This document discusses knowledge management in a global context and highlights some potential pitfalls of global KM systems. It then focuses on how social networking can be used to facilitate knowledge management. Key recommendations include not expecting the same level of participation as external social media sites, monitoring activities to ensure KM goals are being met, learning from user behaviors to surface valuable content, and designing policies with future platform changes in mind. The document also covers the need for and challenges of KM in Indian organizations, such as creating a sharing culture and developing internal rather than outsourced solutions. It concludes with a brief mention of case studies on KM practices at major Indian companies.

1. Pitfalls of Global KM System
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2. Global KM System
• You would see a blogosphere of hundreds of millions of bloggers
writing and sharing their ideas, insights, learnings, knowledge, jokes
and information. You would see millions of people engaged in
'massive collaboration' in creating and improving knowledge on
wiki's for millions of other people to access and apply.
• You would see hundreds of millions of people sharing pictures and
videos in services like Instagram and WhatsApp.
• You would see hundreds of millions of people sharing their details
and building relationships in social networks like Facebook.
• Millions would be tweeting from mobile phones all over the world
about everything.
• Hundreds of millions of people would be searching for information
they need.
• Many are searching and sharing knowledge & information on
LinkedIn.
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3. Pitfalls in Global KM System
• Failing to align the KM effort with a business need
• Failing to understand users and connecting KM efforts
to their workflow
• Focusing on technology without addressing the need
to manage content
• Underestimating the need to sell KM to employees
• Not engaging users on an on-going basis
• Focusing on formal learning initiatives as a way to
share knowledge
• Limiting KM efforts to internal stakeholders
• Spending too much time planning and not enough time
on implementation
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4. Social Networking and Knowledge Management
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5. Social Networking and Knowledge Management
Following are the guidelines while mixing SN with KM
• Remember that your organization is not Facebook. Your
colleagues don’t need another Facebook. Decide what
they do need and build your initiative around that.
• Don’t expect the same level of participation as in external
social networking sites. The frenzied level of posting on
social networking sites would be extremely annoying and
very strange in a business context. Don’t benchmark
yourself against them.
• Trust but verify. You’ll spend more time than it’s worth
policing participants’ activities in social media if you don’t
trust users to behave appropriately. However, you should
check—at least occasionally—to ensure that social
networking hasn’t become social “not-working.” It is also
important to hit security and privacy issues head on.
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6. Social Networking and Knowledge Management
• Watch what happens. Rather than trying to predict behaviour or
ROI, watch what people do and how they use social networking
tools in expected and unexpected ways. Invest in and support what
bubbles to the top value-wise, and let the rest fall away.
• Mine the information. Relationships and posting behaviours can
tell you a lot about what networks exist, which are vibrant, and
what content people find valuable enough to share. Desirable
content can be pushed to users who need it and flagged to appear
higher in search results. Again, be sensitive to privacy concerns
about mining digital behaviour of employees.
• Accept that the media will change. Social media evolution in the
consumer world will dictate how well the enterprise version
continues to be accepted. Design your content and policies to be as
agnostic as possible to device and software; these details will
change.
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7. KM in Indian Context
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8. Need of KM in Indian Organization
• Competitive pressures reduce the size of the work force that holds valuable
business knowledge.
• Early retirements and increasing mobility of the work force lead to thrashing of
knowledge.
• Reductions in staffing generate a need to substitute informal knowledge with
formal methods.
• The amount of time available to experience and acquire knowledge has
diminished.
• On the basis we can add that:
• Organizations compete on the basis of knowledge.
• The need for life-long learning is an unavoidable reality.
• Most of our work is based on information;
• Products and services are becoming ever more complex, having a considerable
information component.
• Changes in strategic course may result in the thrashing of knowledge in a
specific area.
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9. Problems of Indian Organization w.r.t KM
• Those in charge of knowledge management initiatives in companies point
out that creating a culture of knowledge sharing as the prime challenge
that companies face in implementing knowledge management.
• Since most people think that knowledge is power they tend to hold it, hence
making them share it within becomes a difficult task.
• The time tested and effective way to transfer knowledge is for people to find
others who have it and talk to them. This, however, becomes difficult when
companies grow large or where knowledge content of tasks is high.
• The number of mature knowledge management tools is on the increase,
which aids in making knowledge management a more scientific process.
Most organisations however tend to develop their own knowledge
management solutions which may lead further problems.
• Employee attitude towards radical change in the ongoing system is also a
problem to be dealt for.
• Huge network need to be set up for implementing knowledge management
which involves cost.
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10. Indian Cases on Knowledge
Management
• Discussion of various Case studies on KM in
India.
– Wipro
– Infosys
– ICICI
– ONGC
– Tata Steel
– Reliance etc.
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