Christi Gram

Module 7 Final Writing Assignment

College of Integrated Science and Arts

Arizona State University

OGL 365: Technological Innovation in Organizations

Professor Akpan-Obong

December 1, 2023
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Module 7 Final Paper

The article “Knowledge Management”(KM) by Olivier Serrat (2017) outlines the key concepts

and strategies that fall under KM. In an organization, KM is the proper management of this

information through the use of technology, the use of electronic databases, and storage tools to

facilitate the sharing and collaboration of knowledge (Serrat, 2017).

KM can be de ned as “getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right time, and

helping them (with incentives) to apply it in ways that strive to improve organizational

performance” (Serrat, 2017, p. 1). Knowledge is not raw data, but rather a value-added resource

that is created through human interaction. “Knowledge is systemic and integrates reason, values,

intellect, and intuition” (Serrat, 2017, p. 3).

Some of the issues raised in the article include the importance of KM, the role of technology in

KM, the difference between explicit and tacit knowledge, the process of KM, and the key role

KM plays in innovation. In addition, social processes are an important component of KM. KM

is critical to the organization in that knowledge is a major asset of the organization that needs to

be properly managed so that it can be utilized to enhance performance and equip the organization

for innovation for future products and services (Serrat, 2017).

Technology is a critical component of KM and as such organizations spend enormous sums of

money on computer hardware and software to store data, and provide reports and analysis of the

raw data for interaction and sharing of information to human assets.

Knowledge is both explicit knowledge, such as data and information, which can be stored in

various media, whereas tacit knowledge is what is stored in people’s brains (Serrat, 2017). When
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raw data is interpreted and organized it becomes information. When information goes through

the lter of a person or group’s reason, values, intellect, and intuition it becomes knowledge, and

wisdom is the nal desired outcome of the initial input, which can ultimately lead to innovation.

My understanding of KM has increased signi cantly as I never realized the extent to which

human interaction with data and information, can lead to innovation. It is critical to have a

culture of innovation and encourage knowledge creation and collaboration as well as have the

technology tools in place to be able to store, manipulate, manage, and share the data.

As the leader of an organization, I could apply the concepts of knowledge management outlined

in this article in multiple ways. I believe the priority would be to do a needs assessment of the

organization to nd out its needs for hardware, software, data analysis, communication,

knowledge sharing, and collaboration. Next, I would invest in the proper technology and tools,

both the hardware and software that are necessary for communication, data analysis,

communication, collaboration tools, and programs to make it easier for people to work together

on projects both in-person and online.

Policies and procedures would need to be put into place to encourage knowledge sharing and

collaboration, and a culture of continuous learning to ensure employees have access to the tools

and information they need to perform their jobs effectively and work on projects or innovations.

This would aid in knowledge sharing and communication required for successful collaboration.

For Chapter Six I chose another article by Olivier Serrat entitled, “Innovation in the Public

Sector” (2017). In this article, Serrat discusses the role of innovation in the public sector and the

importance of improving services for the public. He believes the public sector should be aware
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of developing new products and services to serve the public but it should also incorporate more

ef cient, innovative ways of conducting business by addressing the root causes of the problems

and issues (Serrat, 2017).

Some of the dif culties with public organizations are the ingrained methods of doing things,

resistance to change, bureaucratic hurdles and procedures, risk aversion, the lack of nancial

resources, and the lack of a culture of innovation (Serrat, 2017).

To implement innovation, the governing authorities need to provide initiatives to implement new

ideas, policies, and behaviors from the top down. By providing incentives and rewards to

employees they can shape behavior in the direction of innovation through collaboration, improve

ef ciency, and potentially create new products and services. A culture change is needed to drive

a more innovative mindset.

The reason I chose this article is because of the inef ciency I have experienced through the Post

Of ce. Payment for a utility sent to another state took over 3 weeks to get there! I shipped a

valuable textbook and it was stolen from within the system. It never arrived at its destination,

however, about six months later, I received only the mailing label “returned to sender.”

Recently when I visited, I only needed a receipt for my package. The machine was broken and

the lineup was at least 30 people deep and out the door. While the clerks were not rude, they

were not cheerful and didn’t care that the line-up would take 30+ minutes to get through. The

place where you drop off the parcels through the chute was so jammed with parcels you couldn’t

even t another one in. All they needed to do was replace the cart that was under the mail chute,

to allow the parcels to drop.

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I was thinking, how could I bring innovation and ef ciency to the post of ce? What if you could

repaint, clean up, provide new uniforms with bright colors, bring in some innovative thinkers and

task them with how to improve ef ciency, create a better culture, recruit more staff, and change

the culture or morale? The place was an ugly, factory-like setting! It was dirty, dreary, inef cient,

and looks the same as it did 50 years ago. What could you do to spruce up the place? What if

there are other services they could offer, to help bring the post of ce into the black nancially?

Where is the wastage and inef ciency? Why is the staff so unhappy? I would propose to use an

organizational assessment model to learn from the front lines, how to improve ef ciency, and

security and restore con dence in the integrity of the post of ce.

In conclusion, the public sector could bene t from improved organizational performance through

the use of innovation and improved technologies to meet the needs of those they serve and

especially to improve ef ciency and nancial performance. Leaders at the top of the

organizations need to provide innovative strategies to overcome many challenges including

resistance to change, limited nancial resources, and risk aversion, as well as cultural obstacles

to create a culture of innovation. These measures could be a total game-changer in the public

service industry.

For chapter seven, I chose the article, “Solving the Problem of Siloed IT Organizations” which is

about reducing the effects of IT silos (Squirrel & Frederick, 2020). IT silos are where various

departments in organizations don’t collaborate and have their systems and tools that are not

properly integrated, leading to inef ciency and redundancy due to a lack of cooperation or

collaboration across the departments (Squirrel & Frederick, 2020).

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The requirements for communication and collaboration would be pivotal for any organization

that needs to work collaboratively on IT projects. Too often IT departments act independently

and the end users are not included in the process. Open communication across the organization

between all departments would go a long way to reducing the silo effect.

Changing the culture of the organization to a more collaborative and cross-functional approach

would go a long way in solving the issues. There needs to be a shared vision and strategy,

common requirements, standards, and processes, along with increased communication and

collaboration between departments. IT leaders need to take an active role in this process to help

create a cultural shift across all departments to improve knowledge sharing and innovation.

This idea of IT being siloed is something I have dealt with many times in organizations I have

worked with. This creates a culture of division and an “us versus them” mentality. Too many

times IT departments have not discussed requirements with the end users creating inef ciencies,

dif cult work environments, as well as, ill will between departments. Not only that it can cost

the organization untold sums of money that may end up being catastrophic to the organization

and lead to its demise.

Recently, an organization I am familiar with started a major enterprise-wide, computer system

implementation project with one vendor and after 18 months and about 18 million dollars,

abandoned the project and went with another vendor, as the functionality was not there. The

system could not be customized to accommodate all of the business units. IT did not consult

with the business units and closed off the collaborative process between departments.
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This was a case where IT picked the lowest bidder because of pressure from management instead

of going with the more solid tried and true version and they did not consult with the end users or

business units. They would have saved a lot of money had they just gone with the higher-priced

version. Fortunately, the organization was large enough to absorb the loss, however, in many

organizations such a loss would have been catastrophic.

References

Serrat O. (2017). Innovation in the Public Sector. In: Knowledge Solutions. Springer, Singapore.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0983-9_59

Serrat, O. (2017). Notions of Knowledge Management. In: Knowledge Solutions. Springer,

Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0983-9_30

Squirrel, D. & Frederick, J. (2020). Solving the problem of siloed IT in organizations. https://

sloanreview.mit.edu/article/solving-the-problem-of-siloed-it-in-organizations/