• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
eLearning in Practice
Proprietary Knowledge and Instructional Design 
 Analysts: Cushing Anderson and Michael Brennan
Human Capital-Intensive Economy
The Department of Labor suggests that by the year 2015, nearly 80%of all jobs will be “skill based” — up from only 30% today. While thatnumber may be hard to pin down, the truth is that nearly every jobcreated during the next 15 years will be more complex and involvemore skill and training than during any period in history. Some of themost important skills for those positions may not even exist today.If skills are to be an important part of the economy of the future, andthe training for those skills is not “on the shelf” somewhere waiting tobe pulled down and transferred, what will an organization’s trainingpractice need to look like to be effective? Where will the training con-tent — the road map of skills — come from to ensure employees areready for the jobs they hold (or aspire to)? What kinds of technologies will assist companies to ensure the right content is provided to theright employees without requiring a bureaucracy (and a budget) torival the Library of Congress?The answers to these questions are not clear. What is clear is that fordecades the same type of reasoned thinking has solved such complexlearning problems. Organizations must address the basic elements of every learning solution:•Technology that enables appropriate learning•Sound instructional design•A process that ensures high quality This white paper explains these concepts and highlights some of theiruses. The mix in the elements of an effective solution determines aproject’s success. The issues are complex, but success stories exist.
Transferring Knowledge from the Few to the Many
Because an organization’s success rests on employees with increasingly complex skills around information and technology unique to theorganization, the competitive advantage of successful firms will be intheir ability to capture, prepare, and present their proprietary contentefficiently. Organizational knowledge acquisition and the transfer of that knowledge are the combined killer capabilities that will definesuccess during turbulent times and ensure market leadership in every economy.
5 Speen Street  Framingham,MA 01701 • Phone (508)872-8200 • Fax (508)935-4015
 
Knowledge acquisition by the entire organization is increasingly thesingle largest determinant of success for a company. The organization-al capability (or competence) of knowledge and skill transfer can resultin perpetual competitive advantage. IDC has frequently reported thatCEOs cite skill and employee development as their top priorities toensure the survival of their organization. Hiring appropriately skilledemployees is harder and more expensive than ever before. By 2002,there will be more than 800,000 unfilled technical positions in theUnited States alone, an increase of 15% since 1999. Though develop-ing employees internally can be a complex process, compared with thealternative of locating, recruiting, and placing an industry expert to fillin a critical spot on the team, the results are far more predictable.Increasingly, training existing employees is becoming the only way toachieve organizational knowledge and competence.Most organizations are not limited by too few great ideas. Rather, they are limited by how fast those new ideas are put into practice. If severalbright souls develop a “great new way,” the organization may stillstruggle in transition for several cycles, either losing the advantage orneutralizing it with an offsetting loss. Regardless of the industry in which a company operates, technology, globalization, and hyperactivecapital markets have turned the economy from one seeking improvedefficiency to one demanding dramatic change. The transfer of knowledge from those who have it to those who need it is the tippingpoint of success in a changing economy.The combination of organizational knowledge acquisition and theability to transfer that knowledge will be the competitive differentiatorfor the next decade. In addition, the source of that knowledge residesuniquely within an organization; therefore, proprietary content mustassume its role as the competitive differentiator in the knowledgeeconomy.
Proprietary Content: The Real Competitive Advantage 
Content can be thought of in three basic types, depending on how unique it is to the company using it.•
Off the shelf.
This content is “ready to use” from the vendor. Itaddresses important issues or subjects that are essentially the sameacross businesses or even industries.•
Customized.
This is “off-the-shelf” content modified by the organization or vendor. The modifications extend beyond“look and feel” to put the original content in context for theparticular organization.– 2–
Copyright © 2001 IDC.
Reproduction without written permission is completely forbidden
.
External Publication of IDC Information and Data — Any IDC information that is to be used in advertising,press releases,or promotional materials requiresprior written approval from the appropriate IDC Vice President or Country Manager.A draft of the proposed document should accompany any suchrequest.IDC reserves the right to deny approval of external usage for any reason.
eLearning in Practice: Proprietary Knowledge and Instructional Design
Printed on recycled materials 
 
– 3–
eLearning in Practice: Proprietary Knowledge and Instructional Design
•
Custom.
This content is developed specifically for an organization.It is most often based on proprietary information or circumstances within an organization.IDC research suggests there is an even split between the three typesof content used within organizations (see Figure 1). The telling fact,however, is not use, but value.For organizations whose competitive advantage rests on their propri-etary knowledge and whose success will be determined by their ability to acquire and transfer that knowledge, the value of proprietary con-tent is equivalent to the value of success.
Capturing and Conveying the Knowledge 
For organizations that rely on proprietary knowledge, the ease with which they build and manage content that reflects their methodology  will likely determine their ability to take advantage of that knowledge.In some firms, there may be only one or two people who know theintricacies of a new methodology or some particular competitive advan-tage. The challenge for such firms is to find ways to capture and transferthat skill or knowledge efficiently to everyone who could benefit fromit. Their ability to affect that transfer ensures their competitive survival.For instance, the ability to articulate a company’s new service offeringis critical to the sales team, marketing, outside investors, and even thefront office. However, if the positioning statement is created in a seriesof offsite meetings with several vice presidents and some consultants, thetraining department cannot simply search a site called Learn2Market.comand expect to find a ready-made presentation that lays out the new visionin a way that the whole organization will appreciate. The vice presidentsneed to convey their understanding to the whole company and eventually to the market.
Figure 1Relative Use of Content by Type
What percent of your training content is ...? 
Source:IDC’s
Survey of eLearning Buyers 
,2001
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...