CHAPTER TWO

THE FUNDAMENTAL
PROCESSES OF KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT
SCOPE OF CHAPTER

• K-acquisition
• K-sharing
• K-utilization
• Levels of Professional Knowledge
• KM Drivers
• Case studies – MAKE companies
 Knowledge Acquisition

The process of development and

creation of insights, skills and
relationship
Knowledge acquisition refers to :

• the knowledge that a firm can try to obtain from external

sources.
• External knowledge sources are important, and one should therefore
take a holistic view of the value chain (Gamble & Blackwell 2001).

• Sources include suppliers, competitors,

partners/alliances, customers, and external experts and
Communities of practice can extend well outside the
firm.
The main sources are of knowledge acquisition are (For,
about, from) (example):
• Customer
• Feedback, collecting and processing
marketing related information,
suggestions, involvement in
development/design
• Supplier
• Production needs, forecast, inventory,
quality, financial rise
• Competitor
• Partners
• Knowledge transfer, personnel
exchanges, regular interaction,
technology sharing
• etc
 Knowledge Sharing

• Collaborative transfer of
Knowledge
• Collaborative support
Knowledge Sharing

• Making the right knowledge or the right sources

(including people) available at the right place at the
right time
• Seeking out expert, and collaborating
• Requires the right culture and incentives
• Knowledge sharing process
• Explicit knowledge sharing
• Tacit knowledge sharing
 EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE SHARING
(BUKOWITZ AND WILLIAMS 1999):

• Articulation:  The ability of the user to define what he needs.

• Awareness:  Awareness of the knowledge available.
• The provider is encouraged to make use of directories,
maps, corporate yellow pages, etc.
• Access:  Access to the knowledge. 
• Guidance: Knowledge managers are often considered key
in the build-up of a knowledge sharing system (Davenport &
Prusak 2000, Gamble & Blackwell 2001).
• They must help define the areas of expertise of the members of the
firm, guide their contributions, assist users, and be responsible for
the language used in publications and other communication
material. This is so as to avoid an information/knowledge
overload. 

• Completeness: Access to both centrally managed and self-

published knowledge.
• The former is often more scrutinized but takes longer to publish
and is not as hands-on (and potentially relevant). Self-published
information on the other hand runs the risk of not being as reliable. 

• IT systems have proved extremely useful in aiding or

performing many of these functions.
 TACIT KNOWLEDGE SHARING

• Sharing tacit knowledge requires

socialization. This can take many
different forms.
• Davenport & Prusak (2000) outline a
few relevant factors:
• Informal networks, which involve
the day to day interaction between
people within work environments
are considered very important
• Management should support these networks by
providing the means for communication.
• Japanese firms have created talk rooms where employees can engage in
unstructured, unmonitored discussions.
• Management must simply provide the means for employees to foster
informal networks and "trade" tacit knowledge.

• Management must also understand the value of chaos.

• This refers to the value of unstructured work practices that encourage
experimentation and social interaction.
• Within a more chaotic environment, individuals are given the freedom
to solve problems creatively and, in so doing, must tap into and evolve
their social networks.
Knowledge Utilization

integration of learning
• It connect theory to practice
• when available knowledge is used to make decisions and perform
tasks through direction and routines.
•  the process through which the individual possessing the
knowledge directs the action of another individual without
transferring to that individual the knowledge underlying the
direction.
• It is more that an individual who possesses knowledge advises another.
• For example, direction is the process used when a production worker calls an
expert to ask her how to solve a particular problem with a machine and then
proceeds to solve the problem based on the instructions given by the expert. 

• Routines involve the utilization of knowledge embedded in

procedures, rules, norms and processes that guide future behavior.
 James Quinn

The Four Levels of

Professional Knowledge
Desirable

Care-Why

Knowledge Know-Why
management system
supported
Knowledge Stage

Current states of most

Know-How companies

Know-What

Initial Level of Knowledge Leveragability Desirable

Level 1 – Know-What:
This stage represents cognitive
knowledge (basic or foundation) –
for instance newly graduates know
what is Microsoft project and the
basic of handling it.
 

Level 2 – Know-How:
• Represents the ability to translate bookish
(know-what) into real world results,
problem-solving in nature,
• e.g. in economics, during inflation (Demand
pull) you should take away the purchasing power
thus organization should increase the price
• the rule: information – oriented environment,
exposure to the real problem (more complex
compared to the first level), employees: must
have system of extensive discussion,
conversation, and brainstorming
 
Level 3 – Know-Why:

• Represents a system’s understanding, being

able to compete beyond rules that might be
common knowledge (shift from info-
oriented enviro into knowledge oriented)
• Knowledge nature: enables individual to be
more step above know-how and create
extraordinary leverage, have the ability to
deal with unknown interactions and unseen
situations
• for example Remiser, Stock Brocker know
when to sell and buy stocks, Employees:
responsibilities covered deep knowledge
involving cause-and-effect relationships
 
Level 4 – Care-Why:

• Represents self-motivated creativity existed in a company

KM no longer support
• the care lies in its culture (technology per se cannot sustain
competitive advantage), this is the reason why highly
motivated, creative and energetic outperformed organizations
which only rely on money and physical resources.
 
KM DRIVERS
 24 DRIVERS OF KM

Divided into 6 areas :

1. Knowledge centric-drivers
2. Technology drivers
3. Organizational structure-based drivers
4. Personnel drivers
5. Process focused drivers
6. Economic drivers
 THE 24 DRIVERS FOR KM
• 1. Knowledge-Centric Drivers

1. The failure of companies to know

what they already know
2. The emergent need for smart
knowledge distribution
3. Knowledge velocity and sluggishness
4. The problem of knowledge walkouts
and high dependence on tacit
knowledge
5. The need to deal with knowledge-
hoarding propensity among employees
6. A need for systematic unlearning
 THE 24 DRIVERS FOR KM (2)

2. Technology drivers
7. The death of technology as
viable long-term differentiator
8. Compression of product and
process life cycle
9. The need for a perfect link
between knowledge, business
strategy, and information
technology
 THE 24 DRIVERS FOR KM (3)
3. Organization structure-based drivers
10. Functional convergence
11. The emergence of project centric
organizational structures
12. Challenges brought about by
deregulation
13. The inability of companies to keep
pace with competitive changes due
to globalization.
14. Convergence of products and
services.
 THE 24 DRIVERS FOR KM (4)

4. Personnel drivers
15. Widespread functional
convergence
16. The need to support effective
cross-functional collaboration
17. Team mobility and fluidity
18. The need to deal with
complex corporate
expectations
 THE 24 DRIVERS FOR KM (5)

5. Process focused drivers

19. The need to avoid repeated and
often-expensive mistakes.
20. Need to avoid unnecessary
reinvention
21. The need for accurate
predictive anticipation
22. The emerging need for
competitive responsiveness.
 THE 24 DRIVERS FOR KM (6)

6. Economic drivers
23. The potential for creating
extraordinary leverage through
knowledge; the attractive
economics of increasing returns.
24. The quest for a silver bullet for
product and service
differentiation.
END