Knowledge Management System: Needle in a Haystack - Coursework Example

Knowledge Management System Table of Contents Introduction 3 The Case 4 Concepts and Framework of Knowledge Management 5 The Discussion 6 Recommendations to the Regional Health Service 8 Conclusion 12 References 13 Bibliography 14 Introduction The Knowledge Management System (KMS) is an on going determination interaction system, with planned and directed process that enhances the knowledge based systems of any organization. There are certain issues related to the knowledge management that need to be focused, either it may be regional health services or other organizations. These are the basic issues like that of the nature of knowledge, the nature of the people, the organization structure and the technology used in it. There are many models and processes that are applied in the organization for the enhancement of the knowledge based system. The model and the process need to be well coordinated for the effective utilization of the process. The Case As per the case study ‘Needle in a Haystack’ with respect to the knowledge management, it can be said that the whole process were not working properly for the four main reasons. The design that was created for the regional hospital for knowledge management was a faulty one. Secondly, the flow of information was not properly managed. Unnecessary information was provided, making it more complicated. The knowledge accessing authority was not properly administrated. As a result, confidential information was in danger. At last the lack of professional expert was not being involved for the over all knowledge management. As per the case and discussion, the model to be followed there are two options, the codification and the personalization strategy for the hospital or the regional health services. Both the structure contains the HR issues, utilization of the information technology, knowledge management strategy, economic model and competitive strategy. But all these have different approaches towards codification and personalization strategy (Hansen & Et. Al. “What’s your strategy for managing knowledge?”). Concepts and Framework of Knowledge Management The knowledge that individual possesses is tacit and explicit. Tacit is normally difficult in exposure but the explicit can be easily codified. Both are important, mostly the western company focuses upon the explicit knowledge than tacit. Codification and personalization are the two approaches for the knowledge management. Personalization focuses upon the direct interface among the people and codification rely mainly upon repositories of explicit knowledge (Davenport & Volpel, “The rise of knowledge towards attention management”). The concept of knowledge market is present in the organizations where the people exchange the information in terms of other information, knowledge, money, promotion or other king things. Knowledge flows most excellent where the human network works properly. It is through organizational learning that makes the knowledge processing more effective. Knowledge management of any organization is successful which considers the three keys for success; people, process and technology. Combination of these three factors in an appropriate manner with the organizational support for achievement for objective leads to success. The KM aids in improving the business process, creates a sharing culture and builds an effective networking in the organization (Chua, “Montgomery Watson Harza and Knowledge Management”). Learning and experimenting in a continuous procedure for a knowledge organization but learning from failures is significant in such a course of development. Organization has success and failure too; they develop better strategy from the failure, rectify the mistakes and strive toward success. There are number of examples of various companies which serve as failure model and learning needs to be taken out from them to act wisely in the market. The focus of knowledge management should be based upon improvement of interior development, fast and innovative product development and customer centric approach (Davenport & Volpel, “The rise of knowledge towards attention management”). The Discussion The focus is upon the approach which is to be followed by codification or personalization approach for the knowledge management. As per the case study of the hospital or the regional health service, it is appropriate to give emphasis upon the personalization approach. As per the personalization approach, the first level is of the human resource strategy for this method. According to this approach, the HRM team hires professional people i.e. those who are oriented towards problem solving and can tolerate ambiguity. There is an opportunity in this system for the one-to one mentoring with rewarding system for direct sharing knowledge with others. Taking the example of the European-headquartered company, the KM team failed due to the management commitment which was up to only a point and did not extend further. This was the lack of the knowledge of the management. It is important to hire professional people who can extend their limits in solving the problems (Chua & Lam, “Why KM projects fail: a multi-case analysis”). The next phase relates to the information technology in the personalization approach. It invests moderately in the information technology but it provides conversations and the exchange of tacit knowledge. This phase is important in the overall phase as knowledge management is much depended upon this phase. Taking the example of a global company, that was over-reliance on the IT system to manage knowledge. Tacit knowledge and behavioral issues were provided with sufficient attention yet failed in proper attempt in KM (Chua & Lam, “Why KM projects fail: a multi-case analysis”). The next phase is the knowledge management strategy. In this approach, networks for linking people are developed so that tacit knowledge can be shared. The global bank failed due to circumstances that enabled the users to change the users’ approach towards knowledge allocation actions (Chua & Lam, “Why KM projects fail: a multi-case analysis”). The next step is the economic model that charges lofty amount for extremely tailored resolution to exclusive problems. Small teams are used with a low ratio of connections to partners. The major focus is on maintaining high revenue margins. The final phase is the competitive strategy providing creative, analytically and precise recommendation on high-level tactical troubles by channeling individual expertise. The individual aids in providing much more information at higher level increasing the capacity of the individual as well as ornamental the process of KM (Hansen & Et. Al. “What’s your strategy for managing knowledge?”). Recommendations to the Regional Health Service In the case of the hospital or the regional health care, the employees that were recruited were not professional and expert in terms of knowledge management. They were the doctors and the nurses who were not much conversant with the knowledge management processing. As a result, the whole process did not work properly. They did not know what information to provide and what not to provide. Lack of professional personnel was the cause for the failure of this operation. So it is important for the organizations to employ professional personnel for the kind of job they best suit. Right person is required for the right kind of job, which is emphasized in the personalization strategy. But if one looks at the codification strategy, it implements the hiring of fresh graduates who are not that much oriented towards the problem solving they require a lot of training to get to it. They are not that much focused enough to tackle the dissimilar types of troubles which cope up in due track of time. As per the structure and environment of the hospital or regional health care, it would be prudent for them to use the human resource in the personalization technique to acquire experienced or fresh professional personnel who are acquainted with problem solving attitude along with fresh ideas. Information technology plays a fundamental function in the modern environment changes. The technology change takes place very quick. The hospital used the IT in providing the information to general. But it did not succeed because the information flow was not properly monitored, nor the required information was available and the information of importance was overburdened, as a result it created confusion in accessing the information. There was many links and strings to the links which was quite confusing. The required data or information was not possible to access but the unwanted information was excess. The web page was good enough but it did not meet with the requirement of providing information to the required person. Thus, it failed. In the personalization strategy, information is given moderate importance but it facilities discussion and the swap of the tacit knowledge. This provides the required information to flow as per the requirements. It does not over burden with excess information which is unnecessary. In this model, it also limits access to the confidential information. The system should appoint an administrator who will monitor the access of the information and limit to the confidential information. This way, it will be secure enough and required information will be distributed freely with out much confusion. As per case of the hospital, the documentation of the electronic data was not properly managed. It leads to open involvement of accessibility of the data. In this was the importance of the information was lost. Proper management of the information was not there as a result it created an environment which was not favorable for the hospital. The information is very important, as access to such with out restriction leads to competitors to easily acquire the information which ultimately benefit them. As per the personalization strategy, person- to- person strategy is involved. The system is built to develop networking for linking the people so that tacit knowledge can also be shared. This increases the proper management of the knowledge strategy. It allows for sharing of the knowledge which improves the information system. But it was not possible in the case of the hospital as a result the knowledge processing was not a success. So it is better to follow the personalization strategy that allows even tacit knowledge to be shared too. It will increase the level of the knowledge sharing ultimately every one will be benefited by this approach leading it to the success of the organization in the long run. The hospital had used the strategy of building a team of associates that manages the knowledge management. But it did not work properly. The investment made was once in the knowledge asset and focused upon generating huge revenue. But it was not able to perform in the hospital. The failure of the hospital was due to this reason also. The knowledge management needs to be managed by people who are able to offer extremely personalized solutions to exceptional problems. This was not found in the hospital (Hall, “Knowledge management and the limits of knowledge codification”). In the personalization strategy it focuses upon the employment of professional who can provide extremely modified solutions to unique problems. This requires good professional with high charge of fees. But this investment in the system of knowledge management will ultimately benefit the overall process and the knowledge management will achieve the objectives of the organization. It is better that the hospital use the personalization strategy for the knowledge management of the hospital for the overall performance of the business. This will also use teams who are professional with low ratio of connections to associates focusing upon the high profit margins. In this way, they develop the knowledge management as well as focused upon the margin building to the organization (Hall, “Knowledge management and the limits of knowledge codification”). In this case of the hospital, it is found that the knowledge management team has provided high quality, reliable and fast information – system implementing by refusing the coding knowledge. This was the cause because of which the KM did not work properly in this hospital. The system needed a change in this strategy for the KM to be effective. The personalization strategy implements the creativity, analytically precise recommendation on high – level strategic troubles by channeling individual skill. The employment of the individual expertise in this field will generate superior solutions which will build the KM in a stronger way providing the necessary required information as per request and developing the KM system will achieve of the high margins (Hall, “Knowledge management and the limits of knowledge codification”). Conclusion The strategy applied for the knowledge management would be either codification or personalization strategy. Both have different advantages and also limitations. But implementing the strategy would depend upon the organization structure, the personnel, the process and the technology. These are the key factors that make the knowledge management successful in its operation. In any kind of organization to implement either codification or personalization strategy, it is to be used by proper analysis of these factors. Accordingly which strategy will provide the maximum advantage and benefit the whole process in taking consideration to these factors, needs to be implemented with a proper feedback system. So, any change required can be easily assessed with proper implementation by professional experts with high solution to the unique problems. Learning from the failures provides a better opportunity to know the causes and the situations that effected the organization and accordingly implements the strategy for knowledge management. References Chua, A. & Lam, W. Why KM Projects Fail: A Multi-Case Analysis. Journal of Knowledge Management, 2005. Chua, A. Y. K. Montgomery Watson Harza and Knowledge Management. Journal of Knowledge Management, 2005. Davenport, T. H. & Volpel, S. C. The Rise of Knowledge Towards Attention Management. Journal of Knowledge Management, 2001. Hansen, M.T. & Et. Al. What’s Your Strategy for Managing Knowledge? Harvard Business Review, 1999. Hall, M. Knowledge Management and the Limits of Knowledge Codification. Journal of Knowledge Management, 2006. Bibliography Bali, R.K. & Dwivedi, A.N. Healthcare Knowledge Management: Issues, Advances and Successes. Springer, 2007. Wickramasinghe, N. & Et. Al. Creating Knowledge-Based Healthcare Organizations. Idea Group Inc (IGI), 2005. Read More