Knowledge Management Techniques for the Comic Book Store - Case Study Example

Case Study: The Comic Book Store Name Institution Date Table of Contents Table of Contents ii 1.0 Preliminary investigation 1 1.1.0 Organization preparedness to knowledge audit 1 1.1.1 Mature 1 1.1.2 Viable 1 1.1.3 Holistic 2 1.1.4 Self-aware 2 1.2 Investigator preparedness in undertaking knowledge audit 2 1.3 Worthwhile of proceeding with the knowledge audit 3 2.0 Knowledge Audit 4 2.1 Identifying knowledge gaps and blockages in the organization 4 2.2 Strategy to find information to identify the knowledge gaps and blockages 5 2.3 Summary of KM Goals 5 3.0 Fixing the Knowledge Gap: Planning 6 3.1 Problem identified from the checklist and the nature of solution required 6 4.0 Fixing the Knowledge Gap: Solutions 6 4.1 IT infrastructure present at the organization 6 4.2 Requirements for a Knowledge Management System for the organisation 7 4.3 Potential problems for implementing the IT infrastructure in the organization 8 4.4 The sources for the solutions are; 9 5.0 KDLC exits 9 5.1 Brain Drain 9 5.2 Lessons from knowledge development lifecycle 10 6.0 References 11 1.0 Preliminary investigation 1.1.0 Organization preparedness to knowledge audit The Comic Book Store is in need of a digital catalogue or website to enable it conducts business well and requires first to conduct knowledge audit. However, how prepared is the organization? We need to assess its readiness to the exercise by considering its maturity, viability, holistic and self-awareness to ascertain this. These are the aspects of the organization and not its leadership or individual persons. 1.1.1 Mature In terms of maturity, the Comic Book Store is mature given that it has been in existence for long and it is now in third ownership by Bernice. The company has a locatable structure evidenced in its customer base who engages in transaction with the organization through online and contacts. 1.1.2 Viable The organization is currently viable as the business continues to improve. It has been promised a large order by an art-gallery which will help boost the business further. Chances of the organization surviving after putting knowledge management (KM) in place are high because its services will improve. 1.1.3 Holistic I consider the organization holistic and its interaction with the environment is clear. The organization not only assembles, but also sells collections to customers in various regions. Through these interactions, the organization is able to operate and continue to exist. 1.1.4 Self-aware The fact that the organization is identifiable implies that has self-awareness. There is clear and well understood information about the Comic Book Store, especially concerning its operations. The organization also understands its role that involves assembly and selling of collections. 1.2 Investigator preparedness in undertaking knowledge audit As an investigator, I believe that I am ready and prepared to conduct the knowledge audit for this organization. First, I have the expertise required to conduct the audit successfully. I have conducted various knowledge audits before in mature organization with focus on various areas of knowledge management very successfully. Thus, I can identify the need for knowledge management more comfortably. The Ontological knowledge structure I have developed other areas will help facilitate the knowledge audit in the organization. Through repeated interactions with knowledge audit experts, I came to realize that it is important to the factors that lead to decision-making process. Thus, although I do not domain knowledge in this area, I will use by experiences to understand the interdependency of concepts and properties in this area to facilitate problem solving. However, I have some background knowledge in graphic novel, especially in comics and thematic collections. My opinion is that the knowledge audit will be successfully given that the organization is prepared and so the organization and I should go ahead and develop the digital catalogue or website. I have acquired knowledge in this field by learning through various mechanisms that exist in the society. Watching business news and reading articles have really influenced my understanding of knowledge audit. Thus, I am confident of my preparedness to conduct the exercise in the organization. However, I need to research more on the area of ontological structure related to this particular case so I can increase the momentum of the knowledge audit. 1.3 Worthwhile of proceeding with the knowledge audit As indicated above, it is worthwhile to continue with the knowledge audit in the organization. According to my findings, the organization is prepared for knowledge audit considering its level of maturity, viability, holistic and self-awareness. Indeed, the most convincing aspect is that the organization is sufficiently mature to conduct knowledge audit. In addition, the investigator is prepared to handle the knowledge audit exercise. He has the necessary knowledge and expertise to perform the exercise. Considering the characteristics of the investigator, he is competent to carry out knowledge audit to the organization. Therefore, knowledge audit should proceed. Consequently, the organization will understand what they know and how they can improve in their approach to knowledge management. 2.0 Knowledge Audit 2.1 Identifying knowledge gaps and blockages in the organization The organization does not adhere to metadata policy effectively as indicated in the case. It performs its operations in a traditional way and do not publish information related to the data it holds. This area requires improvement. The organization has to develop a standardized metadata policy and ensure that it adheres to it. The organization has an organized approach to document creation. Two part-time employees are mandated to handle items up to date in a procedural manner. The common term set in the organization but it is not well managed and need to be improved to conform to industry standard. There is clear understanding of the needs of the organization by management. The organization wants to be in a position to handle large orders this is why needs to develop the digital catalogue or website. However, the organization does not have a clear statement of needs at its level of operation. It has to set up a mission statement and targets to achieve in order to measure organizational efficiency. Documents are well organized and can easily be allocated due to proper naming. According to the case study, the two part-time workers keep the past collections up to date using hand-made emendations. The chain of custody for documents is appropriately handled, as it is the responsibility of part-time employees who receive and post them in a handbook. In addition, there appears to a clear role clarity in the organization, but no well established decision making process. This needs to be improved by indicating whom to report. Although the organization has a slim structure, it is clearly provided. On top of the hierarchy is Bernice, owner and below him are other employees. Documentation of processes is poorly done and requires improvement. The organization only focuses on documenting collections. There is need to publish and adhere to all procedures in the organization. 2.2 Strategy to find information to identify the knowledge gaps and blockages There is need to find more information about knowledge gaps and blockages in the organization. Thus, the strategy I would use in this case is face-to-face interview. Here, I will seek to measure and assess knowledge gaps in terms of employee perception about knowledge sharing, quantity, access, quality, use and effectiveness in the organization. To get information from employees, I would ask the following questions; What qualifications, skills and experience do you have to perform the job? Does the organization have a corporate knowledge culture? How do you manage documents in the organization? Are you given training and development opportunities? What is the nature of staff relationship in the organization? 2.3 Summary of KM Goals The organization has KM goals it seeks to achieve. It wants to have a more effective KM programmes and initiatives. The organization also wants to efficiently and effectively capture and utilize knowledge from customers and partners in way that benefits the organization. The organization is interested in identifying the knowledge that can be used to support not only organization goals, but also individual tasks and activities. In addition, the KM goal of the organization is maximize the potential of corporate knowledge value. The organization also seeks to improve the decision making process to facilitate flow of information. However, it has problems of metadata policy, lack of mission statement and targets, and failure to document organization procedures. 3.0 Fixing the Knowledge Gap: Planning 3.1 Problem identified from the checklist and the nature of solution required The organization analysis indicates that the organization has a problem of ineffective knowledge management. There should be a solution to bridge this gap. The solution to the problem will encompass involvement of people and cultural aspects of the organization in the implementation process. It will also include development of knowledge management skills for workers in the organization. The knowledge management strategy has to be owned and driven by the organization’s leadership for its success. In providing the solution to the problem, there is need to promote and roll out the knowledge management strategy through effective communication. In addition, the solution will be based on appropriate knowledge management tools and techniques. The solution will also be characterized by improvement of technology to replace the traditional style of operation. The progress and success of the solution of strategy used will have to be measured. 4.0 Fixing the Knowledge Gap: Solutions 4.1 IT infrastructure present at the organization The organization does not have effective data management. As such, it does not have well established IT infrastructure. In addition, it does not have much IT infrastructure needs thereby reflecting the extent of the organisations IT infrastructure. Adequate storage and management of data and organisational information is essential. The organization needs to support their data management and storage systems with adequate IT infrastructure. The type of IT infrastructure in this organization is temporary with no backup system to any data storage or management. Although the organization has the capacity to develop and maintain the IT infrastructure it has no established hardware or software IT infrastructure. The organisation does have data management software for managing, organizing as well as processing data concerning the inventory, vendors and the customers. Using the data management software, it is able to work with eBay and other online auction sites (Hislop, 2013). Although no well established, the organization has computers and processors. This IT hardware enables the company to preparing products information such as premium prices. The IT hardware also helps the part time employees to manage the till as well as posting out items. This is an indication of IT infrastructure in this organization. The organization has computers and processors for developing the catalogue or the website. The current software cannot support the huge tasks and the reason for Bernice calling for intelligent system for recording information about the graphic novels. 4.2 Requirements for a Knowledge Management System for the organisation This organization needs a well-established knowledge management system. As such, the organization needs computer hardware, data management system or technology, computer software and information management system (Wiig, 2012). It needs to increase the computer hardware for storage of data, processing, and for input and output. It needs to modify its computer software; this is the most essential part of IT infrastructure for this organization. It needs both software packages and application packages. The system software will help the organization to manage activities and the resources of the computer. The application software will help the employees (end users) to process order and carry out their tasks effectively (MaCcaine, 2013). The types of software packages that will help this organization build on the existing infrastructure as well as assist in reaching knowledge management targets are Ajax software and java software. HTML will help the organization to create the catalogue and the website as well (Amran, 2010). The above software will help the organization to build its own applications and thereby achieve knowledge management targets. The software will also help the organization to avoid inconveniences in developing and application of the websites. Software that I suggest to this organization is the cloud-based software. This will help manage the software and hardware technology, scalability, capacity planning as well as determination of the total costs of the installing IT infrastructure. They will also help the organization to manage its software localization and mobile platforms. Other software is GUI, UNIX, LINUX and windows vista. The software is very important this is because it will enable the organization to improve its effectiveness and to be efficient as well. 4.3 Potential problems for implementing the IT infrastructure in the organization One of the problems is lack of enough funding for implementation of the IT infrastructure. Another problem is poor maintenance of the IT infrastructure. Maintenance may be a burden to this organization due to lack of skilled personnel. There may be some hiccups in designing the whole IT infrastructure. The organization may not have enough space and equipments for supporting the IT infrastructure (Maier & Hädrich, 2011). To minimise the problems, the organization should recognise change in cost paradigm and hence focus on funding (Ruparelia, 2010). The organization should account for this IT infrastructure project as a capital outlay. The organization should hire skilled personnel for maintaining and training the other employees. The management should encourage the employees to learn more on the IT infrastructure so that there would no single employee with monopoly of the whole knowledge management of the company. The organisation can also outsource maintenance of the IT infrastructure. The organization should have both manual and soft copies of the training, maintenance and the whole IT infrastructure. To overcome design problems, the organization should develop design standards and ordinances. 4.4 The sources for the solutions are; The infrastructure challenges for IT managers – by IT managers (Glick, 2010) Does outsourcing work? Does anyone actually know? (Glick, 2012) IT infrustructure problems for asset anagement (Harris, 2008) 5.0 KDLC exits 5.1 Brain Drain Brain drain is a major problem in many organisations. This organization will not be vulnerable to such king of knowledge loss. After implementing the solutions, the organization will improve the sharing of information as well as maintenance of the IT infrastructure. The solutions above indicate that there will be no employee or any other person will have a monopoly of knowledge in this organization as concerning the IT infrastructure and knowledge management. Every employee is expected to know how to operate and maintain every operational system and application systems (Hislop, 2013). This will ensure that the employees have great understanding of the knowledge system and management. This will be necessitated by regular and routine training to sharpen, refresh and educate the employees overall knowledge management and IT infrastructure systems. The trainings will be on intervals such that there will be no disruption of the normal activities. The organization will also outsource the maintenance of the IT infrastructures. The maintenance will be in conjunction with the organisations employees. While protecting the integrity of organisational information, external maintenance is important, as it will be a store of knowledge. No employee will be allowed to operate or complete more than two tasks or activities completely as Dalkir (2013) advice. There will be separation and segregation of duties and roles such that there will be no reliance on one employee for certain tasks. The above measures will ensure that the organization will not be vulnerable to knowledge loss due to brain drain. Although they may not be enough, they will guide and at the same time safeguard the organization from against brain drain. 5.2 Lessons from knowledge development lifecycle Investigation of knowledge management and development in this assignment has skilled me. As knowledge investigator, I have learnt knowledge conversion. I am able to turn process know how to valuable assets of the business. This conversion of knowledge is essential in this course. I know how to help an enterprise grow its network connections and increase or grow their knowledge nodes (Adelman & Riedel, 2012). These are very important lessons for this course and career as well. Going to the next case, I will be able to identify problems and solve them appropriately. I have improved the flow of knowledge while my problem solving skills have improved. As such, I am able to support and critically analyse knowledge problems and solve them accordingly. My ability of extracting and generating knowledge has improved tremendously. My view and approach to knowledge has improved and therefore I am able to personally analyse and research knowledge. There are still gaps in my skill base. I am yet to know much about interfaces and providing knowledge in the recent formats especially with the communication channels. I will learn providing knowledge in different formats by practical training and application of the knowledge. This will not only help me in providing knowledge in different formats so that but also enable me to provide unique solutions to knowledge problems in different formats. 6.0 References Adelman, L., & Riedel, S. L. (2012). Handbook for evaluating knowledge-based systems: Conceptual framework and compendium of methods. Springer Publishing Company, Incorporated. Amran, N. M. (2010, November Monday). IT Infrastructure : Hardware and Software. Retrieved March 26, 2014, from Management Information Systems (MIS): http://nadyameivira.blogspot.com/2010/11/it-infrastructure-hardware-and-software.html Clemmons, R.M. (2002). The complete idiot’s guide to knowledge management, Madison, WI: CWL Publishing Enterprises. Dalkir, K. (2013). Knowledge management in theory and practice. Routledge. Glick, B. (2010). The infrastructure challenges for IT managers - by IT managers. Retrieved 26 Wednesday , 2014, from Computer Weekly: http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/editors-blog/2010/02/the-infrastructure-challenges.html Glick, B. (2012). Does outsourcing work? Does anyone actually know? Retrieved 3 26, 2014, from Computer Weekly: http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/editors-blog/2012/12/does-outsourcing-work-does-any.html Gourova, E. L. I. S. S. A. V. E. T. A., Antonova, A. L. B. E. N. A., & Todorova, Y. A. N. K. A. (2009). Knowledge audit concepts, processes and practice. WSEAS Transactions on Business and Economics, 12(6), 605-619. Harris, R. (2008). IT Infrastructure Problems for Asset Management. Raleigh: North Carolina State University. Hislop, D. (2013). Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. Oxford University Press. Hylton, A. (2002). Measuring & assessing knowledge-value & the pivotal role of the knowledge audit. London: Hylton Associates. Liebowitz, J. (2006). Strategic intelligence: business intelligence, competitive intelligence, and knowledge management. CRC Press. MaCcaine, M. (2013, 9 23). IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware. Retrieved March 26, 2014, from IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware: http://cs.furman.edu/~pbatchelor/mis/Slides/Infrastructure%20Hardware%20and%20Software%20Week%202.pdf Maier, R., & Hädrich, T. (2011). Knowledge Management Systems. Ruparelia, N. B. (2010). Software development lifecycle models. ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes, 35(3), 8-13. Skyrme, D. (2002). How to develop a successful KM strategy. David J. Skyrme Associates. Wiig, K. (2012). People-focused knowledge management. Routledge. Read More