ProjectsKnowledge Management Expert Role
Introduction
While there is a growing body of work and focus on the discipline of Knowledge Management and general acceptance of its value to an organization, effective implementation and application in a large enterprise setting remains elusive. The subject area of knowledge management is relatively young and little consensus has been reached on effective strategy for managing the body of knowledge of large organizations. Some organizations address knowledge management in their learning organizations, others through their process and quality functional groups, while others deploy standalone knowledge management teams and create executive level positions dedicated to the task. Each of these deployment strategies impacts the way that knowledge management initiatives are introduced and managed in the organization and has led to a wide variety of systems, theories, and results.The discipline of knowledge management became very popular in recent decades and generated a lot of attention. However, this excitement led to ill conceived initiatives which have contributed to tarnishing the reputation of the discipline. Some organizations trumpet their knowledge management systems as a tremendous source of advantage while other organizations have become disenchanted with the concept through failed projects. The reality today is that effective knowledge management has become a point of parity in many industries, rather than a point of differentiation. It is required to compete effectively, and therefore should not be ignored, but rarely provides a significant, let alone sustainable, competitive advantage. The best characterization of knowledge management today may be that ineffective knowledge management is a competitive disadvantage. Regardless of the view on advantage or disadvantage, it is important to remember that the impact of knowledge management is correlated to the size of the organization, making it even more critical for large enterprise.
We will briefly explore three key factors in effective enterprise knowledge management systems and strategy:
Integration
Similar to the way legacy systems built and deployed over many years set the stage for ERP system demand, isolated small-scale deployments of knowledge management throughout a large enterprise is creating pools of knowledge dispersed throughout many organizations today and creating a need for centralization. A disparate strategy creates as many off-setting inefficiencies in having to locate the right knowledge source as it does efficiencies in the knowledge gleaned from those sources. An effective knowledge management system is centralized and gives a role-based view of the most relevant explicit knowledge, supported through integration with enterprise directories and intranets already in place.Project Funding
In the age of globalization, two conflicting trends are taking place that affect enterprise knowledge management. To remain competitive, many enterprises have had to manage continual cost take-out initiatives and scrutinize the value-add of all activities like never before. The impact of this trend is that while many organizations and managers believe in the importance of knowledge management, they often look for the least expensive way to deploy tools that support it, thus compounding the integration issue.Dr. Walczak’s Knowledge Management Process Model (Appendix 1) illustrates the cyclical, ongoing process required for effective knowledge management. Initiatives cannot be successfully deployed with linear thinking and processes. The global business environment we operate in today makes knowledge management more valuable than ever as team members must efficiently and effectively share both tacit and explicit knowledge from coast to coast and continent to continent. To empower the organization in this environment, management and funding boards must look for the most cost effective way to deploy knowledge management while still meeting minimum integration and ease of use requirements.