What does knowledge management need?
Technical experts never promise to publicize: "technology is feasible." The fact is-this promise masks a question: What can we do? A problem that knowledge management often ignores is to ask what kind of knowledge is managed and what kind of effect will be achieved. Knowledge management activities are carried out in an all-round way: establishing databases, measuring intellectual capital, establishing enterprise libraries, establishing intranets, * * enjoying best practices, installing components, conducting training, transforming corporate culture, promoting cooperation, and creating teams. All these are knowledge management, and every employee may complain, but no one has asked the biggest question: Why should knowledge management be carried out?
Definition and selection
The simplest reason why knowledge management resources are not accepted is that those jobs are useless. Work and knowledge complement each other.
Just as the method of managing an enterprise depends on the industry it is engaged in-General Motors produces cars instead of building parking lots, gas stations or highways-knowledge management must start with choosing the type of knowledge to be managed, and it is useless to build a library full of knowledge.
Before implementing knowledge management, first answer three basic questions:
1. What is a work team? The primary task of knowledge management is to choose whether it is called analysis series or management series, and then put the primary responsibility of knowledge management content there. This is not a necessary part of the functional component. For example, project teams with overlapping functions define the enjoyment of "knowledge space". This does not mean that the chief knowledge officer has not played a role. Some resources are needed by everyone. Without the same knowledge, there is no reason for the company to revolve around one person.
2. What does the work team need to know? It is important to distinguish information from knowledge. Information is timely and knowledge is persistent. Every work team needs information management and information resources, which can be transformed into databases. You can judge the needs by asking questions and meet their needs in the fastest, lowest cost and most effective way.
By asking customers, you will also find the knowledge they need. Most people regard knowledge as a whole, and only review it occasionally. Sales staff of Cigna Insurance Company use decision support software to prepare insurance policies for customers in California. The software stores a large number of special cases and actuarial schemes. CIGNA's insurance salesmen don't really need this knowledge. For them, the task of knowledge management is to create a tool, which can quickly combine the actuary's calculation with the actual risk, teach the method of using the tool, cultivate the ability to meet customers and establish customer relations, and consult experts directly when special problems arise. The knowledge management of insurance actuaries in CIGNA Company is very special.
The core of this difference is the principle of knowledge management: knowledge should be managed where it produces value. The design, development and use of systems that support knowledge management must be applied in your way of thinking, not in the industrial field, or those people in your company who create value and use knowledge differently from you.
Do you advocate standardized management or customized management? It is impossible for a company to reuse knowledge and reply to the completed work. Therefore, successful knowledge management is to establish an effective database containing all completed work records. But for companies that need creative work, encyclopedias will be a huge failure. At PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bentley imagined that Kraken Tentacles Of The Deep would be full of research reports; He is wrong, because team members are "creative" and their purpose is "more creative". They need a cup of coffee, not the library. Their problems are new and unorganized. They are not eager for answers, but they need to communicate with smart people.
For innovative employees, the purpose of knowledge management is often to promote the formation of professional work teams. One of the biggest dangers of knowledge management technology is that when innovation becomes the core of a company's value orientation, it will spend money on knowledge reuse. If nothing new is produced, it will be a waste.
On the contrary, you know the knowledge needed for new product strategy-clear tasks, clear processes and similar problems-which can be customized and automated under the guidance of knowledge management strategy to form a development model. Even in this case, we should be alert to the mistakes caused by technical problems. John Healy Brown and Paul Duguid of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center oppose Moore's Law to explain this problem:
"Moore's Law ... mistakenly believes that stronger functions can solve problems ... more information, optimized processes, improved data mining functions, faster connections, wider bandwidth, stronger encryption systems-this is the whole answer. We don't need to think deeply, we are just encouraged to strengthen our memory.
Information technology is more suitable for information than knowledge. It tries to turn knowledge into an object similar to information. Amrit Tiwana, author of Knowledge Management Tools, said: "After success, there will be problems. "Information does not need to be transformed into knowledge. A lot of knowledge is implicit and inherent in people's minds. "
Eternal management topics are: technology and people, software and hardware, theory 1 and theory 2, theory and reality. Debate these issues, knowledge management will be in trouble. Management knowledge is undoubtedly a good thing. It is important to manage knowledge that is useful to the business market, customers and suppliers.
Andrew Michuda, the director of Sopheon, who provides knowledge management software and manages a network of more than 1000 experts and analysts, explained the wrong direction of knowledge management: "Mechanical application of knowledge management will fail. People need to use effective technology for rich communication and pay attention to knowledge-driven business applications. Knowledge management is not only an isolated button on PC, but also more effective when it is combined with important business processes.
What does your client want you to know? Intellectual raw materials-facts, knowledge topics, technology, etc. -What do you need? Can these be found in documents or news? Will customers ask you new ideas? Or do they want your work to be perfect How does the work work? The answers to these questions reveal the structure and content of knowledge management, which will make your company more insightful.
Analysis of six failure cases of knowledge management
9. 1 1 The terrorist attack exposed the defects of information communication of relevant departments in the United States. In fact, several months before the terrorist attacks, the branches of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Minnesota and Phoenix had collected some ominous information. However, the two branches did not communicate relevant information. If their respective information had been shared and kept vigilant, this disaster might have been avoided.
The closure of knowledge information will also cause heavy losses to the company. Many companies have realized the importance of knowledge management and are willing to invest, but the results are very small. If you look at the company's knowledge management methods, you can find the problems in their implementation.
Here, we will list the typical cases of enterprises failing to implement knowledge management, make a simple analysis, and put forward the ideas and methods to solve them, hoping to help the implementation of enterprise knowledge management.
One of the reasons for failure: blind people touch elephants and talk to themselves.
Failure case:
The boss of a high-tech enterprise in Beijing came into contact with knowledge management during his EMBA study and thought it necessary to implement knowledge management in his company, so he launched a knowledge management project within the company and appointed a human resource manager to take charge. However, human resource managers have never been exposed to knowledge management before. Through training and self-study, they made the implementation plan of knowledge management, and put forward that the most important thing in knowledge management is to enjoy knowledge. It is suggested to purchase a knowledge management software platform, so that R&D engineers can regularly submit relevant knowledge achievements.
After the introduction of the knowledge management software, the human resource manager formulated the relevant system, requiring each R&D engineer and salesperson to submit how many knowledge documents per week. The manager of R&D department complained to the boss that the knowledge management system had seriously affected their work, but the employees in the sales department were determined not to do it. The boss supports the human resource manager and thinks that knowledge management should be enjoyed and implemented.
Three months later, the manager reported the knowledge management work to the boss and said how many records were in the knowledge base. But the manager of the R&D department said that people in his department never read those things. The knowledge base has become a junk library.
After half a year, the boss's interest shifted, and the company's knowledge management went away.
Case study:
The top leaders of enterprises are very sensitive to the development of enterprises because they directly face the competitive pressure of the market. Most of them easily accept the concept of knowledge management and try to implement and popularize it in their own organizations. But their understanding is one-sided, without a comprehensive cognition and expectation. The entrusted department managers may not have a comprehensive and systematic understanding of knowledge management, and each has his own ideas. Therefore, there is a lack of consensus on knowledge management within the company.
There are two reasons for this situation: on the one hand, knowledge management itself (a relatively new subject with a wide range of contents and short communication time), on the other hand, there are more information noises in the communication of knowledge management, which leads people to be misled, form wrong understanding or generalize, and blind people touch the image and talk to themselves. In a company, senior, middle and ordinary employees have their own knowledge and ideas of knowledge management. If these knowledge cannot be unified into * * * knowledge, it will be difficult to ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of knowledge management.
The way to crack:
To solve this problem, first of all, people and teams responsible for promoting knowledge management must master what knowledge management is and how to do it through learning, training and communication, then influence leaders and colleagues internally, and finally reach a * * * understanding of knowledge management within an organization.
The second reason for failure: there is no plan to follow your feelings.
Failure case:
A deputy director of the strategic development department is responsible for the knowledge management project of a steel company. After investigation, the after-sales service department with the strongest demand requires all employees in the after-sales department to sort out the knowledge on their computers and then store it in the document library of their own department working group in different categories. * * * The category 12 has been established for employees to inquire.
But most employees don't know what to sort out, which is knowledge and which is information, and they don't know which kind to put after sorting out, so they can only supplement it according to their own feelings. More importantly, because some knowledge documents are confidential, these employees don't know whether to choose * * * or confidentiality, or whose * * * to use. Most employees submitted some content, but few people read it, and they couldn't find it or didn't know how to find it when they wanted to see it.
After this, the knowledge management of after-sales service is over, and the vice minister continues to do the knowledge management of the next department.
Case study:
Many enterprises did not plan knowledge management when they started to implement it. As a result, senior leaders, department managers and grass-roots employees don't know what knowledge management should do, how to do it, and what kind of results will be achieved in the end. Without planning, there is no standard to measure the effect. Because there is no planning, enterprises don't know what to do and what not to do when they engage in knowledge management. They grab their eyebrows and beards, or think about what to do, and then their enthusiasm fades.
The way to crack:
For large enterprises, the main way to solve this problem lies in the in-depth investigation and analysis of the company's current situation with the assistance of consultants to find out the existing problems; Interview with senior leaders and departments, make clear the long-term and short-term objectives of knowledge management implementation, and find out the implementation methods and paths: in which departments to pilot first, then how to promote in different departments, how to integrate into the business process of enterprises, how to evaluate the effect of knowledge management implementation, etc. Then make a scientific and comprehensive knowledge management plan and implementation plan, and advance step by step. For small-scale enterprises, even without the assistance of consultants, it is necessary to formulate knowledge management plans and promotion plans. Only in this way can we promote it in a targeted manner.
The third reason for failure: there is no person in charge or the wrong person is chosen.
Failure case:
The person in charge of implementing knowledge management in a large group enterprise is a young man who just graduated with a master's degree. The boss wanted to implement knowledge management, and found that the master's thesis of a newly graduated student was about knowledge management, so he put the student in charge of the implementation of knowledge management.
As a fresh graduate with no work experience, I am not familiar with the company itself and business. The young man wants to do knowledge management research and can't design a questionnaire at all. When he wanted to go to the relevant departments to make demands, the people in the relevant departments did not support him at all. Later, the boss was so anxious that he had to suggest that the boss buy a software first. But because he doesn't know the demand, the boss doesn't know what kind of knowledge management software system he should choose, so he suggests choosing a cheaper one first, so that he will take less responsibility if something goes wrong.
Case study:
For this ridiculous arrangement, we can only pray that this young man is a genius.
To organize and implement knowledge management, there must be a special person in charge. Any management work must be assigned to people, otherwise he can't finish it automatically and spontaneously. At present, there are still many enterprises that have implemented knowledge management in China without clear knowledge management leaders.
The way to crack:
Select the right person and team to be responsible for knowledge management. Knowledge management involves all aspects of the organization and is a job that requires a high degree of "political" skills. Therefore, the person in charge of knowledge management must understand the enterprise (what is the profit model of this enterprise, what makes money by it, and what are its core competitiveness and main resources) and its core business. It is better to have worked in a core department, and it is also important to have influence and charisma, because many tasks of knowledge management are driven by influence rather than administrative orders.
The fourth reason of failure: hijacked by software and consulting vendors.
Failure case:
In 2003, the author participated in a case seminar on knowledge management in a research institute. At that time, a leader in charge of knowledge management in the college introduced their experience and there were many media interviews. This activity is organized by their software vendors, and both sides have their own needs: the leaders of the institute are famous and the software vendors benefit. Later, I learned that the manufacturer "fixed" the decision-makers and knowledge management managers on the knowledge management project in the enterprise, and began to publicize the project before it was done, inviting these people to introduce their experiences and publicize it in the media.
Finally, when these people find that the software they bought is not as promised by the manufacturer at the beginning, or even far from it, they can't say anything, because they introduce the experience of "success" everywhere, and they can only do it themselves if they don't do it well, so they have to swallow it.
In 2005, the knowledge management software they bought was no longer used, and no one mentioned knowledge management again.
Case study:
When implementing knowledge management, many large and medium-sized enterprises will choose to consult suppliers and system providers. Many enterprises preparing to implement knowledge management are "fooled" by software and consulting companies because they are extremely lacking in experience and knowledge in knowledge management. The most terrible thing is that before the project is started, these manufacturers will help users create public opinion, package the projects that have not been opened or just opened into successful cases, and then pull the people in charge of or making decisions on knowledge management projects into their own camp to "hijack" the knowledge management personnel of the enterprise. Under such circumstances, even if enterprises find that the effect of consulting and system is not ideal or very poor, they can only be speechless.
The way to crack:
The most fundamental way to solve this problem is to know and understand knowledge management before inviting consulting institutions and purchasing related systems, and form your own understanding and views on knowledge management. Another option is to choose one more consulting organization and software vendor, so that you can listen to all views and get to know them.
The fifth reason for failure: extra work and "nothing to do with me"
Failure case:
The knowledge management of IT enterprises is guided by "culture first, content second and system second". When enterprises merge and reorganize, knowledge management becomes the most easily cut business. We never deny the value of culture to an enterprise, but we know that the establishment and formation of culture takes time and needs the support of processes and systems. The reason why this enterprise's knowledge management finally went away is not only related to its enterprise characteristics, but also a very important reason is that knowledge management has not been integrated into the core business process of the enterprise. This kind of knowledge management has become a layer of oil floating on the water, which looks glamorous, but it is still water without oil.
Case study:
The author once asked the department manager of a "knowledge management benchmark enterprise" about their knowledge management status, but the other party was at a loss and said that they didn't know about it. Knowledge management in many enterprises has become a loner. Except for the boss and a few people in the knowledge management department, all the employees feel that this matter has nothing to do with me, or they don't know about it at all.
There are also some enterprises that regard knowledge management as extra work for employees, or hope that Lei Feng-style employees will stand up and enjoy their own information and knowledge, or force each department to dedicate how much content and how long. The result can only be to strengthen employees' aversion to knowledge management: when the pressure is high, people create garbage, and when the pressure is low, no one participates. Consultants and salespeople will tell users when selling, and they will help users combine knowledge management activities with business activities of enterprises. However, due to the heavy workload and time-consuming analysis of knowledge management and the lack of in-depth analysis of enterprise processes and businesses, it is impossible to combine knowledge management with processes.
The way to crack:
There is a view that at present, when implementing knowledge management in China, more than 70% explicit knowledge management should be integrated into processes and systems, so that most knowledge management work becomes a part of employees' work, and the rest is the incentive part.
Know that knowledge management needs to be integrated into the process, but the key question is how to integrate? Therefore, it is necessary to find appropriate methods and tools to analyze the knowledge management of business processes and clarify the knowledge output of each process node: what knowledge should be produced at this node, and whether this knowledge is explicit or implicit; Identify the knowledge requirements of each process node: what knowledge is needed to complete this step, whether the required knowledge exists in the enterprise, in what form, and how to obtain it conveniently and quickly.
The sixth reason of failure: lack of incentive mechanism or failure of incentive.
Failure case:
The sales part of a real estate company implements knowledge management. At first, it is stipulated that experienced salespeople must bring an apprentice, and through hands-on teaching, the sales quota and customer satisfaction of the whole team can be improved, and incentives can be provided for experienced salespeople: if the apprentice does well, the master can get extra commission. Theoretically speaking, this method can promote the transfer of explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge of experienced salespeople, which is conducive to the growth and improvement of new people.
But at the same time, the performance appraisal standard of the sales department is to select "performance stars" every week and "sales champions" every month to reward these "performance stars" and "sales champions". Compared with the rewards of performance stars and sales champions, the incentives of experienced salespeople with apprentices are insignificant and can't be motivated at all. As a result, the whole sales department is still a high-performance star employee, but the growth speed and space of newcomers are very small.
Case study:
Knowledge is divided into explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge can be expressed in language, writing and other forms; Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, cannot be clearly expressed in words and characters and is understood by people. In knowledge-intensive enterprises and departments, the main reason that determines the productivity of enterprises depends on the manifestation, ability and diffusion speed of tacit knowledge. There is a process from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. This process may take a month, half a year or even ten or eight years, and some knowledge may never be revealed. People are the carriers of knowledge, and knowledge workers create and use knowledge. This is why knowledge management is not equal to managing knowledge.
Since tacit knowledge is so important, there must be rules and methods to effectively manage tacit knowledge when implementing knowledge management. Tacit knowledge is subject to individual knowledge workers, who can choose whether it is explicit (if it can be explicit), who to share it with, and whether to share it with * * * *. At this time, the incentive measures in knowledge management are very important. Through the design of the system, we encourage tacit knowledge to enjoy and be explicit, and encourage tacit knowledge to possess and be unwilling to enjoy, so as to promote tacit knowledge to be explicit, enjoy and spread.
Most enterprises that implement knowledge management know that it is necessary to encourage knowledge management, but the designed incentive mechanism is hindering the dissemination and sharing of knowledge in some way.
The way to crack:
As can be seen from this case, the enterprise has formulated relevant incentive measures. However, these measures are basically of no value to those who need to be motivated, so in the end, the way in which the master of this department takes the apprentice is basically not implemented. Later, we designed the forms of "performance star" and "sales champion" for them. The assessment is conducted in the form of one teacher and one apprentice. According to the level of apprentices, the weight between apprentices and apprentices is set, and their performance is assessed. It is also stipulated that if the apprentice does not reach a certain level, no matter how high the master's performance is, he cannot be selected. Coupled with the design of other auxiliary systems, the master finally guided the apprentices wholeheartedly and made every effort to effectively promote the growth of new employees and the knowledge sharing and transfer of old employees.