TOOLS FOR THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY: AN OVERVIEW

CHAPTER II
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT:
AN ESSENTIAL TOOL FOR THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

KNOWLEDGE SHARING: AN EVOLVING DISCIPLINE

By sensing and understanding its environment, the knowing organization is able to engage in continuous learning and innovation. By applying learned decision rules and routines, the knowing organization is primed to take timely, purposive action. At the heart of the knowing organization is its management of the information processes that underpin sense making, knowledge building, and decision making.

INTRODUCTION

This chapter explores the subject of knowledge management (KM), or as it is now commonly known, knowledge sharing, particularly as it relates to knowledge-intensive organizations such as scientific and technology based agencies. Research and interviews on this subject area were conducted in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as through the World Wide Web. The subject matter is crucial to understand when assessing and developing tools to transform governments into a knowledge-based society.
Knowledge sharing is considered by many as an emerging, new discipline to assist organizations to change and adapt in our new, knowledge driven world. The importance of intellectual capital (IC) management (a component of knowledge management) first became widely recognized as a result of a FORTUNE magazine cover story in June 1991. This article led to an explosion of interest in IC concepts and the underlying processes of how to manage and liberate knowledge as a key intangible organizational resource. KM is now becoming an important discipline for many public sector organizations internationally.
This paper will explore the meanings and applications of KM with specific attention to how the concepts apply to government. The focus here is to look at KM applications in both public and private sector organizations with the purpose of illustrating and developing particular applications relevant for organizations seeking to use knowledge sharing as a strategic application in the evolution of a national knowledge-based economy.
This paper will look at:

• Some definitions of knowledge management;
• the relevance of knowledge management to both the public and private sectors;
• case studies where KM has been applied in the public sector;
• recommendations for possible implementation.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT DEFINITIONS

Intellectual capital is intellectual material - knowledge, information, intellectual property, experience - that can be put to use to create wealth. It is the collective brainpower.

Professionals specializing in KM are constantly striving to determine what constitutes "knowledge". The term knowledge is subjective, with different social and organizational contexts shaping the definition. Knowledge includes experience, judgment, intuition, and values.
This broad scope of knowledge translates into an equally broad definition of KM as an articulated philosophy that cuts across many disciplines. The Public Service Commission of Canada defines it as "the process of creating, capturing, and using knowledge to enhance organizational performance."
Karl Erik Sveiby, a founding father of knowledge management, defines it as "the art of creating value by leveraging the intangible assets." According to Sveiby, an individual's competence, consists of the following factors:

• Explicit knowledge involves knowing facts acquired mainly through information, often through formal education.
• Skill involves practical proficiency acquired mainly through training and practice. Experience learnt from mistakes and successes.
• Value judgements, what the individual believes to be right, that act as filters for the process-of-knowing.
• Social networks made up of the individual's relationships with other human beings in an environment and a culture that is transferred through tradition.

Knowledge management includes both the active creation, transfer, application and re-use of (tacit) individual knowledge and of codified (explicit) collective knowledge, supported by new approaches, relationships and technologies, to increase the speed of innovation, decision-making and responsiveness to organizational objectives and priorities.
As a tool KM is an enabler of change that transforms behaviours, shared mental models, deeply-held assumptions and metaphors through which we interpret the world and take action. "Knowledge management", says Dawn Nicholson-O'Brien, Visiting Professor, the Canadian Centre for Management Development, Ottawa, Canada "is first and foremost about human behaviour and cultural transformation, with technology as an enabler in meeting our business requirements."

Tacit, Explicit and Cultural Knowledge

Understanding the differences between "explicit" and "tacit" knowledge is crucial to the application of KM. In fact, one of the most valuable assets in an organization, next to its corporate memory, is the tacit knowledge of individuals. According to I. Nonaka and H. Takeuchi "explicit knowledge can be articulated in formal language and transmitted through, for example, manuals, written specifications etc. Tacit knowledge is seen as personal knowledge, based on individual experience and values and therefore not as easily transmitted." Extracting tacit knowledge has also been identified by some as storytelling, a unique way to gain knowledge from an individual, on any given subject of expertise or experience, based on the individual's unique perspective.

Nonaka and Takeuchi make the point that once an organization incorporates this tacit knowledge into its organizational memory banks, then this knowledge will not be lost once the individual moves on. Tapping into the tacit knowledge of individual employees in public sector organizations can have long-term benefits.

Professor Chun Wei Choo of the University of Toronto adds another dimension to the types of knowledge inherent in organizations. He articulates that, in addition to "tacit" and "explicit" knowledge there is "cultural" knowledge which is "expressed in the assumptions, beliefs and norms used by members (of the organization) to assign value and significance to new information or knowledge."

He expands on this crucial point by explaining how new knowledge is created by knowledge conversion and knowledge linkage. "In knowledge conversion the organization continuously creates new knowledge by converting between the personal, tacit knowledge of individuals who produce creative insight, and the shared, explicit knowledge which the organization needs to develop new products and innovations."

In the burgeoning knowledge economy, knowledge management is central to the functions of private sector organizations. To compete in the knowledge economy, companies must utilize effectively all types of knowledge held within their organizations. KM can add or create value by more actively leveraging know-how, experience and judgment resident within and, in many cases, outside of an organization.

This ability to harness knowledge within an organization can be a key determinant in future growth, contributing to the realization of new opportunities, the more rapid and successful development of new products and services, more efficient manufacturing and distribution processes and, most importantly perhaps, better problem prevention and resolution.

The ability to innovate faster is one of the key results of more effective knowledge management. In 1990, when Lars Kolind became CEO of Copenhagen-based Oticon, one of the world's largest hearing aid manufacturers, he redesigned the organization to enhance communications between design and manufacturing and encouraged employees to choose their own projects and work in fast-moving cross-functional teams. The result was the development and rapid commercialization in 1995 of JUMP-1, the world's first 100% digital hearing instrument at ear level. The return on equity for the company rose from single digits in the 1980s to over 25% in the 1990s.

Netscape Communications is another example of a company that has relied on knowledge management to fuel growth. In this case, however, in March 1998, the company made its key intellectual capital, its browser software source code, available to other parties at no cost and under generous licensing agreements. Netscape hoped to boost the use of its browser products significantly through this calculated strategy of making proprietary knowledge freely accessible.

Whether KM occurs internally or externally, organizations now have ready access to powerful software resources to manage and utilize vast information holdings and human knowledge. The Kaieteur Institute for Knowledge Management predicts the global market for knowledge management software will grow from $400 million in 1996 to in excess of $5 billion by 2000, with more than 20 discrete market segments in which software is now available. With the incentives to use KM and the tools to do so, knowledge management has now become a leading contributor to the success of many private sector organizations.

THE RELEVANCE OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING TO BOTH THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS

One of the curious things about living through a time of whirlwind change is that it is often difficult to understand exactly what is changing. In recent years, new technology has given us the ability to transform basic aspects of our lives: the way we converse and learn; the way we work, play, and shop; even the way we participate in political and social life.

Knowledge is an overriding, important commodity well understood by business and government alike. While knowledge has always been central to the work of many employees, there exists a rich resource of knowledge that often lies dormant. The challenge for the organization is to re-awaken this knowledge within the working environment and put it to good use.

Many experts also state that such knowledge management has been with us for a long time but has been articulated in different ways and other forms. They contend that, although the term "knowledge management" may not have been used, knowledge initiatives reflecting KM concepts ''have become the next phase in the continuous process of improving business performances.''

The emergence of knowledge management as a workable philosophy is also the result of the increasingly sophisticated information and communication technologies now at the disposal of the organization. This has led, in turn, to the identification of specific roles and responsibilities to various categories of KM managers within an organization. TFPL Ltd., a UK consulting firm, has identified a range of full and part time roles supporting business units or communities:

• knowledge leaders, responsible for championing the KM approach in their business unit, quality of knowledge activities, decisions over confidentiality, etc;
• knowledge managers, responsible for the acquisition and management of internal and external knowledge;
• knowledge navigators, responsible for knowing where knowledge can be located;
• knowledge synthesisers, responsible for facilitating the recording of significant project/unit knowledge;
• content editors, responsible for codifying and structuring;
• publishing, responsible for internal publishing functions, principally on an intranet basis;
• coaching and mentoring roles, responsible for assisting individuals throughout their business unit or practice to develop and learn KM activities and disciplines;
• help desk activities, including the delivery of KM and information related;
• 'knowledge workers' in that they are using, manipulating, interpreting and acting on information, and require a knowledge level that empowers them to make decisions and act on their own initiative; and
• Information intensive roles such as Strategic Planning and Competitive Intelligence.

The Knowledge Worker in Organizations

Businesses recognize that they need to harness the knowledge of all of their workers, not just the highly skilled, innovative and creative worker, to compete effectively and to respond to the changing marketplace. Since a person with talent and drive can easily move around within the marketplace, we have seen aggressive programs within business and government both to attract new, skilled workers and to keep current employees. It is the function of the knowledge management worker to ensure that the knowledge assets of such highly valued employees is also put to the most effective use in pursuit of corporate objectives while the worker is with the organization.

Speaking at a June 1999 knowledge management seminar in Ottawa, Hubert Saint-Onge of The Mutual Group (now Clarica Life Insurance Co.) identified the emerging contract between the knowledge worker and the organization. The old contract had the worker claim loyalty and exchange it for a promised future. The new contract is based on the worker being self-initiated, owning his/her own performance, learning and career. So the new contract is: "I will give you my commitment in exchange for the ability to constantly increase my capabilities. If that contract is met I will stay with you. If it is not met I will look elsewhere."

The importance of the knowledge sharing worker is identified in the TFPL study in the UK. Concluding that no single department or function can deliver corporate objectives alone, the TFPL study isolates six characteristics that determine how the overall corporate knowledge management capability is created, shared and utilized. These are through:

• the skills and expertise of the staff;
• their ability to learn and to build knowledge;
• the processes which enable their skills and knowledge to be applied and shared;
• the culture and values which encourage knowledge building and sharing;
• the infrastructure (IT and physical), which supports knowledge building, flow and sharing; and
• the intellectual assets which the organization builds, maintains, organizes and exploits.

Many private sector firms have also named Chief Knowledge Officers or assigned such responsibilities to senior officers in the company with the goal of developing some form of results-oriented knowledge management strategy. In addition to tapping into pools of untapped knowledge, through the conscious application of KM, organizations can also find and reduce duplicative functions that result in financial and personnel waste.

The American Productivity and Quality Centre in Texas has looked at dozens of firms with Chief Knowledge Officers and/or knowledge management networks in place. Companies recognized for the quality of their knowledge management models include Apple Computers, National Semi-Conductor, Ford, Lotus, Monsanto, AMS, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and Pillsbury.

Findings of the Productivity and Quality Centre determine that knowledge flourishes where you have influential thought leaders, a sense of higher purpose and urgency surrounding change, peer pressure from communities of practice to share knowledge, and where contributions are recognized. Six factors have been recognized as fostering a knowledge-sharing culture

• A demonstrable link to the business strategy;
• Fit with the overall culture;
• Open sharing of ideas by leaders and managers, even at a "half-baked stage";
• Trust in the members of human networks;
• A shared sense of responsibility for results; and
• Knowledge sharing is a visible highly sought-after activity, imbedded in daily work.

Successful Examples of Knowledge Management in the Private Sector

As noted above, many private sector organizations are now using the principles of knowledge management as a significant competitive factor for marketplace success. As reported in CIO Enterprise magazine, a 1999 survey found that 97% of senior executives at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting believe KM is a critical issue for them. A 1999 KPMG survey of executives with the largest European companies found that 87% were either considering or actually engaged in knowledge management projects.

Recent entrants to this approach include 3M which has created a Knowledge Sharing Institute, eschewing a CKO role in favour of an entire network of knowledge associates and knowledge sponsors. Other companies including Polaroid, Disney, Hallmark, Citibank, most major banking and financial institutions, and many professional associations, have likewise created small coordination centres that work with all business units across the organization to share and develop knowledge. In addition, many of the large consulting companies around the world, such as Deloitte Touche, KPMG and PWC, now have sections of their firms that specialize in knowledge management.

Unilever Research Laboratories in the Netherlands has developed a process to represent and share statistical information via the Internet. A Unilever-maintained web site allows researchers and other data users to access specific information, dependent on their individual needs and interests. Users can access, collate, and display large amounts of data, generate data sub-sets and carry out a statistical analysis.

SIEMENS in England is using Global Engineering Networking (GEN) to enable companies in related sectors to use and exchange engineering information and services, and to build up a global electronic marketplace for engineers. GENIAL, a European Union funded companion project, allows SIEMENS to develop tools to intelligently access, insert and administer information gathered from partners, customers and suppliers involved in an engineering project. The result is significant cost-savings and improved management of complex projects, with more active and willing participation of SIEMENS partner companies at the early stages of project design. This knowledge sharing between individual experts using a technology enabler has also allowed SIEMENS to develop and effectively manage online product catalogues.

Companies such as Motorola and Stockholm-based Skandia have taken the next step to formalize and measure KM processes within their organizations. While years of organized process improvement at Motorola's pager assembly line has generated a wealth of knowledge about how each of the steps of the process interact and react to change, Motorola has now established executive institutes to educate managers at all levels to address the future of the organization and their contribution to goals. These institutes often result in participants forming worldwide teams directed at solving specific issues for the whole organization. Institutes may last from two days to three weeks and help align managers on specific issues and courses of action. To continuously generate new knowledge, factory floor employees study computer-aided design, robotics and customized manufacturing through Programmable Automation Literacy (PAL) laboratories that provide a hands-on learning environment for operators in facilities throughout the world. Motorola also encourages a knowledge-based approach to product innovation through annual competitions among employee teams to design new products and processes. Teams include employees, suppliers, customers, service centers or dealers who may be located throughout the world.

Leif Edvinsson, internationally renowned for his contribution to the theory and measurement of intellectual capital, is Vice-President and Corporate Director of intellectual capital at Stockholm-based Skandia. He led the development of the Skandia Navigator which provides a balanced, overall picture of operations - a balance between past (financial focus), the present (customer focus, process focus and human focus), and the future (renewal of the development focus).

According to Skandia, "the Navigator is also aimed at raising employee commitment. It allows a breakdown of the operation's vision and overall objectives into more concrete factors that can be coupled to [the] individuals' own work. "

Looking at some of the cases cited above, some clear characteristics emerge. Successful companies recognize the individual values of their knowledge workers and the importance of extracting knowledge from these individuals. Many companies use technology enablers to better exploit and develop the tacit, explicit and cultural knowledge found within their organization. This knowledge is then strategically used to expand the company's knowledge capital and derive tangible benefits ranging from higher quality service, more efficient delivery of services, and increased profits.

Unlocking the value of corporate knowledge can have a significant impact on a company's financial performance. In the mid 1990s Hewlett Packard created a working environment for its more than 100,000 employees that focussed on access to and sharing of corporate knowledge through technology tools such as Lotus Notes, a directory of HP experts known as Connex, and a computer dealer channel known as HP Network News that incorporates real-world information needs of product distributors. As a result of all of these initiatives, HP saw an annual revenue growth rate averaging 25% through the mid 90s.

Such empowerment of employees through better access to and sharing of knowledge is transforming the structure of organizations. In the past, information and knowledge flowed from the top and reflected a hierarchical decision making process where power also emanated from the top. Now workers at all levels of the organization can readily seek new information and knowledge outside of the traditional knowledge structures. This information may be more useful and accurate than knowledge obtained from within the organization.

Empowerment especially of younger and more information technology-conscious workers reaps rewards. According to Skandia's Leif Edvinsson, in the case of the Internet, it is usually the savvy young user who is far more aware of the importance of this medium. Many companies in the past few years have fallen off the Fortune 500 list because they failed to understand that information and communication technologies are transforming organizational knowledge management, and hence, effective decision-making and business strategies.

Edvinsson defines IC as "the sum of structural capital and human capital, indicating future earnings capability from a human perspective… [with] …the capabilities to continuously create and deliver superior value." But he does not believe that IC is the exclusive domain of the private sector, and takes pride that Sweden has issued a national IC Report (as has Israel).

The IC Report recognizes the importance of knowledge management within the public sector and society in general and the need to find innovative approaches to sharing this information between government and its citizenry.

Knowledge Management between Government and Citizenry

In the Digital economy we are seeing an increasing power shift from the company and product to the worker and consumer. If we are indeed entering an information/knowledge society then it is a society where the right type of people are highly prized assets.

The Internet has brought about a decentralization of power. In the wired world, individuals can now make their own choices as to which authorities and information sources they will accept. This is leading to a greater democratization of knowledge, empowerment of the individual, and the potential for more informed interactions between the citizenry and organizations, including government. Moreover, since individuals now have ready access to a variety of information resources, organizations have to adopt new proactive measures to compile and disseminate information in a competitive information environment.

A citizenry that is able to seek and obtain information and knowledge from any place in the world through the Internet will, in all likelihood, also expect more from government. There is also the opportunity for a paradigm shift in which governments benefit even more from the intellectual capital of the citizenry. In a knowledge driven economy, the intellectual capital of the citizen could become government's, and society's, most important asset. Knowledge management principles can be the key to managing this transition and effectively creating this new, interactive knowledge-sharing environment.

Application of KM principles will also be necessary if government institutions are to maintain a role as an authoritative source of useful and relevant information. With public perceptions continuously changing due to the empowering nature of communication technologies, new creative and innovative environments will continually evolve on the Internet. Many authors like Andrew Shapiro contend that the nature of government and governance will be transformed as a result, driven by the changes technology is creating in society.

In Canada, the federal and provincial governments are moving more and more towards the electronic delivery of integrated services across the country. In the October, 1999 Throne speech the Federal government announced their continuing commitment to the Connecting Canadians program. The federal government has launched several major infrastructure and access initiatives in their efforts to be the most connected country in the world. These include the Canadian Access Program and ACCESS. CA.

ACCESS.CA is the portal into the federal government and is designed to lead the citizen very quickly to the specific service or information from government that he/she wants.

CASE STUDIES WHERE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT HAS BEEN APPLIED IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Overall, whatever the term employed to describe it, knowledge management is increasingly seen not merely as the latest management fashion, but as signaling the development of a more organic and holistic way of understanding and exploiting the role of knowledge in the processes of managing and doing work, and an authentic guide for individuals and organizations in coping with the increasingly complex and shifting environment of the modern economy.

Knowledge Management within the World Bank Group

The Washington DC-based World Bank Group provides loans and technical assistance to developing countries around the world, maintaining offices in 80 countries. As stated by one World Bank Economic Development Institute (EDI) official, "the World Bank is changing its vision of itself from that of a financial bank to that of a knowledge bank, with increasing attention given to supporting knowledge institutions in its borrowing member countries."

Such support has a variety of dimensions, including knowledge codification (i.e., so useful knowledge is not embedded in individuals); enhancing the learning environment (e.g., less delivery of EDI courses in Washington, and more development of local knowledge institutions); connectivity & networking, to take advantage of the rapid development of telecommunications and related technologies; and a focus on pilot countries to see how these issues fit together in practice.

To achieve the objectives, the Bank has a six-person knowledge management secretariat whose sole responsibility has been to reorganize the Bank's international activities using KM principles and to apply them internally. Among 8000 staff members there are now 500 full time and 300 part time knowledge management workers. World Bank Group President, James D. Wolfensohn, has stated that the application of knowledge management within the organization and to all the countries the Bank deals with (especially developing countries) is more important than the lending of money.

The Bank describes KM as "collecting information, connecting people and applying experience and expertise to relevant situations. " Adnan Hassan, a member of the Bank's Knowledge Management Secretariat, also believes this activity is far more important to a developing country than the simple borrowing of money. "If you tell them how to do it, and you support them with resources to get them started, then you have them on the road to prosperity and happiness. You have armed them with the capacity to succeed."

The strong focus on the importance of knowledge and its applications, which began in 1997, has also included renewing the skills of the organization's office workers, fine tuning strategic missions, and reorganizing the administrative structure of the Bank.

To prepare for the rapid rate of change in the 21st century, the Bank is embedding a philosophy that management and sharing of knowledge should be an integral part of the institution. While the Bank has always transferred and shared knowledge, it is now viewing this process as a distinct activity, backed with specifically identified human, administrative, financial and technological resources. The World Bank staff are also becoming facilitators, as they put workers in different countries together to share particular

The Knowledge Management Secretariat is the strategic hub for the Bank's KM activities and, in turn, is directed by a Knowledge Management Board. The Board, which develops and ensures implementation of the overall KM strategy, includes operational vice-presidents, support vice-presidents and other senior officials within the Bank. The Board has provided the KM Secretariat with a budget of U.S. $55 million over three years (1997 - 2000).

Bank knowledge workers themselves worked in communities that have been created throughout the institution, reflecting specific areas of expertise and responsibility, all of which report up through an administrative structure to the KM Board. Knowledge workers are expected to actively engage in knowledge sharing, including their area of research, the information libraries they have, and information concerning electronic transfer of funds and loans' activity.

While the KM structure has been articulated, application has been a challenge as the Bank attempts to achieve its objectives that, wherever a staff member may be in the world, there should be access to the Bank's knowledge resources.

Ensuring the relevance and value of knowledge also requires obtaining information, knowledge and insights from Bank clients in various countries around the world that is then transferred back to the Bank. Field employees are being taught to further this sharing concept. When a Bank employee gains some insight or knowledge in a country where he is working, he or she is encouraged to transmit this back to the appropriate person within the Bank. One of the main ways this is done is through email.

The Bank has other means of collecting and disseminating information. To bring people together electronically or physically to facilitate what individual staff members are trying to achieve, in addition to meetings in Washington, the Bank regularly convenes meetings through the Internet, video conferencing and other technology such as conference calls.

The Bank has a distance learning studio with satellite links and other communication technologies in Washington as well as a publishing arm through which papers and a variety of other information is available. Top experts are invited by the Bank to do presentations and seminars to employees. Brown bag lunches are organized within the Bank to encourage employees to discuss various projects they are working on. Inherent to all of these activities is implicit recognition of the importance of knowledge sharing and knowledge management.

Overlying this activity is the KM Secretariat's objective of a community of practices - based on thematic groups. These are the engines for their knowledge banks. For example, within the energy, mining and telecommunications sector, there are seven thematic groups, including one on information infrastructure, the mission of which is to promote effective implementation of telecommunications and information technology applications for poverty alleviation and social development. This thematic group is addressing such key sub-sectoral issues as telecommunications liberalization, rural telephony, networking, national information infrastructure policy development, strategic information, and systems portfolio development. The efforts of thematic groups will lead to more rapid cross pollination of ideas between countries and cultures.

The community of practice concept also encompasses seven surrounding support activities which are described in the following chart (see Fig. 1 on next page).

This KM activity is positioning the World Bank as one of the leading creators, connectors, and facilitators of knowledge in the development community.

Despite this powerful vision backed by commitment, funding, people, and technology and administrative resources, the KM Secretariat has encountered some problems getting Bank staff to accept this new system. Problems encountered include:

• resistance to change;
• entrenched ideas on "how something works";
• unwillingness to share knowledge for fear of giving up some "power" one might have;
• Silo thinking - i.e., the information flows only within one division of an organization and does cross to other parts of the organization.

To help overcome these problems, in the future Bank staff will be assessed, as part of their employee evaluation, on the degree to which they are able to share knowledge. This is a broad goal which is now only being applied in theory. The results will hinge on the degree to which knowledge can be shared, and people within organizations can develop the idea that sharing is essential, both for their own careers and to further the goals of the organization and their clients.

The World Bank has acknowledged that changing employee attitudes about information sharing is a huge task and will involve a major cultural shift. Individuals will have to learn that by sharing knowledge they are not losing anything from their power base (no matter how small or large). This will come through training and experience, say many experts.

The Bank's strategy has been to organize internally first. Now the next major step will be to organize in the field to improve services to clients and help them to solve their problems in more effective ways. Through application of KM, the Bank believes useful knowledge will be more rapidly shared to achieve the overall goal of alleviating poverty in client countries.

It is still too early to assess the effectiveness of the Bank's application of KM principles. Nevertheless, initial results show that many clients want to know about the principles and are looking for a template that can be applied in their own jurisdictions. It is considered that the internal marketing of KM principles, stressing the importance of internal knowledge sharing, will remain a critical attribute for long term success of the initiative.

Community of Practice - people who gather knowledge in their field and share a common area of expertise and/or an interest in common problems

Development Statistics - On-line statistics and indicators, includes key sector statistics and other data needed to help clients

Help Desk/Advisory Services - people who connect others with the right knowledge and/or people - serving internal and external clients

Directory of Expertise - a tool to search for the people with the right skills

Engagement information - transaction information related to bank activities such as preparation, appraisal, and supervision of operations past, present, and future

Dialogue Space - an electronic world where people working together on projects can exchange knowledge, ask questions, and get answers, whether the participants are situated in or outside the Bank

External Access - a mechanism to ensure the availability of relevant materials to external clients and partners, as well as incorporate external contributions into the Bank's knowledge base

KMS On-line - the Bank's electronic knowledge system, where know-how is stored and made accessible, initially to Bank staff and ultimately to external clients and partners.

"Modernising Government" is an important initiative of the UK Government. According to a Modernising Government White Paper this new initiative is a program of reform for the future that will see better provisioning of services from all levels of government. While the key focus is on information and services delivery through one-stop shops, single contacts which link in to a range of government departments and use of electronic information-age services, the government has recognized that application of knowledge management principles will play a significant role in advancing the objectives.

One government department that has taken a lead role in this initiative is the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) through its Knowledge Management Unit, established in March 1999.

As identified by Pat Langford, Assistant Director of the Knowledge Management Unit, DTI has a mission to assist companies to survive and compete in the globalized economy. A working paper, DTI2000, published in March 1999, recognized that to be able to cope early in the next century with changes being brought by information and communication technologies and the shift in attitudes in the population, it was going to be important to change how departments operated. Implementing a knowledge management strategy became a central part of this change.

DTI's KM Unit harnesses knowledge from the department's own vast information resources and is seeking ways to extract knowledge from private companies which could be useful in servicing the public. Achieving these goals means resolving many internal hurdles, not least of which is the fact that employees of this huge government agency are spread out in many buildings across London. Information is dispersed throughout these complexes and is not routinely shared.

On top of the separation of physical locations is the current silo approach to information management taken by the units within the DTI. In this organizational framework, data, information and knowledge move vertically but not horizontally. DTI wants to break down these barriers to create a sharing culture.

The KM Unit in DTI perceives that the Modernising Government initiative is stimulating other wider changes within government. There is recognition that the type of people to promote into senior management positions will have to change. In the past, senior management has consisted largely of analysts who have had the ability to rationalize and put issues into a policy perspective. Creative and innovative people have tended not to be in these ranks. Now, says Ms. Langford, "what is needed most in these new environments are creative and innovative people who know and understand the new society that is emerging." She adds that KM implementation "celebrates innovation as much as it recognizes the role of the analyst."

One of the first tasks of the DTI Unit was to end the hoarding of information by developing a strategy on how to create a sharing culture. They wanted to educate individuals on how to become a more valuable member of the team. The DTI Unit sought to teach people the skills to extract what they know, i.e. to draw upon their tacit knowledge. They recognized that people often aren't aware that they possess unique and valuable knowledge.

One early project the KM Unit is considering is the development of a comprehensive off line and on line yellow pages directory that effectively assists people making enquiries. At the moment it is very difficult not only to find the coordinates of any government employee, but also to find the right person in the Department. The Yellow Pages Directory would lay out the duties of a particular position, a brief description, the person involved and contact numbers. Thus, a member of the public could do either a name or a function oriented search.

Another project is to set up a system on the Department's Intranet whereby all members of the different departments in DTI would be able to share papers written by staff. Currently, employees need special code numbers to access different databases which are scattered and in different formats. Organizing and codifying a common database of existing information with a good search engine would provide wider access to the Department's knowledge assets, and would avoid expensive duplication of effort by allowing other employers to see what had already been done.

The KM Unit also wants the Department to coordinate all its information gathering and information queries from the public. At the moment all information queries into DTI are done in isolation. By developing a "one-stop shop" approach, the KM Unit hopes the public will more easily get to the right site or, in the case of a person engaged in an off line query, be directed to the right individual. If a member of the public or another government department calls an information line, the person answering will be trained in how to answer or direct the query. The employee would have direct online access and the ability to get the required referral immediately, with direct onward routing of calls.

With the Modernising Government mandate coming from the Prime Minister's Office, there is leeway for departments to get needed funding and personnel. Langford says DTI will be growing as they bring in the needed resources to implement their plans. The approach they want to take is to create different projects for the types of knowledge gathering to be undertaken. This would also hold true for any departmental reorganization to better utilize or exploit knowledge within DTI.

Langford also notes the value of high level leadership (in this case, the Prime Minister's office in ensuring successful KM implementation). There is resistance to change that comes from senior levels of an organization and, as Langford says, "It is difficult for senior executives to start thinking radically when in their minds things are ticking along quite nicely."

An interview with Pat Langford, some five months after initiatives began within DTI reveals substantive progress on a number of fronts. Among specific projects now underway are the following:

• Learning at DTI - an in-house "university" open to all DTI staff, combining instructors with on-line resources to acquaint staff with the principles of KM and use of the Internet;
• ELGAR (Electronic Government and Administration Re-engineering) - a major upgrade of the information technology infrastructure (upgrading of computer equipment and move to a Windows NT environment from an outdated Windows 3.1 environment along with re-engineering of processes, including electronic documents records management);
• Information Architecture - a re-design of how information within the Department is managed to ensure that knowledge is properly captured and structured;
• Human Resource Policies Review - a recognition of the need to re-vamp HR policies to formally recognize and reward behaviours that contribute to knowledge sharing;
• "Yellow Pages" Directories - DTI is creating a directory where all staff will be identified by name, job title, job functions and areas of expertise, as well as telephone, and e-mail coordinates. Unique to this directory will be a personal web page for every employee to list his/her experience and skills (with photos of themselves, if desired) on a voluntary basis. The Department will encourage employees to participate in this web page program and the Knowledge management Unit will have their web pages on line by year-end as an exemplar.
• Round Table Event - DTI organized an event where 150 employees from all levels of the Department came together to exchange ideas about how to collaborate more effectively. DTI's Permanent Secretary participated in the event. This brainstorming session captured many work processes and how they could be improved. Subsequent focus groups are being used to refine ideas documented during the workshop. Another larger workshop of some 400 employees is now being planned. DTI hopes to ensure a sizeable percentage of "knowledge management cynics" participate in this second event.
• Knowledge Management Awareness Program - an Internet-equipped resource centre has been set up where KM workers can explain to other employees how to access and use Internet-based KM tools in their work.
• COBRA - COBRA is a Lotus Notes-based media response system whereby the Department's senior management and press office will be able to respond more quickly to breaking news stories and events. It depends upon KM tools to quickly access relevant data and instantly make it available to senior officials and media relations staff.
• Flexible Project Teams - DTI is trying to beak down "silo" mentality by establishing flexible project teams that "borrow" employees from other units.
• Plant Data Exchange - DTI is beginning to build up data on companies the department deals with, including a log of which unit the company dealt with, who they corresponded with, what information or knowledge was exchanged. This process is designed to help the department understand its client base better and how to improve services to clients. A key question being asked of employees is to think about output - what trade and industry clients want from the department and how their needs can be better met.

A general theme running through all of these initiatives is how to tie them in to the Modernizing Government initiative. Langford acknowledges that this initiative has overtaken some of the department's own programs and is forcing the department to think more outside of the box and consider bigger issues such as the capability of the department to truly effect the necessary level of change within their own current resources. Questions being asked of all departments include "Are we doing enough, do we need specialized change managers and do we have all the skills to do it?"

An early general conclusion reached from this process is also the realization that "great minds don't think alike" and the resulting need to build teams with very diverse people. Langford states that the department needs to promote people with "creativity and people skills, not just intellectual skills.

On a pan-government level, the Modernising Government White Paper also recognizes that many of the changes in society are coming about because of information and communication technologies. The Cabinet Office's Central Information Technology Unit (CITU), responsible for developing and implementing the technological changes, has recognized that the citizen in today's environments wants interactivity.

This, and the need to disseminate knowledge quickly if it is to have value in policy making has led the UK Department for International Development to back an Internet-based system which links development research and researchers directly to policymakers and development practitioners around the world through a new web site. Hosted by the Institute of Development Studies, the initiative is known as ID21 - or Information for Development in the 21st Century. Its key feature is a searchable online collection of short, one-page (500-word) digests of the latest social and economic research studies across 30 key topic fields. ID21 is now online and can be found at: http://www.ID21.org.

The Information for Development in the 21st Century is a prime example of knowledge sharing, without actually calling it by this name. This KM initiative came out of Cranfield University to capture the constant stream of development research findings of UK-based academics, consultants and NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations). This, in turn, is contributing to an informed, interactive citizenry that can then participate in the democratic process at a higher plane than currently exists.

Some Canadian Federal Government Initiatives

We need to develop resilient people who operate in nimble organizations where learning is considered a crucial asset. Most organizations, and the TBS and the federal government are no exception to this, are seeking to encourage knowledge-sharing at a faster rate than ever before, across organizational boundaries and disciplines.

The emergence of the Corporate Renewal and Knowledge Management Office in the Treasury Board Secretariat is a significant development. There has been an informal, Interdepartmental Knowledge Management Task Force in existence for the last two years. While the 40 members on this Task Force represent most federal agencies, the members have come largely from middle management and have not been seen as senior strategic decision-makers in the application of KM. With the emergence of the Office in the senior echelons of the Treasury Board, knowledge management is now working its way into the strategic thinking of the Federal government. Support from this level means that the knowledge management agenda should move significantly forward in the coming months. The Canadian government is considered a leader in knowledge management.

At Human Resources and Development Canada (HRDC) a group of Assistant Deputy Ministers, together with the Deputy Minister, established a Knowledge Management Task Force that cuts across all business lines and regions to develop related strategies to meet future challenges. Four teams are looked at:

• the design and production of knowledge
• human capacity
• delivery of information to clients and employees
• governance and accountability issues.

The Service and Innovation initiative in Treasury Board is being delivered, in conjunction with Human and Resources Development Canada, Industry Canada, and others, to ensure the integrated delivery of services to citizens, whether these services originate with the federal government, or with other governments and partners. Maximum use is being made of technologies that offer a user-friendly, timely and cost-effective interface.

Health Canada has launched a major knowledge management initiative in pursuit of a larger goal - the creation of a Canada Health Infoway, or pan Canadian health information highway. As described in the report, Canada Health Infoway: Paths to Better Health: "the Canada Health Infoway can help significantly to improve the quality, accessibility, portability and efficiency of health services across the entire spectrum of care. [This report] is also about how the Infoway can enable the creation, analysis and dissemination of the best possible evidence from across Canada and around the world as a basis for informed decisions by patients, citizens, informal caregivers, health professionals and providers, and health managers and policymakers. "

Health Canada is deploying several strategic initiatives to achieve its vision of effective knowledge management to expand the evidence base for health planning, improve policy planning and enhance services delivery. These include the following steps:

• Develop a knowledge culture including the establishment of a Chief Knowledge Officer, the creation of a capacity to improve and implement knowledge strategy (frameworks, priorities, plans), and to lead knowledge culture initiatives (communities of practice, knowledge-maps, sharing). Knowledge business specialists would ensure that knowledge, information and data are developed, found or acquired and that technology tools (discussion databases, intranet) are identified and built, to meet business needs.
• Conduct analysis and research by creating an internal capacity (staff, analytical frameworks, methodologies, publications, reports, briefing notes, seminars, conferences), influencing the national health research agenda, and developing skills (all staff), and "absorptive" capacity.
• Create a health infostructure by identifying, nurturing, investing and partnering in projects, consulting stakeholders, and developing and influencing policy and standards (privacy, security, connectivity).
• Provide enterprise IM and IT services by developing and maintaining architectures, infrastructure and tools.

While the above examples are of embryonic KM initiatives within the federal government, it is clear that government recognizes the value of KM principles to adapt to the demands of this knowledge-based environment. Public sector organizations are beginning to capitalize on the four identifiable elements of knowledge management:

• collective information resources;
• the intellectual capital of individuals;
• the multitude of external resources available to government; and
• the input of citizens who now have the capacity to play an interactive role in the process of government.

It is also clear that success of these initiatives will depend upon both leadership and commitment at senior levels of government organizations to break down barriers and "silo thinking". It will also require more refined use of one of the most important resources - the intellectual capital of people who work in the public service.

Building on in-house knowledge presents a strong challenge. It is not sufficient simply to tell employees in an organization that they need to share their knowledge. There has to be understanding as to what particular pieces of knowledge held by the individual are important to the organization.

Following are some basic principles that can be applied to this process:

• recognizing and building on in-house individual expertise;
• formalizing to varying degrees the harnessing of knowledge through the use of appropriate systems;
• passing on knowledge;
• developing knowledge from an individual asset into a corporate/organizational one;
• encouraging the growth of an open corporate culture in which knowledge is viewed as being central to organizational development and to the efficiency of methods of business operation.

To be successful, the leadership within an organization must embrace Knowledge Sharing concepts, and its precepts. More importantly, it must be a key component in the strategic vision of the organization. An additional, vital component is that there need to be designated officials and supporting staff to reorganize the organization and implement the principles of knowledge management to maximum benefit.

It is inherently clear that virtually every employee is a potential source of data, information and insights that constitute, in one form or another, a source of knowledge that is or could be invaluable to the goals and aims of the organization. The degree to which an organization manages knowledge to its advantage and forwarding of its strategic vision, is the degree to which the leaders of the organization can draw upon this source of potential wealth.