The Leading Edge - Spring 2010 - PKF - 5

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ou’ve probably been there. Your new job comes with a filing cabinet already stuffed with information from the previous employee(s). Maybe you perused the files your first week or pulled out some papers every few months when faced with a new challenge. But there the filing cabinet sat, looming as a monument to ineffective knowledge transfer. Dust off your company’s knowledge transfer plan because now more than ever the faces in the workplace are changing. More than 78 million baby boomers in the United States are at or approaching retirement age over the next 10 to 15 years. Employees also are leaving in significant numbers because of cost-cutting measures. Finally, younger generations don’t see a particular employer as a lifetime commitment and frequently opt for a new door. All these scenarios create critical mass for knowledge management because those employees leave with invaluable knowledge of people, processes, products, services and client relationships. That missing knowledge can leave a significant scar on a company’s ability to tap into its own history. We are in the knowledge economy. The capital in organizations emanates from the brainpower of its employees. Organizations today, regardless of industry, are fundamentally driven by intangible things such as knowledge and relationships. That’s the view of Jacob McNulty, president of Orbital RPM, a consulting firm that positions organizations to compete in a knowledge-based economy. The challenge is clear—establishing a culture of knowledge sharing on an ongoing basis and having a system to capture knowledge before it's gone are essential tools for companies large and small. “Knowledge is pervasive through every aspect of the 21st century organization, and this trend will do nothing but grow exponentially,” McNulty says.

Explicit knowledge is easier to capture because it already is stored in databases, documents and even e-mail messages. This knowledge is shared with a higher degree of accuracy. Tacit knowledge is more abstract. It comes from experiences, perceptions and gutlevel intuition. Often, people are not keenly aware of the knowledge they possess or how it can be valuable to others. Tacit knowledge, however, is considered more valuable because it provides context for people, places, ideas and experiences. Effective transfer of tacit knowledge generally requires extensive personal contact and trust. Sally Wright, president of Alliance Consulting Group, says companies value information that will improve the operation and reflect favorably on the bottom line—profit and growth. Three subtypes of knowledge fit into these categories: • technical knowledge or expertise in field, • organizational knowledge such as how decisions are made and departments interact and • intuitive knowledge of unwritten rules that guide interactions, problem-solving and decision-making. For example, a social worker retires from a hospital system. Her technical knowledge includes how to interview a patient, assist someone with grief issues, write up an intake evaluation, etc. Her organizational knowledge includes what services can be called upon to assist a patient who has no money, what programs are available for alcoholic patients and how to help someone apply for Medicare. Her intuitive knowledge includes when to approach the boss when she wants him to write a patient letter (in the morning when he is not yet overwhelmed), how to get a patient a ride home (call JR in transportation, he’s always helpful) and who’s the best person to ask for emergency room coverage (Emma, who lives next door to the hospital and needs the extra hours).

It also can be defined as the process of preserving, connecting and sharing the knowledge of an organization freely within the organization. When reliable knowledge is freely available throughout the organization, employees are more efficient, make fewer mistakes, avoid redundancy, communicate more effectively with their peers and can draw upon the skills and expertise of the entire organization. Wright says that too few companies have an active, ongoing knowledge management program to retain key information when employees leave. Only about 25 percent of the corporate world and about 30 percent of federal agencies have active knowledge management programs, according to estimates. To create a system, you first must know the three components of knowledge management: • People who create, share and use knowledge and who make up the culture of your organization that nurtures knowledge sharing. • Processes or methods used to acquire, organize, share and transfer knowledge.
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know the types
Knowledge can be divided into two general categories—explicit and tacit. To share both explicit and tacit knowledge, a company must have ongoing processes and resources, McNulty says.
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need a system
Knowledge management is an industry in itself. KM, as it is sometimes referred, is a systematic approach to finding, understanding and using knowledge to achieve organizational objectives.

nO MATTEr THE OrgAnIzATIOn’S SIzE, THE SUCCESS OF KnOWLEDgE MAnAgEMEnT InITIATIVES DEpEnDS UpOn pEOpLE’S WILLIngnESS TO SHArE InFOrMATIOn AnD KnOWLEDgE ABOUT HOW TO ACCESS THE InSIgHT OF OTHErS.

The Leading Edge - Spring 2010 - PKF

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