Knowledge Management Analysis of the Educational Organisation - Case Study Example

Running Head: Knowledge Management Knowledge Management Name Course Lecture Date Introduction Both profit and not-for-profit organizations have realized the important role of knowledge as a resource for their organizations. The need for explicit management of knowledge has become more important and critical for the success of any contemporary organization. While most organizations have developed systems to capture, store, retrieve and distribute knowledge in the organizations some are still struggling to realize such systems. However, some organizations believe having tacit knowledge; knowledge in people’s heads is enough to guarantee success. They believe knowledge can best be disseminated within teams through repeated social interactions. Instead of investing in knowledge management system these organizations have invested in building social systems that can ensure effective sharing of knowledge in organizational teams. Those organizations that decide to implement in technical knowledge management system make significant investment in those systems. Despite this heavy investment, these organizations are not guaranteed that they can create and exploit knowledge more effectively. Furthermore, a good return on investment is dependent on managing the right knowledge in the organizations. This dilemma means a knowledge management system developed in an organization should fit with the organization's business strategy. According to Zack (2002), the firm’s strategy should be the first point of reference while developing a knowledge management system. An organization’s knowledge management system should be most significantly informed and guided by the organization’s vision and mission. Organization IAS is an educational organization operating in the RRR City under the supervision of the Department of Education. IAS operation in RRR city is headed by three supervisors. These supervisors are in-charge of the implementation of school program by 158 head teachers. IAS activities influence the lives of over 15,000 students in the RRR city school district. The aims of an organization are crucial consideration while developing a knowledge management system for an organization, IAS identifies its Aims as follows: 1. Aims to engage teachers and pupils in meaningful dialogue that can enhance good behavior and lead to the development of wisdom, 2. Enlighten both the school and the surrounding communities on matters they need to handle through cooperation, 3. Ensuring the values contained in the article of education are implemented practically, 4. Ensuring that pupils develop into responsible members of society and impart the values of their homeland, 5. Ensuring communal love and intimacy remain a core of the school community, 6. Ensuring deviant ideas and behaviors do not take root in the school community, 7. Support and contribute to various school activities and guide them to the achievement of various objectives of education. Organizational Context of knowledge management IAS is not a business organization and thus is not affected by financial pressure. Organizational targets are quite low compared to business organizations and can be easily realized by use of modern Information Communication Technology. IAS is funded by the government and every year it has been a recipient of government funds for projects such as construction, staff retraining, purchase of new equipment and other activities. The Guidance organization another non-profit organization also plays a large role in funding the Activities of the IAS. The IAS also receives funding from some charities to fund its organization’s activities. Therefore, funding the development of a knowledge management system would be easy if IAS was to pursue such a strategy. The need for a knowledge management system in the IAS is increased by a prevailing understaffing problem. Although IAS staff posses enough tacit knowledge as they are well trained there just aren’t enough staff to effectively carry out the organization’s activities. Qualified IAS staff are sometimes ineligible to participate in the organization’s activities. A knowledge management system could also enable teachers who cannot participate in the organization's activities due to overlapping of the organization's activities contribute to the organization's knowledge base in other activities. It is noted that sharing of knowledge in the IAS through social interactions is affected by low self-motivation among the organization’s employees. Teachers are not motivated to share the best strategies to enhance outcomes for students with other members of staff. Another weakness noted in with current IAS knowledge management practices is the lack of effectiveness where a large number of students are involved. Thirdly, IAS activities are hampered by lack of equipment when it comes to spreading their awareness message in rural areas. Some head teachers show lower levels of cooperation for IAS activities. Low awareness of the role of the IAS in the education system is one of the major reason, principals offer lower levels of support for IAS activities. Some other principals also experience problems in an effort to implement IAS activities. IAS also suffers some funding hiccups as the ministry of education does not fund some of its activities. According to Zack (2002), the Strength-Weaknesses-opportunity –threats (SWOT) analysis is the most important tool for defining the strategy of a company. Before establishing the knowledge management needs of IAS as an organization a SWOT of the organizations needs to be undertaken. IAS SWOT Analysis Strengths IAS is not-for –profit organization and therefore it is not prone to profit pressure exerted on other business organizations Its organizational targets are easily realizable using Information Communication Technology. IAS receives funding from the Government through the ministry of education to undertake various initiatives including retraining of teachers, construction of building and purchases of necessary equipment. IAS already has computers and printers in use in the management of information in the organization. IAS is well endowed with tacit knowledge with most of its teachers being well trained Weaknesses Where programs take a long time to implement people get disinterested before they are completed. Remote areas lack the equipment necessary to implement modern knowledge management systems in the organization. Some schools have too many students to get any real benefits from IAS programs. Some teachers are ineligible to participate in the IAS activities even though they are qualified; this means they do not have an opportunity to share the knowledge they posses with other staff members. Overlap in jobs means teachers cannot effectively participate in the IAS activities. Understaffing remains a big problem as some activities lack personnel to see them through to completion. Strengths The possibility to use the Educational Training Centre of the Department of Education to train teachers on how to implement the programs Teachers benefit from Training Programs at the Ministry to improve their education levels. Take advantage some non-profit organizations such as Guidance Association. Take advantage of charities to get help in terms of financial support for some programs. Threats Lack of interest of some school principals in the application of awareness programs. Weak interaction of the families in promoting and following the programs. Self-motivation of some teachers having the responsibility of Awareness is not high. Lack of the financial support from the ministry for a number of programs. The supervisors of awareness at department of Education are few. Some schools do not have special places for practicing programs. As noted in IAS case, it is easy to use information technology to reach the organization targets. However, caution should be taken to ensure that the main drivers of the use of knowledge management are the organization's objectives rather than technology. According to Drucker (1999), modern organizations need to store the knowledge gained by their employee to ensure future and long term efficiency and effectiveness. By coming up with a good knowledge management strategy organizations are able to ensure that their return on investment in Information technology is good. Recommendations for implementing a Knowledge management system at IAS Initial review IAS should carry out an initial review of its current knowledge management practices to note where improvements are needed in the system. The review should try and find out how to best make use of the organization’s knowledge. Liebowitz (2005) refers to the initial review of an organization as a knowledge audit. According to Liebowitz et al (2000), a knowledge audit is a means of analyzing knowledge flows between people in an organizational context. Through a knowledge audit IAS can develop a knowledge map that shows the sources, sinks and flow of knowledge. Liebowitz (2005) proposes social network analysis as a means of establishing who employee go to when they have a knowledge need and come up with a knowledge map. According to Liebowitz et al (2005), the IAS knowledge audit should include; 1. Identifying current knowledge in each of IAS departments, including: Existing and potential knowledge sources, sinks, constraints at IAS including environmental factors as identified by the SWOT. Identification of both tacit and explicit knowledge at IAS. Building a knowledge map that illustrates the relationship between topics, people, documents, ideas and the link to external resources, in a deliberate attempt to make access of knowledge easier. 2. Identify the knowledge gap at IAS IAS should perform a gap analysis to identify missing knowledge to achieve IAS organizational goals. Identify the people who are in need of knowledge 3. Provides recommendations how the organization's knowledge management practices can be improved According to Liebowitz et al (2000), the resulting knowledge map is an important tool that provides insight into the processes that need to be enhanced within an organization. According to Liebowitz et al (2000), well-developed knowledge maps are crucial in identifying the intellectual capital that needs to be stored within a firm. It also assists in improving social interactions for knowledge sharing and improves organizational learning significantly. The use of knowledge maps go beyond their application in the development of knowledge management software. According to Wah (2000), an organization that has mapped its knowledge is able to: Re –use existents knowledge; saving acquisition cost and search time. Locate expertise within the organization and provide ways for those in need of it to access it. Discover emergent and effective communities of practice where learning is already taking place. KM projects are accessed against the baseline established by the knowledge map. Staffs are able to identify critical knowledge faster thus reducing the amount of time and effort an expert needs to locate and make use of such information. An initial review should involve correcting the views from teachers and supervisors to establish the knowledge they possess and their knowledge needs while working at IAS. A workshop can facilitate and help to identify the knowledge that IAS needs to capture to realize its organizational goals. A workshop would also identify how IAS can leverage its existing information technology along with new technologies to enhance and come up with new ways of managing knowledge. According to Earl (2001), a successful knowledge management strategy revolves around five major areas of knowledge management: Centralizing knowledge Capturing experience Recognizing experts Sharing of knowledge with organizational members who need that knowledge to improving productivity If IAS addresses these key areas in its Knowledge management strategies the quality of services delivered to schools would increase significantly. Through the Knowledge management system developed, the organization can maximize quality, become more consistent and increase productivity (Johri and Khare, 2013). IAS can set long-term and short-term goals for implementation of the knowledge management system. The short-term goals should focus on “quick wins” which will ensure people have a belief in the new system. Long-term goals should focus on ensuring that IAS stores all the knowledge brought into the organizations by its employees and their experiences in dealing with both novel and routine situations. Centralizing know-how IAS can set long-term goals of centralizing expertise, knowledge and experience of its supervisors and teachers. Although, the IAS has an information system in place, it is more a source of information rather than knowledge. On the contrary, IAS needs a central of knowledge where employee can find what they need whenever they need it (Wah, 2000). Johri and Khare (2013), identifies internal and external sources as two sources of knowledge that can be stored in IAS centralized knowledge repository (Johri and Khare, 2013). IAS internal knowledge is knowledge that emerges from the organization's operations such as publishing, construction of new buildings, purchase of supplies, among others. In the views of Johri and Khare (2013), these routines provide the most basic source of organizational knowledge which is easily accessible and an easy to capture. As in the IAS case the absence of formal mechanisms to capture this knowledge means it remains in the minds of the organization's members and is lost once they leave the organization. Internal sources of information are also referred to as organizational memory. According to Wah (2000), organizational memory is contained in culture, routines, structures, electronic and paper documents, physical surroundings and artifacts. In the views of Johri and Khare (2013), such knowledge floats around in the organization and is not truly a part of the organization if it is not deposited in a central repository (Cox and Minahan, 2006). Second sources of information that can be compartmentalized are external sources. External sources of information in this case would be academic professional organizations both locally and internationally (Spender, 1996). Universities and research institutions could also provide precious information that IAS can use in implementing creating a central repository of knowledge. Knowledge from external sources is available to IAS through websites and publications made by these organizations. According to Nonaka and Konno (2005), creation of a knowledge repository within an organization means the knowledge needs of an organization are reduced significantly. For example once a situation is handled by an external consultant, IAS can store that knowledge to handle a similar situation without having to call in the consult the consultant again. Therefore, IAS will not have to spend substantial resources and time to locate knowledge that already exists internally. First, IAS needs to create a repository where anything of value that has been created by the IAS is deposited (Nonaka and Konno, 2005). Such a repository can be established using AIS existing ICT infrastructure. Staff contribution to the repository should be encouraged to ensure that the system is acceptable to the employees. IAS needs to create a portal where its employee can find all the relevant information and routines to handle such situations. While current know-how is easy to capture and store, past know-how remains a huge challenge collecting and interpreting correctly, especially in situations where those who made the documents are no longer with the organization (Wah, 2000). According to Wiig (2000), it is also a big challenge to make it a habit for an organization's employee to input documents into a knowledge repository. Capturing experience Knowledge gained through experience or tacit knowledge is the most important knowledge to have in knowledge management systems. IAS needs to refine and store the tacit knowledge gained by their employee during their work for use by other and future generation who will join the organization. According to Nonaka and Konno (2005), capturing of tacit knowledge is the most difficult activity in the development of a knowledge management system. In the views of Wah (2000), tacit knowledge is hard to define and thus even harder to communicate. Tacit knowledge is socially rooted including a person’s values, attitudes and beliefs alongside his expertise, skills and capabilities. In the views of Wiig (2000), capturing tacit knowledge require people to go over the tasks they have already completed again. It requires the organization to also create time for capturing the tacit knowledge. Unfortunately, with IAS suffering a staffing problem it would be a big challenge to divert the attention of its employee to contribute knowledge to the KMS system. IAS can handle the challenge associated with capturing tacit knowledge by doing debriefing sessions once a major program is completed (Nonaka and Konno, 2005). The debriefing results are then stored in IAS’s knowledge library where it can be accessed in the future by its employees. IAS can also conduct and record verbal interviews with the employee which cut down the time needed to capture tacit knowledge. IAS can also debrief workers contracted to them from other firms to ensure know-how gained from contracting other firms is retained within the firm. Knowledge Actors at IAS Tacit knowledge is contained in the minds of an organization's employee (Nonaka and Konno, 2005). Therefore, the staffs of IAS are important contributors to the knowledge management system to be implemented by the organization. IAS should take a keen interest in the experiences gained by the supervisors while working across the school district. Insights on how they have managed successful IAS problems and unsuccessful one are important in building an effective knowledge management system. Secondly, the input of the principals who are responsible for IAS activities in their schools will be important in forming the knowledge base of the Knowledge Management System. Contribution from both teachers and students should also not be ignored. Sharing knowledge The effectiveness of knowledge sharing in an organization determines the success of the organization in activities that need to be coordinated between different parties. Formerly, knowledge at IAS was confined within individual schools and thus solutions to various problems were not shared. While geographical distance is a major hindrance in the sharing of knowledge between schools, the centralized knowledge repository and its accessibility through an intranet removes the geographical barriers to sharing of knowledge between different schools. Conclusion IAS an educational management organization for a school district can benefit from adopting a knowledge management system. Such a system will enable all the knowledge that is possessed by the organization’s employee stick with the organization. Faced with an understaffing problem and low staff morale the sharing of knowledge at IAS is very low. To enhance knowledge sharing the organization should audit and map out the existing and potential knowledge in the organization. Secondly, IAS should build a central repository where any knowledge of value to the organization is stored for future reuse by the organization. Through a knowledge management system IAS is able to overcome the knowledge sharing problems and teachers who are too busy in other activities are able to contribute to the IAS collective knowledge base. This paper recommends various steps IAS can take to improve knowledge management and make sure the organizational retains as much of its employee knowledge as possible. References Cox, J. W., & Minahan, S. (2006). Organizational Decoration A New Metaphor for Organization Development. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 42(2), 227-243. Drucker, P. F. (1999). Knowledge-worker productivity: The biggest challenge. California Management Review; Winter 1999; 41, 2; ProQuest Central pg. 79 Earl, M. (2001). 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