Knowledge Management Systems - Coursework Example

Knowledge Management Systems Assignment 1 Name of Professor: Name of Course: Code of the Course: Date of Submission: Knowledge Management Systems Assignment 1 Introduction Knowledge management is one of the practices in organizational a management which have attracted a lot of attention in the recent years. In the light of the modern information driven economy, it has become of utmost importance for organizations to manage their knowledge resources effectively. In fact, knowledge is regarded as one of the key elements which determine the success of an organization. Knowledge management is done with the aid of knowledge management systems which are basically information systems which facilitate the effective management of information resources. In the daily organizational operations, there are numerous cases which are associated with knowledge management. The following essay will take a deep insight into the NBN & Asbestos case in Australia. The essay will give an account of the knowledge management situation, give an insight into explicit and tacit knowledge, identify the knowledge needs in the case and give an insight into the actors involved in the case. The essay is being done as a fulfillment of the course requirements. The Knowledge Management Situation Telstra was responsible for part of the national roll out of the broadband network in Australia. In the embracement of modern technologies which guarantee faster and efficient connections, the company was laying underground fiber optic cables around the country owing to the many benefits associated with the fiber optic technology in communications. The laying of the cables around the country involved the digging up telecommunications pits. However, the company did not do this in an appropriate manner since it was dug up pits which contained asbestos in addition to disposing the dangerous material to the public. This not only put the workers at risk but it also exposed the general public to the inherent dangers of the asbestos material (Palan 2013, p.1). On this point, it is important to note that asbestos fibers are some of the causes of cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma among other negative health effects. Owing to the inherent dangers which the activity was posing to the general public and the workers, the program had to be stopped (Taylor 2013, p.1). This case can be linked to knowledge management in the sense that Telstra had laid off highly skilled workers in a move aimed at reducing its operation’s cost. The company was at that time relying heavily on inexperienced temporary workers who did not have the knowledge which is demanded by a project of such magnitude as the National Broadband connections program. In addition to this the new inexperienced workers did not have the acknowledged of Telstra’s communication lines which had been set up many years ago at a time when asbestos was an acceptable material (Crowne 2013, p.1). As a result of this, the new workers did not know the specific locations where asbestos had been used hence the inadequate knowledge in its management. From this knowledge management case, the two basic types of knowledge; tacit and explicit knowledge can be analyzed with respect to the case. Tacit Knowledge Tacit knowledge is knowledge which is contained in the individuals, in this case, the workers. Tacit knowledge is only beneficial to an organization when it is used to influence its activities. However, it is important to acknowledge that tacit knowledge forms the foundation of the organization's knowledge. According to Bhardwaj and Monin, tacit knowledge influences the intellectual, social, cultural, functional and psychological subsystems of an organization among other important subsystems, hence influencing the organizational knowledge by a great extent (Bhardwaj & Monin 2006, p.73). One point which should be acknowledged is that tacit knowledge is dependent on the type of people/ workers which an organization has; the more competent and knowledgeable they are, the more that an organization is likely to benefit from tacit knowledge while the vice versa holds also true. In addition to this, it is important to note that tacit knowledge yields explicit knowledge; a phenomenon which gives the close relationship between the two types of organizational knowledge. Therefore, it is important for an organization to practice appropriate human resource management practices among other management practices in a bid to ensure that they are able to harness tacit acknowledged. In addition to this, an organization is supposed to integrate the use of an appropriate knowledge management system so as to ensure that it is able to manage its knowledge resources appropriately. Linking this with the NBN and Asbestos case, it can be noted that Telstra did not have tacit knowledge owing to its action of laying off experienced workers in a move aimed at cutting on the operation expenses. In the case, the rolling out of the broadband network in the country was being conducted by temporary inexperienced workers who did not know much about the previous telephone lines which had been laid by Telstra (AAP 2013, p.1). As a result of this, they did not have the knowledge about the specific regions which had asbestos fibers; an occurrence which led to the bad management of the asbestos fibers. By the lack of appropriate human resource management practices, Telstra had failed to factor in the need for tacit knowledge in the organization, a move which led to the bad material management phenomenon seen in the program. Explicit Knowledge Explicit knowledge is knowledge which has been documented and can be communicated from one person to another (Hcks, Dattero & Galup 2007, p.6). Explicit knowledge may either be reserved for an organization where it is used to gain a competitive advantage or may be public where the general public can get access to it. Explicit knowledge is just as important to an organization as the tacit knowledge. Linking the two types of knowledge, it can be noted that an individual is able to transfer tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge when he or she communicates it to another person via a mutually understandable code for instance writing. The knowledge is then used by the organization to carry out specific operations, hence increasing its competitiveness. This explains the reason as to why organizations patent their knowledge resources, a practice in knowledge management which ensures that an organization is able to reap maximum benefits from its knowledge resources. Linking explicit knowledge and its management with the NBN and Asbestos case, it is expected that Telstar should have a well documented layout of its entire telephone lines layout and a full details of the materials which were used in the telephone pits. This would have made it possible to transfer their knowledge from the older set of employees to the new employees. In addition to this, it is expected that the new employees should have full knowledge on the management of asbestos fibers which would have led to the avoidance of the bad occurrences which transpired as a result. On this point, it can be acknowledged that the explicit knowledge was not managed effectively in the company. The Knowledge Need in the Case Analyzing the case, it can be acknowledged that there was a need for knowledge in the rolling out of the broadband network in Australia by NBN. There was a need for both tacit and explicit knowledge in the case. Starting off with tacit knowledge, it can be appreciated that its deficiency was one of the major reason behind the poor knowledge management problem in asbestos fibres issue. As identified earlier, Telstra had laid off the permanent workers in a move aimed at cutting down on the operations costs. As a result of this, the comoay lost out on the skills, experience and knowldged which they possed, hence leaving the organization ‘naked’. Tacit knolwdge was required in the laying of the fibre optic cables in the country on the identification of specific places where asbestos had been used, hence enabling the company to take care of the asbestos management program which would be required in the networkin works. The new employees did not have enough knowledge on the previous telephone lines hence were vague about the previous use asbestos in the pits and pipes. In addition to this, the new workers did not have sugficent knowledge which was needed to handle asbestos materials, a state which left them prone to the dangers posed by the materials in addition to subjecting the general public to the same. From this, it can be concluded that there was a need for knowledgeable people in Telstra which consequently indicates a need for tacit knowledge. Taking a consideration of the need for explicit knowledge in the organization, there are several factors which can be pointed out as an assertion to this. As pointed out earlier, it is expected that Telstra should have had a well laid out document which contained the layout of the telephone lines and the materials used in the construction of the connecting lines. Ideally, the previous telephone line layout should have had a good engineering document just line nay other engineering project. Such a document would have information which would have been used by the new employees in the laying of the fiber optic cables in the broadband networking. Moreover, explicit knowledge was required in the identification and use of the right material handling and working processes and equipment in the networking exercise. It was identified that the workers were using sledgehammers to work in the pits, disposing asbestos on the road sides among other inappropriate asbestos material handling practices. Actors In The Knowledge Management Case There are several actors involved in any knowledge management case. They include the creators, the owners, the users and the custodian of the knowledge. The following section will analyze the actors in the National Broadband Network Program and the asbestos case. Creator The creators of the knowledge needed in the case are the employees and the organization. The employees are responsible for the creation of tacit knowledge in the organization. As identified earlier, tacit knowledge in an organization is part of the intellectual abilities of the employees, hence cannot be detached from the owner. The creators of the tacit knowledge in the case were not present since they had been laid off by the organization in an operation’s management program. On the other hand, the creators of the explicit knowledge in the organization are the organization itself through the employees. From this, it can be acknowledged that the employees and the organization’s management must work hand in hand in order to ensure that the creation of knowledge is enhanced. Owner The owners of the tacit knolwdge in the organization are the employees. As identified earlier, it can be noted that the knowledge cannot be detached from the employees since it is contained in their minds. On the other hand, the owner of the explicit knowledge in the organization is the organization itself. Taking an example of the engineering document which is to contained a detailed layout of the telephone line connections, it is expected that the organization is to own such knowledge hence enabling it to deal with future operations. Users The main user of the knowledge is the organization. Taking a reference to the case in context, it is expected that the national broadband networking exercise would have been successful if the company had made better use of the knowledge it has in addition to creating/ generating more knowledge. The organization is the main user of the explicit knowledge while the tacit knowledge would be useful to the organization only if it encouraged employees to use it in the organization’s processes. Custodian The custodian of the knowledge in the organization is the organization itself. Knowledge management systems come in handy in the custody of the knowledge. The knowledge management systems enable organizations to capture, store, transfer, retrieve and apply the organization’s knowledge resources. Some of the knowledge management systems include the following: groupware systems which enhance the collaboration between employees / enhance teamwork in an organization. Document management systems enable its users to work on documents and consequently share them. Decision support systems enable users to make informed decisions based on an evaluation of all the knowledge available. Lastly, simulation models enable users to test the real life applicability of knowledge based on models. From the above, it can be concluded that the organization is the custodian of the knowledge and knowledge management system enable it to use and keep it safely. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be seen from this essay that knowledge is a vital element in the success of the operations of any organization. The essay has analyzed the NBN & asbestos case. In the case, Telstra was involved in the rolling out of fiber optic cables in the country with an aim of creating a broadband network. During the exercise the operations were dubbed by bad management of asbestos fiber which has been graded as a harmful/ hazardous material. This bad management of asbestos has been termed as a knowledge management case. This is due to the fact that Telstra did not have the right employees to deal with the knowledge requirements in the exercise. In addition to this, the workers did not follow previously laid out guidelines on the management of asbestos fibers. The two scenarios indicate that the organization involved lacked in both tacit and explicit knowledge. The essay had given a deep insight into these two types of knowledge. The essay has also given a deep insight into the need of knowledge in the case and the actors involved. From the essay, it can be concluded that knowledge is an important element influencing the success of an organization. If knowledge and its consequent management was considered, the case analysed would have turned out different from the way it is. References AAP, 2013. Asbestos At Telstra Pits A Concern: NBN Bhardwaj, M., & Monin,J., 2006. Tacit To Explicit: An Interplay Shaping Organizational Knowledge, Journal of Knowledge management, Vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 72- 85 Crowne, D., 2013. Labor urged to Use Asbestos Monitors in NBN Rollout, The Australian, Retrieved on 6th July from Hicks, R., Dattero, R., & Galup, S., 2007. A Metaphor For Knowledge Management: Explicit Islands In A Tacit Sea, Journal Of Knowledge Management, Vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 5- 16 Palan, S., 2013. Sydney FAMILYY leaves Home Amid NBN Asbestos Safety Breaches, ABC News, Retrieved on 6th July from Taylor, P., 2013. Federal Workplace Safety Agency Comcare Inspects 80 Sites South Of Perth, The Australian, Retrieved on 6th July from Read More