Posts Tagged ‘Knowledge Management’
February 10th, 2009
Although many organizations treat it as such, Social Media (Web 2.0) is not only for non-work activities. Social Media has a huge role to play in enhancing internal organizational effectiveness in the form of heightened Knowledge Management and communications. Below are listed three Social Media technologies which organizations may use to enhance internal operations.
Blogs
Blogs are inexpensive to set up and maintain and are excellent for knowledge sharing. Organizations often use Intranet pages to convey communication on specific topics but Intranet pages aren’t normally collaborative in nature nor kept up to date. The advantage of a Blog is that people actively engage through posting comments or posts rather than being passive viewers of information.
Blogs are generally best used for Knowledge Management when they focus on a specific activity or project. For example, if an organization is bidding for a specific piece of work, it will be of huge value if a Blog is set up in the early stages. As the Bid progresses to, hopefully, an operational piece of work, the knowledge from the Bid won’t be lost as it will all be captured in the Blog.
Organizations generally just doesn’t ‘get’ Twitter. Twitter is incredibly popular and is growing in size rapidly. Twitter has captured the imagination of many individuals but organizations still have to adopt Twitter in any sizeable way. Twitter is about sharing information quickly (tools such as Twitter are generally termed microblogging tools). Twitter is much like SMS via your mobile / cell phone where the messages are short and quick to write and transmit (A post is called a Tweet in Twitter ‘speak’). Twitter goes one step further by enabling conversations of these microblogs to take place between multiple interested parties and is accessible via various mediums e.g. RSS, SMS, Instant Messaging, Twitter home page etc.
I was recently at a technology conference where most of the audience were engaged in a conversation on Twitter whilst the various speakers presented. In essence there was a conversation occurring on Twitter as the presentation was happening meaning that the audience was discussing the presentation content in real-time. Via Twitter it is possible to share information very quickly among interested people. Business is speeding up and micro-blogs (of which Twitter is the most popular) is a key component in this regard.
Wikis
Wikis are essentially Knowledgebases where people are able to publish, edit and share information. They are collaborative in nature and differ from blogs in that other contributors content may be edited. Wikis are hugely advantageous in organizations where the culture centres on knowledge sharing. The most popular Internet Wiki is Wikipedia however the majority of Wikis are internal to organizations (i.e. not visible via the Internet). As with Blogs, Wikis are inexpensive and simple to maintain.
It doesn’t cease to amaze me how organizations complain how difficult it is to find information. Wikis are the simple and logical solution to this common complaint
Recommendation
Many decision makers within organizations doubt the benefit and effectiveness that tools such as those described above will offer. These decision makers generally haven’t used the tools and therefore aren’t aware of the incredible possibilities available (how many decision makers in your organization really understand the opportunities afforded by collaborative Web 2.0 tools?). I recommend that organizations start to build capabilities in knowledge sharing as described above. The tools are inexpensive to implement or engage with and are very simply trialled. Sooner or later your organization is going to have to start to use these or other similar tools so why not get the advantages as early as possible?
Related posts
Tags: 
February 9th, 2009
This article is not about a philosophical debate as to whether the hypothesis ‘Knowledge is Power’ nor whether the antithesis ‘Power is Knowledge’ are valid. This article is about Knowledge Sharing in organizations and how a belief is evident in many organizations that to control (and restrict) Knowledge is to have power.
Knowledge, Competitive Advantage and Survival
The very strange thing about Knowledge is that it no longer merely provides competitive advantage. Knowledge Sharing is about survival; increasingly, organizations which are poor at sharing Knowledge internally, are finding it increasingly costly and difficult to compete. The costs extend to attaining and keeping employees. People entering the workforce (i.e. Generation Y) grew up with Knowledge Sharing technologies and expect organizations to be open to Knowledge Sharing. Employees expect to be able to perform fast and accurate searches for information/Knowledge just as can be done on the Internet (e.g. Google).
So why, if so much technology is available to enhance Knowledge Sharing, aren’t some companies keeping pace with the demands that the competitive environment requires? There are numerous reasons for trying to curtail Knowledge Sharing but one of the most prominent is the belief that power stems from controlling Knowledge.
Silos and Power
The term ‘Silo’ is often used in large organizations to reflect how teams and or business units don’t share Knowledge. The very reason for these Silos is the fear that sharing Knowledge will result in less power for the leaders within the Silos. Think of this; What happens if your Silo suddenly doesn’t have exclusive Knowledge and all the Silos have the same information? Power that used to be in the hands of the individual Silos and those who controlled the Knowledge will be lost.
From an organizational perspective, the fundamental error with the argument fearing Knowledge Sharing (based on power dissolution) is that Knowledge is both tangible and intangible. This means that Knowledge Sharing may certainly occur with tangible information (e.g. that which is documented) but intangible Knowledge is difficult (and often impossible) to convert into, and share in, a tangible form. From a Knowledge restrictor’s perspective (i.e. the person controlling Knowledge in the Silo), it is definitely worth fearing Knowledge Sharing as the power will progress to those with the Knowledge (i.e. those that share Knowledge) as the need for a Knowledge restrictor will be lost.
Next Steps
So what may organizations do to start to eliminate Silos and further embrace Knowledge Sharing? Here are a few tips:
- Becoming a Knowledge Sharing organization means a corporate culture change. Recognize that it will take time.
- Identify the formal and informal Silos within the organization and the power holders. Is an organizational structure change necessary?
- Communicate to employees the need and strategy for Knowledge Sharing.
- Start to implement Knowledge Sharing systems e.g. an Intranet, Document Management Systems, communication via Instant Messaging (or Twitter) etc.
- Reward Knowledge Sharing and frown upon restricting Knowledge Sharing.
It is a matter of when and not if organizations have to become excellent at Knowledge Sharing. The sooner every organization starts enhancing Knowledge Sharing, the better the chance of survival.