Measuring Organizational Readiness for Knowledge Management

While organizations continue to grapple with the implementation of knowledge management, there remains a need for empirical research into the practical difficulties they encounter. In this chapter, we investigate the challenges faced by one multinational telecommunications company in a post-merger environment. We develop an instrument to evaluate the knowledge-sharing culture and information infrastructure and, by using qualitative and quantitative data from a survey of five European sites, we illustrate how managers can measure gaps between the effectiveness of current practices and their importance, and decide whether to direct resources toward changing employee attitudes, organizational practices, or knowledge-management infrastructure. More significantly, we highlight the need for senior managers to be in agreement about the strategic direction of their business and the strategic alignment between business strategy and knowledge-management strategy. Without such consensus, knowledge management is likely to remain, at best, a series of fragmented and unrelated initiatives at local levels.

Challenges in Developing a Knowledge Management Strategy for the Air Force Materiel Command

It is widely acknowledged that an organizational knowledge management strategy is a desired precursor to the development of specific knowledge management (KM) initiatives. The development of such a strategy is often difficult in the face of a lack of organizational understanding about KM and other organizational constraints. This case study describes the issues involved in developing a new KM strategy for the Air Force Material Command (AFMC). It centers around the AFMC KM program manager, Randy Adkins, and his challenges in developing the future KM strategy direction for the AFMC enterprise. The case study begins with a description of the history of the AFMC KM program and the existing KM system, but then focuses primarily on issues to be considered in future strategy development, such as maintaining top leadership support and understanding, conflict with the IT organization, funding cuts, future KM system configuration needs, and outsourcing of KM. The intent of this case study is to demonstrate, using Randy Adkins and AFMC as an example, many common issues that can be encountered as leaders struggle to develop viable KM strategies.

Knowledge Transfer Strategy

This chapter reviews recent literature on knowledge and knowledge transfer (KT) and proposes the emergence of a classification system of the core KT concepts, models, and contexts that helps address issues of a strategic nature. The two paradigms that inform most of the KT literature, the positivist and social construction paradigms, and their implications on strategy formulation, are discussed. The positivist paradigm views knowledge as an object that can be passed on mechanistically from the creator to a translator who then adapts and transmits it to the user. The social construction paradigm views knowledge as the dynamic by-product of interactions between human actors who are trying to understand, name, and act on reality. In keeping with this dual paradigm logic, the literature on KT can be categorized as originating either from an information technology paradigm or an organic paradigm. The chapter discusses how most of the past strategy-related KT issues focused on the transfer of explicit knowledge and indicates that the future direction implies a shift in attention towards more tacit knowledge transfer considerations.

External Knowledge Search Strategy as an Essential Element of a Knowledge Management Strategy

This chapter introduces external knowledge search strategy as a central element of an organizations overall knowledge management strategy. The argument cites how knowledge management has developed around a myopic internal focus and has thus far failed to take full account of the many sources of knowledge external to the organization. The chapter offers external knowledge search strategy as a means of integrating this external focus into knowledge management understanding, by providing a conceptual framework for organizations involved in the external knowledge management activity of external knowledge search. The framework identifies 10 search paths organizations may follow into the search space, four of which relate exclusively to external knowledge search. The authors hope that establishing an external element within knowledge management strategy will inform knowledge management’s recognition of the value of the extended enterprise.

Does Knowledge Management Improve Firm Performance? The Effect of Knowledge Distinctive Competences

In the resource-based view (RBV) approach, the knowledge border rests on the understanding of the distinctive competences creation and recreation process. Moreover, in spite of the importance of knowledge assets, how knowledge is generated in organizations is still an unknown factor. This research studies the effect of introducing knowledge management programs in the development of knowledge distinctive competences, as well as their capability to create economic rents. In addition, we established a conceptual delimitation of knowledge management as a directive system through a set of principles and practices, which is a theoretical innovation in this research line. The theoretical relationships we propose are tested in an empirical study carried out in 222 firms from the Spanish biotechnology and telecommunication sectors.

Knowledge Management

This chapter demonstrates that despite a plurality of discourses related to knowledge, they are reduced to a single dominant discourse on knowledge management. It draws on systems thinking and complexity theory to reconceptualise organisations as complex adaptive systems within which knowledge ecologies may flourish. The focus thus shifts to knowing in situated action and on knowledge as a dynamic phenomenon. The chapter makes a contribution to strengthening the impact of the epistemology of action and that of a social-process perspective of knowledge. The approach presented has radical implications for knowledge management such that it becomes an enduring organisational intervention as opposed to a management fad. The implications for organisational practice and changes in managerial orientations are shown to be novel offering significant potential towards a second order knowledge management.

Developing and Analysing Core Competencies for Alignment with Strategy

Although it is widely accepted that alignment of knowledge with corporate strategy is necessary, to date there have been few clear statements on what a knowledge strategy looks like and how it may be practically implemented. We argue that current methods and techniques to accomplish this alignment are severely limited, showing no clear description on how the alignment can be achieved. Core competencies, embodying an organisation’s practical know-how, are also rarely linked explicitly to actionable knowledge strategy. Viewing knowledge embedded in core competencies as a strategic asset, the paper uses a case study to show how a company’s core competencies were articulated and verified for either inclusion or exclusion in the strategy. The study is representative of similar studies carried out across a range of organisations using a novel and practically proven method. This method, StratAchieve, was used here in a client situation to show how the core competencies were identified and tested for incorporation or not in the strategy. The paper concludes by considering the value of the approach for managing knowledge.

Knowledge Strategic Alignment

Knowledge has been recognized as a key organizational resource. Yet, despite commitment in knowledge management (KM), many researchers and organizations overlook the need to engage in the alignment of knowledge-related resources with business-related strategies (knowledge strategic alignment). Although many reasons may be advanced for the lack of research and practice on knowledge strategic alignment, two reasons stand out. First, the alignment concept is difficult to understand and measure (Chan, Huff, Barclay & Copeland, 1997), and second, the KM field is relatively new and lacks appropriate frameworks, models, and methodologies for expected research and practice (Earl, 2001). The objectives of this chapter are twofold: The first is an attempt to respond to the call for frameworks, models, and methodologies for research in KM; and the second is an attempt to “simplify” the understanding of the alignment concept within the KM field. To attain both objectives, we first review the KM literature, and then opine on research from the alignment “reference fields” (Information Systems/Information Technology (IS/IT) and strategic management), where the alignment concept is well researched and practiced to propose a framework for research on alignment in the KM field. We identify relevant research models, discuss conceptualizations of alignment in KM, and illustrate the application of the framework, models, and alignment concepts.

A Technology-Focused Framework for Integrating Knowledge Management into Strategic Innovation Management

Today’s business environment is characterized by highly transparent markets and global competition. Technology life cycles are decreasing due to the fast pace at which development of new technologies is progressing. To compete in this environment, it is necessary to identify upcoming innovations and trends as early as possible to decrease uncertainty, implement technology leadership, and create competitive advantage. In a parallel development, the amount of information available is already vast and increasing daily. As a result of these developments, strategic innovation management has become increasingly challenging. The goal of our chapter is to investigate to what extent knowledge management technologies support and improve strategic innovation management to face the aforementioned problems successfully. Consequently, we will develop a characterization scheme which works as a framework for the subsequent evaluation of knowledge management technologies and apply this to a real-world case.

Modular Organizations and Strategic Flexiblity

This chapter addresses the question of whether a modular organizational structure cultivates long-term proactive strategic flexibility. With the help of system dynamics modeling, our analysis suggests that a consistent organizational-learning supporting, personalization-oriented knowledge management strategy that encourages the creation of new knowledge through richer exchanges can be the enabler of strategic flexibility in modular organizations. The chapter emphasizes the mediating role of such a knowledge strategy and discusses three of its core elements, namely, boundary spanners and boundary objects, collaboration-supporting systems, and participative scenario planning, as practices and systems, which under a common umbrella, can contribute towards achieving real strategic flexibility in modular organizations.