Executive Summary
The Ontario Ministry of Education (EDU) is divided into divisions, branches and different units. Due to the nature of these operating procedures the employees were experiencing constant changes in tasks, job positions and reporting relationships. There is a need for the employees to feel as one and function as a ministry with modest limitations. EDU has to take the tacit knowledge and turn it into explicit knowledge. As Kathryn Everest, I would recommend the EDU implement a document management system. In doing so, it will help the employees to work mutually as a company rather then a department. Having the employees to feel they are all part of a company rather than a department will help build trust amongst all
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Understanding the nature, role, importance, and value of tacit knowledge at individual or group level, is imprudent to formulating a KM strategy You must also formulate decisions about the organizations cultural change, picking the appropriate tools and finding a suitable measurement system. Without awareness of tacit knowledge any KM program is unlikely to maintain perspective and balance. In contrast to the views held by the tacit knowledge approach, the explicit knowledge approach shows that knowledge is something that can be explained by individuals. The explicit knowledge takes some effort and assistance may be required to obtain the desired knowledge. As a result, the explicit knowledge approach assumes that the useful tacit knowledge of individuals in organizations can be articulated and made explicit. The explicit knowledge approach also shows that explicit knowledge assets can then be dispersed within an organization through documents, drawings, standard operating procedures, manuals of best practice, and the like.
Advantages and disadvantages of the tacit knowledge approach;
One of the main advantages of the tacit knowledge approach is that it is a relatively trouble-free and low-cost way to begin managing knowledge.
A further
In order to manage knowledge successfully, it is essential to clarify the essence of knowledge before identifying the importance of knowledge management. The perception of knowledge has been varied broadly; however, one of the generally accepted defintion is from Davenport and Prusak (1998). According to their points of view, knowledge is defined as a set of experience and values, it either comes from individuals ' mind or roots in the organisation, which can be found in the documents, routines, practices and norms, and is assumed to flow between individuals through various networks, being used to assess and embody new
What exactly is knowledge management? “Knowledge management is defined as developing a system to improve the creation and sharing of knowledge critical for decision making” (Kreitner, 217). Tacit knowledge involves the creative minds of the production because “it is personal, intuitive, and undocumented
Through our examination of Hislop (2013) and other supporting material during this class, we have discovered the characteristics and nature of knowledge management strategy. Using my organization as a back drop it has become clear the one does not merely undertake a knowledge management program and expect success. Instead, it requires a thorough examination of the organization, essential knowledge, key roles, policies, politics, available technology
The superior capabilities of knowledge management systems provide an opportunity for the business to engage the most effective components and recognize the importance of communication to make informed, accurate decisions (McGrath, 2001). This system can organize the company’s knowledge resources, knowledge obtaining, organizing, and applying to make a sound routine the will enforce effectiveness (Niu, 2008). The dynamic function of knowledge management to create, capture, and apply knowledge to achieve an organization’s objective will allow them to be more profitable and successful (Zucker, 1986). In addition to increasing profits, the system can be also used to reduce costs and enhance research and development (DeTienne & Jackson, 2001). With all of these advantages, it would be wasteful for a company to not employ knowledge management. As seen in the Discovery Communications, Inc. example, the company can attribute their new productivity levels and increase in ease of securing documents to the knowledge management system that put into place by Carefree Technology. Like Discovery Communications, Inc., knowledge management is so popular today because companies can collect, process and share knowledge to ignite employees ' creativity which in turn will make the business grow. Wenhong and Jianhua (2009) explained the core of knowledge management is to convert company’s knowledge resources into an increased company
While Knowledge Management (KM) is important in any business however, there is no real agreed upon definition. KM is a concept that includes the
In the recent past information and knowledge revolution have been witnessed in all sectors of production and have had the magnitude of the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries (Ondari-Okemwa & Smith, 2009). “Knowledge has been increasingly recognised as the most important economic resource surpassing the traditional resources of capital, labour and land” (Drucker, 1993). Tacit Knowledge creation and sharing has been attracting increasing interest, since the process of creating and managing it is relatively complex as compared to explicit knowledge. It is almost impossible to characterize tacit Knowledge without describing Knowledge and Knowledge Management (Mungai,
Explicit knowledge is easily transformed through written or verbal communication, while tacit knowledge can be very difficult to articulate to others. Also, explicit knowledge is readily available to most, can be learned through books, always conscious and accessible information, and is general information. Tacit knowledge is highly personal in nature, is based on experience, sometimes holders doesn’t even recognize that they possess it, and is situation specific. Each of these ways of learning have their places in the work place and beneficial if companies are challenging their
The technology is changing rapidly; it is used for the survival of the companies in the market. There are different IT based tools used by the different organisations according to their structure and requirements of the organisation. Some of the IT based tools are: internet, brainstorming sessions, video-conferencing, knowledge maps, and many others.
Knowledge can refer to a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. It can be tacit (as with practical skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject); it can be more or less formal or systematic. Botha et al (2008) pointed out that tacit and explicit knowledge should be seen as a spectrum rather than as definitive points. Therefore, in practice, all knowledge is a mixture of tacit and explicit elements rather than being one or the other. The most important distinction within KM is between explicit and tacit knowledge. The overload of data is making knowledge management increasingly more important as it facilitates decision-making capabilities; builds learning organizations by making learning routine, and stimulates cultural change and innovation.
In fact, convert the tacit knowledge a clear knowledge creating assets that is open 24/7 and free of time and space constraints that prevent the spread of tacit knowledge by moving workers , according to (Ron Sanchez 2000 ). In addition, by dividing some clear examples of knowledge to individuals in the organization who specializes in domain knowledge say of a clearer, knowledge that can be visited, debated, tested again better, it can stimulate additional organization.Ini also critical in learning can help in identifying the individuals in the organization. Other advantages, it is important to explain in systematic system and codifying a clear knowledge of the organization in making the organizational knowledge base clearer. And it also helps the organization to find a lack of knowledge and help in finding explicit knowledge is
Organisational learning can be seen as the goal of knowledge management and may be obtained by good knowledge management strategies and processes. By motivating the creation, dissemination and application of knowledge, KM initiatives pay off by helping the organization embed knowledge into organisational processes so that it can continuously improve its practices and behaviours and pursue the achievement of its goals.
Many companies are beginning to feel that the knowledge of their employees is their most valuable asset. They may be right, but few firms have actually begun to actively manage their knowledge assets on a broad scale. Knowledge management has thus far been addressed at either a philosophical or a technological level, with little pragmatic discussion on how knowledge can be managed and used more effectively on a daily basis. At this early stage of knowledge management in business, the most appropriate form of dialogue is not detailed tactics, but rather high-level principles. When an organization decides what principles it agrees upon with respect to knowledge management, it can then create detailed approaches and plans
The depth and value of tacit knowledge an organization has within its own structure and surrounding ecosystem is significant and potentially transformative in its value. Combined with the explicit knowledge organizations possess, which according to empirically-derived studies, is just 30% of total knowledge captured
Tacit knowledge is personal knowledge embedded in individual experience and is shared and exchanged through direct, eyeto-eye contact. Clearly, tacit knowledge can be communicated in a most direct and effective way. By contrast, acquisition of explicit knowledge is indirect: it must be de-coded and re-coded into one’s mental models, where it is then internalized as tacit knowledge. In reality, these two types of knowledge are like two sides of the same coin, and are equally relevant for the overall knowledge of an organization. Tacit knowledge is practical knowledge that is key to getting things done, but has been sadly neglected in the past, falling very often victim to the latest management fad. For instance, the recent spate of business process re-engineering initiatives, where cost reduction was generally identified with the laying off of people—the real and only repositories of tacit knowledge—has damaged the tacit knowledge of many organizations. Explicit knowledge defines the identity, the competencies and the intellectual assets of an organization independently of its employees; thus, it is organizational knowledge par excellence, but it can grow and sustain itself only through a rich background of tacit knowledge. Indeed, the other great discovery of the knowledge movement lies in the following simple observation: knowledge that doesn’t flow doesn’t grow and eventually ages
In this executive summary, we will discuss the ability to control and maintain knowledge management in today’s ever-changing society. Society is facing many changes that are impacting the workforce for individuals and organizations as a whole. The baby boomers can be classified as anyone 55 years of age or older, which are referred to as the older workforce. The change between baby boomers being the leading workforce in organizations, in comparison to today’s society where now that trend is changing to the younger generations in the workforce. With the available personnel to work for businesses changing, companies need to find a way to keep the knowledge, skills, and abilities available to their organizations with new employees coming on board.