The document discusses organizational knowledge and its management according to ISO 9001:2015. It explains that organizational knowledge involves identifying, maintaining, reviewing, and gaining knowledge needed to implement processes and ensure product/service conformity. It also discusses knowledge triangles, data, information, analysis, and the progression from knowledge to wisdom. The role of leadership and different types of knowledge are explained as important to effectively managing organizational knowledge.

1. Essential Elements Of
Quality Management
System
Organization Knowledge

2. Upon
completion
of this
module, you
will be able
to:
Compare Compare what has changed from previous version i.e. ISO 9001:2008 to new version ISO
9001:2015 regarding management reviews
Explain Explain how management reviews can be made effective in an organization
List List the new inputs of management reviews
Discuss
Discuss how top management should be involved in Management System through
Management reviews
Explain Explain how internal auditors can audit the new requirements of the ISO 9001:2015
Discuss Discuss how companies check their management system through internal audits
Explain Explain how organizational knowledge can be preserved
Recognize Recognize the importance of managing organizational knowledge

3. Organization
Knowledge
The latest ISO 9001:2015 standard institutes the concept of “knowledge.”
As knowledge was not required by the former ISO 9001 standard, the concept of
this topic and the method to it are newly introduced in the standard. ISO
9001:2015 explicates obligations for managing organizational knowledge in
the following four phases, which are similar to the PDCA cycle:
Identify the knowledge which is mandatory for the implementation of processes
and for acquiring conformity of products and services
Keep knowledge and make it accessible to the level needed.
Be thoughtful of the present organizational knowledge and measure it against
contemporary requirements and trends.
Gain the required knowledge.

4. Knowledge
Triangle
• Knowledge Triangle:
How data, information and
analysis contributes to
knowledge.
And finally knowledge converts
to wisdom.

5. Data
Data can be understood as “unordered facts and figures."
The fundamental part of information in an enterprise is in the
shape of data. Organizations gather, assesses and analyses this
data to recognize patterns and trends.
Majority data thus gathered is linked with the main processes
of the organization.
Data are particulars and statistics which reinforce something
particular about a process, but data is not structured in any
terms and it gives no further vision concerning trend, forecast
and context, etc.

6. Information
Each data unit is a fragment of a process
transaction and does not give any
information until these fragments are
structured and ordered in concurrence
with other data units.
The collection of data into a meaningful
context gives information. For data to be
transformed to information, it must be
connected with its background,
grouped, formulated and compressed
where necessary.
Information therefore provides a larger
picture; it is data with applicability and
objective. It may transfer a behavior in
the environment or can refer a trend of
sales for a timeline.
Basically, information is revealed in
responses to questions that start with
words like what, who, when, where and
how much.

7. Analysis
The information collected in
the earlier phase provides
much depth. Analysis provides
more value by disconnecting or
reorganizing this information.
Simulations with systematic
and logical processing give
practitioners the capability to
evaluate information and
define process, trend, etc.

8. Knowledge & Wisdom
Knowledge is not identical to data, information or analysis. It is because knowledge can be generated from any source, or it can be
founded on previous knowledge utilizing logical inferences.
Knowledge is related to performance and relates how to do and comprehension of a reality. The knowledge owned by each person
is an output of one’s experience and relies on the scale by which a person examines new inputs from his environment.
Knowledge can be determined as “an abstract mix of perceived experience, principles, socio-economic and political context,
professional awareness, and the emotional elements."
All these elements give a surrounding and mechanism for assessing and adding new information and experiences. It initiates and is
developed in the intellect of the one who knows. In companies, knowledge is frequently built within organizational culture, norms,
routine activities along with its documentation.
Wisdom is the use of gathered knowledge to build an increased comprehension of the reality and to optimize business functions.

9. How can you record the knowledge of your organization?
Every organization has
significant knowledge that
makes them gain a lead in
the competition, but how
is this recorded within
your organization?
When this knowledge
resides with some
employees and is not
recorded, it is usually
known as “tribal
knowledge,” and if this
can be a strength, it can
be at risk of being
forgotten when these
personals leave the
company.
So, how can you simply
record the knowledge of
your organization? Here
are some ideas:

10. Work Instructions
OBVIOUSLY, THE BEST WAY TO RECORD THIS KNOWLEDGE
IS WITH THE HELP OF INSTRUCTIONS.
IF YOU HAVE A PROCESS THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE IN A
PARTICULAR WAY IN ORDER TO AVOID PROBLEMS, DO SO,
AND THEN THIS CAN BE DRAFTED EASILY FOR
COMPREHENSION OF NEW RECRUITS.

11. Checklists
• Obviously, the best way to record this knowledge is with the help of
instructions.
• If you have a process that needs to be done in a way in order to avoid
problems, do so, and then this can be drafted easily for
comprehension of new recruits.

12. Training Packages
• At times, key points of the process needs to be recorded, and having
this in a type of training package can be an excellent idea for
capturing the knowledge.

13. On-the-Job Training
• When the knowledge just can’t be explained in black and white, it can
be helpful to employ on-the-job training where a professional and
experienced person will convey the undocumented knowledge in an
organization to others.

14. Knowledge Database
SOME CONCEPTS OR THINGS ARE LEARNED DURING A
PROJECT.
THIS EXPERIENCE CAN BE CAPTURED BY CREATING A
REPORT THAT DISCUSSES THE SUCCESSES AND
FAILURES OF A PROJECT, WHICH CAN THEN BE
LOGGED IN A KNOWLEDGE DATABASE.
SUCH RECORDS WILL HELP IN COMPLETING SUCH
PROJECTS EFFECTIVELY.

15. Taking Advantage of the Recorded
Organizational Knowledge
• When organizational knowledge is recorded, one should take advantage of this resource,
particularly when bringing any changes.
• Implementing quality checklists and work instructions can be met with resistance, but if all
concerned personnel know how important this documentation is, implementation will be easier.
• Similarly, the training requirements should be implemented as soon as they have been produced.
Systems should be upgraded to incorporate the training for the implementation of work
instructions and quality checklists. This incorporation will ensure that when a new person is
recruited to the team, he/she will be provided with the most up-to-date training to start the job.
• The knowledge database is an exclusive idea in that it is a input mechanism into the design job, so
one needs to update the system of design process to make sure that design engineers are able to
take advantage from the lessons which have been incorporated into knowledge database to
ensure that no one bypasses learning or improvement that has been recognized and recorded.
• Personnel should learn to utilize this system so that they may gradually progress in their jobs.

16. "Where is the knowledge we have lost in
information?” - T. S. Eliot
Knowledge is often lost in information, especially when the given information is not analyzed
and applied during work.
Some organizations make use of data by ordering and converting such data forms into
information. Information provides insight about a process and the relation of data structures.
But when this information is only utilized for reports without taking appropriate actions on
processes based on this information, then a potential knowledge resource is lost.
Therefore knowledge is something beyond information that is applied to some process,
machinery, procedure, and gives a comprehensive understanding of a process subject.

17. An Important Resource!
Considering organizational knowledge as a powerful resource can speed an organization into
continual improvement, which can be crucial to the long-term success of an organization.
Frequently, organizations don’t understand what crucial knowledge they had until one key
employee moves out and systems do not work properly anymore.
This can be a costly method for learning the lesson that it is important to record and regulate
organizational knowledge.
To avoid this, enterprises should take advantage of the ISO 9001:2015 requirements and opt for
organizational knowledge recording by making it a strategic theme.
The organization will receive the benefits of doing so.

18. Types of Knowledge
• There are different types of organizational knowledge and these can be explained as:
• Tacit knowledge - Knowledge that cannot be expressed and communicated
• Implicit knowledge - Knowledge that can be expressed and communicated but it has
never been
• Explicit knowledge - Knowledge that is expressed and communicated, mostly recorded in
the structure of tables, text, relationship etc.
• Procedural knowledge - Knowledge expresses itself in the form of doing some process.
• Declarative knowledge - Knowledge that comprises of methods, descriptions and things,
and written procedures (declared and followed).
• Strategic knowledge - Knowing the time of doing something with the reason of doing it.

19. Business
Knowledge
and Resources
Business knowledge can be found on
various platforms, some are listed below:
Structural
Community
Personal

20. Business Knowledge and Resources: Structural
This knowledge is present in practices and culture of an organization. This
knowledge might be understood by most of the members of the company
or only by some.
For instance the knowledge of the army schedules may not be
acknowledged by the soldiers who carry out these schedules.
Sometimes, structural knowledge may be the reminder of organizational
history, else dis-remembered lessons, where the value of this knowledge
exists solely in the process itself.

21. Business Knowledge and Resources:
Community
This knowledge is found within communities but is not conveyed to the
remaining organization.
Companies normally comprise of different groups (normally casually formed)
which are associated with each other by usual practice.
These groups may have some common values, semantics, ways of doing work etc.
These communities are also a bank of learning and a source for implicit, tacit,
explicit, procedural knowledge.

22. Business Knowledge and Resources:
Personal
This is a type of
knowledge found within
an individual, it is mostly
tacit knowledge.
It can also be both implicit
and explicit, but it must
be personal in nature.

23. Organizational Memory vs What it is?
Organizational Memory
Traditional memory is related to a
person’s capability to obtain, retain,
and retrieve knowledge.
Within organizations, this concept is
stretched beyond the personal
traditional memory, and
organizational memory thus relates
to the organization’s capability to
obtain, retain and retrieve
knowledge through information,
analysis and proceedings.
What is Organizational Memory?
It is defined as the memory in which
all the types of repositories are set
in, where a company may collect
information.
This memory is comprised of the
various official records, along with
tacit and available knowledge in
people, companies’ culture, and
processes.

24. Stage for Processing Knowledge Through Organizational Memory
Knowledge Addition: Organizational memory comprises of the obtained information concerning historic judgement.
This information is not mainly warehoused in a central place, but instead it is divided across various storage units.
Each time a judgment is taken, and the concerns are assessed, new information is supplemented to the memory of the organization.
Knowledge Retention: Knowledge in an organization is retained in five different knowledge storage areas:
Personal: The memories of the person who remember organizational events, decisions, and issues faced in the past.
Shared Values of an Organization: The mode of communication and structures that are present in an organization and form the shared
values of an organization.
Developed Systems: The developed standard procedures and official methods that the organization uses.
These official methods imitate the company’s past experiences and are repositories for embedded knowledge.

25. The Role of Leadership
The role of a leader can never be underestimated in the development
and effective management of organizational knowledge.
Usually three leadership roles are identified as being important for the
effective management of organizational knowledge.

26. Leadership Roles: Lead Designer
This type of leader can be described as the designer of a ship rather than just being a
captain.
The key roles played by this leader include:
• To create a shared vision with the team having common values and purpose.
• To define the high-level policy, plans, and business structures that transform ideas
into effective decisions.
• To create beneficial learning methods; this will encourage the continual
improvement of the policies, plans, and business structures.

27. Leadership Roles: Lead Teacher
• The attributes of this type of leader include playing the role of trainer, a coach and a
counselor for competing with old ideas in an organization and correcting those old
shared perceptions that resist positive change and act as a barrier for organizational
success.
• This type of leader convinces the organization to change and breaks the shackles of
superficial hindrances.

28. Leadership Roles: Lead Steward
• This quality relates to the personality of a leader.
• The attitude the lead steward is one that does not benefit oneself but rather sees to the
overall well-being of the organization, business, and the long term good of the people.
• All these three attributes will help leaders to build the foundations of a system where
organizational knowledge is used in the most effective manner for the overall well-being
of the organization.