Information & Knowledge ManagementClass 7: Success Stories

Marielba ZacariasProf. Auxiliar DEEI

FCT I, Gab 2.69, Ext. 7749mzacaria@ualg.pt

http://w3.ualg.pt/~mzacaria

Summary

Shell

BAE

NSF

ShellEarly ’90s

Opportunity of exploring oil in deep waters

Challenge: Never been done

Need of:

Assess current technology use

Innovate & learn more

Review business practices & communication styles

At the beginning..

Deep water division same as other Shell teams

2 units

exploration

determine field potential value

production

develop project

Teams aligned with functional skills

CommunicationDue to dimension & inmaturity

Communication among units is critical but...

hindered by formal protocols

Hard, complex and slow communication

Maps done by exploration had to be “adjusted” by production

Reorganization I

Division reorganized in 3 units based on geographical areas

Multidisciplinar teams with a single team leader

Number of members & structure varies througout the project

excepting core members

Responsible for all project life cycle including financial aspects

Re-organization I

project 1 project 2

exploration

production

ResultsWays of working and communicating changed

Individuals more conscious of the impact of their work on others

Creative thinking

Different individual & grupal dynamics

focus on global goals

atitude negociadora

Reorganization IICreation of a central group with “core” competencies of Shell with experts of each functional area

Team support

Problem:

Comunication among specialists reduced a lot

There were no formal communication processes among teams

Fragmented and dispersed documentation, in different formats

40% time searching for it

information management problem

Re-organization IIICreation of CoP for each functional area

regular discussion forums

sharing standards within teams

Use of web technologies web to

Knowledge capture and difussion

Knowledge repositories distributed with “push” model

Results II

Push Model did not work

Extended with pull model

Each community has a leader functioning as a “knowledge steward”

Each community was autonomous but a standard practice emerged

Global Results

Cost reduction and quality improvement

Replication of good practices

Sharing of ways to avoid errors

BAE

Manufacturing of defense and aerospatial systems

To adapt itself to market changes, BAE decided to change its culture

Managers got together in a discussion forum

Forum conclusionsPeople most valuable asset

client first priority

future in partnerships

innovation & technology source of competitive advantages

performance needs to be measured to guarantee success

Forum ResultsConclusions discussed with all “middle managers”

“Value Statements” formulation

Creations of groups to address each statement

Group responsible for defining and disseminating list of values based on each statement

Assessment Instrument

Definition of instrument to assess if behavioral patterns were compatible with the defined list of values

Instrument supported by intranet

Training

1500 manager have a training program providing an understanding

of the business

of the team role

of the manager role in the organization

Virtual UniversityPartnership with knowledge management experts

Virtual University

Collaborative forum

captures & disseminates good pratices and other contents

explicit (written good pratices)

tacit (expert identification)

Experienced managers of each unit play the role of directors

Life-long corporative learning center

InfoglutIn 1999

300 good practices

In 2000, regular learning session

140 presential participants

1400 online participants

30 min every day in searching information

60% spent 1h in duplicating information

Intermediation & Internalization Tools

facilitate & speed information search

Results

ROI not estimated

Managers think goals were achieved

Connected people in different places working in similar problems

Instead of separated groups, now works as a single organization

BAE went from fourth to second place world wide in its sector

Norke Skog Flooring

European manufacturer of floor materials

Created an innovative material categorization

Need of showing the benefits of this categorization to the market

Solution: colaboration

Partnership with Celemi

tools supporting product launch & branding

NSFMarketing tool that showed distributors, installers, and retailers in a personalized and interactive fashion, the advantages of NSF categorization

Does not “push” information

Allows discovering what the salesman needs in a “just in time” approach

Provides knowledge in personalized sessions according to the salesman backgroun acordo a background and education level

Learning process

Create interest

Provide just-in-time information

Exercises

Provide conclusion points and notion of goals achieved

TSF Results

50% increase in product sales