Knowledge-Based Asset Management at WaveRider Company - Case Study Example

I have read and understood the rules on cheating, plagiarism and appropriate referencing as outlined in my handbook and I declare that the work contained in this assignment is my own, unless otherwise acknowledged. No substantial part of the work submitted here has also been submitted by me in other assessments for my degree course, and I acknowledge that if this has been done an appropriate reduction in the mark I might otherwise have received will be made Signed: ...................Narinkar Singh Deogon................................. (for on-line submission it is only necessary to type your name in this space) MODULE TITLE: Knowledge Based Assets Management MODULE CODE: UKFM-KBAM 11MB01 MODULE DATE: 30/04/12 – 04/05/12 NAME: ..............Narinkar Singh Deogon......................... University Number: .............1164286................... THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK WMG MSc PROGRAMMES POST MODULE ASSIGNMENT KNOWLEDGE BASED ASSET MANAGEMENT Using the learning from the team project, thoroughly supported by appropriate material from the literature, show How, for one aspect of WaveRider’s asset management that you choose, you would apply knowledge management to help the company achieve excellent performance in the management of its assets in support of its policy and strategy. You may make use of any of the team material generated during the project to create a rich picture of this aspect of the business. Your role in the business is management consultant. The contribution of this individual assignment to your overall assessment for the module is 63%. Assignment rationale The aim of the assignment is for you to explore an aspect of asset management of interest to you to develop an understanding of how to apply this aspect in the WaveRiders situation, using knowledge management theory and practice to support a sustainable and improving practice. Assumptions You may make any assumptions about the people, the organization and how the business works that help you to show how you would use knowledge management to achieve excellent performance in asset management. Reflective writing From Monday 7th May to submission of your assignment, make regular blog entries that capture your reflections on what you are learning associated with KBAM and this assignment. Then, on completion of the assignment, write a short reflective piece (500 words max) that summarises your reflections on what you have learnt during the module and post module period, and how your learning process has developed. This piece is to be submitted with the main assignment.  The contribution of your reflective writing in the post module phase to your overall assessment for the module is 7%. COMPLETION DATE: To be submitted electronically using the appropriate web-form available from http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/ftmsc/postmodulework/submissions/ and following the guidelines provided in your handbook BEFORE 09:00 on 18/06/12. PLEASE NOTE 1. PMW received after 09:00 will be stamped as having arrived on the next working day. 2. Post Module Work which does not reach WMG by the due date will be considered to be late. Penalties for lateness may be applied at the rate of 3 percentage points per University working day after the due date, up to a maximum of 14 days late. After this period the work may be counted as a non-submission. KNOWLEDGE BASED ASSEST MANAGEMENT Knowledge Based Asset Management Post Module Assignment [Paul Roberts] [Narinkar Singh Deogon] [1164286] [Warwick University] Table of Contents Table of Contents 5 1.0 Introduction 6 2.0 The Situation at WaveRider 7 3.0 Aspect of asset management for WaveRider 8 4.0 Application of knowledge management in facility management 10 5.0 Application of EFQM 15 6.0 Recommendations 17 7.0 Conclusion 18 8.0 References 19 1.0 Introduction Asset management is a vital aspect as far as running a company is concerned. This is because the success of a company will be determined on how well the assets are managed. Great returns are always achieved when the assets are well managed by an organization (Haslam, 2011). However, the management of assets requires a lot of commitment and cooperation among all the members of the management team. This is considering that assets are distributed in various departments under different managers. The management techniques only are not enough to manage assets successfully. Knowledge management must be incorporated in the asset management so as to yield good results. Knowledge management always involves a lot of strategies that ensures the success of asset management as well as good returns for the organization. WaveRider is a company that has a lot of potential in the market. However, the crisis in the company is as a result of asset management. The senior management staff lacks knowledge management skill that can be applied in the asset management to yield good results. The report discusses how knowledge management can be applied in the facility management, which is an important aspect of asset management of WaveRider Company. 2.0 The Situation at WaveRider The situation at WaveRider is mainly due to the lack of knowledge Management skills by the managerial staff. This has resulted to blame games that are not yielding any solutions for the company. Although the company is making profits it is still facing challenges that may threaten its operations. Competition is increasing and the company does not a have a mechanism for implementing changes to beat the competitors. This greatly affects the market of the company. The company lacks a facility manager who would have played a useful role in dealing with the emergencies and fleet management. The information system for the company is also very poor and it makes it difficult for the managers in the company to coordinate their activities. As a result, the company has ended up with old items in the store and the production team producing more than is required by the company. The system used to capture knowledge is also missing in the company thus making it difficult for the company to make informed decisions. The aims of the company to enhance the working environment and to win a good reputation from the local community is thus at stake. The issue of attracting more customers by the company has also faced a serious challenge after the initial strategy of reducing costs failed to bear fruits. Due to the nature of the business the company is involved in, it has to face extra costs due to maintenance and other management costs. This has made the company face a lot of difficulties in the quest to becoming cost effective. The issue has even brought about suggestions of reducing the number of employees, which has not gone well with the human resource director. It is thus evident that the company is in a crisis in terms of managing its assets for the purpose of gaining good results. 3.0 Aspect of asset management for WaveRider 3.1Facility management WaveRider Company is mainly involved in production of the boats. As a result of this, it has a lot of assets at its disposal due to the daily manufacture. This has even caught the attention of the production manager who confirms that old assets are still in at the disposal of the company. Facility management mainly deals with the process in which an organization is able to maintain, improve and deliver high quality working environment (Maier, 2007). This initiative will ensure that the company is able to meet its demands and achieve goals and objectives through a minimum cost. Efficiency is greatly contributed by the introduction of facility management leading to high quality of goods produced and thus enabling the company to achieve its goals and objectives (Kirby, 2005). The company should first ensure that it has a credible facility management in place so as to manage its production and enable it to set targets that should be attained. An efficient facility management will be a key step towards ensuring the company is in full control of its production and operations (Baird, 2011). This requires proper communication and information channels among the managers of the company. The core processes of the company should also be identified before implementing the facility management practice. With the clear understanding of the concepts of facility management, knowledge management should then be incorporated to make the process more efficient and relevant for the company. 3.2 Knowledge management Knowledge management is the key success to business due to the strategies that it has. The knowledge management strategies are mainly involved with transforming data into useful knowledge for making decisions. The knowledge management practices mainly focuses on the improvement of an organization for the purpose of ensuring it achieves its aims and objectives (Snowden, 2002). WaveRider requires knowledge management urgently for it to accomplish its mission in the industry. This is considering that blame game has been an issue in the organization. With knowledge management concepts in place the issue of blame game will be a thing of the past as the concepts are aimed at putting in place measures that improves communication and decision-making within the organization. Knowledge management also provides the managerial staff members with the opportunities required for on the job training (The Work at Height Safety Association UK, 2006). The training opportunities will enhance the skills of the members by equipping them with the necessary knowledge required to transform the organization. The training opportunities should be conducted for a period of at least two weeks to fully develop the skills of the employees. This is considering that a high degree of knowledge is required in the ever-changing market as evident with the WaveRider company market environment. The knowledge management strategies are also simple to implement once the necessary knowledge has been imparted on the members. The combination of knowledge management and facility management will solve the crisis faced by waveRider. The company will benefit a lot and all its targets will be achieved. This translates to success for the organization. 4.0 Application of knowledge management in facility management A combination of asset management and knowledge management will ensure that the company is able to transform data into knowledge required for operations of the organization. The managerial staff should be adequately trained on the concepts of knowledge management. This will serve the purpose of preparing the management on how to use knowledge management to build an efficient facility management concept. The next step of the facility management for the company will involve hiring a facility manager to oversee the operations at the facility. This will include the production process and any other concepts of production. The facility manager will also play an important role in coordinating the activities with the other managers. To link this process with knowledge manager, the manager must undergo a form of training for a period of one week on the concepts of knowledge management. This is in line with one of the theories of knowledge management, which is dimension. The dimension theory puts forward the fact that an individual may not have certain knowledge and yet he or she should perform a particular task. The tactic knowledge is thus gained and easily stored by an individual. This therefore means that the facility manager has to undergo a lot of training regarding the concepts of knowledge so as to be well equipped to handle the position. With this measure in place, the company will greatly reduce the chances of blame game developing among the managerial staff. All the issues regarding management of the facility will be handled by a well-trained manager. The communication process as a concept of knowledge management should then be improved. This includes constant consultation with the managers as well as updating the management on any progress being made on a daily basis. The facility manager should be in a position of communicating all the activities taking place at the facility to the management. This will not only improve the operations of the company but it will be a step towards achieving the aims and objectives. This will also play an important role in solving the problems faced by the company, which includes the coordination of activities. The establishment of an emergency plan, which will guide the use of modern technology in the operations of machines, is also a facility management plan. This plays an important role in ensuring that the production process of the company is updated and quality boats are manufactured. This facility management practice is useful to the company considering that it its facing competition from rivals who are advancing their techniques. The industry also requires a lot of innovations for the purpose of keeping up with the demands of the customers. This facility management concept should thus be incorporated to the company. To strengthen this facility management plan, knowledge management strategies will be quite useful. Technology is one of the concepts of knowledge management in the operations of an organization. Technology keeps changing very fast and many concepts have been outdated. The use of software greatly improves the operation of an organization. The cost of purchasing software varies with the manufactures with other software being as low as $100. Training of the personnel to use the software lasts up to three months. The company may also hire a software developer for the purpose of developing it. According to knowledge management theories, software will enable the managers to manage their assets using minimal supervision (Walsham, 2003). The software will ensure that the issue of stock and inventory is dealt with. The new technology will be advanced by the use of software, which is able to monitor all the operations of the company. This will be important in determining the amount of materials required and the number of boats to be manufactured. This knowledge management toll will eliminate the problem the company faces of inventory. It will also be impossible to manufacture excess boats, which will end up pilling in the store of the company, as it is the present situation. The use of software will also deal effectively with any emergencies within the operations and thus reduce any loss of assets due to accidents. The technology use to manage the assets thus benefits from the knowledge management practices through enhancing the modern technology. The use of modern technology and also the software to manage the assets of the company may come up with challenges for the employees. It is thus important to ensure that the concepts of the new technology are well understood. Knowledge sharing is also a concept of knowledge management which should e put in practice. The knowledge acquired by the managers regarding the facility management should be passed down to the employees. This will enable the company to be efficient enough in its innovations and as a result beat its competitors in the market. However, the employees should first be made aware of the reasons for implementing the concepts. Knowledge management will also require a lot of learning considering that the new technology comes with new concepts that may be totally different from the previous ones (Sushil, 2004). The process of learning should thus be initiated and the employees of the company should be made to develop a sense of belonging g to the company. This will quicken the learning process and spearhead the development. With highly qualified members of staff in place, it will be easy for the company to move forward and dispel the fears of cutting down the number of employees in the company. Empowerment should then be considered thereafter to ensure the employees perform better. This will be important during the decision making process in the facility management. Empowerment will ensure that the employees are able to make reasonable decisions that will not compromise with the management of the facilities, which is an important asset for the organization. The empowerment will also ensure that the company has won the hearts of the local people. This plays an important role in wining their support and beating the competitors and hence meeting the goals and objectives of the organization. Striving to be the best in the industry is also an aspect of facility management (Scherer, 2007). It involves benchmarking against the best practices in the industry. The best practice is usually associated with excelling companies in the sector. Once the company strives to use the best practice as its reference then proper facility management will be achieved. The achievement of best practice will create a benchmark for the company to ensure that all its activities that involve asset management are accounted for. This will not only ensure that the assets are well managed but also the company beat its competitors. The best practice is always associated with, measures that run from safety issues to the proper utilization of the assets. Knowledge management can be well incorporated in this facility management practice. In house training is an important concept of knowledge management (Jennex, 2008). This ensures that the employees and members of the managerial staff continue to learn as they work on improving the practices in the company. The training of the employees as they continue working will ensure that the practices are maintained throughout the operations of the company. This plays an important role in improving the prospects of the company. Continuous performance improvement process is also a major aspect of knowledge management. It is mainly achieved through keeping records of past performance and comparing it with the present performance and checking what has improved and what has not. This ensures that the best strategies that the facility management puts in place achieve its goals and objectives. Continuous improvement also ensures that the process does not stop once it has started until the best practice is achieved. The continuous process also ensures that the best practices in the boat manufacturing industry are achieved. This will also encourage innovations by the company and thus ensuring that the boats manufactured by the company attract more customers. This concept will also enable the company to achieve its goals of attracting customers from other regions and continents. The facility with thus be well managed leading to proper and efficient management of the assets of the company (Ferguson, 2005). Reviewing the facility management strategies is an important aspect after the implementation process has kicked of. It is recommended that the review be conducted on a monthly, half annually and annually basis. The reviews are part of the facility management strategies that will determine whether the process is achieving the aims and objectives or not (McInerney, 2002). The reviews should be compared to the practices before the asset management strategies were initiated. The difference in the production of the boats and its sales figures should be reviewed. This is important in determining the flow of the production in line with the sales and the inventory. This process is mainly manually and requires a lot of commitment by the management. The auditing of the assets and the company may also be required. However, to simplify the process, the knowledge management concepts are important and ensure that the procedure enables the company to meet its goals and objectives. The knowledge management will play an important role in guiding the process by ensuring the key areas are analyzed. This includes whether the integration process is improved or not. The integration strategies are important in enhancing change in any organization. Since WaveRider is in the process of integrating change, then the process will be quite useful. The efficiency strategies should also be reviewed to determine whether the process meets its objectives or not. The abilities of the organization to reach its objectives and maintain the required standards are also a concept of knowledge management. Knowledge management ensures that the analysis of the assets management includes the operations, the production and also the sales. This will determine whether the company has achieved its objectives and the core values. Incase the objectives have not been met, and then it is important for the company to put in place additional measures that will ensure the objectives are improved. The whole process should then be guided by a feedback mechanism. The feedback mechanism must link the facility management and the knowledge management strategies (McCreedy, 2000). 5.0 Application of EFQM EFQM is open to organizations that strive to excel through management of knowledge. The organization can adopt the EFQM for the purpose of improving its operations. The model embeds the principles of excellence in operations by providing an organization with the framework that helps in the assessment of strengths and capabilities for the purpose of achieving the set goals and objectives. It also provides learning experiences to members of an organization together with offering education, recognizing achievements and supporting any best practice (EFQM, 2012). The EQFM excellence model can be quite useful to the organization. It will ensure that the standards of the boats manufactured are of good quality and the members of staff will benefit from educational experience and training. This encourages innovations and thus success for the organization. EFQM implementation table 6.0 Recommendations The blame game will be eliminated if the training of the management is conducted. The individuals in the company also require to be impacted with knowledge that will equip them with decision-making knowledge and skills. Proper communication and flow of information is also an issue in the organization. The flow of information will enable the company to develop a proper mechanism of responding to the needs of the customers. The use of technology is also very important for the company as it will streamline the operations and the production process. The continuous review of the knowledge management strategies should also be done to ensure that the standards of the company are in line with the international ones. The crisis facing the company can thus be solved if knowledge management practices are incorporated in the facility management, which has become a problem for the organization. 7.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the knowledge management strategies are quite useful for WaveRider Company in its quest to beat its competitors and to improve its sales. This is a problem that is currently facing the company and may have negative impacts if they are not addressed. The knowledge management practice provides the strategies that back up the facility management. This includes the training of the management together with the employees, creating a feedback mechanism for the process as well as ensuring that the review strategies are implemented. The dimensions of the knowledge are also defined by the processes and thus ensuring that the company is able to achieve its objectives. The blame game being experienced by the organization can also be eliminated easily the use of knowledge management. The blame game being witnessed by the organization is mainly as a result of ignorance and lack of proper communication among the members of the management. 8.0 References 1. Haslam, B, 2011, GIS-Centric Public Asset Management, ESRI publication. 2. Baird, G, 2011, Defining Public Asset Management for Municipal Water Utilities, Journal American Water Works Association. 3. Snowden, D, 2002, Complex Acts of Knowing – Paradox and Descriptive Self Awareness, Journal of Knowledge Management, Special Issue 6 (2): 100 – 111. 4. Walsham, G, 2003, Knowledge sharing and ICTs: A relational perspective In M. Easterby- Smith & M. A. Lyles (Eds.), The Blackwell handbook of organizational learning and knowledge management, Malden, MA: Blackwell. pp. 54–77.  5. Sushil, S, 2004, Creating Knowledge Based Organizations, Boston: Idea Group Publishing, ISBN 1-59140-163-1.  6. Ferguson, J, 2005, Bridging the gap between research and practice, Knowledge Management for Development Journal 1 (3): 46–54.  7. McCreedy, S, et al, 2000, A Critique Of Knowledge Management: Using A Social Constructionist Model, New Technology, Work and Employment 15 (2). 8. McInerney, C, 2002, Knowledge Management and the Dynamic Nature of Knowledge, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 53 (12): 1009–1018. 9. Maier, R, 2007, Knowledge Management Systems: Information And Communication Technologies for Knowledge Management, 3rd edition, Berlin: Springer. 10. Kirby, W, 2005, Personal knowledge management: supporting individual knowledge worker performance, Knowledge Management Research and Practice (3): 156–165. 11. Scherer, S, 2007, The Philosophical Foundations of Knowledge Management: Editors' Introduction, Organization 14 (1): 5–28. 12. The Work at Height Safety Association UK, 2006, Guidance on inspecting eyebolts used for personal fall protection purposes, TG6. 13. EFQM, 2012, Retrieved on 7th June, 2012 from, . 14. Jennex, M, 2008, Knowledge Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 1–3808). Read More