Introduction
This critical analysis will discuss a quantitative study regarding the knowledge process and management’s role. This investigation views knowledge sharing as related to its application. The authors are interested in determining if and how management’s influence effects the knowledge sharing process. This paper will examine the study, providing criticism on the problem statement, academic justification, literature review, research questions, methodological choice, and the findings.
Study
Nesheim, Olsen, and Tobiassen (2011) completed a study to determine how knowledge communities contribute to the application of knowledge within an organization. The firm selected is located in Norway and exists as a result of the merger
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The material uncovered in the results can provide managers of knowledge exchange and application processes with valuable information on how they may further promote knowledge transfer and application (Nesheim et al., 2011).
Literature Review
The study builds upon existing literature, similar to the concepts identified as having value in this examination. Literature on knowledge transfer has mostly focused on informal networks, created by the normal day-to-day interactions of employees (Hansen, 1999). While these groups offer knowledge transfer, there is little managerial influence over the process. Formal groups with managerial oversight in the knowledge sharing process drive the focus of this study (Nesheim et al., 2011). Literature that focuses on knowledge groups where management has a critical role in the facilitating of the knowledge transfer process has been identified. Inclusive to this group are articles that emphasize use and effectiveness of knowledge (Nesheim et al., 2011). Though there are clear similarities in the literature between the available research articles, they are divergent in the definitions, context and/or organization design.
While discussing the work of Song, et al (2005), the authors reveal the study as having examined high-tech firms and define knowledge application as relating to the
According to Davenport et al (1998), Knowledge Management is concerned with exploitation and development of knowledge asset of the organization with a view of the objective of the organization. Knowledge can be managed by explicit, documented knowledge, tacit and subjective knowledge. It also associated with knowledge creation as well as knowledge sharing. Thus, requires systems for creation and maintenance of knowledge repositories to cultivate and to aid knowledge sharing. Organizations that succeed in knowledge management are likely to view knowledge as an asset and to develop organization culture which support knowledge creation and knowledge sharing. Jennifer Rowley (1999) describes the implementation of knowledge management has the importance consequences for structure and culture of the organization, and the roles of managers as well as workers. We can say that knowledge management implementation is crucial as it will lead an organization to be at competitive advantages. There are two types of knowledge mainly explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. Different people convey their knowledge differently. The philosopher Polanyi (1967) described tacit knowledge as knowing more than we can tell, or knowing how to do something without thinking about it, like ride a bicycle. Tacit knowledge is automatic, requires little or no time or thought and helps to determine how organizations make decision and influence the behavior of their member (Liebowitz and Beckman, 1998). Sternberg (1997) states that tacit knowledge is technical or cognitive as it made up of mental models, values, beliefs, perceptions, insights and assumptions. Technical tacit knowledge demonstrated when people master particular knowledge or skills whereas cognitive tacit knowledge include implicit mental models and perceptions that are ingrained they are taken for granted. Tacit knowledge basically is the “know-how” based on practice, experience and seldom expressed
Hislop, D. (2013). Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction (3rd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
The superior capabilities of knowledge management systems provide an opportunity for the business to engage the most effective components and recognize the importance of communication to make informed, accurate decisions (McGrath, 2001). This system can organize the company’s knowledge resources, knowledge obtaining, organizing, and applying to make a sound routine the will enforce effectiveness (Niu, 2008). The dynamic function of knowledge management to create, capture, and apply knowledge to achieve an organization’s objective will allow them to be more profitable and successful (Zucker, 1986). In addition to increasing profits, the system can be also used to reduce costs and enhance research and development (DeTienne & Jackson, 2001). With all of these advantages, it would be wasteful for a company to not employ knowledge management. As seen in the Discovery Communications, Inc. example, the company can attribute their new productivity levels and increase in ease of securing documents to the knowledge management system that put into place by Carefree Technology. Like Discovery Communications, Inc., knowledge management is so popular today because companies can collect, process and share knowledge to ignite employees ' creativity which in turn will make the business grow. Wenhong and Jianhua (2009) explained the core of knowledge management is to convert company’s knowledge resources into an increased company
Understanding the nature, role, importance, and value of tacit knowledge at individual or group level, is imprudent to formulating a KM strategy You must also formulate decisions about the organizations cultural change, picking the appropriate tools and finding a suitable measurement system. Without awareness of tacit knowledge any KM program is unlikely to maintain perspective and balance. In contrast to the views held by the tacit knowledge approach, the explicit knowledge approach shows that knowledge is something that can be explained by individuals. The explicit knowledge takes some effort and assistance may be required to obtain the desired knowledge. As a result, the explicit knowledge approach assumes that the useful tacit knowledge of individuals in organizations can be articulated and made explicit. The explicit knowledge approach also shows that explicit knowledge assets can then be dispersed within an organization through documents, drawings, standard operating procedures, manuals of best practice, and the like.
Knowledge in organizations is classified into two types, tacit and explicit. Knowing the differences between explicit and tacit knowledge is key to understanding how knowledge is shared. Explicit knowledge is
strong believe in technological effectiveness is associated with engaging in proactive scanning). Through those linkages Nag and Gioia were able to draw tree knowledge pathways. The knowledge adaption pathways describe the track how managerial distinctions emerge to knowledge adaption. The knowledge augmentation pathways describe the way to the augmentation of knowledge and the third track describes how it happens that uncommon knowledge is not used.
The tacit knowledge approach highlights understanding the sorts of knowledge that individuals in an organization have, moving people to transfer knowledge within an organization and managing key individuals as knowledge creators and carriers. One of the significant capabilities of competition is managing perceived intangible assets such as knowledge in organization. Besides managing this intangible asset of enterprises, another vital issue is considered as diffusion of knowledge within the organization. Knowledge resources can be divided into at least two different components depending on the possibility of structuring and coding the knowledge. The possibility to code and the externalization of knowledge is of essential importance to the diffusion of it according to some researchers, while other again considers the codifying unnecessary or of minor importance. Structured knowledge is often diffused by different systems for storing and sharing knowledge and today there has been much scientific interest in the technology of these systems. The most important feature of the tacit knowledge approach is the fundamental principle that knowledge is basically individual in nature and is
In 2002, Groupe Danone decided to increase “Knowledge Management” sharing across all of their business units within the group through their initiation “Networking Attitude”. It focused on connecting employees across the business unit with each other and sharing the best practices horizontally peer-to-peer instead of relying on the hierarchy. It was the first Phase but in 2007 management want to extend it to the their employees and the customers in the second phase. For that Danone considered three different strategies go wider, go deeper, go richer. Let's analyse all three strategies and pick a suitable one.
Many factors can affect the sharing of knowledge in organizations, such as organizational culture,incentive and trust.
The position of knowledge management traffic cop is key to the rate at which an organization is able to learn. A single repository for the assembly and deployment of tools and applications is critical to the success of a KM program. Levinson also warns that KM is not just about a web portal, collaborative data base, or other electronic tools. It’s about Social Network Analysis (SNA) – how does knowledge thread its way through an organization, and does everyone speak the same language. Social Network Analysis is a diagnostic method for collecting and analyzing data about the patterns of relationships among people in groups. Applied to knowledge management, SNA can identify patterns of interaction in an enterprise, including its properties, such as the average number of links between people in an organization, the number and qualities of subgroups, information bottlenecks and knowledge brokers. SNA provides a view into the network of relationships that gives knowledge managers leverage to:
As we move from the information age into what Simson, Downe, and Ahmad (2011) call the knowledge age, knowledge is power. Ideally, the power lies with the organizations that are able to leverage knowledge for competitive advantage (Okorafor, 2014). More often than not, however, the power lies with the individual who possess the knowledge; often, that individual develops a sense of knowledge ownership which influences knowledge behaviors (Husted & Michailova, 2002; Peng, 2013; Wang & Noe, 2010). According to Nonaka (1991, p 96), “[i]n an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the one source of lasting competitive advantage is knowledge.” The inevitable retirement of the more than 67 million eligible individuals and subsequent loss of employee knowledge, experience, and skills may signify a considerable loss of competitive advantage for organizations (Appelbaum et al., 2012). In an effort to leverage knowledge for competitive advantage, organizations must focus on recruiting new personnel with desirable knowledge skills or abilities and on implementing knowledge management systems (KMS) which capture, share, and use existing individual knowledge.
Fortune 500 companies lose roughly “$31.5 billion a year by failing to share knowledge” (Babcock, 2004, p. 46), a very scary figure in this global economy filled with turbulence and change. Social issues in knowledge capture and its reuse will result in decreasing chances of success. Those issues could increase costly mistakes and failure in services to clients. Some of the consequences of the social issues in knowledge management can be described as follows:
This chapter summarizes the analytical findings and draws conclusions. The findings and the relevance of them for implementation and limitations and scope for further research are described. This study on knowledge transfer, a process in the overall schema of knowledge management, as fostering continual improvement of the organization was done at High Pressure Boiler Plant of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited Tiruchirappalli. Knowledge transfer is studied in conjunction with other processes of knowledge management knowledge creation, knowledge storage and knowledge management practices as they exist in BHEL. A self-administered questionnaire survey was carried out. 100 fully filled responses
The aim of this report is to analyze the information that is being captured and how different ways are being initiated by these organizations to gather significant amount of information and connect partner organizations that exist across the world with different boundaries and different partner locations. In the process, we study the approach to knowledge management and make comparison with the appropriate literature presented to us during the course of our lectures.
KS amongst employees in organizations are widely recognized as an important aspect for its potential towards developing the performance of the organizations and its competitive advantages . Therefore, the study of KS is dominated by those focusing on KS activity within the business organizations. Obviously, the ultimate goal of organizational knowledge sharing in these institutions is profit-motivated. However, the issue of KS is equally important for a knowledge -based institution, such as a university, where knowledge production, distribution and