Knowledge Management: Pop Def.Knowledge Management: Pop Def.

• "Knowledge management will deliver outstanding collaboration and partnership working. It will ensure the region maximizes the value of its information and knowledge assets and it will help its citizens to use their creativity and skills better, leading to improved effectiveness and greater innovation". West Midlands Regional Observatory, UK

• "Knowledge Management is the discipline of enabling individuals, teams and entire organisations to collectively and systematically create, share and apply knowledge, to better achieve their objectives“ Ron Young, CEO/CKO Knowledge Associates International

• "Most activities or tasks are not one-time events. Whether its drilling a well or conducting a transaction at a service station, we do the same things repeatedly. Our philosophy is fairly simple: every time we do something again, we should do it better than the last time". Sir John Steely Browne, BP, Harvard Business Review, 1997.

• "If only HP knew what it knows it would make three times more profit tomorrow“ Lew Platt, ex CEO Hewlett Packard

• "We recognise that our most important asset is people and their knowledge. We understand Knowledge Management (KM) as the cultivation of an environment within which people are willing to share, learn and collaborate together leading to improvement". Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP)

Justification for Knowledge Mgt:Justification for Knowledge Mgt:Ms Macintosh Perspectives Ms Macintosh Perspectives

• Most work/project designs are information based • Organizations are able to compete on the basis of

knowledge.• Products and services are increasingly complex,

endowing them with a significant information component.• The need for life-long learning is an inescapable reality• Changes in strategic direction may result in the loss of

knowledge in a specific area• Early retirements and increasing mobility of the work

force lead to loss of knowledge

Knowledge Management Concepts Knowledge Management Concepts

Refers to the assumptions of the level of existence of knowledge in individuals, organizations or communities and how it is communicated ( Kampf 2009)

Types of Knowledge Mgt conceptsTypes of Knowledge Mgt concepts

• Socilaization Externalization Combination Internalization (SECI) of knowledge conversion (Nonaka)

• Strategic Communities (Stork & Hill)• The knowing cycle (Choo)• Communities of practices (Wenger & Synder) • Knowledge Asymmetries (Kastberg)• Ba (Nonaka, Toyama & Kano)

Socilaization Externalization Combination Socilaization Externalization Combination Internalization (SECI) of knowledge conversion Internalization (SECI) of knowledge conversion

(Nonaka)(Nonaka)

• Model emanated in a Japanese company from knowledge creation and innovative research

• Involves four models of conversion(SECI)• Requires a spiral innovation process for the

functioning of the modes of conversion• Presents persons communications needs in

work description• Project focus shifts from implicit- explicit-implicit• It focus not only solving problems, but on

understanding how (Nonaka et al 2000)

Strategic Communities (Stork & Strategic Communities (Stork & Hill)Hill)

• Planned and specific assistance to shape communities work

• Knowledge sharing in work practices

• It is assumed that strategic community is located in within an organization

• Actions are tied to communities characteristics to shape work

The knowing cycle (Choo)The knowing cycle (Choo)

• Involves more decision making than knowledge creating

• An essential tool in analyzing different project groups

• Model brings together sense making, knowledge creating and decision making through streams of experience ,shared meanings and new capabilities (Choo 1998)

Communities of practices (Wenger Communities of practices (Wenger & Synder)& Synder)

• Mutual engagement, joint venture and shared collection in our ways of understanding

• Offers concepts to address stakeholders’ needs

• In project management the COP motivates stakeholders, build shared inventory and foster mutual engagements

Knowledge Asymmetries Knowledge Asymmetries (Kastberg)(Kastberg)

• Requires the notion of balancing the asymetrics

• Very essential for development work• Knowledge arises through various

experiences• The results of a project is designed for all

stakeholders• Acknowledges diversity in perspectives

and knowledge contributions

Ba (Nonaka, Toyama & Kano)Ba (Nonaka, Toyama & Kano)

• Focuses on context of knowledge rather the process itself

• Relates to the SECI models of conversion

• A shared context in which knowledge is shared, created and utilized (Nonaka et al 2000)

Reflection/ChallengeReflection/Challenge

Do knowledge management concepts offer a better understanding of knowledge problems and shape project conceptions from a communicative perspective?

SourcesSources

• Constance Kampf (2009) Project Management: A Communicative Approach

• Sork,John and Hill, Patricia A (2000)Knowledge Diffusion through Strategic Communities

• Joann T.Hackos (1994) Managing your Documentation Projects

• Wenger, E (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, meaning and identity