CIBIT Knowledge Management Booklet

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENTDealing Intelligently With Knowledge

Drs. Rob van der SpekDr. André Spijkervet



Picture front page: Vision and flexibilityThe aim of knowledge management is the optimal organisation of the knowledge infrastructure in an organisation. As a result an organisation is able to operate flexibly in a turbulent environment withoutlosing sight of its management objectives.

1st edition 1996

2nd edition 1997

3rd edition 1999

4rd edition 2005

CIP - Gegevens Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague - the Netherlands

Spek, Rob van der

Knowledge management: dealing intelligently with knowledge /Rob van der Spek, André Spijkervet. - Utrecht - the Netherlands:CIBIT Consultants | Educators. - (Publications / IBIT; nr. 1)Published by the Knowledge Management Network, an initiative of CIBIT Consultants | Educators and CSC. - includes bibliography. ISBN 90-75709-02-1

Keywords: knowledge management / organisation-development /knowledge transfer / management information sciences / managementinformation services / learning organisations.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, withoutthe prior permission of CIBIT Consultants | Educators.

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Knowledge Management

ContentsForeword 4

Introduction 6Knowledge is crucial 6What can go wrong? 9How can things be improved? 9

Knowledge in organisations 12Strategic importance of knowledge 14Knowledge about the company 16Knowledge about the market 17

Dimensions of knowledge organisation 18Processes 18Structure 20Knowledge assets 23

Knowledge Management 25Objectives of Knowledge Management 26Levels of ambition in Knowledge Management 28Different approaches 28Conceptual model of Knowledge Management 304.4.1 Problem oriented 304.4.2 Future oriented 32Techniques and tools 33Knowledge Management as a continuous learning process 37

Which organisations can benefit fromKnowledge Management? 42

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11.11.21.3

22.12.22.3

33.13.23.3

44.14.24.34.4

4.54.6

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Summary 46

AppendixActivities and products of Knowledge Management 48Frequently Asked Questions about KnowledgeManagement 49CIBIT’s view on Knowledge Management 51

Bibliography 54

About the authors 56

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ForewordThe development of a new management toolThis publication dates back to 1989. That year weorganised the first workshop in The Netherlands(introduced by Otto Laske) on a new concept:knowledge management. The initiative came from Robvan der Spek, who with his background in social scienceshas a strong interest in the role of knowledge inorganisations.

What is the importance of Knowledge Management?It is probably partly as a result of the growing interest in the economic value of ‘knowledge’ that the issue ofknowledge management has rapidly become increasinglyprominent on the agendas of politicians, policy makersand top management. There are now innumerablenational and international academic and businessmeetings on the subject.In recent years ‘information’ has become an importantnew production factor in the way we think and act ineconomic terms. The more we have developed thisconcept the more we have come to the conclusion that organisations should not become obsessed by thelogistics of information. It is just as important to focus on the organisation’s competence in dealing withinformation. The only way of combating informationoverload is to develop knowledge! Effective knowledgemanagement then becomes extremely important forevery business organisation. Especially when we realisethat countries in the Western world can only survive in a global economy by becoming knowledge economies.

Knowledge Management NetworkEver since the very first activities that CIBIT Consultants |Opleiders organised in the field of knowledge manage-ment, Rob van der Spek and André Spijkervet of CSC have been the driving force behind numerousdevelopments, both in The Netherlands and abroad.They have written articles, delivered lectures at nationaland international conferences, organised a series ofseminars, and have run workshops at variousGovernment agencies and companies. In 1989 they

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were the founders of the Knowledge Management Network (KMN). As such they regularly advise themanagement of multinationals on the subject ofknowledge management.The KMN has become a successful platform for thedevelopment and exchange of ideas and experience in the field of knowledge management. Today thenetwork consists of hundreds of managers, managementconsultants, knowledge engineers and other interestedpeople.

In the course of the last few years we at CIBIT Consultants | Educators have become convinced that knowledge management is an important innovation in management thinking.

Johan C.M. den Biggelaar,Managing Director,CIBIT Consultants | Educators

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IntroductionKnowledge is crucialThe world never stands still. It certainly hasn’t done so in the last decade. Organisations are exposed to a rapidsuccession of changes influenced by technology, science,and politics. Markets are changing, and internationalcompetition, especially from the Asian continent, isincreasing. Old rules disappear and new ones come intoforce. Customers are becoming increasingly demandingwhen it comes to flexibility, speed and quality. It’s noteasy to keep up with all the developments, let alone totake the lead. Many organisations feel obliged to makechanges in the way they run their business just to keepup. In the past few years a great deal has been writtenabout this subject. Terms such as Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), process rationalisation, TotalQuality Management (TQM) and ‘the learningorganisation’ have become commonplace.

More and more frequently people are coming to theconclusion that it is the optimal generation andapplication of knowledge that is the key to success. After all, how can you react effectively to yourenvironment if you can’t make a complete assessment?Like a chameleon, organisations have to fit in to aconstantly changing environment. You need knowledgeto do that. Knowledge which can be rapidly accessed and applied. The evidence is there in the best-sellingmanagement books where we come across terms like:

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11.1


‘The rise of the expert company’ (Feigenbaum), ‘The knowledge society’ (Drücker), ‘The intelligentorganisation (Quinn) and ‘The knowledge-creatingcompany’ (Nonaka). However, knowledge is not an easy concept to deal with.This is apparent in the many questions managers askthemselves about the role of knowledge in theircompany. These questions can vary from strategicquestions to operational matters. Questions such as:

•What kind of knowledge do we actually have within the organisation? Who else in the market has thisknowledge? Which knowledge provides opportunities for developing new products in the short term? Do wehave in-house knowledge with which the market can be changed in the long term?

•Which knowledge areas must we develop in the nearfuture? Which ones must we develop ourselves andwhich ones will other organisations develop? Whichknowledge will dominate the market in the next fewyears in the form of products and services?

•How are we going to develop this new knowledge? Will we have to work together with other organisations?Can we follow training courses? Who can develop thisknowledge within the company?

•How can we transfer existing knowledge better andfaster to colleagues and new employees? How can we make knowledge more accessible to others in thecompany? How can I document my own knowledge so that I can use it again?

•How can we ensure that we apply all the availableknowledge when producing a product? How can I ensure that I get a quick reply to a question I amstruggling with?

All these questions are related to the way in which weorganise and direct the development and application ofknowledge in a company or organisation. Managementhas always been responsible for the effective allocationof people, resources and tools at all levels in anorganisation, as well as for the planning of processes and the evaluation of the results. However, in manyorganisations ‘managing’ knowledge has come to occupya central place in a manager’s work. It is a role whichmakes great demands on a manager’s strategic insight,problem solving ability, and tact.

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There are a number of developments that are relevant inthis context:

•The knowledge intensity of products and services isincreasing rapidly; a fact which is mainly reflected in the cost structure.

•The knowledge which is required for implementingbusiness processes is changing more rapidly as a result oftechnological and scientific developments and changingeconomic relationships.

•There is growing time pressure when it comes to takingdecisions.

•Professionals are becoming increasingly mobile as aresult of changing labour relations (e.g. a growingnumber of free-lancers) and technological opportunities(e.g. tele-working). As a result strategic knowledge can‘leak’ more rapidly to competitors. Moreover, knowledgeis increasingly being bought-in on a world-wide market.

The key elements in the application and development ofknowledge are speed and flexibility in a rapidly changingenvironment. At the same time the efficiency ofknowledge-intensive core processes must be increased tomeet the demands of cost reduction. It is therefore notonly a matter of applying the right knowledge in theright place at the right time, but it must also be done ata minimal cost. This is a continuous process. Internal andexternal learning experiences are continually beingtransformed into new knowledge assets and existingknowledge is being modified. Organisations that are notcapable of doing this develop all kinds of bottleneckswhich often have far-reaching consequences.

Figure 1: Knowledge Assets and the Value Chain

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External

sources

Knowledge

potentials

Internal

sources

Creation of

new knowledge

Value chain

Application

of knowledge


What can go wrong?Companies are often not aware of the fact that certainsymptoms like high costs and long production times have their origins in a poor knowledge infrastructure.Without paying attention to good knowledgemanagement problems can arise such as:

•It takes too long before new knowledge is optimallyapplied throughout the whole company. Learning doestake place but at a slow rate, while thesurroundings arelearning faster.

•In order to generate an end-product it is necessary tohave a large (often informal) network of people who are able to consult each other.

•There is an unnecessary loss of time during the processbecause knowledge is not effectively organised. Often knowledge is not present at the point where the company meets the customer (giving an estimate,providing advice, customer service).

•Strategic knowledge seeps away through retirement,reorganisation, project-based work, job rotation and the introduction of shift work.

“ A favourable entrepreneurial climate is a self-evidentprecondition for international competitive power, buttechnological leadership is also increasingly becoming arequirement. This not only applies to the manufacturersof high-tech products. By dealing intelligently withknowledge and technology we are also able to continueto operate profitably in many other sectors. To do thiswe will have to give priority to two issues:

- in the first place, to stimulate innovation withincompanies

- secondly, to increase the return on our public knowledgeinfrastructure.”Dr. A. H. G. Rinnooy Kan, Director of the DutchEmployers Federation (VNO- NCW), during hisintroduction to ‘Knowledge Technology 95’, inAmsterdam, 28th November 1995

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•The same knowledge is developed a new becauseknowledge has not been recorded, or because no oneknows which knowledge is present within the company,or who it is who does have the required knowledge.

•Due to inadequate knowledge mistakes are made whichresult in higher costs for maintenance, after-sales serviceor replacement parts, or in a direct deterioration in themarket position.

•Where knowledge is recorded, it often only covers ‘know how’ and not ‘know where’ or ‘know why’.

•Employees become frustrated because knowledge is not accessible within the company.

•There is insufficient investment in areas of knowledgewhich will ultimately develop new markets.

How can things be improved?The importance of knowledge for the continuity ofcompanies and organisations is obvious. Yet research hasshown that in practice hardly any structural attention ispaid to processes concerned with knowledge. Of coursethere are all kinds of activities in specific areas, some of which already have a long history, e.g. the activities of in-company trainers and human resource managers.What is often lacking, however, is the coordinationbetween various activities and departments, with littlesynergy as a result. The introduction of the concept ofknowledge management is therefore not a luxury, but an absolute necessity.

Knowledge management aims to provide instruments forthe optimal organisation and direction of knowledge. KM is strongly problem-oriented and aims at preventingor rectifying the bottlenecks referred to earlier. From astrategic perspective a decision is taken about whichstandards the knowledge infrastructure must meet. The core of knowledge management is the organisationof processes in which:

•New knowledge is developed.•Knowledge is distributed to those who need it.•Knowledge is made accessible both for future use and

for use by the whole organisation.•Knowledge areas are combined.

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This booklet describes what knowledge management canmean to an organisation. To provide this insight Chapter2 first looks at the role of knowledge in an organisation.Chapter 3 discusses the dimensions of the knowledgeinfrastructure. The objectives of knowledge managementand the application of methods and techniques can befound in Chapter 4. Finally, Chapter 5 indicates whichorganisations can expect to benefit from knowledgemanagement.

Survey of 60 Dutch organisations and companiesIn 1994 the Knowledge Management Network, a joint initiative of various companies and non-profitorganisations, carried out a survey among companiesand knowledge institutions. The aim was to discoverwhat managers thought about: the role of knowledge as a production factor, the effectiveness of currentknowledge policy, the bottlenecks in knowledgeapplication, and the role of management in establishingobjectives and conditions for knowledge management.49 respondents from 42 selected profit-organisations and 31 respondents from 18 non-profit organisationstook part in the survey. The survey showed that themajority of the organisations have had problems with the availability of vital knowledge and expect similarsituations to occur in the near future. There were anumber of surprising results:52 % of the companies had encountered problems intransferring knowledge during restructuring processesand when transferring personnel.57 % of the respondents reported that costly mistakeshad been made by not having the right knowledge in the right place at the right time.80 % of all respondents reported situations in which only 1 or 2 people had certain crucial expertise.

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Knowledge inorganisationsBusiness processes form the core of a company ororganisation. Based on a projected or real customerdemand, a product or service is delivered through achain of process stages (figure 2). Within each businessprocess knowledge is used which is present in the formof the people concerned and in the form of otherknowledge carriers such as electronic media, computersystems, paper media and machines. The added-value ofthe final product is determined to a large extent by thequality of the knowledge applied. This quality is in turndetermined by the quality of the knowledge carriersinvolved and in particular by their inter-relationships.

Figure 2: Processes and knowledge

A complementary definition of knowledge is (Gardner1995):

•knowing which information is needed (‘know what’)•knowing how information must be processed (‘know

how’)•knowing why which information is needed (‘know why’)•knowing where information can be found to achieve a

specific result (‘know where’)•knowing when which information is needed

(‘know when’)

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data

process

knowledgeEvaluate

raw

materialsproduct

information

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Data are symbols which have not yet been interpreted.We are confronted daily with data in various forms, forexample a red light on a dashboard, or a set of processdata in a factory. Information is data which has been assigned a meaning.A chauffeur assigns meaning to the red light and willstop because, according to his interpretation, overheatinghas occurred. A graph provides information on therelationship between aspects on the horizontal andvertical axis of the graph and shows, for example, thatthere is a certain trend. Information is always linked to a specific situation and has only a limited validity. Knowledge is what enables people to assign meaning todata and thereby generate information. It is the wholeset of insights, experiences and procedures which areconsidered correct and true, and which therefore guidepeople’s thoughts, behaviour and communication.Knowledge is always applicable in several situations and over a relatively long period of time.

Knowledge therefore enables people to act and to dealintelligently with all the available information sources. A red light on a dashboard can mean a low oil level, alow petrol level or a warning that the brakes are notfunctioning. Knowledge about the car is thereforerequired to choose the right action or to look up theextra information needed! This action component is an essential aspect of knowledge.

People are able to adapt knowledge. In fact, by using itin processes a learning effect takes place. This learningprocess sometimes occurs consciously but usuallyunconsciously.

Knowledge is company-specific. A transport company, for example, that wants to serve its clients as cheaply as possible will develop different knowledge from acompany that wants to serve its clients within a certaintime frame. The generation and application ofknowledge is determined by the company’s mission and objectives.

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Knowledge is part of an organisation’s competence.When combined, under the influence of internal andexternal factors, with attitudes and skills it leads topresent achievements.

Strategic importance of knowledgeWithin organisations not all knowledge plays an equalrole. A distinction can be made between differentknowledge areas depending on their strategic importanceto the organisation, their growth potential and the stageof development these knowledge areas have reached.This approach is analogous to the way in which, forexample, strategies are formulated in a portfolio-analysis(e.g. the Boston Consulting Group). The life cycle ofknowledge areas describes their rise, maturation anddecline (figure 3).

Figure 3: knowledge life-cycle

The different knowledge areas which can bedistinguished in this way are:

•Promising knowledge areas. These are still in theirinfancy but have demonstrated that they have thepotential to radically change the execution of one or more of an organisation’s tasks.

•Key (‘core’) knowledge areas. These distinguish theorganisation from other companies. They have thegreatest influence on the unique position of theorganisation. Hamel & Prahalad call these ‘corecompetences’.

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Contribution tocore processes

Growthpotentialof the market

High

growth

Low

growth

Outdated

knowledge

areas

Promising

knowledge

areas

Low contributionHigh contribution

Key

knowledge

areas

Basic

knowledge

areas

2.1


•Basic knowledge areas. These are essential for carryingout an organisation’s activities. This knowledge is widelyavailable in all similar organisations.

•Outdated knowledge areas. These are no longer orrarely applied in business processes.

People develop ideas in all kinds of situations, and some ideas develop into promising knowledge areas.Some of these develop, under suitable conditions, into a company’s key knowledge areas. In the course of time they gradually become more widely applied in acertain sector and their distinctive effect declines.Finally, knowledge becomes outdated and it is no longer desirable for this knowledge to be applied in the business process. Not included in figure 3 are the critical knowledgeareas. These are the knowledge areas which are of vitalimportance for the prosperity of the company both nowand in the future. These can include basic, core, andpromising knowledge areas. For example, such criticalknowledge areas are the knowledge areas where in thenext few years there are opportunities:

•To achieve a significant improvement in efficiency and/or effectiveness.

•To enter new markets, or•to anticipate (possible) events which may have major

negative consequences (e.g. the departure of the onlyexpert in an important knowledge area).It is not only expert knowledge as applied in theproduction process which is critical for a company.Knowledge about the company itself and knowledgeabout the market and relevant external developments is also important.

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Knowledge about the companyIn the first place, knowledge about the company isessential for the proper coordination of its primaryactivities. A salesman, for example, must know about the production process in order to arrange realisticdelivery dates. In addition, knowledge about thecompany is essential to be able to carry out thesupporting processes and management activities. Ask yourself, as an executive, the following questions:

•What is the company’s mission?•Are the objectives known and operationalised down to

the lowest level?•What is the structure of the company?•Why do we produce the way we do?•Who is who in the company?•What informal relationships are there between the

employees?•How do we actually learn things in this company?•How is our knowledge infrastructure organised?

We are dealing here with knowledge which can only be built up while working in the company. You willprobably have realised that we are talking aboutknowledge that is crucial for making policy decisions aswell as for solving daily problems. Incidentally, this isknowledge which is not only important to the executivesbut also to the employees on the shop floor! Obviously it is important that when production problems occur the people involved know who can be called in to solvethe problem satisfactorily. New employees often haveenough formal knowledge, but still lack this company-specific knowledge.

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2.2


Knowledge about the marketIn addition to knowledge about the primary processesand knowledge about the company itself, a companymust of course also have knowledge about the marketsin which its products will be sold. This includes: currentand potential markets, customer profiles, customerdetails, competitors, and external developments whichmay be influential (e.g. changes in legislation andregulations, demographic developments, political andeconomic factors). This knowledge is of particularimportance for marketing activities, but is also importantfor determining strategic policy. Recently a lot of attention has been paid to thephenomenon of ‘Business Intelligence’. This refers inparticular to the competence of a company to analyse the market and to transform soft and hard informationinto knowledge about the company’s competitiveposition.

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2.3


Dimensions of KnowledgeOrganisationKnowledge organisation has two dimensions. In the firstplace the processes by which the management activitiesrelated to knowledge are carried out. In the second placethe structure of the knowledge organisation, consistingof the knowledge carriers, their specific characteristicsand their mutual relationships.

ProcessesIn recent publications four processes have beendistinguished in which the basic operations required for knowledge management have been implemented(Wiig 1991, Nonaka 1992, van den Broeck 1994). These processes are represented in figure 4.

Figure 4: Four basic operations of knowledge management

These basic processes can be described as follows:•Developing new knowledge. Companies survive by

developing new knowledge based on creative ideas, theanalysis of mistakes, everyday experience and hard workin R & D departments.

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Know-ledge

Developingnew knowledge

Distributingknowledge

Combiningavailableknowledge

Securingknowledge

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3.1


Bottlenecks in the basic knowledge managementprocesses

•Developing new knowledge. Not enough is learnt fromdevelopments in the market. Knowledge about potentialmarkets, current markets and present or new competitorsis not structurally developed. The structured development of new ideas into productsthat are ready for the market does not take place. This is often because there is insufficient patience andcommitment to give new ideas a chance. In many casesthere is also no clear vision of the future, so that it isactually impossible to determine which ideas need to be worked out.

•Securing new and existing knowledge. Implicitknowledge is rarely or never recorded and individuallearning processes are not transferred to a collectivelearning process. Knowledge which is recorded is often not traceable andis difficult to access. Individual interpretations lead to adecline in the quality of the product.

•Distributing knowledge. It takes too long before newknowledge is actually applied in all the places where it is required. It takes too long before new employees have built upsufficient knowledge. Knowledge which was developedon the work floor is often not passed on to colleagues(e.g. with shift workers or project staff).

•Combining available knowledge. Knowledge is notcombined because people often do not know who haswhich knowledge. People often do not know whichknowledge is needed to produce an optimal product or service. People from different knowledge areas often do not communicate well with each other due to the lack of a shared set of concepts.

•Securing new and existing knowledge. Knowledgewhich has been acquired on an individual basis must be made as accessible as possible for the wholeorganisation, and made available in the right place at the time when the company needs it.

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•Distributing knowledge. Knowledge must be activelydistributed to those who need to make use of it. The speed at which knowledge circulates in a company is increasingly crucial for the way the company is run.There are of course various methods by which thedistribution of knowledge can be tackled, e.g. bytransferring staff, by organising courses, by givingpresentations or by internal video productions.

•Combining available knowledge. A company can onlyperform at its best when all available areas of knowledgeare combined. Products and services are increasinglybeing developed by multi-disciplinary teams.

StructureThere are a number of features (see figure 5) thatdetermine the structure of knowledge organisation.

Figure 5: Four features of knowledge

The form of knowledge denotes the medium or carrier in which knowledge is stored. In the first place, theseare, of course, people. People are active carriers ofknowledge which means that they are capable ofapplying, developing and increasing knowledge in thecourse of their daily experiences. A characteristic featureof knowledge is that it tends to increase rather thandecrease in size! People are often not aware of theknowledge that they are making use of. In this context a distinction is sometimes made between ‘tacit’ and‘explicit’ knowledge. Knowledge is also present in books, memos, manuals andother documentation. A characteristic feature of theseknowledge carriers is that they are passive. This means

20 form location

time

content andapplication

Availability

Contentknowledge

3.2


that they are not themselves capable of either applyingor developing knowledge. Knowledge in a written formmust always be applied and updated by people. This hasled many people to talk in terms of information carriers,rather than knowledge carriers.

Technology, and in particular computer technology,occupies the middle ground. Certain devices andautomated systems are capable of independently carryingout tasks using the knowledge and information that isstored internally. Software makes it possible to programthe behaviour of a system on the basis of the knowledgewhich its designers consider necessary. The rise of‘intelligent software’ has played an important role here.Certain computer systems are increasingly becomingactive carriers of knowledge which they can applythemselves, for example by making a diagnosis orproviding advice. Computer systems are increasingly able to generate knowledge based on input data - whichis why we also talk of knowledge-based systems. The location of knowledge describes the position of theknowledge bearers within the company or organisation.Knowledge can be localised in the front or the back-office, but also on the other side of the world.Paper-based carriers can be made centrally available in a library or to employees in their own rooms. The dimension of time describes aspects which arerelated to the use of knowledge in a given period. For example, certain knowledge may only be temporarilyavailable or at particular moments. People can be on call 24 hours a day or only for a certain part of the day.In some fields of work humans cannot react quicklyenough to the amount of data or the speed at whichsituations change, which makes it necessary to usecomputers. This applies, for example, to warfare, butalso to detecting fraud in credit card transactions.

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The dimension of content describes the procedures andexperiences in a field of work as well as the way theycan be applied. In these cases we are concerned with theconcrete expressions of areas of knowledge (protocols inthe medical sector, acceptation rules in the insurancebranch, and methods of portfolio analysis in the businessworld).

Bottlenecks in the structure of knowledge management The four dimensions of knowledge can also be an aid togroup together the causes of certain problems. In reality,however, bottlenecks will often have combined causes.

•Form. Knowledge is not present in the most optimalform, e.g. knowledge is only present in one person or ishidden in thick manuals.The form in which knowledge is stored is not well suitedto maintenance, which is why that knowledge is notmaintained, or only at a very high price.

•Content. Knowledge is not complete, e.g. becauseknowledge is only applied from one discipline.Knowledge is not up to date, e.g. knowledge has notbeen adapted to changing circumstances (‘nothing islearned’).Knowledge is not uniform, e.g. decision-makers usepersonal interpretations which lead to different results.

•Time. Knowledge is not available when it is needed, e.g.because the expert is only present in the office between10.00 and 11.00.

•Location. Knowledge is not present where the businessprocess is carried out, e.g. knowledge is only present atthe head office but is particularly needed at branchoffices. Knowledge can also be fragmented across anorganisation so that no synergy occurs.

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Availability of knowledgeOne rule of thumb from the guru of the Business ProcessRe-engineering movement, Michael Hammer, says: Makecomplete handling of the business process possible wherethe customer comes into contact with the company.Michael Hammer, in: Restructuring Business Processes.In Harvard Holland Review, no. 27, pp. 7-15 (1991)Actual implementation of this rule of thumb can onlytake place if all the knowledge is also available wherethe business process has to be dealt with. If this is notthe case, it inevitably leads to delay.

Knowledge AssetsKnowledge assets in an organisation are applied in business processes and are tied functionally tomanagement roles which are filled by people (andcurrently also computers). These roles can be formallydefined as function descriptions (teacher, consultant,help-desk employee, computer programmer) but are also often informal roles (expert, information provider,mentor, innovator). Figure 6 shows the connectionbetween business processes, knowledge assets, and roles.

Figure 6: Knowledge assets in relation to other factors

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consoli-date

create

Basic operations

combine distribute

time

Dimensions

location content

form

knowledgeassets

linked to

apply to

participate in

roles

businessprocesses

3.3


The requirements posed by the business processes and the way roles are organised determines how theknowledge assets should be configured on the fourdimensions. Furthermore one has to decide on how to organise the different basis processes to ensure thatthe business processes are carried out efficiently andeffectively.

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Knowledge ManagementAs explained in the previous chapters, knowledge isbecoming more and more important for an organisation’ssurvival. More than ever before organisations are beingconfronted with dramatic developments which appear ata rapid pace. To maintain a strong competitive positionan organisation has to react flexibly to changes.Knowledge is therefore indispensable, as is its correctapplication and management. Knowledge Managementtherefore focusses on:

•formulating a strategic policy for the development andapplication of knowledge

•implementing a knowledge policy with the support of all the parties in the organisation

•improving the organisation where knowledge is notbeing used optimally or is not being adapted to changing circumstances

•monitoring and evaluating the achievements ofknowledge assets and management activities inknowledge terms.

The added-value of the concept of knowledgemanagement lies mainly in the fact that it seeksimprovements beyond the borders of the ‘traditional’management functions of knowledge carriers likepersonnel management, training, and documentationmanagement. KM aims at improving the performance ofprocesses, organisations and systems in general from theperspective that knowledge is a crucial production factor. Moreover, KM aims at an integration of strategyformation and implementation in which learning aboutthe application and development of knowledge occupies

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4


a central role. The control and management of the lifecycles of knowledge areas in organisations forms acrucial aspect of strategic policy in organisations.Structural innovation is only possible if a company is able to relate the various life cycles of differentknowledge areas to each other and to deploy materials,people and tools so that the life cycles can enhance each other.

There is no cut-and-dried approach to KM. For eachorganisation the approach, the techniques and themethods used will differ. Ultimately, it is not importanthow KM is expressed and with which tools, just as longas it happens. In this chapter we will discuss the goalsthat are set in knowledge management (paragraph 4.1)and at which different levels these can be aimed(paragraph 4.2). Attention is also paid to the differentapproaches to knowledge management (paragraph 4.3).Knowledge management operates on the basis of themore general problem-solution cycle. This conceptualmodel will be considered in paragraph 4.4, followed bythe different instruments which can be utilised inknowledge management (paragraph 4.5). Finally inparagraph 4.6 we will look at knowledge management as a continuous learning process.

Knowledge Management ObjectivesIn the objectives of knowledge management we canrecognise the dimensions of processes and structure (see chapter 3). In terms of the processes of knowledgemanagement the following objectives can be set:

•Ensure the effective and efficient development of newknowledge and the improvement of existing knowledgewhile keeping in mind the strategy of the organisationand the individual objectives of the employees.

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4.1


•Ensure a targeted distribution of new knowledge to other departments and the transfer of knowledge to new employees through knowledge transfer or therelocation of knowledge carriers.

•Ensure that knowledge is effectively secured so that it is easily accessible to the whole organisation and can be easily re-used.

•Ensure the effective and efficient combination of the best knowledge available within a company or networkof companies.

In terms of the structure of knowledge organisation the following objectives can be set:

•Keep the content of knowledge carriers up to date and accurate in the light of changing circumstances.Make use of the best available knowledge.

•Make the location of knowledge carriers optimal in thecontext of business processes. Make use of knowledge in the best location.

•Improve the form of the knowledge carriers in relation to their users and the use anticipated. Make use ofknowledge in the best form.

•Adapt the availability of knowledge to the times whenthat knowledge may be needed. For example, considerthe availability of knowledge when knowledge is neededin the context of a business process. Make use ofknowledge when it is required.

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Levels of Ambition in KnowledgeManagementBased on Deming’s work in the field of qualitymanagement, Wiig distinguishes four levels of ambition at which knowledge improvement can betackled (see figure 7).

Figure 7: Levels of ambition in knowledge management

At level 1 the focus is on applying the best availableknowledge in order to carry out a task. At level 2 newknowledge is built up with the aim of improving the waythe task is carried out. Level 1 and 2 are very similar to‘single loop learning’ as described by Argyris. At level 3knowledge about the process and its properties is builtup in order to improve the system. This level closelyresembles what Argyris calls ‘double loop learning’.Finally, at level 4 knowledge is built up about themarket, the competitors and the position of the companyin its surroundings. The aim then becomes renewal ofthe product or even of the market itself.

Different ApproachesIn publications about knowledge management a broadrange of approaches are presented, each with its ownemphasis on problems and possible solutions. The twomost prominent approaches might at first sight seem tobe ‘competitors’. On one hand there is a system-orientedapproach which aims to provide a better insight into the supply and demand of knowledge and the quality of

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Buildupnewknow-ledge

Apply thebest availableknowledge

information flow

work flow

Build upknowledgeabout- clients- markets- technology- competition

Build upknowledgeabout- process- work-

environ-ment

4

3

2

1

PRODUCTSERVICE

Executea task

Improve theexecution of tasks

Improve thesystem

Renew productsand services

external external external

Process

Materials

4.2

4.3


the organisation as a ‘knowledge system’. It does this byanalyzing and documenting processes, actors, knowledgecarriers, knowledge fields and the dynamics of the workfield. On the basis of such an analysis bottlenecks andeffects are identified. The characteristic feature of thisapproach is that knowledge is considered as a productionfactor which can be analyzed in isolation from thecurrent carriers of the knowledge. Several options arethen available for making improvements. This approachresembles theories like Business Process Re-engineeringand Quality Management, as well as the ‘soft systems’approach which forms the basis for the theories aboutlearning organisations.

Secondly, there is the approach which focuses on theimprovement of professional organisations based onpeople’s behavioural criteria and their cultural context.The independent professional is the central figure here.Actions taken to make improvements are not so muchbased on an analysis of knowledge as on an abstractconcept. The emphasis is much more on facilitatingprofessionals so that they can apply their knowledge to the advantage of the organisation. Furthermore theyare expected to repeatedly update their knowledge sothat their organisation will still be able to benefit from it in the future. From this perspective knowledge isconsidered as inseparable from human-beings. An extreme position within this approach maintains thatmaking knowledge carriers and knowledge areas explicitin relation to business processes will lead to rigidity, andthat this is mainly a way for the management to keep abetter grip on their employees. Within this approach toothere are several possible directions in which solutionscan be found.

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Conceptual model of knowledgemanagement Problem-oriented Knowledge management is different to othermanagement activities in that it focuses on the aspect of knowledge itself. Still, in reality it encompassesactivities which fit within a more general problem-solving cycle (Argyris). A specific interpretation of thismodel for knowledge management activities produces a conceptual model as represented in figure 8.

Figure 8: Conceptual model of knowledge managementactivities

The knowledge management activities ultimately directthe basic operations of knowledge organisation andproduce the following products:

•Objectives for knowledge development and application•Assessment of the risks involved in making

improvements•Conditions required for making improvements•Instruments for achieving the objectives set•Criteria for measuring the performance of business

processes and specific knowledge carriers

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ConceptualiseGain insight into what

knowledge is and what roleknowledge plays in the company (investigate,

clarify, modify)

ReflectEstablish which

improvements are necessary

(assess, evaluate, make plans)

ReviewDetermine the effects of the action, in terms of what should have been

achieved

Activity

Circle

ActUndertake action to improve knowledge

(formalise, standardise, develop new knowledge

distribute, combine, facilitate)

4.4

4.4.1


This conceptual model is well suited to the idea ofknowledge management because:

•KM is a learning process just like all managementactivities. In this conceptual model the learning processis made explicit. Through the repetition ofconceptualising, reflecting, acting and evaluating it ispossible to adapt the results of KM activities to changesin the surroundings, to changing insights and to thechanges which the KM activities themselves cause in theorganisation (the intended ones, but inevitably also theunintended ones!). The motto here is: changes happenanyway. The trick is not to ignore them but, rather toanticipate them.

•It provides support when structuring activities and offers the necessary methods and techniques.Modelling techniques, for instance, are specificallyapplicable in the conceptualisation phase whereasconcrete approaches for the realisation of newknowledge carriers are specifically applicable in theaction phase.

•It can be used at all levels in the organisation.KM is a management activity which can be given aspecific significance at all levels in an organisation. At a strategic level the general conditions that arerequired for a knowledge policy can be established,along with the general objectives which must be attained in the long run.At a tactical level, a specification can be made of theaction needed to make concrete medium-termimprovements. Objectives can be further specified andthe use of instruments can be worked out in more detail.Finally, at an operational level concrete action can be taken to make improvements.At each level, however, all the activities in the problem-solving cycle are present.

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•It is applicable in various situations KM can, forexample, focus on the performance of a single workprocess, or the way a group or department works.Furthermore knowledge management is not onlyapplicable in the context of the whole organisation, but also across a range of organisations.On the basis of the phases described in the modelmentioned earlier specific techniques and instrumentscan be utilised. It would go too far to go into these ingreat detail here. In appendix 1 a global summary isgiven of the possible activities and products.

Knowledge audits provide a ‘fitness’ checkDuring a ‘knowledge audit’ an examination is made of how the various dimensions of knowledge influencethe critical customer demands: time, cost, quality andflexibility. This can be done, for example, by following a chain of business processes and analyzing how theapplication and quality of knowledge influences the final result. For example, a workshop was organised bythe ‘InnovatieCentrum Midden-Nederland’ in which 12medium-sized companies, supported by the KnowledgeManagement Network, independently carried out anaudit on the quality of their knowledge infrastructure. A number of checklists were developed for this purpose.Filling in the checklist was actually only an aid. The main aim was to systematically examine a numberof issues so that hopefully a discussion will develop inthe companies themselves.

Future-oriented We have already indicated that knowledge managementis both reactive and proactive. This means that it is notenough to know what we want to achieve now, but wemust also know what we want to achieve in the future. A proactive stance in KM requires us to develop a vision about which knowledge areas must be examinedand which ones must be developed. For that purposepromising knowledge areas have to be identified. In addition one has to decide which basic knowledgeareas have to be maintained and which ones perhapshave to be abandoned. A crucial question here is how organisations can predictthe life cycle of knowledge areas. It would be natural to

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4.4.2


look for solutions in the direction of scenario models. We must however bear in mind here that modern societyis changing at such a pace that predictions are often onlywild guesses. An interesting development in this contextis that KM is also being applied to the knowledge whichforms the basis of predictions.

Knowledge about the futureOne of the most renowned scenario theorists, PeterSchwartz, has the following to say about this:“Articulating your Mind-set, People often do not realisethat their decision agendas are usually unconscious. Thus,the first step of the scenario process is making it conscious. (..)You begin by examining the mind sets which youpersonally use -consciously or unconsciously - to makejudgements about the future. Think of this process as aform of research. Instead of gathering information out inthe world, you gather information from within yourself.”Peter Schwartz, The Long View, page 53

Techniques and InstrumentsKM has a broad range of instruments at its disposalwhich can be applied when acting to bring aboutimprovements. The organisation of knowledgemanagement is shaped in particular by components such as culture, staff motivation, organisation,management and information technology (figure 9).

Figure 9: Different components of the structure ofoperations on knowledge

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Organisation

personnel

Culture and

motivation

Operations on knowledge• Develop • Distribute• Secure • Combine

Information

technology

Management

4.5


In general 3 groups of instruments can be distinguished:Management, culture and personnel

Organisational adjustments

Information technology

Which instruments are the most suitable depends on acomplex set of factors, including the characteristics ofthe knowledge carriers involved, the specific problemareas and the environment in which the companyoperates. The major factor, however, is the corporatephilosophy which sets objectives and conditions withregard to the application of instruments. This coversaspects such as dealing with employees, the vision of therole of technology, social responsibility, etc.

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•Strategy-development.•Education and training. •Recruitment and selection.•Reward models.•Adapting management style.

•Redesigning business processes.•Adapting the control model.•Mergers.•‘Outsourcing’.•Project-based working in which various disciplines

are represented.•Lessons-learned office.•Introduction of a buddy system.

•Documentation technology.•Information systems.•Systems for supporting cooperation between

persons/departments (groupware).•Telematics.•Workflow management systems.•Personnel information system in which knowledge

profiles are stored.•Knowledge-based systems.•Data mining. •Intranets (internal knowledge server utilising

WWW-technology).


Rewarding knowledge-sharingHow many organisations are there really where thesharing of knowledge is rewarded? Employees are either rewarded without any evaluation of the way theyfunction, or it is on the basis of the individual resultsachieved. The emphasis on results forces employees and business units to erect barriers to protect theirknowledge in order to maintain their competitiveposition. This is obviously not a good basis for starting to improve the knowledge infrastructure.

Multi-Disciplinary ApproachThe nature of the activities involved makes it clear thatKM requires a strongly multi-disciplinary approach.Different disciplines such as Business Economics, HumanResource Management, Organisational Psychology,Communication Science, Computer Science, andOperations Research can all make a contribution here. This not only covers the instruments for makingimprovements, but also includes the methods andtechniques for understanding knowledge-intensive workprocesses and tracing the causes of problems. Severalprojects have also demonstrated that the added value ofthe KM approach for organisations lies in particular inthe fact that the focus is on knowledge rather than onspecific methods and techniques from a single discipline.

Knowledge management must primarily be seen as anintegral part of the task of management. We do notexpect to see ‘knowledge managers’ emerging. In principle every manager will have to manageknowledge as one aspect of his/her daily work.

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Interfaces between knowledge intensive businessprocessesA crucial point to consider when identifying the causes of bottlenecks in the organisation of knowledge is theinterface between the knowledge carriers. In businessprocesses different people, departments or evenorganisations work together to produce a product. Poor results are often due to an inadequate exchange of information so that the knowledge present cannot beoptimally applied and new knowledge can not be builtup. Better insight into the knowledge which is, or shouldbe, present in co-operative processes, can improve thecommunication between the people involved. The central principle of this approach is therefore, thatthe optimal application and development of knowledge is paramount, and that it should direct the way in whichinformation is exchanged and stored. In this approachinformation policy is therefore a derivative of knowledgepolicy.

Benchmarks are necessary In the context of knowledge management activities there is a clear need for benchmarks to measure theperformance of knowledge-intensive work processes.Both for the analysis of the current situation (‘How well are we doing?’) as well as for the evaluation ofimprovements that have been made. (‘How well are we doing now compared to before?’). It is obvious thatKM uses certain approaches here which have provedthemselves in quality assurance.

A weak point in the KM approach is the analysis offinancial aspects of knowledge. There are actually nomethods available with which knowledge can beevaluated in financial and economic terms. However, if knowledge is considered as a production factor, then

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it is likely that knowledge will somehow figure on thebalance sheet. A remarkable development in this contextis the so-called ‘techno-lease’ construction which Philipsand Fokker have arranged with the RABO bank.

‘Fortune’ magazine (October 1994) devoted a cover story to companies such as Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, DOW Chemical, Hughes Space &Communications and Skandia, who had attempted to assign economic value to knowledge. The mostimportant conclusion was actually that no one reallyknows how to do it, but that everyone is convinced that it is important. Companies are also not inclined to publish information about such crucial businessfactors, which means that research in this field is having trouble getting off the ground. It would therefore be fair to conclude that a lot of work still has to be done in this area.

Knowledge Management as a continuouslearning process Many publications make mention of the ideal type oforganisation: the learning organisation. In fact a learningorganisation is an organisation which is structurallycapable of evaluating the results of knowledge intensivework processes, adapting the knowledge and applyingthe new knowledge quickly. Learning in an intelligentorganisation takes place consciously. It is highly focusedon collective learning and on the deliberate improvementof the capacity to learn. That means specifically that not only is new knowledge being developed, but thatpeople are also thinking about the way in which thisdevelopment is taking place, how the new knowledge is being distributed, what (time) factors play a role, etc.

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4.6


The organisation of the learning process itself hastherefore become the subject of management activities!Knowledge management thereby supports theimprovement of the learning capacity of organisationsand is thus closely linked to the concept of a learningorganisation. Organising the learning process is animportant part of KM. Conceptualising, assessing, actingand evaluating, alternate in cycles. The often turbulentinternal and external developments have to be frequentlyanalysed. Actions must repeatedly be related back topolicy and, if necessary, be re-adjusted. Figure 9illustrates the way in which a continuous exchange takes place with the surroundings. The most importantprocesses and stages of knowledge management havebeen incorporated in the diagram.

Each phase of the learning process utilises specificinstruments to achieve the desired objectives. Theseobjectives and the way in which they can be achievedcan in fact be considered as the knowledge areas ofknowledge management. Providing simple recipes forcarrying out the activities in each phase is virtuallyimpossible because this is determined by unique internaland external factors. For instance, in the context of the conceptualisation phase, we could ask whether it is always desirable to make an inventory of whatknowledge we already have before we can determinewhich knowledge we need. Perhaps time and money are limited. We should also not lose sight of ourcompetitors. Perhaps they have already developed new knowledge just as we have finished the inventory. In the box below a number of internal barriers arementioned which in practice have influenced theeffectiveness of knowledge management.

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39

Internal influences

External influences

Figure 10: Framework for knowledge management

•People (too few, shortage of good staff). •Lack of time (fashionable excuse).•Attitude to quality. •Inadequate support for development, sharing and

securing knowledge. •Company culture with regard to information transfer. •Lack of insight into the need for collective learning. •Inadequate tools. •Nobody feels responsible.

•Labour market.•Competition. •Laws and regulations. •Technological developments (rapidity, complexity). •Uncertainty. •Changing client-demands.

Analyse strong andweak points

Make an inventory of existing knowledge

Evaluateachievedresults

Compareold and new situation

Develop-know-ledge

Distributeknowledge

Make plans to improve

process

Combineknow-ledge

Secureknowledge

Act

Review Reflect

Concept-ualise

Decide on required improve-ments

External & internal influences





Example of a specific approach to knowledgedevelopmentNEDAP is a company that attempts to promote theexchange of knowledge between its 430 employees as much as possible. Manager Westendorp: “It is very important that people do not limit themselvesto the boundaries of their job, but can see the wholepicture. That promotes creativity. That is why people inthe five product groups, in sales, and in the developmentand production groups cooperate intensively. Anyonewho has an idea, or wants to develop more knowledge in a certain field, is allowed all the space they need.What does or does not belong to our core activities rightnow, is not relevant. The only guiding principle is thatyou have the feeling that the company may need it.”Westendorp describes the knowledge developmentprocess at NEDAP as controlled coincidence. “It is basedon feelings, but it is practically directed by your ownbackground, the trade fairs you visit, and the customersyou talk to.”Westendorp, Director of NEDAP in ‘Management team’4/4/94

Lessons Learned Office of the Royal Army Corps In June 1993 the R.A.C. set up a Lessons Learned Office.Major Rondel on the objective of this office:“The Lessons Learned Office tries to prevent situationswhereby peace-keeping missions have to keep re-inventing the wheel. There is, for example, a gooddeal of experience spread over the whole country indifferent units. This experience has partly been gained by evaluating the exercises which the units have takenpart in. Unfortunately, this information often remainedat the battalion or brigade level, meaning that otherunits could not benefit from it. Nowadays theseexperiences are analysed by our office and we thenattempt to extract the ‘Lessons Learned’ from them:practical facts that indicate how something can be done better or how it should not be done.”Source: LLC Courant, March 1994

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The learning process will ultimately be stronglyinfluenced by external developments, opportunities, and threats, which can occur at any moment. The factthat we are now enthusiastically taking stock, does notmean that the outside world is sitting still and waitingpatiently until we have finished. But then, who said that knowledge management was easy?

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Which organisations canbenefit from KnowledgeManagement?Experience has shown that various motives exist forcompanies and organisations to embark seriously on KM.A number of broad groups can be distinguished:Companies which must reorganise due to variouscircumstances or companies that have already beenreorganised. These may be industrial companies whosecompetitive position has been seriously weakened but also, for example, parts of the government whichmust cut costs or which have been privatised. KM isconsidered by such companies as a means of gaining a better picture of critical knowledge areas and of the employees who have this knowledge. For manyorganisations the need to return to their core business isthe reason for examining the extent to which knowledgemanagement can contribute to this process.

From knowledge-driven to market-drivenIn the past few years many companies have switchedfrom a product-orientation to a market-orientation.Business Units based on markets were set up in order to improve the links with the market. Whereas thesecompanies were previously organised around productswith their related technologies and knowledge areas,knowledge is now often scattered across the variousBusiness Units. This also means that knowledge is no

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5


longer automatically maintained as was the case in thepast. In areas where benefitshave been achieved bycombining market knowledge an extra effort is needed to control and manage expert subject knowledge.

Companies that have just gone through a majorexpansionIn contrast to the start-up phase in which everything was organised informally and on a small scale, thescaling-up process in these companies, coupled with a lack of time, often results in employees losing theiroverview of their colleagues’ activities and theorganisation as a whole. That is why in many such cases not only the management, but also the employees,get the feeling that they should step back a bit and take stock of the available knowledge. Moreover, allkinds of management processes are often inefficient,resulting in frustration or missed opportunities.Industrial companies that want to enter marketswhere the knowledge areas required are scatteredover the whole organisation For a separate business unit it can be very expensive to develop all the knowledge areas in-house which are required to compete in markets with complexproducts. This creates the necessity to make good use of the expertise of other business units. This is onlypossible if one can make an inventory of the knowledgerequired and where it can be found.Companies that have completed a re-engineeringphaseFollowing the implementation phase of a BPR-projectmany companies often experience a decline ineffectiveness which is just as drastic as the advantagesthey hoped for when embracing the BPR-philosophy.

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In particular, the experience of American companiesshows that this is partly due to the poor organisation of the processes which should ensure the development,security and distribution of knowledge within thecompany. In many cases the emphasis was only onmaking the primary processes as lean as possible. But this appears to have had an adverse effect on thecapacity of organisations to maintain their knowledgeinfrastructure. In retrospect, middle-management oftenturned out to be of great importance when it came tomanaging knowledge!

‘Profit with safety’In Poland the damage due by industrial accidentsrepresents 2-6 % of GNP. In order to drastically reducethe total damage from industrial accidents, the PolishMinistry of Social Affairs set up the ARA (AccidentRegistration and Analysis) project, which was carried out by CSC and the department of Safety Sciences.

In the ARA project:•Knowledge relating to the registration, analysis and

learning from (near) accidents is transferred from theNetherlands to Poland.

•This knowledge is integrated with existing Polishknowledge.

•This knowledge is then distributed to Polish companies.•Companies are taught how to use the new knowledge

to learn from the (near) accidents in their ownorganisation.

•A ‘knowledge circle’ has been set up on a national level,in which companies can learn from each other anddevelop new knowledge.

•Steps are taken to distribute this new knowledge to thecompanies.

•A knowledge infrastructure has been set up so thatPoland can become ‘self-supporting’ in the near future. The organisations participating include: companies, tradeunions, the Health and Safety inspectorate, technologicalinstitutes, universities, and the Ministry of Social Affairs.The first phase has recently been successfully completed.

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Networks in which several companies andorganisations participateIn a network several companies and organisations work together to achieve a common goal. The rightcombination of knowledge plays a crucial role here,along with the joint investment in the development ofnew knowledge. Such co-operation is however oftenfrustrated by poor communication between the variousparties involved. There is no clear picture of the availableknowledge, there is no common language, and there areoften business and cultural barriers. The explicit andconscious guidance of relevant processes can make animportant contribution to improving the knowledgeinfrastructure of such networks.

Body of knowledge in the sports worldThe following report appeared in the Dutch newspaper‘De Telegraaf’: “The cyclists national coaches lack theknowledge necessary to give the national teams theperfect preparation that is absolutely essential forcompetitions at this level” and “Thanks to an initiative by the National Olympic Committee and the NationalSports Federation last year the so-called Body ofKnowledge (BOK) was set up in which all the availablesports science coaching was brought together, expandedand made available to coaches and athletes.”

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SummaryThe world is becoming smaller and moving faster. New technologies appear, the political situation changesdaily, and competition is increasing. This all has seriousconsequences for companies, institutions and otherorganisations. The way business is done has to beadapted in order to remain competitive. Knowledge plays a central role in all this. Without theappropriate knowledge at the right moment and in theright place, an organisation is not able to reacteffectively to internal and external developments. Forexample, decisions cannot be made in time if thenecessary knowledge is not available. Or a companyloses half of its market share because the competitor hasput a better product on the market with the help of thelatest technology. In the current turbulent environmentknowledge is of tremendous strategic importance. This applies to both knowledge inside the company (like who knows what in the company, and what are the priorities) and to knowledge of the market (e.g.which knowledge will be crucial in the future for product development, or what knowledge does thecompetition possess).

In Knowledge management knowledge plays a centralrole as a crucial factor in the production process. It strives for the optimal use and development ofknowledge, now and in the future. It determines theform, the place and the time, as well as what kind ofknowledge must be available in a company or network of organisations. To achieve this a broad range oftechniques are utilised which vary according to thesituation and the organisation.

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The crux of knowledge management is organisingprocesses in which:

•New knowledge is developed. •Knowledge is distributed to those who need it.•Knowledge is made accessible for future use and for

collective use.•Knowledge areas are combined.

A good balance in the supply and demand of knowledgemakes it possible to reduce the time involved in crucialbusiness processes and to reduce the costs. In addition,the flexibility of the organisation will increase along withan improvement in the quality of products and services. Knowledge management is driven by the strategicchoices that are made in an organisation. A centralquestion in this respect is which expertise will providethe company with a competitive edge in the future. This is important for all the managers in theorganisation. Knowledge management is by definitionmulti-disciplinary because knowledge is required from all different angles such as political science, communi-cation studies, information technology and managementsciences. In this way an organisation can gain insightinto the relationship between business processes,knowledge, people, culture and technology.An important aspect of knowledge management isimproving an organisation’s learning capacity.Knowledge management is a continuous process ofdeveloping, evaluating, relating back, and adjusting.Ultimately, improvements will always be about changingpeople’s habits and their way of working. However, the aim is to enable them to operate more effectively in rapidly changing surroundings. The culture of anorganisation and the existing coalitions will have far-reaching consequences for any attempts to makeimprovements. However, knowledge alone is notsufficient: everything depends on the people who make use of it.

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Activities and products of knowledgemanagement

Phase conceptual model Possible activities Products

Conceptualise - Identify critical knowledge - Overview of critical

‘Gaining insight’ intensive processes and knowledge areas

knowledge carriers and - Overview of knowledge

their connections per actor

- Describe features of - Relation between

critical knowledge areas knowledge intensive

and knowledge carriers work processes

- Describe interaction of - Relation between

knowledge carriers knowledge carriers

- Culture analysis aimed at

knowledge application

and development

- Examine communication

habits

Reflect - Diagnose the quality of - Quality model of

‘Assess qualities and knowledge carriers knowledge in relation

plan improvements’ - Analysis the fitness of to critical demands

critical knowledge areas - Identification of new

- Establish value of markets based on

knowledge existing knowledge

- Simulate current/ - Strong/weak points

desired situation - Plans for improvement

Act - Improve performance - New/better interfaces

’Actually improve’ of knowledge carriers between knowledge

- Develop new knowledge carriers

carriers (e.g. knowledge- - Change of behaviour

based systems) of knowledge carriers

- Develop new knowledge - New knowledge carriers

- Infrastructure for

knowledge sharing

- Consolidation of

expertise

- Better indexing of

knowledge

Evaluate - Measure performance of - Performance list of

‘Looking back’ but new or current situation knowledge-intensive

also the start of a - Determination of work processes

knowledge bottlenecks and - Feed back effectiveness

management-cycle opportunities and efficiency

improvement actions

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Frequently asked questions about KnowledgeManagementBased on our experience in the past few years we havedrawn up a list of the most frequently asked questionsabout knowledge management and added a briefresponse to each.Isn’t knowledge management the same asinformation management?No, information management generally focuses on thefinal product or knowledge intensive work processes. It controls processes which are aimed at storing,retrieving and distributing data. Knowledge management focuses on the competence oforganisations, namely the capacity to interpret data andassign it a value. In addition, knowledge managementfocuses on another essential product of knowledgeintensive work processes, namely new knowledge.Information management is however an importantinstrument for knowledge management when dealingwith the supply of raw materials for knowledgeapplication and development. Information policy istherefore also a derivative of knowledge policy.

Do theories about learning organisations have thesame objectives as knowledge management?This is indeed the case. KM is however a precondition for creating and maintaining a learning organisation.Learning organisations sometimes developspontaneously, for example in the case of start-upcompanies. In practice, however, it appears to be muchharder to remain a learning organisation. Learning isadapting, enlarging and deepening knowledge, a process

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that can be enhanced through a knowledge managementapproach. In our opinion KM is what makes a reallearning organisation possible.Is knowledge management the same as knowledgeengineering?Certainly not. Knowledge Engineering is a specialist fieldwithin information technology. It aims to collect andstructure knowledge, programming it into so-calledknowledge based systems. KE can be an instrument with which the organisation of the knowledge household can be improved, but only provides one of the many technologies which can be applied.Is knowledge management always a lengthy andtime-consuming process?No, knowledge management is very similar to qualityassurance. At various ambition levels improvementactions can be implemented. Using the conceptual model described above it is possible to choose a specific approach which fits the level of ambition.Is knowledge management the same as ‘businessintelligence’?No. In general ‘business intelligence’ refers to thecapacity to transform data from the environment intovaluable strategic information and knowledge. KM can focus on promoting this ‘business intelligence’ orimproving the use of this function but is broader thanthe concept of ‘business intelligence’.

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CIBIT’s view on Knowledge ManagementLand, capital and machinery are no longer decisive in a world-widemarket of products and ideas. Individuals, companies and even nationshave become more and more dependent on the way they leverage their competencies and apply their knowledge in order to realise theirgoals. The impact of knowledge is getting more and more important in our society. Knowledge, like any other asset, needs to be managedpro-actively.

Knowledge Management is about smart ways of working and smartbusinesses. It is worthless unless people turn their knowledge intoaction. Enterprises should manage knowledge in order to convert it into business benefits.

Smart businesses know how to:• share knowledge across borders (functional, divisional, regional and

cultural) in order to improve business performance; • learn lessons before, during and after activities to increase efficiency

and effectiveness; • learn from colleagues, customers and other parties to improve

products and processes; • realise that networked activities focused on innovation, knowledge

creation and synergies become more and more important to cope with competition and take on opportunities so your organisation meets the challenges of a 21st century knowledge-based society.

Specialisations What can CIBIT Consultants | Educators do for you? To date, CIBIT has acquired considerable experience in the following fields, and can work with you to help you meet the challenges you face:

• Meeting the challenges of the 21st century knowledge-based society by centres of excellence & networks of expertise.

• Combining and improving knowledge within organisations with a strategic approach.

• Auditing your corporate processes from a knowledge perspective (knowledge audits).

• Facilitating workshops for knowledge portfolio analysis and Knowledge Management action plans.

• Creating scenario’s for Knowledge Management activities. • Coaching of Knowledge Management programmes. • Building competencies in the area of communities of practice,

learning on the job, story telling, best practices, learning histories and scenario thinking.

• Identifying opportunities to make knowledge from internal and external sources more accessible.

• Designing an infrastructure that will enable your employees to learn from one another more rapidly, and which will ease their access to others who possess the knowledge required.

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• Establishing processes and structures to trace and record lessons learned and/or best practices and make them more accessible.

• Conducting targeted research into knowledge gaps. • Knowledge analysis and indexing knowledge. • Deploying IT support tools for Knowledge Management.

Consultant and Educator We provide consultancy in the area of Knowledge Management to alarge range of customers in multiple sectors and we provide a fullportfolio of services to plan, initiate, develop, maintain and evaluatecentres of excellence and knowledge networks.

We have an enthusiastic, multidisciplinary team of 70 professionals,thus guaranteeing quality and commitment. We collaborate with various partners in Europe, Asia and the USA in orderto bundledisciplines and to be able to perform worldwide activities.

Training & educationOur services also include training and education in KnowledgeManagement issues. We have delivered many successful Masterclassesin the Netherlands, in London in collaboration with the business schoolof the Middlesex University and in Taipei in collaboration with AngelNet Universal. In several companies the Masterclass was conducted for internal purposes.e-MCKM, an e-learning version of our successfulMasterclass is now available with on-line coaching and support. For more information about our educational services, please contact the head of education Marco Frijlink

The Knowledge Management gameWe also offer KM Quest, the interactive KM Internet-based simulation to help you experience KM decision-making in a safe environment. The simulation is based on a fictitious manufacturing company but we can adapt a new storyline for your own context if necessary. Please click the logo for more information.

Clients Over the past 14 years we have undertaken a number of KnowledgeManagement assignments in both the non-profit and the profit sectorsin Europe. We have also been involved in several activities in Taiwanand mainland China.

We can support you if you are:• About to restructure or have been recently restructured: Knowledge

Management can provide insights into the critical knowledge fields and the staff who possess this knowledge.

• About to shift from product orientation to market orientation: When benefits are derived from combining market knowledge, an extra effort is required to manage this specialist knowledge.

• Experiencing a period of strong growth: increases in scale necessitate improved organisation of knowledge processes. Things do not run themselves the way they used to.


• An industrial company that is seeking to operate in a market in which the fields of knowledge required are split between internal and external partners.

• Involved in or have recently experienced a period of re-engineering: in many cases the emphasis will have been laid entirely on cost cutting. This often appears to adversely affect the knowledge household, which has adverse consequences for long-term continuity.

• Seeking to recycle the experience gained from projects. And optimise the knowledge created in a programme of innovative project.

• A government agency wishing to improve your service to your customers.

• An economic development agency wishing to provide synergy of services to the business sector.

Information We would be happy to discuss with you how we might help you to improve your Knowledge Management activities and to become a smarter company or organisation. For further details check ourwebsite www.cibit.com or contact one of our team members: Managing Consultant knowledge management Rob van der Spek([email protected]), Senior Consultant Eelco Kruizinga([email protected]) at email or by telephone +31-30-2308900 orSenior Consultant Michael Kelleher ([email protected]) at email or by telephone +44-1495-774884.

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BibliographyArgyris, C. (1992). On organisational learning Blackwell.Bohn, R.E. (1994). Measuring and managingtechnological knowledge. Sloan Management Review, no. 39.Van den Broeck, H. (1994). Lerend management;verborgen krachten van managers en organisaties.Lannoo Scriptum, Tielt (in Dutch).Drücker, P.F. (1989). The new realities. Harper & Row,New York. Feigenbaum, E.A. & Mc Corduck, P. (1988). The rise of the Expert Company. Times Balsos, New York.Gardner, K. (1995). Position paper for the InternationalKnowledge Management Network.Hamel, G. & Prahalad, C.K. (1994). Competing for thefuture. Harvard Bussiness School Press.Koornneef, F.; Spijkervet, A.L. & Karczerwski, I. (1996).Organisational learning using near-miss and accident data from within and outside your organisation.In: Proceedings of the 4th Safety Critical SystemsSymposium, Leeds, UK, p. 153-167.Kratochvil, M. (1994). Developing a Know-how Strategy. In: Liebowitz, Ed. Moving towards expert systemsglobally in the 21st century, p. 1378-1381. CognizantCommunication Corporation.Laske, O.E. (1990). Managerial thinking and knowledgemanagement: a look in the future. WIC Seminar onKnowledge Management, Frankfurt.Leonard-Barton, D. (1995). Wellsprings of knowledge.Harvard Business School Press.Nevis, E.C.; Dibella, A.J. & Gould, J.M. (1995).Understanding organisations as learning systems.Sloan Management Review, winter 1995.Nonaka, I. (1991). The knowledge creating company.Harvard Business Review, 69, November-December, 96-104 Nonaka, I. & Takeuchi, H. (1991). The knowledgecreating company; how companies create the dynamicsof innovation. Oxford University Press, New York.

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Brian, J. (1992). Intelligent enterprise: a knowledge and service based paradigm for industry. The Free Press, New York.Schwartz, P. (1991). The art of a long view. Doubleday, New York. Senge, P.M. (1990). The fifth discipline; the art & practice of the learining organisation. Doubleday, New York.Van der Spek, R. (1992). Knowledge management: a multi-disciplinary approach to knowledge inorganisations. In: Proceedings IAKE 1992, p. 225-241.Software Engineering Press, Kensington.Van der Spek, R. & The Hoog, R. (1994). Towards amethodology for knowledge management. First version is presented on the ISMICK, Compiegne (October 1994).Second version is published as a technical report by theKnowledge Management Network (December 1994).Stein, E.W. (1995). Organisational memory: review of concepts and recommendations for management.International Journal of Information Management, vol. 15, no. 2, p. 17-32.Stewart, T.A. (1994). Your company’s most valuableasset: intellectual capital. Fortune, October 3, 1994.Stewart, T.A. (1995). Mapping corporate brainpower.Fortune, October 30, 1995.Wiig, K.M. (1988). Managing Knowledge; a survey of executive perspectives. The Wiig Group, Arlington,Texas.Wiig, K.M. (1993). Knowledge management foundations:thinking about thinking. How people create, representand use knowledge. Schema Press, Arlington, Texas. Wiig, K.M. (1994). A knowledge managementframework. Practical approaches to managingknowledge. Schema Press, Arlington, Texas.Wikström, S. & Normann, R. (1994). Knowledge andvalue. Routledge, New York.

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About the authorsDrs. Rob van der Spek, CIBIT Consultants | Educators

Rob van der Spek is Principal Consultant knowledge management at CIBIT Consultants |Educators located in Utrecht, the Netherlands. CIBIT is an independent consulting andtraining firm in the area of Knowledge Management and business innovation.

He has worked as a knowledge management consultant for companies and organisations like Siemens AG, ISVOR-FIAT, Achmea, Sara Lee / DE, DSM, Telecom Italia, Unilever, The Dutch Ministry of Internal Affairs, FORTIS, NYNEX (USA) and the Royal Dutch Navy. He has been an invited speaker at several in-company seminars on Knowledge Managementfor ING, CMG, ABN-AMRO, FIAT, Telecom Italia, Unilever and Shell and was invited topresent workshops at Stanford University and Cambridge University.

Rob van der Spek is program leader of the Knowledge Management Masterclasses of CIBIT and was in 2001 Senior Research Fellow of ISVOR-FIAT, the corporate university of the FIAT group.

In 1997/8 he was subject matter expert of a joint consortium study on KnowledgeManagement which was performed in collaboration with the European Foundation forQuality Management (EFQM) and the American Productivity and Quality center (APQC).This study was repeated in 2001-2002.

Since 1991 he has published on knowledge in national and international media. In 1994 he co-authored ‘Knowledge Management; dealing intelligently with knowledge’(CIBIT ISBN-90-75709-02-1) which has been translated in several languages includingItalian and Chinese. He is member of the editorial board of the journal of knowledgemanagement (MCB University Press).

CIBIT Consultants | EducatorsP.O. Box 2, 3720 AA Bilthoven, The NetherlandsTel: +31 - 30 - 230 89 00, fax: +31 - 30 - 230 89 99E-mail: [email protected]

Dr. A.L. Spijkervet

is principal Consultant at CSC. He studied Mathematics, Physics and Economics. In 1978 he gained a PhD. in experimental Physics. Since 1978 he has been working in national andinternational projects on the interface of Management Science/Organisation consulting,Engineering and advanced Information Technology. Knowledge management and theimprovement of knowledge intensive processes and systems have always played and stillplay an important role in his work. He has previously worked for the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) and Pandata. At NLR he was head of the Operations Research group. At Pandata he set up and headed the Artificial Intelligence group. In 1989 he was co-founder of the Knowledge ManagementNetwork (KMN) and in 1996 of the Business Network for KM.

CSC Computer Sciences BV, P.O. Box 12451, 1100 EB Amsterdam Zuid-Oost, The Netherlands, Tel: +31 - 20 - 430 71 00, fax: +31 - 20 - 430 71 90Internet: [email protected]

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Colophon:Photography: Wim van EstDesign and illustrations: Theo van OosterhoutEditors: Hélène Kraan, Babette Roelandschap and Ian Holman

This booklet is first published for the international seminar on knowledge

management in May 1997 targeted to representatives of business and science

of all European Union countries. This seminar is initiated and sponsored by

the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science for the occasion of the

Dutch chairmanship of the European Union.

Documents

CIBIT Knowledge Management Booklet