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Reading Packet 10-12
MIS 580 – Knowledge Management
By Nichalin Suakkaphong
(nichalin@email.arizona.edu)
Summary

The Firm as a Distributed Knowledge System


It is important for “lower down” people to get connected and interrelating
the knowledge each one has.
Organizational Memory

Identify, classify, utilize memories. Leverage IT. Manage loss.
 Bad effect of memories on double-loop learning

Exploring Internal Stickiness

Internal best practices are difficult to transfer due to absorptive capacity,
casual ambiguity, and arduous relationship.
Mgmt
Mfg#1
Acct
HR
K
K
K
K
K
K
K
K
K
Mktg
K
K
K
K
IT
Mfg#2
K
K
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K
Organization
7/12/2016
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The View on Thai Government in Resolving
Southern Unrest Issue

The Situation

There have been problems of civil unrest in the four
Southernmost Provinces for over a Century
 More than 400 people have died in the violence since
January 2004.
 Muslim separatist organizations and Thai Muslims who
have studied Islam abroad are behind the spate of violence
 Possible motivation: Southern Thai Muslims felt alienated
from mainstream society because of language and religious
differences.

Recent Incidents:

Oct. 25, 78 Muslims died from suffocation while crammed
into trucks headed for an army camp following clashes with
troops
 Nov. 12, Buddhist Teacher Killed, Two Bombs Hit Thai
South as revenge from separatist.
7/12/2016
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The Distributed Knowledge



The distributed knowledge under the government umbrella
 The majority of government officials are Buddhist. Not all knowledge, cultures, and
thought processes of Muslim can be totally understood.
 Each group has different views over the issues e.g. PM., military, and politicians
 Pressure from outsider e.g. Human rights activists and Neighbor country.
Analysis
 The country clearly needs collaborations among several organizations – religion
leaders, military, economic experts, education experts, medical expert and local
people.
Development
 His Majesty the King advised that authorities concerned seek for more participation
from local residents in community projects, as well as policy designs and decision
makings as an approach to address the southern woes efficaciously.
“Normative expectations, dispositions, and interactive situations are inevitable
in tension… what needs to be explain is …what are the processes that make
them similar – how tensions are managed and gaps are filled……It is
important for “lower down” people to get connected and interrelating the
knowledge each one has. ” – H. Tsoukas
7/12/2016
3
Organizational Memory


Bad effect of memories on double-loop learning: Bureaucracy
 During a cabinet meeting, Thaksin, the Prime Minister, slammed the Finance
Ministry and the Budget Bureau for failing to speed up extra payments to officials
tackling the unrest and to teachers in the south. The delay was due to the
outdated budgeting policy and procedure.
 Thaksin said. "This inefficient bureaucracy is really putting our country behind.“
Analysis
 The country needs better systems to manage its organization memory.
 Need to leverage IT
 Need to identify, classify, utilize and review existing memories/knowledge
“Social systems are notoriously resistant to adopting new ideas
and practices. Organizational memory is essential to organizational
learning, while learning is a necessary condition for memory. On
the other hand, organizational memories produce barriers to
learning, especially double-loop learning.” – E.W Stein
7/12/2016
4
Practices for Handling Riots

The soldiers on the scene were not trained to handle riots.


They piled up the demonstrators on top of each other in truck under the
hot sun. 78 Muslims died.
It is usually the police's job to handle the crowd. However, the
best practices among two organizations are rarely exchanged.

Arduous relationship - Yes

Causal ambiguity - No

Absorptive capacity – Yes

Motivation - No
What would you do if you were a prime minister ?
7/12/2016
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