Infosys Technologies, Limited

Despite the emergence of knowledge management (KM) as a critical success factor, few organizations have successfully orchestrated the implementation of a KM initiative. This chapter highlights the implementation efforts of one such firm — Infosys Technologies, Limited. In this case, we discuss how KM emerged as a strategic requirement of the firm, and various capabilities the firm had to develop to fulfill this requirement. In other words, we discuss KM implementation as a confluence of multiple initiatives. We hope that by presenting this idea through the use of a case study we will assist readers to understand the intricate relationships between different facets of KM implementation.

Reserve Bank of New Zealand

This chapter outlines the adoption and implementation of knowledge management within the New Zealand Reserve Bank. In 1999, the Bank recognised that it had a very high exposure to loss of knowledge on departure of key staff. This was mainly due to two factors: recruitment of staff from a limited global pool of specifically skilled labour, and an average length of service of more than nine years during which time staff members accumulated an extensive knowledge of the Bank and its operations. In response to this and other challenges, the Bank embarked on an ongoing knowledge management program. The Bank invested significant resources into the program and from an initial corporate vision developed a knowledge management framework that led to the identification of potential areas of improvement within the organisation. The resulting knowledge strategy encompassed several key initiatives, the most significant of which was the goal of changing the organisational culture. Other initiatives included the consolidation of the Bank’s contact management into a single system, a review of the existing document management system, and information mapping. To date, while some initiatives have been achieved, others remain to be done. The challenge for the Bank now is to move from structured to unstructured processes for knowledge management and maintain the knowledge management focus while balancing available resources. The Bank must also consider how best to progress initiatives without necessarily attaching a specific knowledge management label, and identify ways to move ongoing development of knowledge management strategies to the next level.

Where Knowledge Management Resides within Project Management

This chapter explores how an engineering consulting company creates, manages, and reuses knowledge within its projects. It argues that the informal transfer and reuse of knowledge plays a more crucial role than formal knowledge in providing the greatest benefit to the organization. The culture of the organization encourages a reliance on networks (both formal and informal) for the exchange of tacit knowledge, rather than utilizing explicit knowledge. This case study highlights the importance of understanding the drivers of knowledge transfer and reuse in projects. This will provide researchers with an insight into how knowledge management integrates with project management.

Challenges in Developing a Knowledge Management Strategy for the Air Force Material 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.

Governance of Strategies to Manage Organizational Knowledge

This chapter introduces the theory and model of governance as a means of implementing knowledge management strategies in large organizations. It draws on case study research into the governance of knowledge management strategy implementation in a major scientific research and development facility. It suggests that the implementation of strategy through such a framework operates to ensure the delivery of anticipated benefits in an authorized and regulated manner. Furthermore, the authors hope that an understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of internal governance processes will not only inform researchers of a better design for studying knowledge management systems, but will also assist in the understanding of risks and the role of evaluation and review in the implementation of those strategies.

A Case Study on Assessing the Readiness of Professional Services Company to Build an Organizational Memory Information Systems

The information system (IS), which supports capturing, gathering, and distribution of knowledge, is one component of organizational memory; and it is defined as an organizational memory information system (OMIS). The professional services (PS) division of an IT company, “CITE,”1 in Egypt was suffering from knowledge loss due to a high turnover rate. The objective of this case is to highlight the factors that could help “CITE” to develop an efficient OMIS service. Data were collected from the internal structure of the PS division, where all employees were interviewed in order to come up with the appropriate factors that need improvement. Based on the Organizational Memory Information System Success Model developed by Jennex, Olfman, and Pituma (1998), the research highlighted key issues that should be taken into consideration when developing an OMIS for the PS division of “CITE.” The main findings that were affecting the development of an efficient OMIS were mainly training, management of OMIS, communication, technology, and corporate culture.

Learning from Simple Systems

This chapter describes the development and operation of a knowledge system to support learning of organizational knowledge at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It describes in detail requirements generation, implementation, and rollout of the system and presents results from performance and usage data collected over 19 weeks of operation. Although the underlying technology was relatively straightforward, the development process had to address concerns from multiple stakeholders, support a broad user base, and incorporate a cost-effective approach to knowledge validation. These, in turn, impacted requirements, design, and maintenance of the system and how it was deployed within the organization. This case demonstrates that a relatively “simple” system can effectively support learning or organizational knowledge, while still presenting a variety of challenges during the implementation process.

Productivity Impacts from Using Knowledge

This is a longitudinal case study that explored the relationship between use of organizational memory and knowledge, knowledge management, and knowledge worker productivity within the engineering group at a nuclear power plant. Three data points were taken over five years. The group used a knowledge management system (KMS) and it was found that the system improved effectiveness/productivity of the organization. The organization had not identified measures for determining productivity improvements, so the key results of the case study are models showing the impact of knowledge use on productivity.

Why Knowledge Management Fails

Knowledge is increasingly recognized as providing a foundation for creating core competencies and competitive advantages for organizations, thus effective knowledge management (KM) has become crucial and significant. Despite evolving perspectives and rigorous endeavors to embrace KM intentions in business agendas, it is found that organizations cannot capitalize on the expected benefits and leverage their performances. This is a case study of an organization in Hong Kong. It is a typical organization with a strong awareness and expectation of KM, yet its program failed within two years. Our findings show that KM activities carried out in the organization were fragmented and not supported by its members. Based on this failure case, four lessons learned are identified for use by management in future KM initiatives.

Implementing Knowledge-Enabled CRM Strategy in a Large Company

This case study is aimed at developing an understanding of the various aspects and issues concerning the implementation of a knowledge-enabled customer relationship management (KCRM) strategy at a telecommunications company in a developing country. The KCRM program was composed of three major parts: enterprise data warehouse (EDW), operational customer relationship management (CRM), and analytical CRM. The KCRM initiative was designed to automate and streamline business processes across sales, service, and fulfillment channels. The KCRM program is targeted at achieving an integrated view of customers, maintaining long-term customer relationship, and enabling a more customer-centric and efficient go-to-market strategy. The company faced deregulation after many years of monopoly. The company initiated a customer-centric knowledge management program, and pursued understanding customers’ needs and forming relationships with customers, instead of only pushing products and services to the market. The major result of the case study was that the KCRM program ended as an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) project. The company did not succeed in implementing KCRM as a business strategy, but did succeed in implementing it as a transactional processing system. Several challenges and problems were faced during and after the implementation phase. Notable among these was that the CRM project complexity and responsibilities were underestimated, and as a result, the operational CRM solution was not mature enough to effectively and efficiently automate CRM processes. Changing organizational culture also required a tremendous effort and pain in terms of moving toward customer-centric strategy, policy and procedures, as well as sharing of knowledge in a big organization with many business silos. Employees’ resistance to change posed a great challenge to the project. As a conclusion, the KCRM case study qualified as a good case of bad implementation.