Applying Social Technical Theory in Knowledge Management (Km)

This chapter describes what is knowledge management in details as well as what is the factors of implementing knowledge management which are implementing best practices, network expansion, systematic information system infrastructure, good organizational culture, senior management leadership and commitment and trustworthiness of teamwork.

The work entitled "Challenges and Reflections on Knowledge Society & Sociotechnical Systems" reports that information technology (IT) is redefining the business basis" and that "customer attendance, operations, product strategies, marketing and distribution and even the society of knowledge depend sometimes even totally on Information System (IS)." (Balloni, 2010, p.21) The implementation of a new technology has been associated with problems that are "often linked to resistance by the work force and failure to achieve the expected benefits." (Balloni, 2010, p.21) Balloni (2010) reports that there must be a fit between the 'technical' and 'social' system, which form the organization. This means that business strategy, rules and processes determine the type of software and subsequently the type of hardware, database, and telecommunications system needed by the organization. The social system is comprised by the organization's

Knowledge management was defined as the turning of information into actionable knowledge which can be accessed by people who can apply it. Robbins (2003) gives a time perspective in his definition of knowledge management. He mentions as part of knowledge management the distribution of the right information to the right people at the right time. Lytras et al (2002) gives a definition of knowledge management which emphasises the purpose of knowledge management. In the definition creation of new capabilities, enablement for superior performance, encouraging innovation and enhancement of customer value were mentioned. For the purpose of this study the researcher summarised knowledge management as the intentional process of coordinating people, technology and systems to optimise creation and sharing of intellectual

New and original technology may be created, but how can a person or group of people can implement or utilize the technology to try to maximize benefits as best as possible is the question that first needs to be analyzed. Researchers developed a process approach to how technology will be implemented to be used properly by people with minimal costs. The processes used in this approach are known as socialization, commitment, reward allocation, feedback, and redesign, all of which is a long, complex protocol to ensure that the technology is not used improperly or mishandled enough to warrant danger. In addition to the technology being implemented, organizations and businesses will be vigilant in knowing what technology is being created so they can invest in new technology for a competitive market position, to try to gain the upper hand over other organizations. The implementation process accounts for this as well; businesses are always striving to make more money and sometimes when new inventions or innovations are made, they may cater to the market in appeal so to make money. The imperative issue of how technology will be fully realized in its utility as time goes on, giving people more choices in what they want. Technology may be used for seemingly a vast variety of reasons but knowing how to fully utilize it is the real undertaking that should be considered and dealt with. Moreover, the idea of an approach in how to implement technology is important as well, as new technology

This paper investigates several issues regarding the nature, domain, conceptual foundations, and practical challenges of knowledge management and organizational learning. The paper first identifies and contrasts two fundamental philosophical orientations to knowledge management -- the personal knowledge orientation and

Knowledge management can be considered to be an essential strategic function in any organisation today. As the world becomes more globalised, and traditional structures of intermediation are removed whilst new ones are created, it is clear that knowledge, and consequently a learning organisation is one that is more likely to find unique sources of competitive advantage, and be able to develop sustainable competitive strategies in the long term. A number of different processes and sub-processes have been identified with knowledge management, such as knowledge generation, knowledge codification, and knowledge transfer or

In my opinion, organizations are likely to find better solutions thru informational overload using technical and social systems. Information overload has an ability to cause negative effects on an organizations performance. Within, technical and social systems there are a collection of complex components that solve problems within that system. Knowledge management uses the combination and utilization of technology at every phase that is available within the organization. Social and technical framework for management of knowledge is an appropriate method than an organization can use to handle problems due to information overload.

In a global world where society is driven by technology it is almost impossible for any form of business or organization to succeed without the proper technological advances. Businesses have heavy reliance on their information systems for accuracy which helps management with making decisions.

Knowledge management has gained substantial importance in the past few years due to the realisation of numerous advantages associated with efficient knowledge management. An improved decision-making process, considerable increased in productivity and quality, sharing of best practices, less circumstance for reinvention process, and increased development of the skills and talent of the workforce are some of the benefits associated with the knowledge management within the organisations. (Jennex, 2008, p.275). Efficient combination of previously unrelated elements and exchange of tacit knowledge helps in the creation of knowledge that correspondingly leads to appropriate transfer of the gained knowledge transfer (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998). The implementation of knowledge management strategies depends a great deal

Knowledge Management is defined as the process of capturing, distributing and effectively using knowledge (Davenport, 1994) 1. It can also be refer as a multi-disciplined method in order to accomplish organizational objectives by fully utilized and generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets 6. Knowledge Management focuses on the gaining, creating, and sharing knowledge and technical foundations that support them 2. According to Grey, knowledge management is an audit of “intellectual assets” that highlights unique resources, critical functions and potential deadlocks which prevent knowledge flows to the point of use. It protects intellectual assets from decaying, seeks opportunities to improve decisions, services and products through adding intelligence, increasing value and providing flexibility (Grey , n.d) 5. On top of that, knowledge management includes a range of planning and practices used in an organization to classify, create, distribute and enable adoption of intuitions and experiences.

The process of collecting, transferring, storing and making information useful is also known as knowledge management. In this, the organization is enabled to grow, adapt to changes and meet customer demands. The information age has a most certain influence on how the organization manages knowledge. This is true of whether that knowledge is unique to the organization, or shared to external organizations. Today there are various ways to collect and compile data and turn that data into useful information; however, without the use of knowledge management, then data, information, and knowledge is lost or misused. Through the knowledge management process the organization has the ability to learn as an organization. This is

In today’s modern day environment, the competition as well as the drive to be one of the best amongst organizations, is consistently increasing, especially after globalization. Due to which many organizations are no longer confined under certain boundaries, but instead are more intermingled. As an outcome, many organizations these days heavily rely on each other for sharing knowledge. Therefore, knowledge management is considered as a valuable component towards the success of an organization.

Knowledge management is described as the capability of a company to research and develop new technology, disseminate it with purpose and under control, apply it on the products, services and systems. [1]

Knowledge management and information is the process of capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using organizational knowledge.It refers to a multi-disciplinary approach to achieving organizational objectives by making the best use of knowledge. It includes the fields of business administration, information systems, management, library, and information sciences. Other fields may contribute to research, including information and media, computer science, public health, and public policy. Many large companies, public institutions, and non-profit organizations have resources dedicated to its efforts, often as a part of their business strategy, information technology, or human resource management departments.Several consulting companies provide advice regarding knowledge management to these organizations.

Knowledge management is a large term and can mean a number of things. For the purpose of this paper, the definition of knowledge management that I will recognize is the creation, development, and sharing of knowledge and information within an organization. However the problem remains, as well as the topic of this paper, exactly how effective is knowledge management in an organization. Furthermore, the key question that I hope to answer in this paper is how the use and development of knowledge can be managed in an organization. Although there are countless pieces of literature on knowledge management itself, and there have been proposals that link knowledge management to a company’s performance, to this date there are very few papers that attempt to measure the effectiveness of knowledge management within an organization. Overall, my objective of this paper is to compare two separate companies and first, find out how to measure the value of knowledge management, and second, find out how beneficial it is to the organization.