Session 7(F2F)

Course : Knowledge Management

Knowledge Capture Systems: Systems

that Preserve and Formalize
Knowledge
 Knowledge Capture Systems: Systems that
Preserve and Formalize Knowledge
• knowledge capture systems support the process of eliciting
either explicit or tacit knowledge that may reside in people,
artifacts, or organizational entities
• These systems can help capture knowledge existing either
within or outside organizational boundaries, among
employees, consultants, competitors, customers, suppliers,
and even prior employers of the organization’s new employees
• Knowledge capture systems rely on mechanisms and
technologies that support externalization and internalization.
Both mechanisms and technologies can support knowledge
capture systems by facilitating the knowledge management
processes of externalization and internalization.

Bina Nusantara University 2

Knowledge Management Mechanisms
for Capturing Tacit knowledge: using
Organizational stories
• The importance of using metaphors and stories as a
mechanism for capturing and transferring tacit
knowledge is increasingly drawing the attention of
organizations. For example as illustrated in Box 7.1, 3M
currently uses stories as part of its business planning
to set the stage, introduce dramatic conflict, reach a
resolution to the challenges the company is facing, and
generate excitement and commitment from all the
members of the organization (Shaw et al. 1998)
Knowledge Management Mechanisms
for Capturing Tacit knowledge: using
Organizational stories (2)
• Stories are considered to play a significant role in
organizations characterized by a strong need for
collaboration. Organizational stories are defined as a
detailed narrative of past management actions,
employee interactions, or other intra- or
extraorganizational events that are communicated
informally within organizations (Swap et al. 2001).
• Dave Snowden (1999), a long time proponent of storytelling
at IBM, identifies the following set of guidelines for
organizational storytelling:
1. Stimulate the natural telling and writing of stories.
2. Stories must be rooted in anecdotal material reflective of the
community in question.
3. Stories should not represent idealized behavior.
4. An organizational program to support storytelling should not
depend on external experts for its sustenance.
5. Organizational stories are about achieving a purpose, not
entertainment.
6. Be cautious of overgeneralizing and forgetting the
particulars. What has worked in one organization may not
necessarily work in others.
7. Adhere to the highest ethical standards and rules
 TECHNIQUES FOR ORGANIZING AND
USING STORIES IN THE ORGANIZATION
• The power of narratives or stories as a knowledge
capture mechanism in an organization lies in the fact
that narratives capture the knowledge content as well
as its context and the social networks that define the
way “things are done around here.” In order to capture
organizational knowledge through narratives, it is best
to encourage storytelling in a work context. In addition
to the knowledge-elicitation techniques described in
Chapter 6, here we present knowledge-elicitation
techniques pertaining specifically to stories.
 TECHNIQUES FOR ORGANIZING AND
USING STORIES IN THE ORGANIZATION
(2)
• One technique described by Snowden (2000) for
narrative knowledge capture is anthropological
observation, or the use of naïve interviewers, citing an
example where they used a group of school children to
understand the knowledge flows in an organization.
 TECHNIQUES FOR ORGANIZING AND
USING STORIES IN THE ORGANIZATION
(3)
• second technique, storytelling circles, formed by
groups having a certain degree of coherence and
identity such as a common experience in a project.
Story circles are best recorded in video. Certain
methods can be used for eliciting anecdotes such as:
• Dit-spinning—orfishtales—represents human tendencies to
escalate or better the stories shared previously.
• Alternative histories—are fictional anecdotes which could
have different turning points, based for example on a
particular project’s outcome.
• Shifting character or context—are fictional anecdotes
where the characters may be shifted to study the new
perspective of the story.
• Indirect stories—allow disclosing the story with respect to
fictional characters, so that any character similarities with the
real-life character are considered to be pure coincidence.
• Metaphor—provides a common reference for the group to a
commonly known story, cartoon, or movie.