Knowledge Management: an Overview
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Elaine Ferneley

Earl’s (2001)Taxonomy of Knowledge
Management Approaches
School
Attribute Systems
Technocratic
Focus Technology
Cartographic
Maps
Economic
Engineering
Processes
Commercial Organization
Income Networks
Behavioural
Spatial
Space
Strategic
Mindset
Aim Knowledge
Bases
Knowledge
Directories
Knowledge
Flows
Knowledge
Assets
Knowledge
Pooling
Knowledge
Exchange
Knowledge
Capabilities
Principle
IT Element
Knowledge
-based
Systems
Profiles &
Directories on
Intranets
Shared
Databases
Intellectual
Asset Register &
Processing
System
Groupware &
Intranets
Representati onal Tools
Eclectic
Philosophy Codify Connect Capability Commercialize Collaborate Contact Consciousness
Elaine Ferneley

Technocratic – based on IT
Systems School - Knowledge Bases
 Capture specialist knowledge in knowledge bases for other
‘specialists’ to access, evolved over 25yrs
 Codification to allow others to access and use in association with their own professional expertise
 Examples:
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Skandia database to support underwriters’ decision making;
Airbus CD-ROMS for airplane maintenance technical expertise
Elaine Ferneley

Technocratic – based on IT
Systems School - Knowledge Bases
 Advantages:
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Explicit, verifiable
 Shortcomings:
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Maintenance & updates,
 needs reward mechanism of providing updates/amendments – often these are highly technical systems so reward is individual publicity
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Not all knowledge is objective so difficult to codify
Very domain specific – difficult to generalise from
Elaine Ferneley

 Mapping organizational knowledge
– building knowledge directories or ‘yellow pages’
 Connecting knowledgeable people
– gateways to knowledge rather than knowledge repositories – knowledge is as likely to be tacit as explicit
 Examples:
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McKinsey & Co early adopters
– all employees must state 3 areas of expertise
WS Atkins – inclusion of personality traits e.g. good negotiator
Elaine Ferneley

Technocratic – based on IT
 Advantages:
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Continuous self editing, cheap
 Shortcomings:
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Assessment of expertise
People process, technology provides connectivity and possibly search capabilities
Internal ‘yellow pages’ can be regulated but how to regulate external
‘yellow pages’ e.g.
ISWORLD!
Elaine Ferneley

Technocratic – based on IT
Process School - Knowledge Flows
 Derived from Business Process
Reengineering – enhance business performance by providing personnel with as much information as possible
 Workers are Capable of making decisions if they have the information – give decision relevant, contextual and best practice knowledge
 Examples:
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Hewlett-Packard open access databases
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Fire Service mobile computing
Storytelling
Elaine Ferneley

Technocratic – based on IT
Process School - Knowledge Flows
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Empowered workforce
False departmental walls are broken down
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Information overload, requires alternative modes of delivery
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Employee scepticism
Information taken out of context
Elaine Ferneley

Economic – based on Profit
Commercial School - Intellectual Assets
 Focus on protecting and exploiting intellectual assets of the firm
 Knowledge should be exploited for commercial gain
 Examples:
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Dow chemicals exploitation of its patent portfolio. Had 25k patents that cost $30m p.a. to maintain with a licensing income of only $25m. In 5 years increased revenue to $125m p.a. through sales and licensing
Cap Gemini – rent of technical subcontractors to health and local authorities. 2003 revenue
£87m
Elaine Ferneley

Economic – based on Profit
Commercial School - Intellectual Assets
 Advantages:
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Quick win
Inclusion of corporate knowledge as a company asset on the balance sheet
 Shortcomings:
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Ongoing management of the ‘knowledge property’ – how do you manage knowledge efficiently and effectively
How to avoid employees feeling exploited
Elaine Ferneley

Behavioural – based on Sociology
Organizational School - Community
 Use organizational structures & networks to share or pool knowledge
 Collaboration within communities
(of practice) to encourage sharing and exchange of knowledge
 Examples:
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BP Amoco through Lotus notes and video conferencing developed the drilling platform expertise global community – saving $27m in one year
Ford’s knowledge and best practice forums, self regulating, anyone can join
Elaine Ferneley

Behavioural – based on Sociology
Organizational School - Community
 Advantages:
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Break down organisational barriers
Members ‘should’ be there because they choose to be
 Shortcomings:
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Will only work if there is a tradition of sociability and networking, BP and Ford are famous for connectivity, expat communities, graduate entry networks etc
Moderators or brokers may be required
IT must be an enabler not a regulator
Elaine Ferneley

Behavioural – based on Sociology
Spatial School
 Use of space to facilitate knowledge exchange – the water cooler
 Contactivity – people are social animals who prefer conversations to documents or IT
 Examples:
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Yahoo’s kitchen, bar, bean bag environment
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British Airways at Waterside medieval street inc. café, newsagent, grocery store
Elaine Ferneley

Elaine Ferneley

Behavioural – based on Sociology
Spatial School
 Advantages:
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Meet people you would not normally encounter
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Level of informality that encourages innovation
 Shortcomings:
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Yahoo drank the bar dry
Other metrics take over so spatial features are slowly withdrawn
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Resentment from ‘havenots’
Elaine Ferneley

Behavioural – based on Sociology
Strategic School
 Knowledge management as the
‘essence’ of the firm’s strategy
 Consciousness raising – the organisation moves to being the
‘ intelligent organisation’ or the ‘life long learning’ organisation
 Examples:
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Skandia is THE example – they embrace all the former schools and view the development of intellectual capital as their core mission
Buckman Labs (see case study)
Elaine Ferneley
People
ProcessesInformation
Information &
Communication
Technology

Technology
Knowledge
Management
Process
Create
Maintain
Culture
Collect
Knowledge
Organizatio n
Disseminate
Competition
Organize
Refine
Leadership
Intelligence
KM Drivers
 The middle layer addresses the KM life cycle
 A knowledge organization derives knowledge from customer, product, and financial knowledge.
Also from financial practices
 Indicators of knowledge: thinking actively and ahead, not passively and behind
 Using technology to facilitate knowledge sharing and innovation
Elaine Ferneley

Create Codify Diffuse Use
•Learning organizations
•Stimulating working environments
•Time to think
•Trust
•Reward & Recognition
•Organise
•Classify
•Hard or soft structure – database friendly/free text
•Access – who/how
•Transfer
•Share
•Examples – email, knowledge maps
(yellow pages), best practice, discussion groups
Hard Infrastructure - technology platform
Soft Infrastructure - skills, processes etc.
Asset Management - measure, protect, exploit
Elaine Ferneley
•Product development
•Service provision
•Process improvement
•Measures of success

Create
•Who
•Why
•Reward
Codify
•Content
•Searchability
Diffuse
•Access – who/how
•Transfer/push
•Share
•Update
Use
•For what
•Measures of success
65% of Corporate intranets fall into disuse between 1 & 2 years
(KPMG, Parlby 2006)
Elaine Ferneley

Earl’s (2001)Taxonomy of Knowledge
Management Approaches
School
Attribute Systems
Technocratic
Focus Technology
Cartographic
Maps
Economic
Engineering
Processes
Commercial Organization
Income Networks
Behavioural
Spatial
Space
Strategic
Mindset
Aim Knowledge
Bases
Knowledge
Directories
Knowledge
Flows
Knowledge
Assets
Knowledge
Pooling
Knowledge
Exchange
Knowledge
Capabilities
Principle
IT Element
Knowledge
-based
Systems
Profiles &
Directories on
Intranets
Shared
Databases
Intellectual
Asset Register &
Processing
System
Groupware &
Intranets
Representati onal Tools
Eclectic
Philosophy Codify Connect Capability Commercialize Collaborate Contact Consciousness
Elaine Ferneley

Elaine Ferneley