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Project Management (Culture Analysis Paper) Successful project management depends on many various variables among which it is possible to point out the information technology as a component of knowledge management. Davenport and Prusak use the example of telephone, noting that having a telephone does not guarantee or even encourage brilliant conversation. For a good knowledge management, information technology is not the only thing we need. There are plenty thing we need to use in knowledge management. Information technology is an essential equipment (of the knowledge management. The term knowledge management is slippery one.
Like its cousins information and document, there are many ways to think about knowledge management. In simple language KM is an effort to capture not only explicit factual information but also the tacit information and knowledge that exists in an organization, usually in the minds of employees in order to advance the organizations mission. Explicit information includes reports, briefing papers, the information on certain Websites or intranets, and other documents that are created within an organization. Usually explicit information is owned by the firm, since it is developed internally or through sponsored projects.
Some km systems also include documents that have been gathered from external sources. Tacit knowledge exists within a person as result of the experience and learning of employees. It is often captured in transcripts, written reports, or electronic documents. Dimattia and Oder (1997, p 33) offer this succinct definition of knowledge management: KM involves blending a companys internal and external information and turning it into actionable via a technology platform.
As Prichard, Hull, Chumer and Willmott notice in Managing Knowledge: Virtually all large firms that create knowledge management systems use information technology to organize, store and codify knowledge and make it accessible to members. (2000 p 1) In most cases the firms knowledge resides in repositories or libraries of reports and other documents that are linked electronically with names of experts, contact information, and other tools that facilitate continual use and revision of the knowledge banks (Borghooff and Pareschi, 1998). These knowledge management systems range from fairly simple best practices databases to elaborate systems that include customized reports and interconnected expert knowledge flows and communication webs of great sophistication. Some firms use technology to help employees improve their decision making. Expert knowledge is used to make rues and guidelines that inform the decisions of others such as insurance underwriters or mortgage bankers (Ruggles, 1998). Can knowledge really be managed?
Much of what has been touted as knowledge management sounds very much like database development or information management: collecting documents; storing them; providing directories, search mechanisms and links; creating lists of experts; etc. (Davenport, 1997). KM, however, has some distinguishing characteristics that separate it from the more traditional ways of dealing with data and information. Knowledge, higher than data or information in the intellectual food chain (Barlow, 1994; Davenport and Prusak, 1998; Haechel and Nolan, 1993), requires human experience and analysis, As Davenport and Prusak (1998, P. 5) say, knowledge derives from minds at work. The knowledge that employees have can include their competencies, skill, talents, thoughts, ideas, intuitions, commitments, motivations, and imagination (Harari, 1994, p. 57). Knowledge relates to how well people do their jobs, how they interact with customers or clients, and how they monitor and adjust methods for getting the knowledge work done in the highest quality way. There is no doubt that the knowledge management trend has been influenced by the total quality movement and other business improvement strategies.
How can workers develop the shared visions proposed by Peter Senge (1990), for example, or operate consistently as learning organizations without the ability to share knowledge with each other? Knowledge management is more than just technology or software. It is a sophisticated way for an organization to share intellectual assets. KM is best practiced in situations that are collaborative and team-oriented. Effective knowledge management calls on those who are experienced to provide the knowledge that they have gained to those who develop the firms knowledge repositories. It is up to information specialists, then, to treat the knowledge and the people responsible for it in fair and just ways that engender trust and confidence in the systems that are established.
Special librarians have expertise in determining knowledge needs, in connecting experts with novices, in organizing and codifying knowledge, and in evaluating technology tools for knowledge storage and retrieval. They can share the work of gathering and organizing the organizations knowledge. Librarians are often the informal knowledge brokers in large firms (Davenport and Prusak, 1998). These information professionals also have a tradition and share a fundamental value in ethical professionals practices in information and knowledge transfer. We have laid out some of the emerging ethical issues in knowledge management relating to trust, autonomy and privacy, with examples of KM software that pose potential ethical problems. These are issues of interest to information professionals as well as those who have a stake in the managing and sharing of the organizations knowledge.
Innovative practices in business or information technology usually precede the legal and organizational sanctions governing their use. Knowledge management can be accomplished fairly and ethically with some reflection on how individuals are being treated and how their work, experience, and knowledge is honored and respected. Involving a wide spectrum of information professionals who have experience and understanding of ethical information practices is one step toward solid and effective knowledge management systems. Bibliography: Dimattia W. and Oder B. Business Management, New York: Viking Press, 1997.
Prichard, C. , Hull, R. , Chumer, M. , and Willmott, H. Managing Knowledge US, Great Britain. Penguin Books, 2000. Borghooff and Pareschi, Banks of Information, from Wired Magazine, issue April 1998.
Ruggles, K. IT Controversies, Ontario Books, 1998. Davenport and Prusak, Project Management, Oxford University Press, 1998. Harari W. Employees Development, Philadelphia: Blitz Print, 1994.
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Research essay sample on Project Management Culture Analysis
