PROJECT REPORT ON CREATION OF CONDUCIVE ENIRONMENT FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT by Sanjay Gupta

PROJECT REPORT ON

“CREATION OF CONDUCIVE ENIRONMENT FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT” A STUDY AT NTPC Ltd.

TABLE OF CONTENT PARTICULARS

PAGE NO.

1. Acknowledgement 2. Executive Summary 3. NTPC Profile 4. Why this topic was chosen 5. Introduction to knowledge management 6. Objective of Study 7. Research Methodology 8. Sample Questionnaire 9. Hypothesis 10. Variables that have been studied 11. Sample procedure 12. Method of Data Analysis 13. Results and Analysis 14. Limitations 15. Conclusions 16. Suggestions and Recommendations 17. Bibliography

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The project title “Creation of Conducive Environment for Knowledge Management” has been conducted by me at NTPC Ltd. I have completed this project, based on the Primary research, under the guidance of Mr XYZ. I owe enormous intellectual debt towards my guides Mr XYZ, who have augmented my knowledge in the field of Knowledge Management. They have helped me learn about the process and giving me valuable insight into the field of Knowledge Management. I am obliged to all the employees of the HR department for their cooperation during the Internship. My increased spectrum of knowledge in this field is the result of their constant supervision and direction perspectives. I would like to thank all the respondents without whose cooperation my project would not have been possible. Last but not the least, I feel indebted to all those persons and organizations who have provided helped directly or indirectly in successful completion of this study.

Date:XYZ

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report presents the facts discovered by studying the environment and culture of NTPC Ltd to enable knowledge sharing. The study aims at understanding the attitude towards creation of an environment conducive for knowledge management. Knowledge management initiative involves efficient change management. The change takes place at three levels a) strategic b) structural c) attitude of employees and organization The project deals with the intricacies involved at the people and process level before major investment is made at the technology aspect. KMS being a major investment for an organization needs to be followed by a groundwork done at the basic level of people so that the hesitation and fear to share information amongst employees can be removed. Our ignorance exceeds our knowledge where issues of motivation and commitment of knowledge workers are concerned in context of knowledge Management System(KMS) implementation. Knowledge management becomes basic to one’s work in light of the massive knowledge bases available in this era where information multiplies so rapidly. Within this environment, decision making is a highly prized skill for clarifying the options within a knowledge base. “We have to get away from this idea that there is a right answer to find. Knowledge is bout understanding our choices and the consequences of those choices, then making a decision not about what is right, but about what we can live without.” Motivation and commitment of knowledge workers, employees, professionals and mangers are being increasingly realized as critical success factors for the implementation of enterprise knowledge management system. After talks within organizations with KM initiative it was observed that unsuccessful KM projects had “struggled to get organization members to contribute success factor for virtually all knowledge management projects.” 9

NTPC Ltd is the largest thermal power generating company of India. Its core business is engineering, construction and operation of power generating plants and also providing consultancy to power utilities in India and abroad. The project involved three stages: The first stages consist of the choice of the project topic and its limits. Browsing through the intranet of NTPC, talking to employees and then finalizing the study area from amongst the various issues which were a concern for NTPC. The second stage consisted of a survey across all hierarchical levels of the organization on a random basis. The total sample size was hundred in which all levels of employees were attempted to be covered. The data collected was analysed by using descriptive statistical tools for getting in depth view of the findings. The third stage was the analysis section in which I used statistical tools like MS EXCEL and SPSS. The data after being fed was analysed by various statistical tools like: •

Frequencies

•

Correlation

After the data was analysed a careful study of the results has been done to arrive at suggestions and recommendations which help in improving the wrok environment of NTPC Ltd. Which would facilitate in creating a conducive environment for knowledge management.

NTPC PROFILE VISION A world class integrated power major, powering India’s growth, with increasing global presence"

MISSION "Develop and provide reliable power, related products and services at competitive prices, integrating multiple energy sources with innovative and eco – friendly technologies and contribute to society"

NTPC Limited is the largest thermal power generating company of India. A public sector company, it was incorporated in the year 1975 to accelerate power development in the country as a wholly owned company of the Government of India. At present, Government of India holds 89.5% of the total equity shares of the company and the balance 10.5% is held by FIIs, Domestic Banks, Public and Within a span of 31 years, NTPC has emerged as a truly national power company, with power generating facilities in all the major regions of the country.

NTPC’s core business is engineering, construction and operation of power generating plants. It also provides consultancy in the area of power plant constructions and power generation to companies in India and abroad. As on date the installed capacity of NTPC is 27,904 MW through its 15 coal based (22,895 MW), 7 gas based (3,955 MW) and 4 Joint Venture Projects (1,054 MW). NTPC acquired 50% equity of the SAIL Power Supply Corporation Ltd. (SPSCL). This JV company operates the captive power plants of Durgapur (120 MW), Rourkela (120 MW) and Bhilai (74 MW). NTPC also has 28.33% stake in Ratnagiri Gas & Power Private Limited (RGPPL) a joint venture company between NTPC, GAIL, Indian Financial Institutions and Maharashtra SEB Holding Co. Ltd. The present capacity of RGPPL is 740 MW. NTPC’s share on 31 Mar 2007 in the total installed capacity of the country was 20.18% and it contributed 28.50% of the total power generation of the country during 2006-2007.

NTPC has set new benchmarks for the power industry both in the area of power plant construction and operations. It is providing power at the cheapest average tariff in the country. With its experience and expertise in the power sector, NTPC is extending consultancy services to various organisations in the power business. NTPC is committed to the environment, generating power at minimal environmental cost and preserving the ecology in the vicinity of the plants. NTPC has undertaken massive afforestation in the vicinity of its plants. Plantations have increased forest area and reduced barren land. The massive afforestation by NTPC in and around its Ramagundam Power station (2600 MW) have contributed reducing the temperature in the areas by about 3°c. NTPC has also taken proactive steps for ash utilisation. In 1991, it set up Ash Utilisation Division to manage efficient use of the ash produced at its coal stations. This quality of ash produced is ideal for use in cement, concrete, cellular concrete, building material. A "Centre for Power Efficiency and Environment Protection (CENPEEP)" has been established in NTPC with the assistance of United States Agency for International Development. (USAID). Cenpeep is an efficiency oriented, eco-friendly and eco-

nurturing initiative - a symbol of NTPC's concern towards environmental protection and continued commitment to sustainable power development in India. As a responsible corporate citizen, NTPC is making constant efforts to improve the socioeconomic status of the people affected by the its projects. Through it's Rehabilitation and Resettlement programmes, the company endeavors to improve the overall socioeconomic status of Project Affected Persons. NTPC was among the first Public Sector Enterprises to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Government in 1987-88. NTPC has been Placed under the 'Excellent category' (the best category) every year since the MOU system became operative.

Recognising its excellent performance and vast potential, Government of the India has identified NTPC as one of the jewels of Public Sector ‘Navratnas’- a potential global giant. Inspired by its glorious past and vibrant present, NTPC is well on its way to realise it’s vision of being “A world class integrated power major, powering India’s growth, with increasing global presence”. Over the last three decades, NTPC has spearheaded development of thermal power generation in the Indian power sector. In this process, it has built a strong portfolio of coal and gas/liquid fuel based generation capacities. The company has made initial forays in the area of hydropower development and plans to have a significant share of hydro power in its future generation portfolio. Although NTPC is also offering technical services, both in domestic and international markets, through its Consultancy Wing, the generation business would continue to be the single largest revenue generator for NTPC. The Indian power sector is witnessing several changes in the business and regulatory environment. The legal and policy framework has changed substantially with the enactment of the Electricity Act 2003. In the foreseeable future, India faces formidable challenges in meeting its energy needs. Recently, a draft integrated energy policy has been issued, which addresses all aspects including energy security, access, availability, affordability, pricing, efficiency and environment. To meet the twin objectives of 14

ensuring availability of electricity to consumers at competitive rates, as well as attract large private investments in the sector, a new Tariff policy has also been issued. The power sector thus offers a mixed bag of challenges and opportunities to players and NTPC would continue to review its business strategy and portfolio in light of these changes. Growth of the Generation Business Developing and operating world-class power stations is NTPC’s core competence. Its scale of operation, financial strength and large experience serve to provide an advantage over competitors. To meet the objective of making available reliable and quality power at competitive prices, NTPC would continue to speedily implement projects and introduce state-of-art technologies.

Total capacity portfolio India’s generation capacity can be expected to grow from the current levels of about 120 GW to about 225-250 GW by 2017. NTPC currently accounts for about 20% of the country’s installed capacity and almost 60% of the total installed capacity in the Central sector in the country. Going forward, in its target to remain the largest generating utility of India, NTPC would endeavour to maintain or improve its share of India’s generating capacity. Towards this end, NTPC would target to build an overall capacity portfolio of over 66,000 MW by 2017.

Fuel / Energy mix for capacity addition Currently, coal has a dominant share in the power generation capacities in India. This is also reflected in the high share of coal-based capacities in NTPC’s current portfolio. With high uncertainties involved in Domestic gas/ LNG, both in terms of availability and prices, NTPC would continue to set up large pit-head coal based projects, including few integrated coal cum power projects. To reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, there is a need to push for renewable sources of power in the sector. NTPC would avail of opportunities to add hydropower to its portfolio subject to competitive tariffs. A first step

in this direction has already been taken with the investment in Koldam Hydro Power Project. NTPC would continue to closely monitor developments on nuclear front also and be open to setting up around 2000 MW of Nuclear power generation capacity, possibly through a Joint Venture. As a leader in power generation, NTPC would also consider other energy sources such as biomass, cogeneration, fuel cells, etc for future development thereby reducing the dependence on thermal fuels. While a decision on the fuel/energy mix for NTPC in the future would be largely governed by their relative tariff-competitiveness, the fuel mix in 2017 may be different from the existing portfolio, though not very significantly.

Diversification along the Value Chain NTPC has achieved the distinction of being the largest thermal generating company in India. In the past, this focus was adequate as the industry was highly regulated with limited diversification opportunities. Over last few years, the country has been facing acute shortages, both in coal and gas, severely affecting optimum utilisation of its power stations and these shortages are likely to continue in future as well. This is in spite of the fact that India is one of the largest producers of coal in the World. To safeguard its competitive advantage in power generation business, NTPC has moved ahead in diversifying its portfolio to emerge as an integrated power major, with presence across entire energy value chain. In fact, to symbolise this change, NTPC has taken on a new identity and a new name “NTPC Limited”. NTPC has recently diversified into coal mining business primarily to secure its fuel requirements and support its aggressive capacity addition program. In addition, NTPC is also giving thrust on diversification in the areas of power trading and distribution. Diversification would also allow NTPC to offer new growth opportunities to its employees while leveraging their skills to capitalise on new opportunities in the sector.

Establishing a Global Presence To become a truly global company serving global markets, it is essential for NTPC to establish its brand equity in overseas markets. NTPC would continue to focus on offering Engineering & Project Management Services, Operations & Maintenance services, and Renovation & Modernization services in the international market. Establishing a successful services brand would be a precursor to taking higher investment decisions in different markets. Going forward, NTPC would continue to evaluate various options for strengthening its presence in global markets including setting up power generation capacity, acquisition of gas blocks etc.

Circa 2017: NTPC’s corporate profile By the year 2017, NTPC would have successfully diversified its generation mix, diversified across the power value chain and entered overseas markets. As a result NTPC would have altered its profile significantly. Elements of the revised profile that NTPC would seek to achieve are: •

Amongst top five market capitalisation in the Indian market

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An Indian MNC with presence in many countries

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Diversified utility with multiple businesses

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Setting benchmarks in project construction and plant availability & efficiency

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Preferred employer

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Have a strong research and technology base

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Loyal customer base in both bulk and retail supply

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A leading corporate citizen with a keen focus on executing its social responsibility

CORE VALUES

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Business Ethics

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Customer Focus

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Organizational & professional Pride

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Mutual Respect and Trust

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Innovation and Speed

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Total Quality for Excellence

SERVICES OFFERED The Consultancy Wing of NTPC, with an ISO 9001:2000 accreditation, undertakes all the Consultancy and turnkey project contracts for Domestic and International clients in the different phases of Power plants viz. construction supervision, Project management, FQA, Inspection services, O&M, RLA/R&M of various power utilities. With the string of achievements behind it, NTPC has emerged as the acknowledged leader in engineering, construction, O&M, RLA/R&M and management of power projects. NTPC is registered as a consultant with several leading international development and financial institutions such as The World Bank, The Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, and UNDP. NTPC's vast pool of technically qualified and managerial manpower is well supported by excellent infrastructure and knowledge management facilities to deliver the client time bound, qualitative and cost effective solution meeting the global standards. At NTPC, we offer consultancy services related to infrastructure sector business such as: •

Fossil fuel based thermal power plants

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Combined cycle power plants

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Cogeneration plants

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Water supply and treatment

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Environment engineering and management

An entire gamut of services is offered in the areas mentioned above. These are : •

Owner's Engineer Services

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Lender's Engineer Services

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Environment Engineering and Management

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Procurement Services

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Project Management

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Quality Assurance and Inspection Services

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Materials Management

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Construction Management, Erection and Commissioning

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Financial Systems and Modeling

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Operation and Maintenance

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Restoration, Efficiency Improvement and Renovation and Modernization

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HRD and Training

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Research and Development

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Information Technology

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Management Consultancy

NTPC as Consultant As a result of the phenomenal success achieved by NTPC in executing its own power projects, many utilities from India and abroad started approaching NTPC to gain from the rich experience gained by NTPC. With this in view NTPC formally established its Consultancy Wing in 1989. Since then NTPC Consultancy has secured 405 Nos. orders from Domestic & International Clients. Some of the important aspects regarding our capabilities and experience, which place NTPC in a unique and superior position amongst the fraternity of International Consultants, are presented below: International Cell The International Cell offers a wide range of consulting services from concept-tillcommissioning of power ES

HUMAN RESOURCE Powering India's Growth : Through people NTPC believes in achieving organizational excellence through Human Resources and follows "People First" approach to leverage the potential of its 23,500 employees to fulfill its business plans. Human Resources Function has formulated an integrated HR strategy which rests on four building blocks of HR viz. Competence building, Commitment building, Culture building and Systems building. All HR initiatives are undertaken within this broad framework to actualize the HR Vision of "enabling the employees to be a family of committed world class professionals making NTPC a learning organization. To induct talent and groom them into a dedicated cadre of power professionals "Executive Trainee" Scheme was introduced in the year 1977 for recruitment in the disciplines of Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Control & Instrumentation and now encompasses Computer Science, Chemistry, HR and Finance disciplines also. Besides a comprehensive one year training comprising theoretical inputs as well as on-the-job training, the new recruits are also attached with senior executives under a systematic and formal 'Mentoring System' of the company to integrate them into the Culture of the company. As part of post employment training and development opportunities, a systematic Training plan has been formulated for ensuring minimum seven man days training per employee per year and includes level-wise planned intervention designed to groom people for assuming positions of higher responsibility, as well as specific need-based interventions based on scientific Training Needs Analysis. NTPC has set up 15 project training centres, 2 simulator training centres and an apex institute namely 'Power Management Institute' (PMI). While the project training centres (Employee Development Centres) have specialized in imparting technical skills and knowledge, PMI places emphasis on management development. Besides opportunities for long education are also provided through tie ups with reputed Institutions like IIT, Delhi, (M.Tech in

Power Generation Technology), MDI, Gurgaon (Executive MBA programme), BITS, Pilani (B.Tech) etc. In order to realize the HR Vision of making NTPC a learning Organization by providing opportunities to continually learn new capabilities a number of initiatives have been taken. NTPC Open Competition for Executive Talent (NOCET) is organized every year in which teams of executives compete annually through oral and written presentation on a topical theme. Similarly "Professional Circles" have been formed department-wise where Executives of the department meet every fortnight to share their knowledge and experiences and discuss topical issues. In order to tap the latent talent among non executives and make use of their potential for creativity and innovation, Quality Circles have been set up in various units/offices in NTPC. Besides a management journal called "Horizon" is published quarterly to enable employees to share their ideas and experiences across the organization. Demonstrating its high concern for people, NTPC has developed strong employee welfare, health & well-being and social security systems leading to high level of commitment. NTPC offers best quality-of-life through beautiful townships with all amenities such as educational, medical and recreational opportunities for employees and their family members. The motivation to perform and excel is further enhanced through a comprehensive NTPC Rewards and Recognition system. In order to institutionalize a strong Culture based on Values a number of initiatives are taken to actualize the Vision and Core Values (BCOMIT) across the company. A culture of celebrating achievements and a strong focus on performance are a way of life in NTPC. NTPC has institutionalized "Development Centers" in the company to systematically diagnose the current and potential competency requirements of the employees with the objective of enhancing their development in a planned manner. These Centers give a good insight to the employees about their strengths and weaknesses, the gaps in their competencies which they can bridge through suitable support from company. Due to innovative people management practices there is a high level of pride and commitment

amongst employees as reflected in the various external surveys including “Great Places to Work for in India” in which NTPC was rated third Great Place to work for in the country in 2005.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF NTPC KEY STRENGTHS •

Largest market share in the domestic power generation and a broad customer portfolio across the country.

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Excellent track record of performance in project implementation and plant operations.

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Diversified thermal generation portfolio-multiple sizes and fuel types.

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Highly skilled and experienced Human Resources exposed to state-of –the- art technologies in project execution and power generation.

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Navratna status

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High brand equity among stakeholders

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Strong balance sheet-ability to raise low cost debt.

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Engineering skills in project configuration and package design.

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Turnaround ability for old plants-demonstrated in the take-over plants at Talchar, Tanda and Unchachar.

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High credit rating indicating the high confidence of leaders

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Established systems and procedures to institutionalize excellence in business operations- received ISO accreditation in several functions/areas.

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In-house training facility PMI,CENPEEP,R&D etc that assists in development of the sector.

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Thrust on reducing social cost of capacity growth-strong execution of Resettlement & Rehabiliation plans.

KEY WEAKNESS •

Low risk-diversification of business portfolio: Consists primarily of generation of generation assets.

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Functional orientation hampering cross-functional perspective in decision making.

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Long and multi layered procurement process leading to long lead times and process delays.

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Fragmented IT architecture

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Gaps in HR systems such as performance management, rewards and incentives and career development.

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Inadequate development of a strong knowledge management system that could assist in improving efficency and effectiveness in all aspects of the business.

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Hierarchy for decision making that affects responsiveness.

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Role ambiguity and dilution within different levels of the organization

KEY OPPORTUNITIES •

Expand generation capacities by putting up thermal and hydro capacities, maintaining the position of a dominant generating utility in the Indian power sector.

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Broad base fuel mix by considering imported coal, gas, domestic coal, nuclear power etc with a view to mitigate fuel risks and maintain long run competitiveness.

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Lead the development and commercial deployment of non-conventional energy sources especially in the distributed generation mode.

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Improve collections by trading, direct sale to bulk customers and the active role in allocation in new plants.

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Execute increased number of power plants that classify for Mega Power Projects status, thereby reducing the cost of the projects and power and power generated.

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Forward integration into the distribution business in India.

KEY THREATS •

Entrance of private players in the Indian Power Sector.

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Low availability of fuel mix in India and high import prices might affect the cost of electricity generation.

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The existence of PSU culture affecting the organizational efficiency in comparison of the Private work culture.

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Lack of commitment to be aware of the ever changing needs of the clients/customers.

NTPC’S CULTURE Core values are both intensely and widely shared Climate of high behavioral control Low employee turnover High agreement among the employees, for what NTPC stands for. All these point to the fact that strong cohesiveness, loyalty and organization commitment exist in NTPC lowering he attrition Rate.

WHY I CHOSE THIS TOPIC? “Creation of Conducive Environment For Knowledge Management” I feel that the importance of knowledge management has grown manifold nowadays. Knowledge component of business activities is treated as an explicit concern of business and plays a key role in strategy, policy and practice at all levels of the organization’s intellectual assets- both explicit[recorded] and tacit[personal knowhow] can yield positive business results. Three things driving the need for knowledge Management: •

The down turn in the economy – organization need to do more with less in maintaining and creating competitive advantage.

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Reducing ‘wastage’ caused through duplication of effort, repeating mistakes and failing to leverage successes. During downsizing, delayering, outsourcing and joint ventures much of the organization’s knowledge base will depart taking with them the experience and skills needed to action the espoused strategies.

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The need to share, collaborate and learn with customers, employees, partners and suppliers particularly leveraging business to employee portals.

In the context of supporting business objectives, knowledge management is no longer seen as a fad but rather a business imperative- a survival technique as a minimum. Moreover knowledge is the key differentiator between competing companies today. That knowledge can be very difficult to create, maintain, refresh and measure. So for NTPC implementation of a knowledge management system becomes imperative to fulfill its vision 2017 of being a global player. Implementing a KMS incurs money cost and time cost. Many companies are following the practice of knowledge management from IBM to Patni Computers and all face difficulties in sustaining a KMS.

So for NTPC Ltd. To have a smoother sail in sustenance of KMS I decided to gauge the existing environment, the general awareness of employees and their attitude towards the creation of a culture which encourages knowledge sharing. “How to get employees to share and use knowledge instinctively? How to overcome the hoarding and trust issues?” This study might help NTPC in deciphering the basic People- Process groundwork to be done before implementing the Technology aspect of KM. the immense importance of knowledge sharing and its management prompted me to work on this aspect so that NTPC’s KM initiative would be an enormous success.

CHAPTER 2

OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE OF THE PROJECT

OBJECTIVE OF STUDY Knowledge management invovlves any systematic activity related to the capture and sharing of knowledge by organisation. Knowledge is an asset and Knowledge management is a cluster of all asset.it is a single platform where Knowledge is shared , updated,refreshed and grown.for any organisation it becomes imperative to increase the circulation of Knowledge and information amongst the employees and to provide an organisational enviornment which helps in developing the right attitude and mutual trust among the employees. Knowledge sharing would be the first concern for NTPC and would be critical to the success of any Knowledge management strategies. Effective Knowledge sharing practises enable reuse and regeneration of Knowledge at individual and organisational level •

The study determines if the employee feel there is need for Knowledge management in NTPC.

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The objective of the study is to ascertain the organisational awareness which is the foundation of KM.

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The need is to see the effectiveness of Knowledge transfer activities carried by NTPC.

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The project aims at evaluating the enviornment for Knowledge management in the organisation and to prepare a model which enables NTPC to create a supportive enviornment for Knowledge sharing.

CHAPTER 3

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT "Knowledge management is a relatively new and developing area which has introduced a methodology for the planned capture and re-use of organisational knowledge. ... Our analyses have concentrated on how [AI] techniques can enable a more efficient access, sharing and usage of accumulated knowledge as a means of enabling different functions within the organisation to perform their tasks more effectively." What is "knowledge management”?

The term ‘Knowledge Management’ has been borrowed from the corporate world, whichhas used it as a strategy to seek as well as capture the knowledge residing in people’s headsand consciousness to help the business remain on the progressive path standing in a keencompetitive environment. The main target of application of KM in profit-seekingorgnizations is to gain competitive advantage and to increase turnover to make a profit byenhancing and improving operations systems.It is defined that KM is ‘about putting information and people’s competence to worktogether’. KM refers to ‘transfer of knowledge into capabilities for effective action.”The systematic process of finding, selecting, organizing, distilling and presentinginformation in a way that improves an employee’s comprehension in a specific area ofinterest. KM helps an organization to gain insight and understanding from its ownexperience that helps to focus the organization. Specific KM activities help focus theorganization on acquiring, storing and utilizing knowledge from such things as problemssolving dynamic learning, strategic planning and decision-making. It also protectsintellectual assets from decay, adds to firm intelligence and provides increased flexibility.

Significance of Knowledge Management The strategically perspective, today’s practice in KM still has a few demerits. The reasons for this are manifold. Firstly the existing knowledge is captured and capitalized only to a low degree because knowledge is messy in character. Secondly, time factormany employees are willing to document and use existing knowledge but pressure of work in enterprise should be allowed to participate in management but not in real practice. As a result, the uncultured knowledge can’t be utilized for KM purposes. Knowledge is the business asset of any progressive organizations that get ahead. The implementation of KM helps the information flow in the organization and in implementing organization-learning practices. KM is not just managing or organizing books or journals, searching the Internet for users or arranging for the circulation of materials. Each of these can be an isolated part of KM. KM is enhancing the use of organizational knowledge through information management and organizational learning. The purpose is to deliver direct value to the business. The knowledge is embedded in the processes and experiences, skills, wisdom and capabilities of people. KM rests on two foundations, i.e., utilizing the organised information and application of people’s competencies, skills, talents, thoughts, ideas, imaginations, etc., KM aims to draw out the tacit knowledge people have, what they carry around with them, what they observe and learn from experience, rather than what is usually explicitly stated. Managing knowledge goes much further than capturing data and manipulating it to obtain information. The aim of KM is for business to become more competitive through thecapacities of their people.

Process of Knowledge Management KM is a conscious strategy of getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right time and helping people to share and put information into action in ways that strive to improve organizational performance. KM is used in Library and Information Centre’s (LIC) for communicating knowledge between levels of management and who are directly involved to work processes as well as in service sectors. Though KM is viewed as a ‘process is about acquisition, creation packaging and applications or reuse of knowledge’, it is also said to ‘consist of identification acquisition, developing, sharing and distributing, using and preservation of knowledge’. KM process includes all the terms and terminology described below: Tacit Knowledge - includes the individual employee’s expertise, memories, values and beliefs, viewpoints and values. Explicit knowledge - is the process of communication from one place to another in a systematic way through documents and is more formal and codified. Corporate memory - is the connection of know-how of an organization. This know-how relates to problems –solving, project experiences, and human resources management. Intellectual assets/knowledge assets/capital: similar terms, which comprises knowledge assets regarding products, technologies, and market that a business owns. Information economics - a study of the clear value of information to an organization. Data mining - the exploration and analysis of automatic and semiautomatic means of large quantities of data in order to discover meaningful patterns and rules. Knowledge representation - the process of describing and presenting usable way of knowledge known by a person. 34

Knowledge mapping - finding existing knowledge in an organization and creating a detailed picture of skills. Maps can be simple directories of names to search online databases of human expertise, research materials and pre-recorded information. Concept mapping - the visual summary of ideas or topics and these ideas or topics are related to each other. Knowledge engineer - a person responsible of acquiring knowledge and developing data and rules for expert systems.

Steps in Knowledge Management 1. Knowledge capture: A systematic procedure for organizing, structuring knowledge to make it accessible and usable to people. 2. Knowledge organization: An organization that values and uses its own knowledge in reflective ways that lead to profound shifts in directions, values, beliefs and operating assumptions. 3. Knowledge preservation: Once the knowledge is collected, and codified it has to be stored in a suitable form in the organization’s knowledge base. The knowledge can be stored in forms such as individual employees, and by computer knowledge base. The advantage with the computer is its unlimited memory and instant access. Intranets and the knowledge bases are the tools, which store the organizational knowledge.

MODULES OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT A KM system is based on eight vital modules, which are as follows: • INFORMATION: The most important bezel acts as an instant access to update and customize information • EXPERTISE : Connects in real-time experts in an organizations to members who earn assistance and even the tacit knowledge can made explicit • COLLABORATION: Plays an important role to facilitate on-line brain storming sessions and preserves information • TEAM: Ensures efficient and systematic management among share skills • LEARNING: Abridges skill gap with the help of on-line sessions • INTELLIGENCE: Deals mainly with the explicit knowledge among shares skills • KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER: Relates to (a) Machine-readable data files (b)various on-line databases and CD-Rom information resides in the shape of optical disks, juke boxes or magnetic tape autoloaders and (d) Computerized networked systems • KNOWLEDGE MAPPING: Identifies the body of knowledge within the organizations, which is primarily concerned with mute knowledge base and makes a repository of all skills and expertise in the organization.

Why we need knowledge management now Why do we need to manage knowledge? Ann Macintosh of the Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute (University of Edinburgh) has written a "Position Paper on Knowledge Asset Management" that identifies some of the specific business factors, including: Marketplaces are increasingly competitive and the rate of innovation is rising. Reductions in staffing create a need to replace informal knowledge with formal methods. Competitive pressures reduce the size of the work force that holds valuable business knowledge. The amount of time available to experience and acquire knowledge has diminished. Early retirements and increasing mobility of the work force lead to loss of knowledge. ] There is a need to manage increasing complexity as small operating companies are transnational sourcing operations. Changes in strategic direction may result in the loss of knowledge in a specific area. To these paraphrases of Ms. Macintosh’s observations we would add: Most of our work is information based. Organizations compete on the basis of knowledge. Products and services are increasingly complex, endowing them with a significant information component. The need for life-long learning is an inescapable reality. In brief, knowledge and information have become the medium in which business problems occur. As a result, managing knowledge represents the primary opportunity for achieving substantial savings, significant improvements in human performance, and competitive advantage. It’s not just a Fortune 500 business problem. Small companies need formal approaches to knowledge management even more, because they don’t have the market leverage, inertia, and resources that big companies do. They have to be much more flexible, more responsive, and more "right" (make better decisions) — because even small mistakes can be fatal to them.

Roadblocks to adoption of knowledge management solutions There have been many roadblocks to adoption of formal knowledge management activities. In general, managing knowledge has been perceived as an unmanageable kind of problem — an implicitly human, individual activity — that was intractable with traditional management methods and technology. We tend to treat the activities of knowledge work as necessary, but ill-defined, costs of human resources, and we treat the explicit manifestations of knowledge work as forms of publishing — as byproducts of "real" work. As a result, the metrics associated with knowledge resources — and our ability to manage those resources in meaningful ways — have not become part of business infrastructure. But it isn’t necessary to throw up one’s hands in despair. We do know a lot about how people learn. We know more and more about how organizations develop and use knowledge. The body of literature about managing intellectual capital is growing. We have new insights and solutions from a variety of domains and disciplines that can be applied to making knowledge work manageable and measurable. And computer technology — itself a cause of the problem — can provide new tools to make it all work. We don’t need another "paradigm shift" (Please!), but we do have to accept that the nature of business itself has changed, in at least two important ways: Knowledge work is fundamentally different in character from physical labor. The knowledge worker is almost completely immersed in a computing environment. This new reality dramatically alters the methods by which we must manage, learn, represent knowledge, interact, solve problems, and act. You can’t solve the problems of Information Age business or gain a competitive advantage simply by throwing more information and people at the problems. And you can’t solve knowledge-based problems with approaches borrowed from the productoriented, print-based economy. Those solutions are reactive and inappropriate. Applying technology blindly to knowledge-related business problems is a mistake, too,

but the computerized business environment provides opportunities and new methods for representing "knowledge" and leveraging its value. It’s not an issue of finding the right computer interface — although that would help, too. We simply have not defined in a rigorous, clear, widely accepted way the fundamental characteristics of "knowledge" in the computing environment. (See "Cooperative development of a classification of knowledge management functions.") .

Knowledge Management Approaches The term "knowledge management" is now in widespread use, having appeared in the titles of many new books about knowledge management as a business strategy, as well as in articles in many business publications, including The Wall Street Journal. There are, of course, many ways to slice up the multi-faceted world of knowledge management. However, it’s often useful to categorize them. There is a broad range of thought on Knowledge Management with no unanimous definition. The approaches vary by author and school. Knowledge Management may be viewed from each of the following perspectives: •

Techno-centric: A focus on technology, ideally those that enhance knowledge sharing/growth.

•

Organisational: How does the organisation need to be designed to facilitate knowledge processes? Which organizations work best with what processes?

•

Ecological: Seeing the interaction of people, identity, knowledge and environmental factors as a complex adaptive system.

In addition, as the discipline is maturing, there is an increasing presence of academic debates within epistemology emerging in both the theory and practice of knowledge management. British and Australian standards bodies both have produced documents that attempt to bound and scope the field, but these have received limited acceptance or awareness.

Why is KM Important to Government? A recent Government Accounting Office (GAO) report indicated that a substantial portion of the federal workforce will become eligible to retire or will retire over the next five to ten years. Workforce and knowledge planning are critical to ensure that agencies have sufficient and appropriate staff to account for these retirements. In addition, high staff turnover, lack of adequate training, and a tendency toward preserving the status quo can further impact and impede opportunities for knowledge retention and growth. Oftentimes, when people leave an organization, they take a wealth of knowledge about their jobs with them. Knowledge Management seeks to secure the learning experiences, as well as the work products, of the individuals who comprise an organization.

The Benefits of Knowledge Management Whether to minimize loss and risk, improve organizational efficiency, or embrace innovation, Knowledge Management efforts and initiatives add great value to an organization. Knowledge Management: •

Facilitates better, more informed decisions

•

Contributes to the intellectual capital of an organization

•

Encourages the free flow of ideas which leads to insight and innovation

•

Eliminates redundant processes, streamlines operations, and enhances employee retention rates

•

Improves customer service and efficiency

•

Can lead to greater productivity.

Knowledge Management does not have a beginning and an end. It is ongoing, organic, and ever-evolving.

Understanding Knowledge Management The challenge of Knowledge Management is to determine what information within an organization qualifies as "valuable." All information is not knowledge, and all knowledge is not valuable. The key is to find the worthwhile knowledge within a vast sea of information. •

KM is about people. It is directly linked to what people know, and how what they know can support business and organizational objectives. It draws on human competency, intuition, ideas, and motivations. It is not a technology-based concept. Although technology can support a KM effort, it shouldn’t begin there.

•

KM is orderly and goal-directed. It is inextricably tied to the strategic objectives of the organization. It uses only the information that is the most meaningful, practical, and purposeful.

•

KM is ever-changing. There is no such thing as an immutable law in KM. Knowledge is constantly tested, updated, revised, and sometimes even "obsoleted" when it is no longer practicable. It is a fluid, ongoing process.

•

KM is value-added. It draws upon pooled expertise, relationships, and alliances. Organizations can further the two-way exchange of ideas by bringing in experts from the field to advise or educate managers on recent trends and developments. Forums, councils, and boards can be instrumental in creating common ground and organizational cohesiveness.

•

KM is visionary. This vision is expressed in strategic business terms rather than technical terms, and in a manner that generates enthusiasm, buy-in, and motivates managers to work together toward reaching common goals.

•

KM is complementary. It can be integrated with other organizational learning initiatives such as Total Quality Management (TQM). It is important for knowledge managers to show interim successes along with progress made on more protracted efforts such as multiyear systems developments infrastructure, or enterprise architecture projects. 41

CHAPTER 4

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

My research methodology establishes a framework of evaluation and re evaluation of primary and secondary research. The technique and concepts used during primary research in order to arrive at findings;which are also dealt with and lead to a logical deduction towards the analysis and results.

RESEARCH DESIGN I first conducted an intensive secondary research to understand the full impact and implications of KM’s , reviewed the organizational environments of various companies and identified certain issues which needed to be dealt with and assessed in order to make KM initiative a success. This stage helped me to restrict and select only the important questions and issues which inhabit the success of KMS and dampen the motivation of employees to share knowledge readily. The following sets of questions were then proposed to be studied under descriptive research which finally helped me in the formation of hypothesis and testing the validity of the objective.

PRIMARY DATA RESEARCH New data gathered to help solve the problem at hand. Primary data is basically collected by getting the questionnaire filled by the respondents. SECONARY DATA RESEARCH Secondary data is the information that already exist somewhere , having been collected for another purpose . sources include trade publications and subscription services, data that has already been collected and published for another research project that has been refereed for the project.

QUESTIONNAIRE ORGANISATIONAL AWARENESS SA 1 A)

NTPC has implemented PEOPLE SOFTHuman Resource Management System.

NTPC is planning to implement ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) in the immediate future.

NTPC has a knowledge Management portal on it's Intranet.

NTPC envisions being a GLOBAL PLAYER by 2017.

NTPC plans to diversify into the POWER DISTRIBUTION segment.

A 2

NA / ND 3

D 4

ORGANISATIONAL COMMUNICATION A)

Employees are informed through intranet/ emails /circulars about any meetings or important events.

Management informs us before any Organisational change happens. (Joint Ventures,Merger etc).

Employees are encouraged to implement innovative ideas in daily office work.

Employees have a healthy interaction among themselves.

HOD's know all their Junior's by their names.

SD 5

When approached,employees help each other readily. SA 1

A 2

NA / ND 3

D 4

KNOWLEDGE AWARENESS A)

At times I find that in two or more Departments duplication of activity takes place.

Sometimes I feel msitakes are made as valuable information is not available at the right time.

KNOWLEDGE SHARING CULTURE AT NTPC A)

I feel awkward in approaching others for help.

My colleagues cross-check information received from others.

I feel priviledged in sharing information,to my colleagues in other departments/units.

Sharing of data improves trust and co-operation with colleagues.

I feel sharing of critical information with others reduces my importance.

IN-HOUSE KNOWLDEGE A)

Search my mailbox.

Networking-Contact people I know and ask them.

Search my paper documents.

Refer to the material available in the library.

SD 5

Search the NTPC's Intranet.

Search on the Internet. SA 1

A 2

NA / ND 3

D 4

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER EFFECTIVNESS A)

Training for employees.

Induction Program for new Joinees.

Mentoring system.

Quality Circles/Professional Circles

Casual talks with Colleagues.

Reading HORIZON and other NTPC Journals.

Attending Seminars,Conferences and knowldege Forums organised by NTPC.

Browsing Through Intranet.

E1-E4

LEVEL

E5-E7

E-7A-E9

Others

DEPARTMENT

Index: SA: A: NA / ND: D: SD:

Strongly Agree Agree Niether Agree / Nor Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree

SD 5

HYPOTHESIS The research has basically one main hypothesis which is further divided into measurable units . six main variables were studied and the employees from different departments were asked to fill the questionnaire to test the hypothesis . The main hypothesis is NTPC HAS AN ENVIORNMENT CONDUCIVE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT. The other major concerns related to the main hypothesis are : •

Employees feel the need for knowledge management.

•

NTPC has a culture to help in knowledge sharing (employee attitude)

•

NTPC has a good organizational communication.

•

Employees feel the knowledge transfer activities conducted in NTPC are effective.

NTPC HAS AN ENVIORNMENT CONDUCIVE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Employee attitude towards organisation knowledge Employee attitudetowards organisation knowledge Employee attitude towards organisation knowledge

Organisational enviornment

VARIABLES THAT HAVE BEEN STUDIED

ORGANISTATIONAL

EMPLOYEES ATTITTUDE

ENVIRONMENT

TOWARDS ORGANISATIONAL KNOWLEDGE

Organisational Awareness

Knowledge Awareness

•

People-soft HRMS

•

ERP-Implementation

•

KM portal-Intranet

•

Activity Duplication

•

NTPC Vision 2017

•

Unavailablity of valueable information

•

NTPC Diversification

Information to client (internal & external)

Organisational Communication

Knowledge management

•

Communication-important Events

•

Akwardness-information sharing

•

Communication- Organisational

•

Cross-Checking information received

changes

•

Priviledge-information sharing

•

Implementation of innovation

•

Trust

•

Leadership

•

Importance

• Approachability In-house knowledge

Knowledge Transfer Effectiveness

•

Mails

•

Training

•

Paper Documents

•

Induction

•

Networking

•

Mentoring

•

Library

•

Quality/Professional Cicles

•

Intranet

•

Casual talks

•

Internet

•

Reading NTPC journals

•

Seminars/Conferences

•

Intranet

SAMPLING PROCEDURE

As the employee strength is large and so both the cost and time associated with obtaining information from the employees is high. The sample list shall contain the reponses from the various departments of NTPC which are accessible to summer trainees of Engineering Office Complex, noida. With such a large sample list and no grouping of information, it is essential to undertake NON-PROBABILITY SAMPLING. I did not use PROBABILTY SAMPLING because; in this all he population members have a known probability of being in the sample. In my case because of NTPC’s huge population of employee’s that may not be possible. It will have to develop a frame in probability sampling case and it might further complicate the analysis. For non-probability sampling I don’t need to design a frame. Moreover in my opinion it would facilitate the research, as the responses obtained through this sample will more accurate and honest. As the employees of the organization have busy work schedule so its difficult to obtain responses from each member of the population, hence Non-probability sampling is done. SAMPLE SIZE: 100 Employees of NTPC Ltd. SAMPLING UNIT: Employees of NTPC from all the levels till Clerks and non grade employees. METHOD: Questionnaire for employees. Personal interviews of employees earlier working for knowledge management initiative. AREA COVERED: EOC-Sector-24, Noida. SOURCE: Based on primary as well as secondary source of data. I have covered employees of all levels, gender and locations of NTPC.

METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS

Based on the type of data collected and the target segment with the appropriate statistical methods, inference should be made. The response set of one variable is compared with another set of variable to ensure a detailed analysis of data. One should be able to recognize what type of data is appropriate for each statistics and one should be able to recognize the level of measurement for the scales that you are analyzing. Spearman Correlation that is appropriate for ordinal level measures. Mean Score is important to know the degree to which respondents have shown an inclination towards a pattern. Frequency distribution tables and Graphs also are help very helpful for data analysis.

CHAPTER 5 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Correlations

organisationalawareness

knowledgeawareness

Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N

organisational awareness 1 50 -.305* .031 50

knowledge awareness -.305* .031 50 1 50

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Correlations

organisationalawareness

knowledgesharingculture

Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N

organisational awareness 1 50 .048 .740 50

knowledgesh aringculture .048 .740 50 1 50

Correlations

organisationalawareness

knowledgetransfereffectiv eness

Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N

knowledget ransfereffec tiveness .410** .003 50 50 .410** 1 .003 50 50

organisational awareness 1

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Correlations

organisationalcommu nication knowledgeawareness

Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N

organisati onalcomm unication 1 50 -.236 .099 50

knowledge awareness -.236 .099 50 1 50

Correlations

organisationalcommunic ation knowledgesharingculture

Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N

organisati onalcomm unication 1 50 .012 .935 50

knowledgesh aringculture .012 .935 50 1 50

Correlations

organisationalco mmunication knowledgetransf ereffectiveness

Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N

organisati onalcomm unication 1

knowledget ransfereffec tiveness .642** .000 50 50 .642** 1 .000 50 50

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Correlations

inhouseknowledge

inhousek nowledge 1

Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N

knowledgeawareness

50 -.176 .221 50

knowledge awareness -.176 .221 50 1 50

Correlations

inhouseknowledge

knowledgesharingculture

Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N

inhousek nowledge 1 50 .222 .121 50

knowledgesh aringculture .222 .121 50 1 50

Correlations

inhouseknowledge

knowledgetransfer effectiveness

Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N

knowledget ransfereffec tiveness .638** .000 50 50 .638** 1 .000 50 50

inhousek nowledge 1

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

FINAL SNAPSHOT-CORRELATION VARIABLE

KNOWLEDGE AWARENESS

KNOWLEDGE SHARING CULTURE

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER EFFECTIVENESS

ORGANISATIONAL AWARENESS

.305

.048

.410

ORGANISATIONAL COMMUNICATION

- .236

. 012

.642

.176

. 222

.638

IN-HOUSE KNOWLEDGE

•

There is a positive correlation between the ORGANISATIONAL ENVIRONMENT and EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE TOWARDS ORGANISATIONAL KNOWLEDGE. Though the relationship might not be very strong in some cases still a positive association’s discovery can help NTPC to set up a favorable environment for knowledge sharing.

•

The results show that if the knowledge component of KM environment has to be improved then a direct impact can be made taking positive initiative in terms of organizational componenet and vice versa.

•

We have got a very weak relationship between organizational communication and knowledge awareness. This can be justified because the duplication of activities and the unavailability of information at the right time have no visible or hidden link with the type of resource/means used to find information. On the other hand knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer will be affected by the means used to find information.

•

Correlation is said to be significant at a particular level in a bivariate analysis. In some correlations this was missing. The implication is that the two concerned variables in a bivariate correlation have a linear relation but sometimes due to some extraneous variables the relationship pattern does not remain linear.

•

The strongest correlation is of 64.2% between organizational communication and knowledge transfer effectiveness. So by improving organizational communication would help healthier and effective transfer of knowledge.

FREQUENCIES ON THE BASIS OF REPONSE BY THE RESPONDENTS

VAR00001

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00001

NTPC HAS IMPLEMENTED THE PEOPLE SOFT-HRMS

VAR00002

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

4.00

VAR00002

NTPC IS PLANNING TO IMPLEMENT ERP IN IMMEDIATE FUTURE

VAR00003

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00003

NTPC HAS A KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PORTAL ON IT’S INTRANET.

VAR00004

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

VAR00004

NTPC ENVISIONS BEING A GLOBAL PLAYER 2017

VAR00005

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

VAR00005

NTPC PLANS TO DIVERSIFY INTO THE POWER DISTRIBUTION SEGMENT

VAR00006

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00006

EMPLOYEES ARE INFORMED THROUGH INTRANET/EMAILS/CIRCULARS ABOUT ANY MEETINGS OR IMPORTANT EVENTS

VAR00007

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00007

MANAGEMENT INFORMS US BEFORE ANY ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE HAPPENS

VAR00008

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

VAR00008

EMPLOEES ARE ENCOURGED TO IMPLEMENT INNOVATIVE IDEAS IN DAILY OFFICE WORK

VAR00009

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00009

EMPLOYEES HAVE A HEALTHY INTERACTION WITH EACH OTHER

VAR00010

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00010

SENIOR EMPLOYEES KNOW ALL THEIR DEPARTMENT’S JUNIORS BY THEIR NAMES

VAR00011

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

VAR00011

WHEN APPROACHED, EMPLOYEES HELP EACH OTHER READILY

VAR00012

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

VAR00012

WHEN I GET A QUERY FROM AN INTERNAL CLIENT I CAN TELL WHERE EXACTLY CLIENT CAN GET THE INFORMATION

VAR00013

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

VAR00013

AT TIMES I FIND THAT IN TWO OR MORE DEPARTMENTS DUPLICATION OF ACTIVITY TAKES PLACE

VAR00014

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

VAR00014

SOMETIMES I FEEL MISTAKES WERE MADE AS VALUABLE INFORMATION WAS’NT AVAILABLE AT THE RIGHT TIME

VAR00015

Percent

0 2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

VAR00015

I FEEL AWKWARD IN APPROACHING OTHERS FOR HELP

VAR00016

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

VAR00016

MY COLLEAGUES CROSS CHECK INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM OTHERS

VAR00017

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

VAR00017

I FEEL PRIVILEGED IN SHARING INFORMATION, NEEDED BY MY COLLEAGUES IN OTHER DEPARTMENT/UNITS

VAR00018

Percent

0 2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

VAR00018

MORE INTERACTION WITH MY COLLEAGUES WILL IMPROVE TRUST AND CO-OPERATION WHILE SHARING INFORMATION/DATA

VAR00019

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00019

MY COLLEAGUES FEEL SHARING CRITICAL KNOWLEDGE WITH OTHERS WILL REDUCE THEIR IMPORTANCE

VAR00020

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00020

SERACH MY MAIL BOX

VAR00021

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

VAR00021

NETWORKING- CONTACT PEOPLE I KNOW AND ASK THEM

VAR00022

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00022

SEARCH MY PAPER DOCUMENTS

VAR00023

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00023

REFER TO THE MATERIAL AVAILABLE IN THE LIBRARY

VAR00024

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00024

SEARCH THE NTPC’S INTRANET

VAR00025

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00025

SEARCH ON THE INTERNET

VAR00026

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00026

TRAINING FOR EMPLOYEES

VAR00027

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00027

INDUCTION PROGRAM FOR NEW JOINEES

VAR00028

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00028

MENTORING SYSTEM

VAR00029

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

VAR00029

QUALITY CIRCLES/PROFESSIONAL CIRCLES

VAR00030

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00030

CASUAL TALKS WITH COLLEAGUES

VAR00031

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00031

READING HORIZON AND OTHER NTPC JOURNALS

VAR00032

Percent

0 1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

VAR00032

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY  The questionnaire could not be administered to the entire population because of the limitations on the part of the organization.  Sample size of 100 to represent the entire manpower strength is not a very significant sample of the entire population.  Study was mainly conducted by means of convenient sampling so a representative sample of the organization could not be obtained.  Managers were hesitant and reluctant to reveal the entire information and by no means relied that the material supplied by them will not be missed.  The ignorance on the part of the managers regarding some vital information required for the project.  Getting responses from the respondents was very difficult as they adamantly refused to fill the questionnaires.  Some respondents misinterpreted the questions, omitted essential items, and gave answers casually , which could not be tabulated. It was practically impossible to return such incomplete and unsatisfactory questionnaires to the respondents for correction.  Despite taking sufficient care that the views of one person was only obtained uninfluenced by the discussions of others ; and questions rested on the person's knowledge still a source of bias at the want of spontaneous responses.

CHAPTER 6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

NTPC has an environment that is conducive for knowledge sharing. Through the analysis of the responses the employees have a sense of job security. The groundwork to be done by the organization is basically related to the people aspect. 

In the individual interviews the employees exhibited a sense of fear and they felt that sharing of knowledge and know-how or helping colleagues is not acknowledged in the organization. Though NTPC has a very low attrition rate but a lot of employees were of the perception that sharing a critical information would hamper their chances of progress/promotion, as all would be at par with same knowledge gained form others.



The organizational environment influences the employee attitude towards organizational knowledge. The degree of correlation between the variables is significant. There is need of Knowledge Management in NTPC Ltd. By improving the organizational environment there can be a positive change made in the knowledge aspect of the organization. By augmenting the organizational awareness and organizational communication the knowledge awareness , knowledge sharing culture and knowledge transfer efficiency can also see an upward trend.



To change the culture and the attitude of employees is a difficult task. The aim of NTPC or any organization implementing a KM strategy is to design a methodology that is in sync with the MISSION , VISION, VALUES and CULTURE of the organization. People resist change and any coercion done by the organization can ruin the work balance of the employees.



Many of the employees were aware about the organization but on one critical parameter of knowledge management portal majority of them were confused. Due to poor communication and lack of commitment and motivation on the part of employees and management the organizational awareness suffered. NTPC is not working on KMS but majority of the employees agreed from strong to mild that KM initiative is being taken up by NTPC. On its intranet there is no KM portal. Employees are not educated enough to understand the concept of KM and its concept.



The employees had little understanding about the issues, which have been left unaddressed by the management – KM INITIATIVE, ERP IMPLEMENATION. The knowledge transfer activities which are more on paper and less in realityMentoring System, seminars and conferences and reading the Horizon seemed to be having low recall for the employees.



Out of 30 employees interviewed who had the clarity of concepts and were a part of the KM initiative of NTPC two years back said that:

The challenge is people, not technology. Vision of KM: The right information to the right people at the right time Reality: Technology isn't there yet, and most companies are not ready. The ideal knowledge management environment: Everyone has tools for gathering, organizing, Refining and disseminating information. All information in a company is available to everyone Who needs it. Employees creatively contribute to the common pool of knowledge. Today's reality: Technology at second stage, but Behavior stuck at first stage. 

The employees are not in a habit of browsing through the organization's intranet. The reason being that the intranet is not updated on a timely basis and the networking of people seems stronger and faster.



Innovation is the key to knowledge management. Due to the age old work style and the aging work force the innovation is not a buzz word amongst the NTPC family. Innovative ways of working is not propagated by NTPC.



Different locations of NTPC Ltd which I visited had a distinct environment and work culture of its own. The PMI, EOC, SCOPE COMPLEX and DADRI PLANT seemed to lack enough coordination with each-other. Organizational initiatives varied from one location to another. The knowledge required though different for plant, training centre and corporate office which led to alien behavior towards other units people. There is no sense of unity or sense of oneness with other offices. For KM to be a success an important step is to generalize and standardize majority of the processes and activities throughout the units of NTPC Ltd.



Human Resource managers can play important role in identifying the knowledge core of NTPC and recommending ways to preserve the critical role, building robust, long range plan to ensure top quality operation.



NTPC Ltd is a "Learning Organization" where the continuous improvement requires a commitment to learning. At NTPC people continuously expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free , and where people are continuously learning how to learn together. For a KM initiative , implementation and sustenance a commitment and motivation to learn has to be propagated by the organization, which NTPC is doing.



Different departments had a very different pattern of responses. The Finance, Information Technology, New Business Development departments agreed towards the stronger side of the knowledge duplication happening in NTPC. They agreed to mistakes being happening because of the information being unavailable at the right time. Whereas the Human Resource Department differed

on this ground. The HRMS-People Soft has reduced the duplication of information and data redundancy to a minimal level.

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMNET AS AN UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE.

The aim of NTPC can be to manage knowledge by effective people management. As we can't manage knowledge, we can manage the environment, in which knowledge can be created, discovered, captured, shared, distilled, validated, transferred, adopted, adapted and applied. NTPC would have to create 

Right Conditions: common reliable infrastructure

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Right Means: common model, tools and processes

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Right Actions: where people instinctively seek, share, and use knowledge

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Right Leadership: where learning is rewarded and contribution acknowledged.

The ideal outcome is that people manage knowledge as a part of their daily business without thinking of it as an extra task, and that leadership of the company and the company processes reinforce this. For attaining the UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE the following suggestions can be beneficial for NTPC to attain a surety of succeeding in the KM INITIATIVE. 

NTPC can lay stress on having a strong leadership that communicates and asks for collaboration from its employees. Like any high priority project, KM is best implemented with determined champions and top management commitment. NTPC would have to design the environment in a manner that organizational culture is open to all the levels. By encouraging best-practice sharing, NTPC would aim at grasping the knowledge within the employees and innovate the organization's processes. This way NTPC would successfully use the employee input and knowledge that might produce a strategic advantage.

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NTPC can introduce KM only when it's ready for the change. At present NTPC needs to condition it's People-Process-Technology. This is a task without which NTPC's environment will not be apt for Knowledge Management and the initiative can be loss of time and funds. Spurred by the paradigm shift in our economy many corporations pursue KM without evaluating whether they are organizationally ready. NTPC being a PSU has been working on the lines of classical management principles and cannot be successful in adopting KM without major changes in culture, management attitudes, and communication skills.

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At NTPC KM would be a success only if the co-ordination between Human Resource and Technology takes place. The two departments should work jointly at introducing KM as a part of the organizational processes.

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KM is not a technological brainchild. KM is a technology emanating from the knowledge of human brains captured by humans. The people element is KM can be dealt in a manner that although Intranets, Knowledge-based tools, data warehouses, and other computer-based software are a part of the way NTPC would look at the future but technology is only an enabler of KM. The Knowledge that NTPC would make available must be organized and disseminated to human decision makers to be of any use.

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NTPC would have to make changes in its Compensation System. To encourage the employees to offer their help NTPC may have a system of rewarding people who exhibit the right behaviors. Recognition is the most powerful motivation, receiving acknowledgement that the contributions of the employees makes a difference. NTPC can use more innovative ways like of having "MOST HELPING EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH" with regular Notice Board entries to it. Also such initiatives of helping colleagues can be made a part of the annual appraisal. Instead of Knowledge- hoarding knowledge dissemination and imparting can be made part of appraisal criteria.

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NTPC would have to build atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding amongst the employees. An employee would share things better with people they know and trust. NTPC needs to develop new ways of developing mutual trust and knowledge sharing reciprocity. Instead of sharing knowledge via web, or without meeting face -to- face, NTPC would be advised to make a system in place that a rapport in the process of sharing know-how. The key is to know the attitude and the temperament of knowledge Giver and Knowledge Receiver, which would be impossible until the PROCESS OF SHARING KNOWLEDGE IS MADE MORE INTERACTIVE.

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NTPC can encourage people to give and receive challenges. Challenging assumptions or someone's firmly held beliefs take some effort, as does receiving such a challenge. The environment would have to facilitate INTERNAL – COMPETITION to create better knowledge-base. For NTPC it becomes imperative to start identifying the INTERNAL KNOWLEDGE SOURCES and actively urge the employees to help in NEW KNOWLEDGE CREATION. If NTPC keeps on going with the traditional BOSS-ORDERSUBORDINATE system then it would not be able to sustain the pressure of KNOWLEDGE GENERATION. Teams can be divided into competing groups that develop different approaches to the same project/task and then discuss the advantages & disadvantages of the proposals. It gives project from a variety of perspectives which result in the best strategies.

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KM initiative would have to be in-sync with the strategic level intents of NTPC. The leadership would have to adjust the KM strategy with THE VISION, OBJECTIVES OF THE JOINT VENTURES, MARKET CAPTURE GOALS AND DESIRED CUSTOMER SATISFACTION to be achieved NTPC in the future time period.

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For setting conducive environment for KM, the concept of organization and its structure might have to undergo a slight change. NTPC may be suggested to have more permeable organizational boundaries and to collaborate with all units Joint Ventures to capture all possible knowledge.

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Employees should be encouraged to exchange knowledge through various activities like JOB ROTATION, BENCHMARKING, SCENARIO AND SIMULATION TECHNIQUES.

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NTPC can implement REDUNDANCY APPROACH. Redundancy can be important as it encourages frequent dialogue and communication. This creates a "COMMON COGNITIVE GROUND" among employees and facilities the transfer of tacit knowledge. For NTPC Redundancy can be a Chaos to Concept approach. In this the employees of NTPC share overlapping information; they can sense what others are struggling to articulate. Redundancy also spreads new explicit knowledge through organization so employees can internalize it.

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The MENTORING SYSTEM is a good and efficient way of sharing tacit knowledge. "We can know more than we can tell". Giving more emphasis on mentoring activities a lot can be learned from tacit knowledge of a MENTOR. NTPC may also identify MENTORS from the corporate world and encourage sharing of Knowledge between Mentors-Men tees. Stress if laid upon building knowledge through relationships in the mentoring system would help in better trust building too.

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CAPTURED KNOWLEDGE

LEARN DURING

LEARN BEFORE

LEARN AFTER

KM can make a difference in processes of NTPC of getting business results from business objectives. The key would be to introduce learning at every opportunity. Reusing knowledge is faster than recreating knowledge. 

Captured Knowledge: For NTPC the best way to store know-how is to build a knowledge-asset which would have withdrawal from a "knowledge bank" at the start of an activity and depositing new knowledge at the end.

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Learn before doing: NTPC would encourage employees to find out what knowledge is out there before performing any piece of work.

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Learn during the activity: It would be a real benefit to the organization if done routinely. An individual can learn from oneself (experience) and learn from others (tacit and explicit knowledge).

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Learn after doing: It is an important component and would create an environment that inspires the team/individual at NTPC to perform the next task better.

Implementing this model would encourage knowledge sharing, as employees would come together to face the challenges and interact in manner which would increase trust and understanding as the main aim is not to finish the task but the aim is to collaborate in a way to complete the task in the best possible manner.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS: •

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW ON KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND LEARNING ORGANISATION

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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT-PETER DRUKER

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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT- A RESOURCE BOOK by THOTHATRI RAMAN

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INTRODUCTION TO KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: TODD R GROFF & THOMAS P JONE

ARTICLES: •

NTPC journals-HORIZON

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Articles on view of knowledge of Taguchi

WEBSITES: •

www.brint.com

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www.citehr.com

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www.wikipedia.com

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www.kmworld.com

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www.kmmagazine.com

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