Knowledge Management Systems in China - Example

Knowledge management systems in China (Student’s Name) (Student’s number) (Institution) (Course) (Module number) (Instructor’s name) (Submission date) Introduction Knowledge management seeks to understand how individuals in an organizational setting acquire, create, store and use knowledge. Organizational Knowledge Management Systems aim at providing both logical and physical structures that allow individuals to access and create intellectual capital while performing in their work and task environment. With the help of the world wide web and internal infrastructural technologies, organization are capable of developing their Knowledge Management System that serve the entire firm regardless of location thereby allowing the firm to fully comprehend how knowledge is constructed and disseminated within the firm (Khosrowpour 2000). Dakir (2008) and Cheung (2008) alleges that tacit knowledge is knowledge that cannot be easily articulated and thus exists in peoples’ mind based on application and relevance and not necessarily theory. Therefore, given technological solutions should be used to group relevant information or knowledge relevant to a particular industry of firm. However there are several challenges that face organizations in developing and implementing Knowledge Management System in their organizations. This paper will highlight the challenges that manufacturing firms in China face in the process of implementing a Knowledge Management System. To achieve this, the paper will review existing literature and review two case studies to understand the problems on the ground. General problems General challenges in knowledge management can be easily connected to the challenges facing the technology world in general. However, there are problems that are specific to Knowledge Management Systems and others are specific to firms implementing Knowledge Management Systems. Externalizing tacit knowledge There exists inherent tension between the value of tacit knowledge and its elusiveness on the other hand. Khosrowpour (2000) says that knowledge in itself is elusive based on the fact researches and surveys have to be conducted op gather information or to try and understand a certain phenomenon. Had knowledge been readily available, it would imply that there would be no search for knowledge. But defining knowledge being a problem, Barnes (2002) introduces another aspect saying that one’s explicit knowledge which is what we know and can tell is different from tacit knowledge which often is what one knows but cannot tell. All organizations are thus faced with the problem of making use of tacit knowledge from its workforce since it resides inside of them but they are unable to tell. Therefore the core problem lies in that the important knowledge is not explicit. Barnes (2002) says that such knowledge is only made explicit through metaphors and analogies during social interaction other than the in the workplace. This implies that for organizations to make use of tacit knowledge, it has to be externalized first. Individuals however, have to make tacit knowledge explicit for use by organizations. First, individuals are not even aware that they possess tacit knowledge. Secondly, many individuals do not have the personal motivation to share tacit knowledge and thirdly because individuals are not ready to lose their competitive advantage gained out of possessing the knowledge. Knowledge cannot be described in a nut shell. A manager may describe how he manages to influence workers to increase productivity but cannot explicitly state so, not that he does not want to, but he may lack the words to precisely state his personality influence on employees. Stary (2008) argues that tacit knowledge is heavily tied with personality hence tend to relate more with experience which maybe hampered by language in the event of sharing. Consequently, internship was devised as the best method through which knowledge can be transferred from practicing managers to new management graduates who have to be placed together in order to encourage further interaction that will lead to the exposure of tacit knowledge for the learning manager to absorb. Possession and use of tacit knowledge without awareness removes the necessity to document it in a retrievable format for use and access to other persons. However, this process is very laborious and since individuals can access the knowledge within them at will, they do not feel the need to make it explicit. Furthermore, the sharing of tacit knowledge is viewed by some individuals as part of their personality that makes them different from others. Consequently, some individuals may feel like they are selling their souls for use by other people. Stary (2008) says that this has often led to the downturn of organization and the failure to expose and share tacit knowledge has often led to the collapse of teams. Tacitness of professional interest Dalkir (2005) asserts that there are discrepancies in the perception of work by the management and the individuals involved in the work which create problems in the sharing of knowledge by individuals. He says that individuals are likely to share knowledge that is only described in their job description and nothing outside that. Oftentimes, job descriptions do not give a clear picture of what the actual work in reality entails and the potential scope of tacit knowledge possessed by employees in certain positions. Professional interests assist in further elaboration of job descriptions to include a wider job scope than that assumed by the organization going by the job description. China specific problems Generally, Chinese decision making culture, both at the organizational and government level is somewhat implicit, leaning towards analogical and correlative thinking as opposed to rational and analytic thinking. This narrow view in management leads to limited positions for firms in the manufacturing industry which fail to gather relevant information that is necessary for transformation. Consequently, organizations tend to rely more on building upon existing decisions and projects rather than making far reaching changes in the whole process. This implies that organizations in the manufacturing industry are slow at responding to various requirements and trends in the market (Chang et al 2008; Tong, J. & Mitra, A. 2009). Again, Lu, Tsang and Peng (2008) explicitly state that tacit knowledge sharing is a prerequisite for innovation in organizations. This narrow view of available business and technological options tends to favor incremental rather than groundbreaking innovation, and requires outsiders to read the tea leaves in order to understand the thinking and tacit knowledge of those in power. This difficulty in interpreting messages and signals has impeded economic modernization and constrained technological innovation in China (Anonymous 2010). Another problem that faces manufacturing firms is the technology transfer problem. This applies to any player given that most of the world manufacturing multinational have set up factories in China. Consequently, there is low IT maturity in China as the world’s manufacturing hub (Chang et al 2008). Case study: Computer Inc. Chang et al (2008) conducted a case study investigating one of the core computer manufacturing companies located in Taiwan and its affiliates and suppliers in mainland China. The KM system was developed with the purpose of initiating a strong and agile e-procurement (EP) network between the manufactures in Taiwan and affiliates and suppliers in China. Computer Inc as one of the original design manufacturer (ODM) of computers was selected to participate in the government sponsored project. Computer Inc has total annual revenue reaches in excess of NT7, 000 billion dollars employing over 20,000 people across the globe as of 2005. In following the global trend in reducing costs of operation, the firm shifted its production lines to China. To help cope with increasing demand, the firm requested its suppliers to adopt an e-procurement system developed specifically for the company in order to facilitate communication between the suppliers and the manufacturing arm. Through this system, monthly forecast were sent to suppliers for in readiness for the production. A purchase order (PO) request would be generated from the forecasts and suppliers were served with it plus additional information in a week’s notice. Suppliers were required to confirm the purchase order which then be automatically converted into advanced shipping notices (ASN). Once the clients would receive the shippings, they were required to enter the ASN into the system in order to generate monthly invoices. This system proved successful in Taiwan but not that successful in China (Tong & Mitra 2009; Chang et al 2008). Cheng et al investigate why the Chinese project of this KM system did not perform in order to highlight the China specific challenges in tacit knowledge management systems that face manufacturing firms more so when knowledge sharing is across organizational borders, hence an inter-organizational system (IOS). IOS-specific Investments There is a general poor internet connection to coordinate actions of users of one end and the other. Chang et al (2008) noted that suppliers often complained of very slow internet connection that made placing an order a lengthy process. This would be expected in all the other processes. Another problem was the lack of synchronization between the Chinese and Taiwan procurements processes. This is most observable through a Chinese cultural practice of doing things in a rush. Buyers would expect to place an order and have it delivered the following day which was no applicable in the system. As a result most of the buyers preferred to use the manual way through which they could place orders manual through telephone calls or fax. This had a great impact on the system as it was not capable of capturing such orders placed by fax and telephone in real time. Other buyers knowingly snubbed EP because they did not have enough computer knowledge and that of the system. In fact, many of them also complained of a poor user interface which is not necessarily the case as the system worked perfectly well in Taiwan. Hewlett Packard case As earlier stated, majority of the manufacturing firms in china are foreign based multinational that place their factories in the country due to availability of cheap labor and the huge market due o the high population in the region. This generally exposes the companies to cultural shock in operating in an entirely new environment and also the challenges of introducing the new knowledge management practices. HP is one of the many firms that have experienced this first hand whose case is important in highlighting problems facing manufacturing firms in China (Lu & Leung 2006). Early in 2001, HP China rolled out an expansive KM system to assist the innovation machinery of the firm and for efficient management. The introduction of the KM system followed the common top-down approach of introducing KM version in use at headquarters to foreign firms, in this case, HP China. However, the Chief Knowledge Officer at HP China (CRO), Gao Jianhua, had foreseen the problem posed by this method in other firms. He thus opted for a harmonized approach in appreciation of the Chinese culture. However, this new customized approach did no last long as it collapsed after just more than two years (Lu & Leung 2006). The new system was based on knowledge documentation; information relevant to management and development of the firm was organized in files which all employees could access. This information was standardized in the belief that it would increase efficiency and facilitate easy knowledge transmission. A code of work behavior was developed for all levels and all employees. All employees were rained on the new code of behavior at the workplace. Anew set of rules and regulations that corresponded with the new code of behavior was also set up (Lu & Leung 2006). The idea of sharing tacit knowledge under social environments was exploited by the management through the introduction of a book reading association consisting of over seventy groups. Members of each group were supposed to read books relevant to the occupational knowledge and recommend some to their group members. The purpose of this was help to develop a common base of knowledge among group members that would also encourage sharing of organizational knowledge and information (Lu & Leung 2006). Other programs introduced in the modified KM system were formal and informal learning institutions at the company premises, a mentoring system, rewards system for knowledge sharing and introduction of IT. Through the introduction of IT as a last step implies that the management considered KM as something outside the realm of IT but instead IT was a just an addition to the whole process of knowledge sharing through reading of books and managers giving lecturers as a show of their knowledge. However, all these inclusions did not work well and they had to be stopped (Lu & Leung 2006). Causes of failure The Chinese people believe in the protection and hoarding of information as a national culture. There is a common belief that one’s expertise at certain things should not be shared which is the reason why the management at HP sought to induce sharing of professional knowledge among workers by first introducing them to sharing of information pertaining to books in an informal setting. Burrow, Drummon and Martison (2005) say “Consistent with their cultural traditions, the Chinese favor informal and implicit forms of communication, preferring to transfer knowledge through interpersonal contact rather than through formal and/or written means” (p 75). As such, all manufacturing firms operating in China will be faced with the challenge of employees not wiling to share information. This will lead to creation of a weak and shallow knowledge database that is not helpful in the management and development of the organization (Ardichville et al 2006). The functioning of any KM system is highly dependent on the environment. Conventionally, KM is IT based but the environment determines how effective it is. Organizations have the option of investing heavily in IT or investing in creating a KM friendly environment. Given that China suffers low computer literacy and a culture that glorifies information and knowledge hoarding, organizations are forced to adopt two pronged approach based on creating a KM friendly environment by encouraging knowledge sharing and also emphasizing on IT skills. Burrow, Drummon and Martison (2005) observe that major highly performing companies in China such as Lenovo have developed unique knowledge sharing cultures within their organizations in order to facilitate knowledge sharing. Unfortunately, implementing such as culture is not an easy task. A number of authors argue that organizational culture is derived from national culture (Burrow et al2005; Tong & Amitra 2009; Ardichville 2006) implying that introducing a knowledge sharing organizational culture will receive resistance from many quarters. China’s national culture demands great respect for the elderly and persons holding senior positions in government and organizations which is also observable at in many Chinese organizations (Burrow, Drummon and Martison (2005). Consequently, organizations adopt and uphold hierarchical structures where information and authority flows from the top downwards. Lower level employees have two main reasons not to share information with their seniors; they always expect information and knowledge to always flow from above and not the other way round; senior employees are not their peers so they cannot get involved informally to share implicit knowledge. Similarly, senior employees would not accept knowledge from their subordinates. Although the failure of HP’s attempt maybe attributed to the information hoarding culture, it is apparent that the management had figured the right way of developing the culture of information sharing. However, a great extent of the failure of the project is attributable to the merging of HP and Compaq after introduction of the system. This created disarray in the system which was entirely reliant on group formed. Entry of HP employees into the organization eroded on the trust that group members and all HP employees had cultivated. This indicates that organizations do not share the same approaches to knowledge and information sharing (Lu & Leung 2006). Conclusion Form the above two cases, it apparent that organizations cannot achieve KM services without a strong IT backup. The approach used by HP was very helpful n that it sought to challenge the national culture which was detrimental to the system. This is the right procedure that organizations wishing to adopt KM system in China should adopt; seek to create an organizational culture that promotes information sharing. However, this needs to be backed up by a strong IT system in order to make it sustainable and effective in sharing professional information as opposed informal information sharing. References Anonymous (2010). 2010 China 8 trends in knowledge management http://www.kmcenter.org/html/s17/200912/31-10331.html Ardichville, A. et al (2006). Cultural influences on knowledge sharing through online communities of practice. Journal of knowledge management. vol. 10 no. 1 2006, pp. 94-107 Dalkir, (2005). Knowledge management in theory and practice. London: Butterworth- Heinemann, Burrows, B. Drummon, D. and Martison, M. (2005). Knowledge management in China. communications of the ACM. Vol. 48, No. 4 73-76 Chang, H. et al (2008). Factors affecting the transfer of inter-organizational systems to china: a case study of high-tech enterprises. Association for Information Systems Cheung, R. (2008). Challenges in information technology management. New York: World Scientific Lu, Y., Tsang, W.K. & Peng, M. W. (2008). Knowledge management and innovation Strategy in the Asia Pacific: Toward an institution-based view. Asia Pacific journal of management. 25:361–374 Lu, L. & Leung, K. (2006). Challenges to KM at Hewlett Packard China. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5362/is_200603/ai_n21390989/?tag=content;col1 Stary, C. (2008). Knowledge management: innovation, technology and cultures: proceedings of the 2007 International Conference on Knowledge Management, Vienna, Austria, 27-28 August 2007. New York: World Scientific Tian Zhihang, (2010) China 8 trends in knowledge management. http://www.kmcenter.org/html/s17/200912/31-10331.html Tong, J. & Mitra, A. (2009). Chinese cultural influences on knowledge management practice. Journal of knowledge management. vol. 13 no. 2 2009, pp. 49-62, Read More