The Practices of Knowledge Managers: an Activity System Based View

1
The Practices of Knowledge Managers an Activity
System Based View

• Alexandre Perrin (aperrin_at_audencia.com)
• Strategy Department
• Audencia Nantes School of Management
• France

2
Statements

• KM is a managerial practice (Bain, 2006)
• 1996 ? 28 of usage
• 2006 ? 69 of usage
• but companies are dissatisfied
  with the results
• Appointments of people in charge of knowledge
  management issues
• Chief Learning Officer, Chief Knowledge Officer,
  Knowledge Manager, Community Coordinator
• They initiate, drive and coordinate knowledge
  management programs (Earl and Scott 1999)
• ? Paradox few researches were conducted on these
  practitionersnone with a practice-lens

3
Literature Review
Knowledge Managers as
KM Tools
Knowledge as
- Chief Information/Knowledge Officer (Earl et
Scott, 1999) - Chief Protection Officer (Awazu
et Desouza, 2004)
Knowledge codification through patents, expert
systems or databases (Hatchuel et Weil, 1992
Cowan et Foray, 2000 Hansen et al., 1999 Alavi
et Leidner, 2001 Prax, 2004)
Individual and collective objects that can be
placed on an external support (Walsh et Ugson,
1991 Grant, 1991 Szulanski, 1996 Davenport
et Prusak, 2000 Argote et al., 2003)
Technical Approach of KM
- Chief Learning Officer (Awazu et Desouza,
2004) - Community Coordinator (Wenger et al.,
2002)
Knowledge socialization through communities of
practice (Wenger et al. 2002 Dameron et
Josserand, 2006 Soenen, 2006 Vaast, 2007
Castro, 2007)
Knowledge built and traded in social
spaces (Lave et Wenger, 1991 Brown et Duguid,
1991 Wenger, 1999 Gherardi et Nicolini, 2000
Bechky, 2003 Kellogg, 2006)
Social Approach of KM
4
Research Questions

• A practice-lens
• RQ 1. What are the daily actions of knowledge
  managers?
• RQ 2. What kind of conflicts can emerge from
  these practices inside the organization ?
• RQ3. How these practices evolve over time ?
• Objective study the practices of knowledge
  managers through the image of the situated
  activity

Level of analysis
Organisation
Managers
Policy
Plan
What ?
Issue
Practice
Process
How ?
Whittington (1996, p.732)
5
Analyzing Knowledge Managers practices the
Activity Based View
Artefacts
Subject
Object
RESULTS
Division of work
Rules
Community
Adapted from Engeström (1996)
6
Methodology

• Research setting
• Multinational corporation with KM function(s)
• Three managerial levels corporate/functions/busin
  ess units
• Qualitative methodology
• 18 months of in situ observation (tasks)
• 30 interviews conducted (discourses)
• 850 pages of internal documents analyzed
  (artefacts)
• Four embedded case studies (managers)
• Data triangulation obtained ? context
• Content analysis with NVivo 2.0
• ? Personal past experience has eased data
  analysis

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Results
Artefacts
Modify the content offered or select IT tools ?
Animate or control tools (codification
socialization) ?
Subject
Object
RESULTS
How to ensure common practices in KM
How to measure the value of KM ?
Division of work
Rules
Community
8
Outcomes

• An evolving agenda with four domains of activity
• Knowledge portfolio (content)
• Tools for codification (backbone)
• Governance (rules)
• Mindset (culture) (see the content analysis)
• Knowledge Managers practices are influenced by
• Their ability to understand the knowledge that
  need to be managed (eg. Rewriting best practices)
• The organization chart (eg. IT dept. vs Sales
  dept.)
• The degree of understanding by stakeholders
• The software/IT consultants
• Practices evolve according to stakeholders needs

9
Results Content analysis
(back)
Case KTP
Case BOOSTER
Case FIRST
Case CKO
20 2477 words
49 7952 words
56 5737 words
6 1161 words
Portfolio
22 2724 words
2 324 words
13 1332 words
68 13158 words
IT
8 991 words
32 5194 words
13 1329 words
14 2709 words
Governance
38 4706 words
17 2759 words
18 1844 words
12 2321 words
Mindset
100
100
100
100
 Total
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Conclusion

• The situated activity model helps to understand
• the different influences or conflicts in
  exercising the function of knowledge management
• the underlying causes of birth and death of the
  function
• the competencies needed to hire a knowledge
  manager (IT/Rhetoric/Writing)
• Limit of the study
• Quantitative study to be made on the four domains
  of activity
• Conduct a survey inside the French knowledge
  manager community (CoP-1)

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What can we add
12
KM Programs vs KM Practices
Level of analysis
Organisation
Managers
What ?
Policy
Plan
Problems
How ?
Practice
Process