Solution Manual For Knowledge Management Systems and Processes in the AI Era, 3E Irma BecerraFernandez, Rajiv Sabherwal, Richard Kumi Chapters 1-16
Chapter 1 Introducing Knowledge Management Teaching Objectives
To describe what KM is and what the forces are that drive KM. To discuss organizational issues related to KM. To explain knowledge management systems (KMS) and their role in the organization. To discuss the relevance of KM in today’s dynamic environments augmented with increasing technological complexity. To present the benefits and considerations about KM, including an overview of the nature of the KM projects currently in progress at public and private organizations around the world, and the important role that IT plays in KM.
Key Terms The following alphabetical list identifies the key terms discussed in this chapter. Experience Management Intellectual Asset Intellectual Capital Knowledge Management Knowledge Management Systems Structural Capital
Teaching Suggestions The opening quote by Sylvia Fries, chief NASA historian between 1983 and 1990 is a dramatic testimony for the need to organizations to manage their knowledge: “…the knowledge that during the twenty intervening years much of the national consensus that launched this country on its first lunar adventure had evaporated…” For graduate students, the instructor may with to facilitate class discussion related to the themes presented in this chapter. It may be a good idea to ask your students if they have face similar situations of knowledge loss at their organizations. Have students discuss their views related to the following questions: 1. What specific instance in your career did this example remind you?
2. Describe the type of knowledge of knowledge that was lost in that occasion. 3. Where any steps taken to try to capture this knowledge? 4. What were some of the repercussions on the business that followed the lost of such knowledge? Students may also be encouraged to share some other examples of the four forces driving KM discussed later on in the Chapter. For undergraduate students, the instructor may prefer to ask a few questions about how KM relates to the individual. It may be a good idea to ask the students to share their experiences on individual KM: 1. How do you manage your personal knowledge so you can best reuse it? 2. How do you share your knowledge with others?
Review Questions 1. Describe what knowledge management (KM) is. KM can be described as doing what is needed to get the most out of knowledge resources. 2. Discuss the forces driving KM. a. Increasing Domain Complexity. The complexity of the underlying knowledge domains is increasing. As a direct consequence, the complexity of the knowledge that is required to complete a specific business process task has increased as well. b. Accelerating Market Volatility. The pace of change, or volatility, within each market domain has increased rapidly in the past decade. c. Intensified Speed of Responsiveness. The time required to take action based on subtle changes within and across domains is decreasing. The rapid advance in technology continually changes the decision-making landscape, making it imperative that decisions be made and implemented quickly, lest the window of opportunity closes. d. Employee Turnover. Organizations continue to face employee turnover due to voluntary and involuntary reasons. Such employee turnover inevitably leads to the organization losing of the knowledge possessed by the departing individuals. 3. What are knowledge management systems? Enumerate the four types of KM systems? KM systems are the applications resulting from the synergy between the latest technologies and social/structural mechanisms. KM systems utilize a variety of KM mechanisms and technologies to support the KM processes. The four types of KM systems are: a. b. c. d.
Knowledge Discovery Systems Knowledge Capture Systems Knowledge Sharing Systems Knowledge Application Systems
4. Describe some of the issues facing KM. a. Many KM systems implementations have fallen short of their promise. b. Understand the factors that lead to the successful implementation of KM systems is an important area of research that is still in its infancy. c. KM initiatives are not solely limited to a technological solution. KM practices must first identify ways to encourage and stimulate the ability of employees to develop
new technologies. Second, KM methodologies and technologies must enable effective ways to elicit, represent, organize, re-use and renew this knowledge. Third, KM should not distance itself from the knowledge owners, but instead celebrate and recognize their position as experts in the organization.
Application Exercises 1. Identify an example of a KM initiative that has been undertaken in your organization. Has the initiative been successful? What are some of the issues, both technical and non-technical, that were faced during its implementation? Company X implemented a system to support the work of the help desk. The software is designed to record solutions to technical issues that have occurred in the company’s computing environment. The purpose of the system is to capture knowledge about technology-related problems and their solutions and make this solution available to the rest of the team, on demand, using natural language. This initiative has been marginally successful at Company X. The main reason for its partial success is that the management group didn’t embrace the use of the tool, and therefore didn’t properly convince the staff of the value of the tool in solving day-to-day problems. Furthermore, performance standards were not developed to foster the staff to adopt the tool. Finally, solutions are not validated prior to their inclusion in the application; therefore the quality of the information is questionable leading to lack of trust issues. 2. Design a knowledge management initiative to support your business needs. The recent accounting fraud scandals resulted in the adoption of the Sarbanes-Oakley Act (SOA), which requires senior management to assert the effectiveness of the company’s internal control and financial reporting systems. Many times senior management is removed from the intricacies of day-to-day affairs in the company. Therefore, a KM initiative to identify and document information on the company’s internal controls is of extreme importance in today’s business environment. This project would have both knowledge capture and knowledge sharing components. Most organizations already have the required information documented, but many times it’s distributed throughout the organization. This project may also require formalizing relevant tacit knowledge. 3. Describe the non-technical issues that you will face during its implementation. For example, the members of the management team tasked with this project may already be over-committed to other obligations. Perhaps consultants would need to be hired for this project, which requires the commitment of resources. Finally, management will need to be convinced that the initiative has an added value to the organization. 4. Consider the four forces driving KM described in this chapter. Think of another example that illustrates each of these forces. a. Increasing Domain Complexity – Globalization has increased the domain complexity for many organizations, which need to provide products and services that meet the need of customers across the globe. b. Accelerating Market Volatility – The terrorist event of September 11 crippled the travel industry almost overnight. In order to stimulate travel, companies in this industry were forced to reduce prices to levels way below their break-even prices. As a result, many companies in this sector were forced into bankruptcy.
c. Intensified Speed of Responsiveness – In order to be able to continue to support relevant IT education, universities need to adapt their curriculum to current industry trends. In the past, degree curriculums were more static with infrequent revisions. In today’s environment three-year-old IT curriculums are old – in terms of Internet years! d. Employee Turnover – The recent dot com explosion created many new opportunities for IT professionals which lured them away from their positions. As a result, many organizations had to re-hire new talent to fulfill their IT needs, and are now left with IT professionals who lack the business experience or understand the business culture at their organizations. This creates a huge barrier in terms of adequately supporting the needs of the organization.
Chapter 2: The Nature of Knowledge Teaching Objectives 1. To help the student understand the difference between knowledge, data, and information 2. To explain to the students the alternative views of knowledge 3. To help the student understand the different types of knowledge 4. To help the student recognize the various locations of knowledge
Key Terms The following alphabetical list identifies the key terms discussed in this chapter.
Associational Expertise Data Declarative Knowledge Deep Expertise Expertise Explicit Knowledge General Knowledge Information Intellectual Capital Knowledge Motor Skills Expertise Procedural Knowledge Specific Knowledge Tacit Knowledge
Teaching Suggestions Using this chapter with undergraduate students should focus more on supplementing the examples from this chapter with additional examples. This would help enhance the likelihood of the students‟ comprehending the key concepts of data, information, and knowledge, as well as the various types and reservoirs of knowledge. For undergraduate students, the instructor might consider excluding the section on Alternative Views of Knowledge. In using this chapter with graduate students, the instructor should incorporate the entire chapter, with detailed discussion not only of the various types and reservoirs of knowledge, but also the section on Alternative Views of Knowledge. The instructor might also consider generate using in-class discussion among students regarding the relative advantages of tacit and explicit knowledge, objective and subjective views of knowledge, and so on.