Application Of Knowledge Management Within An Organization

Question

Task: (a) Refer to the following statement:
“Knowledge management is not anything new.”
Would you argue that this statement is largely true or false? Why or why not? Use research articles between 2010 to 2021 to justify your arguments.

(b) Critique the following analysis:
“Our investment on knowledge management seems to be unsuccessful. The Return on investment (ROI) decreased from 20 % to 15 % at the year of system implementation. Since direct measure of organizational performance decreased, we need to uninstall the Knowledge Management system right away.”

Question 2 Consider an organization where you currently work, or are familiar with. Discuss any FOUR (4) kind of mechanisms does this organization use to manage knowledge? Also discuss what are their effects?

Question 3
Identify any THREE (3) recent examples in the literature of Knowledge Application Systems. Discuss how this Knowledge Application Systems can be applied in your organization.

Question 4
(a) Discover any TWO (2) of the social media which can be influence in KM particularly in your working environment. Discuss each of them.

(b) Discover any THREE (3) ways that can be done by organizations to ensure the effectiveness of the social media implementation. Discuss each of them.

Answer

Question 1
Knowledge management is not anything new.” Would you argue that this statement is largely true or false? Why or why not? Use research articles between 2010 to 2021 to justify your argument

Answer a
Yes, Knowledge management is not anything new because it is a crucial part of the organization that helps make decisions. The advantage of knowledge management is increasing day in and day out. As per Laoufi et al (2011), the marketplace is filled with cutthroat competition, and hence one of the best mechanisms is to structure the organization flexibly. The correct knowledge management benefits from best practice, and even the turnover is lessened with the correct knowledge management. Since knowledge management has manifold benefits, the company utilizes it for spotting issues and responding to the new information and innovation. Discussed in the article of Laoufi et al (2011) previously, the research files were used for the development of project and ideas and with the due passage of time, the entire process shifted to a feedback database that emphasizes that knowledge management is not anything new but imbibed in the system.

Answer b
Our investment in knowledge management seems to be unsuccessful. The Return on investment (ROI) decreased from 20 % to 15 % at the year of system implementation. Since direct measure of organizational performance decreased, we need to uninstall the Knowledge Management system right away.”

Uninstalling the knowledge management system is not a viable option because usage of knowledge management takes time. With the aid of proper implementation process, the knowledge can be shared. Even though the company’s ROI has decreased from 20% to 15%, it does not indicate that the knowledge management is of no avail. The company should rather utilize technology for the allowance of knowledge to be researched and accessing the knowledge. Technology further helps people in establishing better communication (Abuaddous, Sokar, & Abualodous 2016). For this case, the organization’s governance should prioritize and reward the process of knowledge sharing. In the absence of this system the company can face an uphill task. Though the company suffered a setback owing to the knowledge management it does not indicate that the entire system is dull and ineffective. With innovation and efficiency, the company can enhance their performance, thereby boosting the ROI.

Question 2
Consider an organization where you currently work, or are familiar with. Discuss any FOUR (4) kind of mechanisms does this organization use to manage knowledge Also discuss what are their effects

For a recent project I was studying the concepts and the overall structure of University of Bath and witnessed that the university uses the concept of knowledge management. However, managing the knowledge is not an easy task. The following mechanism is used:

Steps 1 – Establishment of knowledge management program aims
Before selecting a tool, a process is defined, workflows is developed, and idea is articulated. When the appropriate program is established, it aims to identify and document the business problem that requires resolution and the business driver that provides momentum and implementation justification (Akhavan et al 2016).

Determination and prioritization of technology needs
The university understands what the stakeholders utilize today and what does not work for them. Hence, the university does not purchase new technology without determining the existing technology. The university makes costly technology decisions if there is broad support and an enhanced computing system (Akhavan et al 2016).

Establishing roadmap of knowledge management implementation
The university uses strategy to overcome the shortcomings that is critical in gaining the support of the leadership and gaining the funds needed.

It is a strategy that comprises of the roadmaps of the linked projects that addresses particular gaps as identified by the evaluation.

Involvement of leadership
The leadership has a major to play when it comes to the knowledge management initiative. Herein, the leadership team is involved with the goals, as well as objectives. Active participation from the leadership signifies how important is the knowledge initiative and reflects how serious do the employees take this. Universities need to invest in the knowledge management platform because it directly bears the productivity. Whether across or within the department the it is important to find the information. Knowledge management mechanism helps in continually improving the management system with addition and upgradation (Ali, Paris & Gunasekaran 2019).

Question 3
Identify any THREE (3) recent examples in the literature of Knowledge Application Systems. Discuss how this Knowledge Application Systems can be applied in your organization
Knowledge application system provides support to the process through the individuals utilize knowledge possessed by individuals without acquisition or learning the knowledge

Three example of the knowledge application system includes:
Expert system:
It is software that strives to provide an answer to the problem or clarification of the uncertainties where one or more human is consulted (Ali, Paris & Gunasekaran 2019). Here different methods can be used to simulate the expert’s performance, but the common among them are:

-the creation of knowledge that uses the representation of knowledge
-the process of gathering knowledge from the expert and codification that is termed as knowledge engineering

Decision support system
It is an information system that backs up the business and the organization's decision-making ability. A well-developed DSS is an interactive system that is software-based and helps in undertaking decisions from the combination of data, knowledge, business model, and personal knowledge for solving the problem. The DSS system further helps attain a forecasted revenue, sales figure on a comparative basis, and inventories.

Customer service knowledge base
It helps the customers to self-serve the answers to the frequently asked questions that reduce the high costs contained in extra workload for the live customer service agents. An effective knowledge base helps in delivering the exact immediate information customers are searching that is in an organized manner. Customers and employees gain benefit from the interactions with staff that are knowledgeable that helps in solving the issues with greater speed and effectiveness (Abuaddous, Sokkar & Abualodous, 2018).

One of the best mechanisms to deliver high end service is to utilize a customer service knowledge base.
Knowledge Application system makes it easier to trace information that holds the information as desired. It enhances efficiency and helps in better work, and reduces the ability to reinvent the process. Through the implementation, the employees can enhance the quality as well as the speed of decision-making by accessing the knowledge of the overall organization when needed. While undertaking decision, the tools of enterprise collaboration enhance access to various people's opinion and experience. For the university, the management requires a conscious and explicit manage the process linked with the creation of the assets and to understand the value of the intellectual capital to the regular role. University can focus on the technical area like the increment in the computer literacy and giving adequate information. The management further needs to overcome the difficult issue that is linked to the social and cultural issues in the organizational KM.

Question 4
(a) Discover any TWO (2) of the social media which can be influence in KM particularly in your working environment. Discuss each of them. (10 marks)

LinkedIn
The presence of LinkedIn can be of high importance to the university as it helps in easing the knowledge problems by providing desired information, locating the people who are knowledgeable, providing a virtual context and helps in building trust. This interactive feature enables overcoming the national culture that is a barrier to the knowledge management within university. Employee use the social media for enhancing he internal knowledge exchange and hence it impacts the deficit that concerns knowledge. Thereby LinkedIn happens to be a tool that is of major use in influencing the knowledge management.

Twitter
Twitter is one of the major tools that influences the knowledge management. It contributes to the knowledge base. It can directly and indirectly influence various knowledge like structural knowledge, social and relational. Through twitter the communication is more visible that helps the university in gaining enhanced knowledge.

(b) Discover any THREE (3) ways that can be done by organizations to ensure the effectiveness of the social media implementation. Discuss each of them.

Knowing the target audience
Selection of the correct media platform is necessary that helps in creating a successful knowledge management for the business (Becerra-Fernandez & Sabherwal 2010). While knowing about the target audience, planning can be done in a better fashion. Some of the steps can be done is to create a marketing plan of the ideal customers, starting the research with the social media giants like Twitter, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Identification of key metrics
After determination of the goals, it is required to identify the key success metrics to measure the effectiveness. Here five measures are needed for the social media strategies that are the referral traffic to the website, impression or the reach, community growth, sentiment and the conversion (Aisenberg, Durst & Hesamamiri 2016). Furthermore, the tools that makes things easier needs to be selected. Selecting the correct tools for the management of social media makes various tasks easier and saves a lot of time.

Analyze and optimize
The social media marketer needs to formulate the marketing plans through trial and error that evaluates the data for the optimization of the social media plan that is important to the success of the plan. Through tracking and evaluating the major elements, the ROI of the company can be boosted.

References
Abuaddous, H. Y., Al Sokkar, A. A & Abualodous, B. I. (2018). The impact of knowledge management on organizational performance. Int. J. Adv. Comput. Sci. Appl. 9, 204–208.

Abubakar, A. M., Elrehail, H., Alatailat, M. A & Elçi, A. (2019). Knowledge management, decision-making style and organizational performance. J. Innov. Knowledge. 4, 104–114
Aisenberg Ferenhof, H., Durst, S & Hesamamiri, R. (2016). The impact of social media on knowledge management. Institute of Knowledge Asset Management (IKAM).
Akhavan, P., Ebrahim, N. A., Fetrati, M. A & Pezeshkan, A. (2016). Major trends in knowledge management research: a bibliometric study. Scientometrics 107, 1249–1264
Ali, A. A., Paris, L & Gunasekaran, A. (2019). Key factors influencing knowledge sharing practices and its relationship with organizational performance within the oil and gas industry. J. Knowl. Manag. 23, 1806–1837.
Becerra-Fernandez, I & Sabherwal, R. (2010). Knowledge Management: Systems and Processes. Armonk (N.Y.); London : M.E. Sharpe. Laoufi, A., Mouhim, S., Megder, E., Cherkaoui, C., & Mammass, D. (2011). Using knowledge management in higher education: Research challenges and opportunities: Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, 31 (2), 100-108.