This document provides an overview of a seminar on introduction to knowledge management. The seminar discusses how knowledge management issues are impacted in today's digital world. Students are asked to read a case study on Ernst & Young and discuss in groups questions on overcoming an aging workforce, codifying critical client and industry knowledge, and the strengths and pitfalls of using social media. The tutor then provides input on each discussion question, outlining potential ways to overcome an aging workforce through employing boomerangs or retired employees, codifying specialist knowledge, and involving retired employees in training. The tutor also discusses strengths like allowing expertise pooling and weaknesses like security risks of using social media at Ernst & Young.

1. Seminar: Introduction to
Knowledge Management
Topic Number:1
Analysis 1: Evidence and the Nature of Knowledge
in the Digital Age

2. 2
• Analysing how knowledge management issues
in today’s digital world
• Thinking how to deal with a knowledge
management issues
Learning outcomes
of this Seminar

3. 3
Reading & Activity
Need to read:
Ernst & Young (US) Case Study
Pages 28 and 29 in Jashapara (2011)
Get into groups and discuss the following
questions ready to present to the class

4. Questions
1) What are the potential ways forward to overcome
the problem of an ageing workforce at Ernst & Young?
2) How would you codify critical knowledge of clients
and industries being lost when employees retire?
3) What are the main strengths and pitfalls of using
social media networking sites for Ernst & Young?

5. Tutor’s Input
1) What are the potential ways forward to overcome the
problem of an ageing workforce at Ernst & Young?
• Employing ‘boomerangs’ with the necessary expertise
• Employing retired employees on specialist contracts or through other legal entities
• Carefully managing succession planning in all parts of the organisation, particularly
• where specialist skills and expertise are required
• Codifying specialist knowledge in ‘Powerpacks’ such as sector knowledge
• Mentoring and coaching programmes for younger employees by older employees
• Involving retired employees in training and development programmes

6. Tutor’s Input
2) How would you codify critical knowledge of clients
and industries being lost when employees retire?
• Getting line managers, partners and managing partners to help articulate knowledge,
learning and expertise gained from Clients and industries
• Videotaping knowledge in the form of a dialogue and linking it to a corporate video sharing
database
• Getting employees to articulate their knowledge explicitly in the form of documents, prior to
retirement
• Engaging employees in succession planning prior to retirement
• Engaging retired employees in master-classes linked to specific industries and knowledge
bases’
• Involving retired employees in research and development activities particularly in the Centre
for Innovation

7. Tutor’s Input
3) What are the main strengths and pitfalls of using
social media networking sites for Ernst & Young?
Strengths
• Allows 16,000 employees space to interact and
develop social capital in a globalised firm
• Ability to pool expertise from throughout the
organisation
• Partially solves the problem of the 'dispersed
knowledge' of 80,000 employees
• Reduces emails

8. Tutor’s Input
3) What are the main strengths and pitfalls of using
social media networking sites for Ernst & Young?
Pitfalls
• Security risk in terms of loss of documents and information
outside the firm
• Inability to track large numbers of discussions throughout the
firm
• Members providing consultancy services over the social
network rather than formally through the firm
• Cost effectiveness of social networks may be debatable where
managers lose control over the length of time spent engaged
in them

9. End of Seminar
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© Pearson College 2013