Knowledge Management Internalization in an Organization - Essay Example

LITERATURE REVIEW ON KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND ITS INTERNALIZATION WITHIN AN ORGANIZATION Literature Review on Knowledge Management and Its Internalization within an Organization Adnan Maachou Please put your university name here Abstract This paper is a literature review about the concept of knowledge management and its internalization in an organization. The organization that has been considered as part of this research is a company dealing in photocopier systems, both sales and service of the photocopier systems. The literature review focuses essentially on the aspects that are necessary for high quality field servicing which would in turn lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction having a direct spin-off on improved sales and marked improvement and referral sales within the organization. This research will use the mixed-method design, but will lean more toward the evidences that have been quoted in various knowledge management studies. Since the Knowledge management area of study is relatively new area of study not much of quantitative information is readily available in free domain. This will be the primary limitation of the research submission. The primary and most important source used for this literature review is book named 'The Handbook of Knowledge Management written by Thomas J. Beckman, a research scholar from The George Washington University, Baltimore country. The main reason for considering this book as a primary source is that it serves the role as a key reference book in integrating views of researchers in and practitioners of knowledge management. Even though the field of knowledge management is evolving and is still maturing, this book is considered as a first step in helping to formulate methodologies, techniques, and practices for making knowledge management a sound field (Beckman, 2003). Professor D. Neef of the Management Decisions (Venters W. , 2008) Institute feels that "In order to understand Knowledge Management, it is necessary to see the subject within the broader context of the enormous changes taking place in the global economic framework itself" (Neef, 1999). Alfred Marshall, a forefather of neo-classical economics (Venters W. , 2001), was one of the earliest authors to state explicitly the importance of knowledge within economic affairs; "Capital consists in a great part of knowledge and organisation knowledge is our most powerful engine of production (Marshall, 1965)." All the above stated definitions form the basis for the evolution of Knowledge Management as a separate branch of study. But this view of looking at the subject was contrasted (Nonaka, 1995) by some researchers like Nonaka and Takeuchi as they feel that neo-classical economists only consider the utilization of the existing knowledge and they are not very concerned and particular about creation of new knowledge (Venters W. , 2001). Another important material which was helpful in this research is The Blackwell Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management (Smith M. E., 2005). It is a state-of-art international handbook about the emerging field of Knowledge Management which occupies a central position in the fields of contemporary management and organizational theory. The author of the book has drawn together analyses and critical commentary from the leading experts on organizational learning and knowledge management around the world. Links are made to existing bodies of theory in the root disciplines of economics, psychology and social theory, while the challenging implications for research and future paths of inquiry are outlined and discussed (Smith E. , 2005). The special issue on Knowledge Management and e-research technologies is another material that has been of great help in working on this paper (Venters W. , 2008). This special issue of Knowledge Management Research & Practice will focus on the role of technology within wider debates on knowledge management. Information and Communication technologies lend themselves to the capture, transfer and storage of data, and hence have, until recently, been strongly aligned with either objectivist view of knowledge management as codification of knowledge in databases, or a limited behaviourist view as communication and collaboration tools in support of social practices. The aim of this special issue is to explore in depth the relationship between social practice and Knowledge Management technologies which are broadly defined in particular questioning the traditional dichotomy between codification and collaboration through knowledge management technology (Palgrave McMillan, 2008). Knowledge Management Yearbook 1999-2000 written by James W. Cortada & John A. Woods is a book which actually a collection of articles by foremost experts on Knowledge Management (Woods, 1999). The book contains almost 40 articles covering topics such as knowledge-based strategies, organizational learning, and knowledge tools, techniques, and processes. It also includes valuable resources, such as a glossary of knowledge terms, quotes, and several directories of on-line knowledge management resources, KM organizations, and periodicals. This collection bridges the gap between the theoretical and the practical (Google). "Any process or practice of creating, acquiring, capturing, sharing and using knowledge, wherever it resides, to enhance learning and performance in organisations" - Harry Scarborough defines Knowledge Management thus (Henry Scarborough, 1999) (Venters W. , 2001). This definition cited above is very relevant to the current research paper. This paper talks about knowledge management in a photocopier company particularly about improving the service levels of the company and ensure high quality customer satisfaction. As the company of research belongs to the service industry, it is very relevant that we recollect the view of Peter F. Drucker in this context (Venters W. , 2001). Giving away his views about the manufacturing and service industries, Peter f. Drucker quoted that "We are entering (or have entered) the knowledge society in which the basic economic resource is knowledgeand where the knowledge worker will play a central role" (Drucker, 1993). Changes in computer technology during the mid 1980s were the key aspects responsible to this shift; as computers grew exponentially in speed, reduction in cost and availability their uses changed (Venters W. , 2001). Organisations were, for the first time, able to quickly capture, codify and disseminate huge amounts of information across the globe (Tapscott, 1996). The existing literature of Knowledge Management, according to I. Tuomi, as quoted in the Journal of Management Information Systems, often points out the importance of distinguishing among data, information, and knowledge (Tuomi, 1999). The generally accepted view sees data as simple facts that become information as data are combined into meaningful structures, which subsequently become knowledge as meaningful information is put into a context and when it can be used to make predictions. According to this view, data are a prerequisite for information, and information is a prerequisite for knowledge. This paper explores the conceptual hierarchy of data, information, and knowledge, showing that data emerge only after we have information, and that information emerges only after we already have knowledge (Venters W. , 2001). The reversed hierarchy of knowledge is shown to lead to a different approach in developing information systems that support knowledge management and organizational memory. It is also argued that this difference may have major implications for organizational flexibility and renewal. As companies expand there is a limit to the effectiveness of the informal ways knowledge has always been shared within organisations (Venters W. , 2001). It was suggested by Davenport and Prusak in the Harvard Business Review that companies above two to three hundred employees are too large for people to have a grasp of collective organisational knowledge (Davenport T. a., 1998). There is a need for companies to "know-what-they-know" (Sieloff, 1999). If knowledge is to become a valuable corporate asset it must be accessible, developed and used (Davenport T. a., 1998). Knowledge management was born out of this desire to improve the knowledge-organisation, yet this occurred without an accepted definition of knowledge management (Venters W. , 2001). Many authors have avoided epistemological debate on the definition of knowledge by comparing knowledge with information and data (Leidner, 2001). Alavi and Leidner argue that the effective distinguishing feature between information and knowledge (Venters W. , 2001) is not found in the content, structure, usefulness or interpretability, but rather "knowledge is information possessed in the minds of individuals: it is personalized information (which may or may not be new, unique, useful or accurate) related to facts, procedures, concepts, interpretations, ideas, observations, and judgements" (Leidner, 2001). In contrast to the above stated view, it was felt by Dahlbom and Mathiassen that shared practices and experiences from different situations would only help in achieving this (Venters W. , 2001). According to them - "Think of what a cookbook for a true novice would look like. Every recipe would begin: "Turn on the light in the kitchen (Mathiassen, 1995)." A significant implication of this view of knowledge is that for individuals to arrive at the same understanding of data or information, they must share a history or context (Leidner, 2001) (Alavi and Leidner 2001). Thus systems designed to support knowledge in organisations may not appear radically different from other forms of information systems, but will be geared toward enabling users to assign meaning to information and to capture some of their knowledge in information and/or data (Venters W. , 2001). "The emphasis on codification in the KM literature probably reflects the dominance of the information systems view: many of the articles have focused on developing and implementing KM databases, tools (e.g. decision support tools) and techniques despite a now fairly wide acknowledgement that "the most dramatic improvements in KM capability in the next ten years will be human and managerial (Davenport T. , 1996)". Ernst & Young's Management Consulting practice underwent a strategic shift when it included knowledge as a key component of the firm's strategic plan. The outline of this plan included three areas of emphasis in knowledge management: capturing and leveraging knowledge, contribution by all to a firm-wide stock of knowledge, and recognition by clients as a valuable source of knowledge and thought leadership. In implementing this plan, the group created knowledge development centres and organized the client services into knowledge networks. The Centre for Business Knowledge maintained a library, a call centre, and databases of knowledge available throughout the firm. The CBK created a taxonomy and architecture for the knowledge-bases and worked directly with subject matter experts from the knowledge networks to address issues of contribution, filtering, acquisition, and updating. This case was also explored and described in relation to the research on Leveraging Knowledge for Business Value: Creating Living Knowledge Representations through the Power of Communities. E&Y clients interested in knowledge management may be invited to visit the Centre for Business Knowledge (Venters W. , 2001). The relevance to the above stated case study of Ernest & Young can be strongly established to the current research paper because, the organization that is being dealt in this paper is aiming at focusing more on aspects that are necessary for high quality field servicing which would in turn lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction having a direct spin-off on improved sales and marked improvement and referral sales within the organization. This means that such a focus would definitely require a strategic shift in the approach of both the organization and its service personnel in handling customer problems and to improve the service quality levels. In the journal of Information Technology, C. Ciborra and R. Andreau have quoted that practical solutions which concern the various strategic uses of knowledge and its management would greatly depend upon the relevant organizational context (Andreau, 2001). By applying the 'learning ladder' model (i.e. a compact way of describing the unfolding of multiple organizational knowledge creation, transformation and transfer processes), three different contexts are explored (Venters W. , 2001). First, the single firm is considered and the governance of its internal knowledge processes performed according to the tenets of the resource-based view of strategy. Second, the boundaries of the single firm are crossed and the characteristics of the processes of knowledge transfer and production between allied firms are considered. Finally, emerging features of how knowledge is managed among a large number of interdependent organizations and individuals are explored with reference to the case of open source soft-ware. The latter context highlights behaviours that seem, in a sense, at odds with the traditional principles of knowledge management. 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