Knowledge Management

We used to talk "data management" (databases). We used to talk "information management" (warehouses), now we talk "knowledge management". Knowledge management entails the capturing of one person's expertise and insights and sharing it with others. Assume you are a partner at a major consulting firm and a client asks you to design and implement a new technology. The partner will begin by looking for expertise with the consulting firm to avoid "reinventing the wheel." The partner's search may be facilitated by a repository of expertise, generic documents, and forms, etc. This is the essence of knowledge management.

But there are major issues associated with KM. Domain experts are busy--why would they drop what they are doing to help someone else? If knowledge is power, how do organizations motivate people to share their knowledge? How do organizations secure their knowledge? Accounting controls mandate that employees access knowledge on a "need to know basis", yet this is antithetical to the principles of KM. In other words, KM is immersed in politics!

Your group might start out with the dollars spent on KM, what KM is and is not (Warning: Knowledge Management is NOT equivalent to an Intranet. Explain the difference to the audience.), the challenges of implementing KM systems, etc.

Your group might choose to focus on a few case studies of how organizations are implementing knowledge management. Include a description of:

• Size of company in terms of sales and profits
• Major products the company sells
• General characteristics of their customers
• Organizational chart--who does the CIO report to?
• How many people work for the IT organization?
• What is the annual IT budget?

The Knowledge management case should include:

• Knowledge management strategy
• Technology used to support km
• Degree of success and failure of the KM system
• How does the company motivate domain experts to share knowledge?
• How does the company balance knowledge security with the ideas of open information sharing?
• Lessons learned by the company

It would be great if we could see the screen captures of the Knowledge Management System.

Finally, your group should find and generate a list of best practices for knowledge management.

Helpful reading:

Scott, J., Globe, A., and Schiffner, K., "Jungles and Gardens: The Evolution of Knowledge Management at J.D. Edwards," MIS Quarterly Executive, Vol. 3, 1, 2004, pp. 37-52.

The case clearing houses have several good knowledge management case studies.