Learning and Research: January 2010

The information world is like an island of mystery with words and concepts evolving, refined and used each passing day. It is not strange anymore to wake up from bed early morning to hear of new concepts from the news, updated dictionaries, editions of books, and researchers with the purpose of providing insights into new concepts in this Information world. To some people, it is an attempt to seek recognition. Others share the view that these new concepts are just refinement of words to overstretch our brains which has already reached its elastic limit.

The most interesting thing about the subject I am studying this semester “Knowledge Management Strategies”, is the use of concepts or terms which are seldom defined and the efforts that is been made to unravel the relationships between these concepts. Let me remind you of some of the list of terms that make this subject notably exciting:”Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management System, Knowledge Work, Knowledge Worker, Knowledge Worker System, Knowledge Managers, Knowledge Architects, Knowledge Organisation, Knowledge Economy, etc”. As soon as I thought I am going to ease a sigh of relief with all these mind boggling concepts, other terms cropped up:“Knowledge Needs and Requirements, Knowledge Strategies ...and what other term do you know? Please share it with us through your comments.....”

Anyway, I am confident that by the middle of this semester, my colleagues and I in class, together with interested Individuals and groups will pin down these terms. This piece of writing seeks to establish the relationships between Knowledge Work (KW), Knowledge Worker (KWr) and Knowledge Worker System (KWS).

KNOWLEDGE WORK:

Knowledge is information acquired overtime through learning, experiences and reasoning. Knowledge work (KW) is therefore a set of task or activities that require the application of learning, experiences and reasoning. KW involves analytic and problem solving skills. This raises a question as to whether a work/activity which does not require the application of reasoning could be viewed as KW? Personally, I would answer NO to that.

According to Mohanta et al (2006), there are three key features in explaining knowledge work and the basic task in knowledge work is thinking, which is mental work, which adds value to work. Secondly, the kind of thinking involved in KW is not a step-by-step linear mental work. It has to be creative and non-linear. The third distinctive feature of knowledge-work is that it uses knowledge to produce more knowledge.

KNOWLEDGE WORKER:

The question of who is a knowledge worker (KWr) seems to remain elusive in the minds of people as there are more questions to be answered on this issue. In the organisational setting, who is regarded as a KWr? Is it skilled or unskilled worker, or is it based on the position or title, or the educational level of the worker. Additionally, if the KWr is the classified as the skilled worker or based on educational status or achievement, then at what level of skill or educational status or position should one attain to qualify as a KWr. I believe this debate will continue until some of these pertinent questions are clearly addressed.

A Knowledge worker is defined by Serrat (2008), of the Asian Development Bank as “someone who is employed because of his or her knowledge of a subject matter, rather than the ability to perform manual labour.” Serrat further explained that Knowledge workers produce and distribute ideas and information rather than goods or services.

According to Stuhlman (2009), A “Knowledge worker is a member of the organization who uses knowledge to be a more productive worker. These workers use all varieties of knowledge in the performance of their regular business activities. Everyone who uses any form of recorded knowledge could be considered a knowledge worker”.

“A Knowledge Worker is anyone in the organization who uses their brain at some point during the day to accomplish their tasks. We specifically include shop floor workers whose tacit knowledge is often part of the backbone of the organization” (PHRED Glossary 2009).

Obviously, the first two definitions above look at KWr as a non-manual worker who has knowledge on a particular field and uses this knowledge to carry out a task. However, the third definition of a KWr above seeks to give a mild description of a KWr in an organisation which is a worker who uses his/her "brain" at some point of his or her work. Very Interesting remarks.

I will define a KWr as a person who in the performance of task or work uses his or her ideas or reasoning. The use of Knowledge is synonymous in all the definitions outlined above, giving an idea of the qualities of a KWr.

KNOWLEDGE WORKER SYSTEM:

A publication by Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in 2008, defines Knowledge Worker System (KWS) as “a computer application designed to help knowledge workers (professionals who use information as their primary input and whose major products are distillations of that information) to capture and organize work activity information, and to learn, prioritize, and execute their tasks more efficiently and effectively”

REFERENCE:

Engineer Research and Development center (2008). Knowledge Worker System. (Online) Available at: http://www.erdc.usace.army.mil/pls/erdcpub/docs/erdc/images/ERDCFactSheet_Product_KWS.pdf (Accessed on 19th January, 2010)

Mohanta, G.C., Kannan, V., Thooyamani, K.P. (2006). Strategies for Improving Productivity of Knowledge Workers – An Overview. (Online) Available at: http://www.strengthbasedstrategies.com/PAPERS/10%20MohantaFormatted.pdf (Accessed on 19th January, 2010)

Serrat, O. (2008). Managing Knowledge Workers. (Online) Available at: http://www.adb.org/Documents/Information/Knowledge-Solutions/Managing-Knowledge-Workers.pdf (Accessed on 19th January, 2010)

Stuhlman, D. (2009). Helping you turn data into knowledge: Knowledge Management Terms. (Online) Available at: http://home.earthlink.net/~ddstuhlman/index.html (Accessed on 19th January, 2010)

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

................Benjamin Franklin..................

The conception of new Ideas and generation of vital information in an uncertain and competitive business environment brings to fore the imperative need to effectively utilize knowledge. The concept of Knowledge Management has been in the limelight in the corporate world as a result of the quest to comprehensively approach and address organisation's strategies to meet the competitive nature of the business environment. Presently, KM has become indispensable tool for organisations that seeks to sustain its operations and outperform its competitors in a cost effective means.

The term KM is an established field of study in the academic circles and adopted by organisations in their range of strategies to improve performance and achieve competitive advantage.

I define KM as the exploration and exploitation of knowledge to deliver value and maximise returns. According to Hylton (2006), the KM process (exploration and exploitation) involves "knowledge capture, knowledge organising, knowledge storage, knowledge distribution and knowledge sharing". Knowledge sharing is key to building the knowledgebase of organisation workforce. This is in congruence with the axiom: "Knowledge gained is Knowledge shared".

The selected definitions and remarks from Organisations and Scholars outlined below would further give us a lucid exposition of KM:

McKellar (2009), acknowledge that “KM is an attitude.....a commitment to taking full advantage of all the information at an organisation’s disposal and delivering it to the appropriate constituencies to facilitate decision making at every possible level.”

Microsoft Corporation views KM as the “process of documenting and making available business-related knowledge............this knowledge may be about business processes, market data, product development, or other information specific to how your business runs.”

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) defines KM as “getting the right information to the right people at the right time, and helping people create knowledge and share and act upon information in ways that will measurably improve the performance of an organisation and its partners.”

Many viewpoints in KM could be attributed to the expertise (technical or managerial) or academic background of the contributor.

References:

Hylton A. (2006) Smaller sized Companies also need Knowledge Management(Online) Available at: http://www.eknowledgecenter.com/articles/1005/1005.htm (Accessed 15th January 2010)

McKellar, H. (2009) - KMWorld 100 Companies That Matter in Knowledge Management (Online) Available at: http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/Editorial/Feature/KMWorld-100-Companies-That-Matter-in-Knowledge-Management-52787.aspx (Accessed 15th January 2010)

Microsoft Corporation (2010) - Introduction to knowledge Management (Online) Available at: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/smallbusiness/technology-in-business/security/building-a-knowledgebase.mspx (Accessed 15th January 2010)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. What is Knowledge Management? (Online)[Updated 18th November 2008] Available at: http://km.nasa.gov/home/index.html (Accessed 15th January 2010)