The Readiness of IDSC to Adopt Knowledge Management

Over the last two years Knowledge Management has become the latest hot topic in the business world. Companies are realizing that their competitive edge is mostly the brain power or intellectual capital of their employees and management. Many organizations are drowning in information, but starving for knowledge. In order to stay ahead of the pack, organizations must leverage their knowledge internally and externally to survive. Knowledge management is believed to be the current savior of organizations. Creative and innovative people form the core of any organization. In turn, those people form the corporate memory. The Information Decision Support Center for the Cabinet of Ministers for the Egyptian Government (IDSC) faces a problem of employees’ high turnover rate (17%), which threatens to cause IDSC to lose its memory. One common mistake many organizations make when they implement KM initiatives is to place too much emphasis on the technological aspect of KM and ignore the human resources aspects. IDSC developed a knowledge management system called the Organizational Memory (http://www.home.idsc.gov.eg/), but ignored the human factor of KM. The purpose of this chapter is to test the readiness of employees and managers working at IDSC to adopt knowledge management. Human issues were clearly shown to outweigh any technology constraints, and views of managers and employees differed to some extent. It is recommended that these human and managerial concerns be addressed if KM is to be successful in organizations.

Strategic Knowledge Sharing for Improved Public Service Delivery

This chapter considers inter-organizational knowledge sharing in the delivery of public services. While public services represent a significant economic sector in most countries, there is little published research of its implementation of knowledge sharing to improve service performance. The chapter highlights potential barriers to effective knowledge sharing in public service partnerships and introduces a second-order regression model to guide managers in their development of an effective knowledge sharing environment. Based on research incorporating participant observation, document analysis, 30 interviews and a survey (n=132), the chapter identifies six antecedent factors to effective knowledge sharing, the most significant of which is an innovative culture.

A Survey of Internet Support for Knowledge Management/Organizational Memory Systems

Studies of organizational memory/ knowledge management, OM/KM, systems have found that using a common infrastructure to facilitate access to and utilization of knowledge and memory increases the usability and success of these systems. The solution to this is for organizations to have an integrated network. This paper discusses using the Internet as the integrated network. Several systems are described that use the Internet for the OM/KM infrastructure. Theoretical support from case study research for using the Internet as a common knowledge infrastructure is provided through DeLone and McLean’s IS Success Model modified and analyzed for knowledge/memory based systems.

What Difference Does It Make

This chapter provides an overview of performance measurement in the area of knowledge management. Salient features of main measures have been described and their role in determining the return on knowledge management work highlighted. While Balanced Scorecard and Intangible Assets Monitor provide comprehensive coverage, several other measures are also in use. A recent study and review of applications of main KM performance measures in selected organizations showed several areas of commonality in the objectives of performance measurement and revealed differences in approaches to the application and presentation of various performance measures. Developing a measurement system for knowledge management is considered the key to the competitive success of the organization.

Communicated Knowledge in Electronically Enabled Business Interactions

Virtual teams have been increasingly cited as an efficient and flexible novel form of organisational arrangements affected by the emergence of the electronic business space. The purpose of forming such teams is a new ‘knowledge creation’. The paper argues that unraveling the mystery of knowledge creation processes in virtual partnerships requires an in-depth understanding of the complex interaction processes involved in forming computer-mediated business relationships. The focus, therefore, is on the process of collective ‘knowing’, defined as the team’s actions and interactions embedded in unique social activities in virtual teams, rather than on knowledge being a pre-given resource possessed by the team members. The paper presents the preliminary results of a qualitative research study on seven virtual partnerships and proposes an initial conceptual framework of the knowledge creative processes taking place in virtual business relationships.

Some Implementation Challenges of Knowledge Management Systems

The promise of knowledge management systems is challenged by implementation problems. This CRM case illustrates that technology-driven approaches are not likely to succeed. It also indicates some limitations of top-down managerial interventions, arguing that we need a deeper understanding of learning processes to be able to implement KM systems successfully. A more experimental implementation strategy is suggested.

On the Design of Knowledge Management System for R&D Organization

This chapter proposes a framework for designing knowledge management system (KMS) for R&D organization. Broadly, KMS comprises two principal modules: a process management module to administer knowledge activities to generate and utilize knowledge, and a contents management module to deal with knowledge contents, input and output of knowledge activities. The two modules are then materialized through two operational systems: workflow management system (WFMS) for R&D process and R&D knowledge management system (RKMS) for R&D contents. As a building block to integrate the two systems, workflow-based knowledge map is suggested. The authors admit that the research is an exploratory proposal that suggests merely a conceptual scheme. Therefore, it is required to elaborate detailed procedure and materialize real system.

An Exploratory Analysis of Information and Knowledge Management Enablers in Business Contexts

This chapter explores the factors limiting organizational information and knowledge management (IKM) through the perceptions of IKM practitioners. The authors propose that a number of organisational factors – which for them are enablers – have the ability to influence IKM project outcomes. It follows that explication of these enablers in an integrated framework could, therefore, be beneficial for practitioners. This chapter itemises 10 candidate enablers identified from a review of the literature and explored in previous research work. The authors discuss the findings of two exploratory surveys, which indicated that all ten enablers were perceived as important to the performance of IKM. However, the amount of management attention required by each enabler appears to be IKM project specific.

Knowledge Management Systems Acceptance

This chapter introduces a framework of knowledge management systems acceptance labeled Requirements of Acceptance Model (RAM). It argues that acceptance of knowledge management systems is dependent on perceived relevance, systems accessibility, and management support. Together these components constitute the RAM. Further, it argues that implementation of systems is at large a process of acceptance where the requirements of acceptance are attained. Finally, it argues that to achieve the requirements of acceptance, implementation should be iterative and cooperative between users and developers by continually developing, implementing, and testing prototypes

Conceptual Confusions in Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems

Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems are slowly but surely capturing the attention of many organisations in a quest for competitive advantage. Like many other computing fads before them, there is no shortage of recipes by its proponents. This chapter discusses the emerging discipline of Knowledge Management in computing and explains the concepts underlying Knowledge Management Systems that will lead to a better development and implementation of these systems. In particular, it tackles the conceptual confusion about data, information, and knowledge, which appears to be finding its way into the Knowledge Management literature. The terms, ‘capta’ (Checkland, Howell, 1998) and ‘constructed data’ (Flood, 1999), are used in analysing these concepts to clear some of the confusion surrounding them. The use of these terms also highlights our (the IT community) taking for granted assumptions about the hierarchical relationship and the more insightful emergent relationships.