Integration of Knowledge Management into Formal Planning Cycle - Example

Running Head: THE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PLAN The Knowledge Management Plan Course Tutor Date The Knowledge Management Plan Introduction The following is ABC insurance company knowledge management plan for the Underwriting department. In addition to bringing out the required recommendations, I will be evaluating how Underwriting department is missing to generate, share as well as collect knowledge across all other underwriting offices. Implementation of a management plan which is integrated with the key business operation in Underwriting department, it will be possible to map the existing knowledge and expertise, manage the development of new knowledge in addition to facilitating the transfer of knowledge across the forty five office underwriters. I will be giving analysis of how ABC’s Underwriting department is losing without having a knowledge management plan and the benefits of implementing one as well as typical knowledge management plan for the company (Schwalbe, 2009). How the Company is Losing Knowledge management plan can be directly tied to the company’s profitability. By not efficiently managing the knowledge, the company is not maximizing its profits potential or efficiently controlling the expenses. The following underlines four elements of the company’s present process of managing department’s knowledge which lead into the company losing profits or increasing expenses. All these areas can be tackled by using effective knowledge management practices (Schwalbe, 2009). Innovation Not Tied To Business Planning Process Despite the fact that the company has an all-inclusive business planning process whereby all regions’ financial targets are established, measured and rewarded, both innovation and knowledge are not attached to this process. Innovation and knowledge creation in addition as sharing of knowledge are all important in achieving the company’s goal. Nevertheless, people leave to chance that someone else will take the initiative of finding the solutions in achieving a company’s objectives. Foreseeable, the company loses business and income opportunities and increase expenses during the annual planning process through not identifying the required knowledge and innovation to accomplish the company’s business targets and where the needed knowledge and expertise is in the organization (Schwalbe, 2009). Redundant Effort Tied to above, the CEO and the regional managers duplicate their efforts as they try to meet their annual targets. Normally, a manager within one region is unaware of the resourceful initiatives the other managers are taking in order to generate new business opportunities and retain customers as well. Moreover, individual underwriters seek solutions to complex business matters on a daily basis, but they do not gain from the knowledge that is already there within other underwriters’ offices. The lack of awareness of the existing knowledge and expertise within the other departments leads into draining of the company’s resources. The company could be paying employees to find business solutions that have already been found within the company in the other departments (John, 2009). Knowledge Gaps after Turnover Whereas the company has comparatively low employee turnover rates when compared to its competitors, organizational knowledge is lost when core employees leave or take up different roles. Regrettably, when underwriters retire or leave the company, new or the existing underwriters do not gain from their knowledge and experience as well. Devoid of a prescribed knowledge management plan, there is lack of knowledge sharing and hence the company ends up in finding solutions for the same matters and problems time and again countrywide. Company’s employees are forced to begin from the scratch to find solutions for problems that have already been tackled by underwriters within other positions or are no longer working for the company (John, 2009). Wasted Training Initiatives The company not competently linking its knowledge requirements to its critical business targets and by not sharing the existing knowledge across departments, there is a probability that the present formal training is not focused on the factual company’s broad knowledge and skill gaps. The funds spent in unnecessary training programs could be used in either training programs tied to the company’s business requirements or initiatives to obtain, develop and transfer the existing knowledge in all departments (Schwalbe, 2009). The Benefits Given these missed income opportunities and high operating cost there is a need to look for extra plans on how generate, divide up and codify our knowledge revolving around our inner business goals. When company puts all this into practice it gains in various ways (Schwalbe, 2009). Increased Business Organizing our obtainable and required knowledge will help the company in improving the target areas where innovation and contribution of ideas are required to meet business targets. However, the company has several ways on how to make use of various accessible features that are required in context management system. This enables the workers to look for sources and knowledge that will facilitate them connect on ideas, on how to contact and maintain their regular clients. When these steps are put into practice, the business will be boosted by capitalizing on already implemented knowledge within the company (Menken, 2008). Bridge Knowledge Gaps In the company’s great division it is probable that the underwriters within one area are likely to have question answered by members of the other area. Currently many of the company’s workers are not aware of the other staff members. However, efficient knowledge management practice will assist the company in linking knowledge gaps within the business by enabling the employees to build, contribute and also codify knowledge that is crucial in the company from different areas across the division. All workers including the new workers will be required to establish themselves in order to improve understanding that is vital in improving business processes (Menken, 2008). The Knowledge Management Plan The knowledge management plan centers on the people, practices as well as the resources required for implementation. The initial iteration of the knowledge management plan centers on two initiatives which will help the company in attaining its strategic business goals. The prospect is that the company will build and develop on these two vital initiatives in the future (Menken, 2008). Integration of Knowledge Management into Formal Planning Cycle In the company’s existing annual financial and operating planning cycle, the regional managers are supposed to outline their financial and operating plan to attain their business targets. These business plans should then be integrated in the division wide plan. At present, these plans only focus on the chief financial and operating aspects like the staffing within the region, budget and the customer marketing initiatives. Even if these plans are effectual in quantification and qualifying factors such as financial and operation aspects, there is basically slight focus on the needed knowledge and innovation required in attainment of these business goals. As a result, this leads into lost income, lost opportunities as well as increased business expenses (Menken, 2008). Consequently, both regional and divisional business plans should include a sector dedicated to knowledge management. Since knowledge is one of the company’s largest assets and sources of future income, it is practical to manage the knowledge together with the company’s planning process. For that reason, it is recommendable for the following areas to be evaluated and documented in the regional and department broad annual business plans (Menken, 2008). Existing and Required Knowledge to Attain Company’s Goals The regional managers will avail an evaluation of the present knowledge to achieve each key business goal in their business plan. At the departmental level, this information shall be incorporated within departmental business plan. Evaluation and obtaining of this information will enable the company to start the process of codifying elemental knowledge in areas needed to run the company’s activities. These critical knowledge areas will be codified in larger detail within a knowledge planning scheme (Menken, 2008). Key Employees with Expertise to Drive Achievement of That Target The CEO and the regional managers will also give an evaluation of the key employees in the region who will be allotted to work on all business goals. When this information is captured in all regional plans, the division will be in a good position to establish and track key employees with expertise within the company’s core business areas ((Menken, 2008). Effective and Efficient Knowledge Sharing Across Regions Part of the process in identification of critical areas of knowledge and expertise is contemplation of synergies as well as overlap across the division. As noted there before, regional offices are principally fighting similar business battles every year. As a result, the division broad plan will consider the knowledge held the required knowledge in addition to the key individuals in each of the regional offices. From this evaluation, the division wide business plan will offer recommendations to the CEO and the regional mangers on how to link and share knowledge with other allover the division (John, 2009). Training Initiatives Basing on the areas where knowledge gaps have been established, the division plan should integrate an assessment pf required formal training initiatives. As noted before, this will enable the company to tailor training programs in accordance with the identified business requirements (Murray, 2005). Map Knowledge within Critical Business Area Based on the result of the first initiative, the company will have a concrete understanding of the fundamental knowledge needed in managing the company’s main business goals. Nevertheless, the information in the planning documents will be small more than an outline of the important knowledge areas. Below recommendations are made to assist the company to more formally map, identify and codify the knowledge and expertise required to operate the company’s business (Murray, 2005). Augment the Company’s Existing Content Management System At present, the company’s employees heavily depend on the content management system established on the Drupal open source platform. The most recent usage repots from the information technology department demonstrate that the company’s underwriters log into the Drupal system numerous times during the day to obtain the current copies of customer contracts as well as other insurance coverage documents that are stored on the system. On the other hand, the company is only using a small fraction of functionality available within the company in the content management system. While the division can access other features, for instance forums and shared wikis, the division has not looked at ways to utilize them to assist in managing the business (John, 2009). Develop Employees Profile Pages To that end, it is advocated that employees are supposed to create concise biographies on their Drupal account profile pages. All biographies are supposed to momentarily describe the employee’s key job function, educational and certified background in addition to the areas of underwriting proficiency. Furthermore, when employees update and save their biographies, they will be impelled with a directory of predefined word identifiers which will enable them to chose “tags” for their profile. Consequently, the tagging feature will enable everyone within the division to pull a list of the workers based on search of the main word tags. The workers will be encouraged to refer to these profile pages and the classifications of tags in case they have any question and require connecting with the other employees in important matters. For instance, if an employee has a question regarding liquor liability coverage, the employee will only be required to search in the account profile tags to be able to see what the employees within the division have tagged “liquor liability” as an area of professionalism. The profile database is important to the management which includes the CEO and all managers since it will help them in evaluating if the existing employees are professionals in the company’s center knowledge areas. Provided that the profile database will just be significant and helpful if it is correct and up to date, it is recommendable that the profile pages of the employees to be viewed at all annual performance review to make sure that it appropriately illustrates the job function and expertise of the employee (Bonner, 2005). Establish Books of Knowledge At this point, it will be identified in the annual documents, that there are chief areas of knowledge vital for the management of company’s operations. As a component of the knowledge planning process, it is recommendable that the identified key workers to be assigned the role of moderating the development of Drupal based wiki books of knowledge within the key business processes and also existing business initiatives. The employee who is a moderator will be responsible of every Book of Knowledge and hence they will requested to encourage and motivate other employees to take part within the first development and continuing upholding of the wiki book. The Books of Knowledge are supposed to have at least all key elements of the topic, main contacts related to the topic, as well as the available sources in the division associated with the topic. It is recommendable that the allocated employee moderator formal placement to be revised to include this responsibility. This will enable this employee performance as a moderator to be assessed and rewarded when performance reviews are being carried out (John, 2009). Promote Practical Water Cooler Discussions Since the company’s employees are geographically scattered, there is small opportunity for informal water cooler discussions with fellow employees outside each and every regional office. As a result, it is recommendable that the discussion forum element in Drupal be enabled in order to aid posting of questions to the group and answers with suggestions. The resultant forum threads will also be used a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) database. As noted earlier, if one individual has a question, problem or matter, there is a possibility that somebody else in the division will encounter the same problem in the future (Gretta, 2003). Personal Goal Statement/Duty Assignment In July of every year, CEO and the managers will meet with the employees and outline individual targets of the coming business year. This will consist of continuing targets, innovative goals and also professional development targets. The goals will illustrate both key functions of Underwriting division in ABC insurance company and special program functions. Specific responsibilities and activities will be established and identified within each functional classification. Individual employee responsibilities will the larger Underwriting department mission, the generic and annual targets and objectives, and the expertise and interests of the employee (Jay, 2006). The CEO and all managers should agree upon these targets. Each employee’s agreed upon target will become a component upon which the performance appraisal will be carried out, in December every year, CEO and the senior managers will meet with other managers and review the allocation of duties, make amendments within the assignments as required and give preliminary response on the work achieved (Jay, 2006). Communication and Collaboration To make sure that this knowledge management plan benefits everyone, it will be necessary to ensure that the atmosphere endorses and supports sharing among administration and the employees. The first meeting will give the employees a general picture of what will take place within the company’s plan. It will be necessary to let the employees know and understand the main aim of the plan, how the plan will affect the employees’ individual departments, and how the plan will affect the company as a whole. The ensuing meetings will canter on the next steps of the plan which will be employed throughout the year (Gretta, 2003). WebCT’s discussion board component will facilitate teamwork and communication amongst the employees within the company. All topics on the discussion board will match with the step of the plan that will be implemented. The CEO will be responsible of posting the topic to the discussion board for every step. Additionally, the CEO will also facilitate every step on the discussion board as this will allow the CEO to maintain the flow of the discussion and put focus on the suitable topic. The discussion boards will provide the managers and the employees with a chance to reflect and discuss the strategies that never worked in their departments. They will also make use of the discussion boards to share resources they have found and ask questions if need be. Employees will be encouraged to model best practices that they have employed in their areas. This will offer employees ideas of new knowledge to take back to their working areas (Jay, 2006). Concluding Thoughts At this point, one might wonder if workers will balk at taking part within the knowledge management initiatives. Workers will find this to be “just another duty” of the job in case they fail to find any value within the process: this means there is a probability of the employees overlooking this initiative. On the other hand, if the knowledge management initiatives provide the employees with valuable connections to individuals, information and also resources, it will likely promote knowledge co-creation across all departments in addition to all functional areas (Bonner, 2005). As previously noted, knowledge is an asset which the company should efficiently manage. If not, the company will lose profit, either from the lost income opportunities or from the elevated expenses. The key to success of this knowledge management plan is the connection to the on hand business operations. This connection offers management, which includes the CEO and the regional managers a more enhanced understanding of the major business matters the employees are working on and could be struggle struggling to find a solution for (Bonner, 2005). This knowledge management plan is the initial step in tying knowledge management to the company’s present business planning processes and also in using of the content management system. Therefore, this knowledge management plan should not be taken as the “end all” solution. Additionally, to be successful, these recommendations should be embarked on, undertaken and supported using each and every level in the division. To endorse extensive adoption, the CEO and the senior managers are supposed to show their support by actions. They are supposed to supervise and monitor and reward the knowledge management results as vigilantly as any other planning target. Moreover, the CEO and all the managers are supposed to make contributions to the content management system through adding their own profiles and by occasionally contributing and making referrals to the wiki Books of Knowledge or the practical water cooler (John, 2009). Lastly, and most outstandingly, an environment of trust should be fostered while creating and sharing the knowledge within the organization. It is important to acknowledge that as an element of this plan, employees and the managers will be requested to establish and vitally evaluate gaps of knowledge and openly seek assistance in order to prevail over these gaps. In case the worker, managers or the CEO feels their views, contributions or questions will be used against or held against them, they will just stop contributing (Menken, 2008). References Bonner, D. (2005). Leading knowledge management and learning: In action Quill Hedgehog Adventures Series. Illinois: American Society for Training and Development. Gretta, R. (2003). Knowledge management and the smarter lawyer. Toronto: ALM Publishing. Jay, L. (2006). Knowledge management handbook. New York: CRC Press. John, G. (2009). A leader's guide to knowledge management: drawing on the past to enhance future performance: Strategic management collection. London: David Parker. Menken, I. (2008). Knowledge Management Best Practice Workbook: Roadmap, Transition, Management, Implementation and Project Plan- Ready to Use Supporting Documents Bringing Theory Into Practice. Chicago: Lulu.com. Murray, J. (2005). Case studies in knowledge management. Hong Kong: Idea Group Inc (IGI). Schwalbe, K. (2009). Information Technology Project Management. Sydney: Cengage Learning. Read More