Help people find people. Facilitate conversations. But Wh

1
IS6600-6

• Knowledge and Culture

2
Learning Objectives

• Develop an Appreciation for different
  perspectives of knowledge
• What Enables Knowledge Sharing?
• How do we make sense of the world?
• Some principles of K, KS and KM

3
We All See The World / Knowledge in Different
Ways (HSBC)
useful
useless
useful
useless
Knowledge?
Knowledge?
Knowledge?
knowledge
Knowledge?
Adapted from HSBC
4
Knowledge, Culture Ball Games

• Stereotypically,
• The Americans play baseball and the English play
  cricket
• Of course, baseball and cricket are also played
  in other nations
• Both games involve several players, as well as a
  bat and ball
• Both games have enthusiastic fans, are televised
  and are utterly different from each other
• The differences may be so wide as to make
  communication about the relative merits of each
  game quite inpenetrable to fans of the other.
• Can you imagine a conversation between a cricket
  fan and a baseball fan each drawing on
  knowledge, each speaking more or less the same
  language (English), yet

5
The Culture of Belief

• Now, contrast
• The Buddhist lama silently instructing novices in
  spiritual practices knowledge transfer
• No words are exchanged
• Indeed, lama and novice may not even speak the
  same language
• Yet the communication can be telepathic and
  mutual understanding can be complete
• The knowledge transfer for the finely trained
  mind is on a higher plane altogether

6
One of my students wrote to me

• In my working experience, I feel that it's
  relatively easier to exchange and transfer
  knowledge with colleagues or vendors in the US
  Taiwan rather than colleagues in South East Asian
  countries. Even though we have prepared manuals
  for them, they are reluctant to read the
  details. 
• Why might it be easier to exchange and transfer
  knowledge with some colleagues but not others?
• What could be done differently / better here?

7
In which situation would you personally find it
most difficult (and most easy) to transfer (and
to receive) knowledge?
Try to identify enough of the context (people,
culture, knowledge type, tools used, problem
context, etc.) so that we can readily understand
and analyse that situation
8
Which Tools are Most Conducive to Effective
Knowledge Transfer?

• Formal

• Informal

9
Knowledge Transfer Trust

• I tell you what I am doing at work, a new
  technique that I have developed.
• It really works well for me and my teams.
• Is it my knowledge? Or someone elses?
• Is this too subjective to be useful to others?
• Could anyone else use this technique?
• Do they need to trust me?
• How valid is the knowledge? Does it make sense?
• How can the validity be checked?

10
Sensemaking

• Making sense of reality, of problems, of people,
  is a critical aspect of the work that we do.
• Each of us makes a different sense of a
  situation. Consensus can be achieved but this
  requires not just info/k transfer, but also
  debate, argument, with cause-effect
  relationships, drivers, actions and consequences.
• Knowledge transfer without sensemaking seems a
  waste of time
• Recall the cricket and baseball example. We can
  transfer, but does it make sense? If there is no
  sense, why transfer?

11
So, Sensemaking

• is the act of creating meaning out of a mess of
  unstructured data, information and knowledge.
• Making sense is not just finding answers to
  problems.
• It is understanding what caused the problem in
  the first place.
• And then reasoning what went wrong, why, what
  could have been done better, and what to do next.
• It may be easier to do this together, not alone.
• Technology can help.

12
Today, Work is Conversation

• What is the implication for knowledge and KM?
• Tacit and Explicit.
• Why does conversation lead to better sensemaking?
• What can we do with this new interpretation of
  work and knowledge?
• What are the implications for management?
• Can junior employees make their own decisions?
• And what should we not do?
• Meetings that only involve reporting, not
  conversations.
• Classes that are teacher-centric, students not
  participating.
• Recall that the Chinese for KM is ?? (learn to
  ask)

13
Is KM that Simple? Just Asking?

• Why didnt I know?
• Because I didnt ask?
• Because no one told me and no one knew that I
  didnt know?
• Because I didnt know that others didnt know
  that I didnt know?!
• Learn to ask the right questions.
• Learn to interepret the answers
• Learn to answer others questions, to share, to
  give.
• This is primarily about conversation, not
  technology.
• But what about Knowledge Culture? And Resistance?

14
Culture (and Personality)

• Societal, Organisational, Professional, In-group
• Cultural norms are powerful drivers of behaviour
  individual and collective
• Organisations like their employees to conform
• To behave according to culturally preferred norms
• But that involves change too
• Change at the individual level
• Can a knowledge sharing culture be stronger than
  a personal desire not to share?

15
Culture at ABB

• ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) is a MNC in power and
  automation. 112k employees in 100 countries.
• Everybody is a Knowbody Knowbodies share
  knowledge with Everybody
• We learn from each other by sharing our
  knowledge and experience

16
Culture at Buckman Labs

• Knowledge Nurtures
• Our goal is to establish a resource to help
  people learn about knowledge sharing
  http//www.knowledge-nurture.com/ Lots of
  resources here
• KM happens one person at a time, one
  conversation at a time Robert Buckman
• The greatest knowledge base in the organisation
  is the tacit knowledge in the heads of the people
  that is continually changing and evolving
• Technology can help but it cannot substitute
  for interpersonal communication

17
Buckman

• In 1978, Buckman introduced its KNetix global
  knowledge network.
• Organisational forums and codified knowledge base
• Focus on connecting people
• Reduce the power of middle management
• New code of work ethics reward contributions
  and creativity
• Everyone can create, so long as they obey the
  rules
• Dont try to damage the company

18
Buckman Story

• Buckman Singapore needs technical information on
  paper production to support a bid for a new plant
  in Indonesia
• Sends to KNetix a request for information
• 1 reply from the US, a few hours later
• 2 reply from Canada, 50 mins later
• 3 - 8 from SE, NZ, ES, FR, MX, ZA
• Lots of knowledge shared, new discussions, new
  knowledge created, even a new CoP
• and the bid is successful.

19
Buckman Story - Reflections

• So, whats the value of technology? Of knowledge?
  Of sharing? Or of nothing?
• Buckman rewards people who share
• The top 150 knowledge sharers were rewarded with
  a stay at a 5-star resort
• And the opportunity to work with senior
  management on knowledge strategy.
• Recognition, status and kudos.
• After this, everyone wanted to share, especially
  those outside the top 150. And Buckman was the
  beneficiary.
• KNetix introduction followed by a 250 rise in
  sales.

20
Culture at Accor

• Accor is a hotel management company
• 3500 hotels globally, 100 in China
• Corporate IT policy is very strict
• Small bandwidth, many Web 2 apps blocked
• The culture is of control and centralisation
• But there is another culture an employee
  culture which favours sharing
• How to share when the IT policy gets in the way?

21
Culture Tools

• Employee attitudes towards (new) technology
• The IT Department
• Integrated or isolated?
• Supportive or resistant?
• CEO attitude towards IT
• Cost or benefit?
• Personal usage. Leader or ignorer?
• Customer/Partner attitude towards IT.

22
Culture Content

• Where are the key knowledge assets?
• Who creates and who uses knowledge?
• What is archived, what is lost?
• Who is reusing knowledge and who is reinventing
  knowledge?
• What are the costs of knowledge
  recontextualisation?
• Does the culture promote and reward formal or
  informal knowledge sharing?

23
Knowledge Sources

• People and Experience, but
• Knowledge can only be volunteered. It cannot be
  conscripted Dave Snowden
• So knowledge sourcing strategies must be based on
  people, not technology or mandate.
• We know more than we can tell, and we can tell
  more than we can write down.
• What is the implication for KMS?
• Knowledge Strategy must focus on interpersonal
  social processes

24
A Dozen Principles of K and KM

• Knowledge is always changing. It cant be easily
  organised, processed, compartmentalised.
• We have to think about it in new ways if we are
  to make sense of it.
• 1. Knowledge is messy
• Everything is connected to everything else. It
  does not naturally fit in boxes. It is not at all
  clean.
• 2. Knowledge is self-organising
• Each day there is new knowledge, and old
  knowledge dies. Some is renewed, some not.

Based on Verna Allee (1997)
25
A Dozen Principles

• 3. Knowledge thrives in communities
• It cant exist in isolation. When you have
  groups, knowledge will appear. You cant stop it.
• 4. Knowledge is symbiotic with language
• Language is how we communicate even a silent
  language or body language.
• Language includes jargon, management-speak,
  technical stuff.
• But, are there some forms of knowledge that
  really dont need language to exist?

26
A Dozen Principles

• 5. Knowledge is slippery!
• The more you try to isolate it, the more it slips
  away.
• You may codify knowledge, but static knowledge
  slowly becomes part of history.
• 6. Best Practices stifle creativity.
• Looser systems are more flexible and enable more
  creativity.
• Dont over control. Set knowledge free!

27
A Dozen Principles

• 7. Knowledge keeps changing
• Change is a constant. Dont expect anything else.
• Work with change.
• There is no final solution, no 100 correct
  answer.
• 8. Knowledge dies it is quite normal
• New knowledge is constantly created.
• Be creative rather than reactive.
• Dont recreate old knowledge.

28
A Dozen Principles

• 9. No one is in charge!
• Knowledge is a social process and exists in a
  social context.
• Ultimately, there is no single knowledge owner.
  We can facilitate, but not control.
• 10. Dont waste time on rules and regulations.
• Knowledge will organise itself.
• Corporate rules/policies cannot stop people from
  creating and sharing knowledge if that is what
  they want to do.

29
A Dozen Principles

• 11. There is no silver bullet.
• There is no one best way to facilitate knowledge.
• What is important is constant reflection,
  evaluation, experimentation, adjustment.
• 12. The way you think about knowledge influences
  how you think about knowledge problems.
• If you think about control, ownership, then
• If you think about sharing, giving, then
• If you think about the future, then

30
But What About Resistance?

• Knowledge cannot be conscripted! It must be
  volunteered!
• This means that we cant force people to share
  they must do so willingly, freely.
• And some people just wont.
• They hoard.
• They protect their self-interest.
• They equate knowledge with status or job
  security.
• Its mine!!!

31
Does it Make Sense?

• The desire to hoard, to possess, to own, is very
  much a facet of many contemporary, materialistic
  cultures globally.
• But (as I have tried to demonstrate) much of the
  knowledge that we might consider to be
  exclusively ours, is in fact created
  collectively.
• Moreover, since factual knowledge is constantly
  changing, it isnt very useful to own it.
• However, process knowledge is another story.

32
Process Knowledge

• Refers to how things are done and while it too
  changes, it is arguably more valuable.
• Knowledge about
• Creativity and innovation
• How to create knowledge
• How to teach
• How to negotiate
• These are often seen as tacit forms of knowledge
  that are extremely difficult to codify, but

33
Do We Unconsciously Share?

• If you ask me how I teach or negotiate or
  bargain
• I can give you some kind of answer
• But can you do anything with the answer?
• Actually I am unconsciously sharing my knowledge
  all the time simply by using it, and anyone who
  wants to observe and learn can do so.
• None of the courses I teach is called How to
  Teach or How to Pass Exams, but all of them
  could be!
• So, perhaps resistance is meaningless. The more
  isolated you are, the less conversations you
  have, the less you communicate, so the less you
  know and the less valuable you are.

34
A Flawed Maxim?

• It is often said that you cant manage what you
  dont measure.
• Can we measure knowledge sharing, creativity,
  reuse, ?
• Is it useful to measure?
• Can we manage without measuring?
• Does measurement destroy innovation?
• 20 of UK hospital budgets go on measuring 120
  KPIs for government.
• How about knowledge self-management?

35
Thinking Ahead

• KM has come from collection to connection to
  conversation
• Our approach to KM has shifted from technically
  deterministic to humanly centred.
• Knowledge itself is seldom seen as being static
  rather, it is dynamic, fluxing, changing,
  slippery.
• Where next? What next? Which knowledge-centric
  problems have we not yet solved?

36
Einstein

• The significant problems we have cannot be
  solved at the same level of thinking with which
  we created them.
• Imagination is more important than knowledge.

37
And Now

• Please look at these two websites and read the
  short articles carefully.
• How to Create a Know-it-all-Company.
• http//www.cio.com/article/119307/How_To_Create_A_
  Know_It_All_Company
• Note there are 4 pages
• Establishing a Culture for Knowledge Sharing
• http//it.toolbox.com/blogs/enterprise-solutions/e
  stablishing-a-culture-for-knowledge-sharing-35720
  

38
Then Think About These Questions(based on
todays class and these 2 articles)

• What steps can be taken to integrate knowledge
  sharing behaviour into an organisations culture?
• What changes to an existing organisational
  culture might be needed to ensure KS success?
• What are the different ways of dealing with
  resistance to change and how effective are
  they?
• When are best practices useful? When do they get
  in the way? Give examples.
• Why is it so important to tell stories (about
  knowledge)? What can a story contain that is so
  special?