Most Important Knowledge Management Challenges Faced by Danone - Essay Example

? Case Study: Global Knowledge Management at Danone Most important KM challenges faced by Danone “Mougin and his colleagues recognized a tension between a more efficient top-down approach and local managers’ desire for autonomy. They also confronted questions about the role of information technology in managing knowledge” (Edmondson et al, 2008, p.5). Local managers deliberately took more autonomy while dealing with the knowledge in Danone. In other words, local managers controlled the exchange of the knowledge through networks which helped them to control the flow of knowledge across the networks according to their own personal agenda and interests. The network initiative implemented in Danone forced some of the local managers to behave like dictators. It was difficult for the employees to share the knowledge over the network without seeking the consent of the managers. Mougin deliberately allowed the local managers to take more power in order to have products that differed from market to market, to stay close to consumers. He calculated that decentralization would help Canone to compete more effectively in the market. In short, Mougin found no harm in giving more autonomy to the local managers. However the frontline managers were confused by the above strategy. “They lacked clear directions from headquarters and often didn’t know whom to turn to for advice. And, there was little horizontal communication among the large divisions” (Edmondson et al, 2008, p.6). Front line managers became less powerful or jobless because of the decentralization strategies of Mougin. On the other hand the local managers acquired more power in the absence of any centralized control. Danone has no centralized database for recoding or saving the knowledge of its employees. The network initiative helped the company only in exchanging the ideas of the workers; however the company has not taken any serious effort to save that knowledge for the future references. Moreover, the Company failed miserably in segregating between the knowledge and information. Some of the information exchanged through the network was mere information whereas some others were knowledge. Knowledge needed to be protected for future references even though some of the information can be neglected. In short, Danone has to enforce more centralized control both in their organizational functioning and in the knowledge management. Local managers should work under the frontline managers and they should perform everything after taking the permission from the front line mangers. If the company likes to continue with the strategy of giving autonomy to their local mangers, then it is better for the company to use the frontline mangers in other areas of its functioning. Knowledge exchanged through the network should be saved for future reference. My assessment of the Networking Attitude initiative The Networking Attitude initiative was a way to share knowledge across groups in the geographically dispersed Danone Company (Edmondson et al, 2008, p.1). The networking attitude initiative was a well thought out strategy in my opinion. Danone has business units in more than 120 countries and it is necessary for the company to exchange the newly developed knowledge across its business networks. Business concepts, philosophies and climates are changing rapidly because of the knowledge explosion and it is essential for Danone to update the knowledge of its diverse workforce periodically. Danone has allowed its employees to share their knowledge between them rather than waiting for the instructions of the superiors. In other words, sharing of the knowledge between the employees helped Danone workforce to function more efficiently and that also at the right time. The consequences of the time delay in obtaining the instructions from the superiors in a rapidly paced business environment were thus avoided in Danone Company. “From 2004 to 2007, Danone employees shared almost 640 good practices with colleagues” (Edmondson et al, 2008, p.1). Employees are the assets of an organization. Most of the international companies are now operating with the help of a diverse workforce. Keeping a diverse workforce helps a company to exploit the expertise of the workers from other countries. In normal cases, the diverse employees may not share their knowledge much with others because of the barriers in interacting with employees of other cultures. However, The Networking Attitude initiative served as a big boost to the Danone employees in sharing their knowledge across the net. The networking attitude initiative can cause problems also to Danone. The possibility of disputes over the ownership of vital information can take place in Danone. For example, suppose an employee A, innovated a new strategy or method and informed it to employee B. Employee B may misuse it and may claim the fatherhood of such a vital finding or information in order to please the company management. Screwing and bullying can also take place if Danone allows their employees to exchange the information beyond certain limits. In others words, continuous monitoring or centralized control over the information exchanged under the network initiative is necessary What should Franck Mougin and Benedikt Benenati do next? At Danone, we don’t have a lot of quantified organizational expertise. The expertise that we have is the sum of our individual knowledge. We don’t have a library with a bunch of files where you can go if you need to know how to perform a certain task. The key learnings are embedded in individuals around the world, and there is little incentive to formally categorize things into databases. You have to talk to people and network to do your job (Edmondson et al, 2008, p.6). This is not a good sign for Danone. Relying heavily on the individuals will affect the growth prospects of Danone in the long run. It is not necessary that the individuals continue in the same organization for a longer period of they get better opportunities. In other words, it is quite possible that the Danone employees, who are the treasure sources of the company as far as knowledge is concerned, may join another organization in future. Under such circumstances, those employees will take the knowledge also along with them and in the absence of a well structured knowledge database; Danone may face knowledge shortage in future. In short, Danone should construct a database to record the knowledge of the employees so that the future employees can refer it even if the contributors of that knowledge left the company. Franck Mougin and Benedikt Benenati should consider the creation of such a knowledge database seriously in order to avoid future problems or knowledge shortages. In my opinion, Franck Mougin and Benedikt Benenati should consider all the three options like go wider, go deeper options and go richer, more seriously. “Like water, rising tide of data can be viewed as an abundant, vital and necessary resource. With enough preparation, we should be able to tap into that reservoir -- and ride the wave -- by utilizing new ways to channel raw data into meaningful information” (Bellinger, 2004). No organization can survive in this heavily competitive business world with the help of traditional business strategies alone. Innovation is necessary for the growth of a business. It is not necessary that the innovation takes place in the R & D departments alone. It can take place even in the work shop and it can come from totally unexpected corners as well. In other words, the preservation and exchange of knowledge of the employees is important for Danone. Franck Mougin and Benedikt Benenati cannot neglect the importance of knowledge management for the future of their company. In fact they should find better ways to manage the information. They should make strategies to segregate between what are information, knowledge and wisdom. They should manage the network attitude initiative in a more efficient manner so that the current drawbacks were rectified as much as possible rather than thinking in terms of avoiding it. How does CEO Franck Riboud's approach to leading Danone affect my recommendation? Under the leadership of Riboud, “the frontline managers deal with the issues on a daily basis. They may not be the most important people in the hierarchy, but they are the critical-mission people” (Edmondson et al, 2008, p.7). In other words, Riboud redefined the roles of the front line mangers. Most of these frontline mangers were dissatisfied earlier. Riboud made them critical mission people rather than making them the most important people in the hierarchy. In other words, both the local managers and the frontline mangers satisfied somewhat because of the above strategy. Even though, Riboud’s strategy is somewhat in line with my recommendations, I still feel that giving more autonomy to the local manager or continuing with the decentralization strategies may affect the organization in future. References 1. EDMONDSON A.C., MOINGEON B., DESSAIN V. and SEN A.D.J (2008). Global Knowledge Management at Danone. Harvard Business School. 9-608-107 REV : APRIL 1 6 , 2 0 0 8 2. Bellinger, G.(2004). Knowledge Management—Emerging Perspectives. 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