BTM 311 611
Managing Knowledge

Outline
• Information Overload
• Problems with Data
• Organizational Knowledge
• Knowledge Management
• Knowledge Workers
• Knowledge Management
Systems

Information Overload
• Employees, managers, and
executives all face information
overload
• Digital universe is doubling in size
every two years (IDC)
• Data is growing at the rate of 40
percent a year
• Information growth occurs inside and
outside of organizations
• The challenge is to find the
appropriate data and incorporate it
into the decision-making processes

Problems with Data
• Raw data usually unsuitable for
sophisticated reporting or data
mining
• Dirty data
• Missing values
• Inconsistent data, especially in data
collected over time
• Data not integrated
• From different sources
• From incompatible sources
• Granularity
• Fine data – data that expresses precise
detail (e.g. clickstream data)
• Course data – highly summarized (e.g.
Google Analytics)

Organizational Knowledge
• Remember the Business Processes
lecture: Types of information
• This leads to three major types of
knowledge in an organization:
• Structured documents
• Reports, presentations
• Formal rules
• Semi-structured documents
• E-mails, videos
• Unstructured, tacit knowledge
• 80% of an organization’s business
content is semi-structured or
unstructured

Dimensions of Knowledge
• Knowing how to do things effectively
and efficiently in ways others cannot
duplicate is a prime source of profit
and competitive advantage
• e.g. having a unique build-to-order
production system
• Knowledge-based core competencies
• Key organizational assets
• Organizational learning
• Process in which organizations gain
experience through collection of data,
measurement, trial and error, and
feedback

Knowledge Management
• Set of business processes
developed in an
organization to create,
store, transfer, and apply
knowledge
• Knowledge management
value chain
• Each stage adds value to
raw data and information
as they are transformed
into usable knowledge

Knowledge Acquisition and Storage
• Knowledge acquisition
• Documenting tacit and explicit
knowledge
• Storing documents, reports,
presentations, best practices
• Unstructured documents (e.g., e-mails)
• Developing online expert networks
• Creating knowledge
• Tracking data from transaction
processing system (TPS) and external
sources
• Knowledge storage
• Databases
• Document management systems
• Role of management

Knowledge Dissemination and Application
• Knowledge dissemination
• How is knowledge shared within an
organization?
• Portals, wikis
• E-mail, instant messaging
• Search engines, collaboration tools
• Sometimes as a “deluge” of information
• Training programs, informal networks, and
shared management experience help
managers focus attention on important
information
• Knowledge application
• Emphasizes the need to see and evaluate
knowledge in terms of organizational
capital and return on investment
• New business practices
• New products and services
• New markets

What is content?
• Content – something of value,
which can be considered an asset
• Can be stored as data, documents,
spreadsheets, presentations,
websites, text from blogs, Twitter, or
discussion boards, graphics, video
files and video logs, audio files, etc
• Related to intellectual property
• Form of creative endeavour that can
be protected through a trademark,
patent, copyright, industrial design, or
integrated circuit topography

Content Management
• Indexing, cataloguing, processing,
storing “bytes”
• Presentation of content
• Distributing to the right person, right
format
• Usually handled by a content
management system (CMS)
• Employee loads raw content to CMS, it
gets reviewed/edited/art created, as
needed, then published
• No longer relegated to input only – now
CMS systems can seek relevant
documents across the organization and
manage the content automatically, as
well as archive
• e.g. OpenText, in Waterloo, Ontario

Knowledge Governance
• Many organizations are developing
new organizational roles and
responsibilities for the acquisition
of knowledge
• Chief Knowledge Officer –
dedicated staff / knowledge
managers
• Communities of practice (COPs)
• Informal social networks of
professionals and employees
• Activities include education, online
newsletters, sharing knowledge
• Reduce learning curves of new
employees

Knowledge Workers
• Peter Drucker defined knowledge workers
as “high-level workers who apply
theoretical and analytical knowledge,
acquired through formal training, to
develop products and services”
• The Landmarks of Tomorrow (1959), Drucker
• He noted that knowledge workers would
be the most valuable assets of a 21st-
century organization because of their
high level of productivity and creativity
• Includes professionals in information
technology
• programmers, web designers, system analysts,
technical writers, researchers, etc
• And business fields:
• public accountants, engineers, architects,
lawyers, physicians, scientists, financial
analysts, etc

Investing in Knowledge Management
• Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) are
among fastest growing areas of software
investment
• Information economy
• production and distribution of information and
knowledge are a major source of wealth and
prosperity
• Substantial part of an organizations value is
related to intangible assets
• knowledge, brands, reputations, and unique
business processes
• Requires investing in systems for knowledge
workers to help create new knowledge and
integrate that knowledge into business
• Well-executed knowledge-based projects can
produce extraordinary return on investment
(ROI)

Types of Knowledge Management Systems

Requirements of
Knowledge Management Systems
• Sufficient computing power for
graphics, complex calculations
• Communications and document
management
• Access to external databases
• User-friendly interfaces
• Optimized for tasks to be
performed
• e.g. design engineering, financial
analysis

Locating Experts and Sharing Information
• Search tools enable employees to
find appropriate experts within an
organization
• Many provide online directories of
experts in well-defined knowledge
domains
• E.g. Ualberta Faculty of Science
• Many social networking and social
business tools are used for finding
knowledge outside the
organization
• Saving
• Tagging
• Sharing web pages

Enterprise Knowledge Management Systems
• Help capture, store, retrieve, distribute,
preserve structured and semi-structured
knowledge
• Can integrate external information sources:
• e.g. social media, news feeds, research
• Provides tools for communication and
collaboration:
• e.g. blogs, wikis, conferencing tools,
• Key problem: developing a taxonomy
• Defining categories which are meaningful to
users, then knowledge objects must be assigned
a classification (“tagged”) so that it can be
retrieved
• Some knowledge management systems
specialize in managing, storing and classifying
digital media
• e.g. publishers, advertisers, law firms,
broadcasters, entertainment producers

Learning Management Systems (LMS)
• Provide tools for management, delivery,
tracking, and assessment of employee
learning and training
• Support multiple modes of learning
• web-based classes, online forums, and so
on
• Automates selection and administration
of courses
• Assembles and delivers learning content
• Measures learning effectiveness
• Massively open online courses (MOOCs)
• Web course open to large numbers of
participants

Other Examples of Knowledge Work Systems
• CAD (computer-aided design)
• Creation of engineering or
architectural designs
• 3D printing
• Virtual reality systems
• Simulate real-life environments
• Augmented reality (AR) systems
• Enhance visualization by
overlaying digital data and images
onto physical real-world
environment

Unlearn Before You Learn
• Often as more knowledge is
accumulated and assimilated in the
organization, it means changing the
way the organization “thinks”
• Saying “we do it this way because
we always have” does not work
when you are able to see
information from perspectives that
tell a different story than what
you’re used to
• Some people don’t want know an
answer if it means proving other
things they have done were poor
choices

Summary
• Data and information are the
foundation of an organizations’
knowledge
• Knowledge management is
about gaining knowledge and
wisdom from information
• Information systems collect and
organize important data