2.0 to help company build up a better knowledge management system so that company have better efficiency by sharing experience and collaboration.
[edit] General Issue and Academic Research
The most important issue in using Web 2.0 technologies to enhance the capability of the Knowledge Management is there is no criterion to evaluate the improvement and also top management are worry about security issue, ex. if using Web 2.0 would result in leakage of confidential information and have bad effect on company’s operation. In the article: The Internet grows up: What Web 2.0 means to business published by Arizona State University mentioned that Widespread collaboration and sharing that result from 2.0 technologies appear to feed a societal shift towards frankness and collaboration and One of the biggest threats from Web 2.0 is also one of its biggest opportunities: with easy cross-pollination between web sites, the web is more viral now and it is easier for individual customers to have a disproportionate effect on a company or product's image and reputation.
And in the article: Web 2.0 and the Corporation - A Thought Leadership Roundtable on Digital Strategies, Ogilvy’s Riazi suggested that marketers be very specific on value measurement. “What is it you’re measuring?” she asked. “Loyalty? Satisfaction? Sales? Growth?” But Tuck’s Marshall cautioned against focusing only on what’s measurable, which may not be the best indication of business value. “We now have masses of data, but the things we can measure are just a piece of the puzzle,” he said. “Web 2.0 creates the relationship between company and customer, which is the least measurable thing of all. So metrics are often a false idol right now.”
There is none academic or published private information for using Web 2.0 in Knowledge Management. But it is a hot topic discussed broadly across academic and professionals, people can get some idea from them and start thinking the criteria for evaluation.
[edit] Reference:
Trade Press
Making Knowledge Management Smarter[1]
The Fusion of Process and Knowledge Management[2]
Talking From the Inside Out: The Rise of Employee Bloggers[3]
The 85-15 Principle of Knowledge Management[4]
CIO.com[5] KM world[6] Knowledge management[7] Social Computing Upends Past Knowledge Management Archetypes[8]
CMS watch[9]
Office Zealot[10]
Vendors
Trends in Knowledge Management[11]
Impact of Web 2.0 on software companies, IBM, 11.08.2006
The Evolution Of Knowledge Management Km 1.0 Vs. Km 2.0,[12]
Seven Core Benefits of Web 2.0 for Traditional Industries[13]
Web 2.0: The Power Behind the Hype[14]
360 Hubs[15]
Academic
Journal of Universal Knowledge Management[16]
The Internet grows up: What Web 2.0 means to business, Arizona State, College[17] A Futuristic View of Knowledge and Information Management, Nottingham Trent University[18]
iAKS: A Proposal for a Web 2.0 Archaeological Knowledge Management System, Michigan State University[19]
Web 2.0 and the Corporation - A Thought Leadership Roundtable on Digital Strategies[20]
Others
SynapShots Citings for Knowledge Workers[21]
Semantic-Web-Based Knowledge Management[22]
Top KM trends[23]
Knowledge management shifts to new ways of thinking[24]
[edit] Career Plan & Research
Professional Profile
Professional Development Plan
Industry Profile - Online Virtual World
Firm Profile - Linden Lab
Critical IS Management Issue - Issue Identification & Definition: Information System for Collaborative Learning
Critical IS Management Issue - Current Knowledge and Background: Information System for Collaborative Learning
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