Development and Validation of a Knowledge Management Capability Assessment Model

Although many assessment tools and methodologies for measuring knowledge management capabilities are becoming available in the practitioner world, none of them has been tested for validity. In this paper, we first present a knowledge management capability assessment (KMCA) methodology for determining the capability levels of an organization in various knowledge areas. The KMCA defines the knowledge capability areas and a five-level metric for assessing capabilities within each area. We then present the results of an empirical study conducted to validate the ability of the KMCA methodology to correctly ascertain capability levels within knowledge areas. The validation consists of two different tests: The first test, called the absolute test, validates the five-level metric within the KMCA by showing that a lower capability level is a prerequisite for achieving the next higher level. The second test, called the relative test, demonstrates the ability of the KMCA to compare relative capabilities (1) across knowledge areas within a single organization and (2) across multiple organizations for a given knowledge area. The KMCA was developed in concert with a leading manufacturing company in the semiconductor industry. The data for this study was collected from over 700 knowledge workers from multiple large organizational units within the company. The results show that the KMCA is robust, in that it is able to correctly estimate the capabilities of the knowledge areas it was designed to measure

KM Capability Assessment: A Qualitative Approach

The knowledge management (KM) literature highlights both the desire of organizations to assess KM capability and the need to create better methodologies and tools to do so. Although some progress has been made in developing valid assessment tools, the topic still remains inadequately explored. Answering a call for the exploration of KM capability maturity assessment across a variety of organizations (Kulkarni & St Louis, 2003), this research uses the Knowledge Management Capability Assessment (KMCA) methodology (Kulkarni & Freeze, 2004) and Freeze & Kulkarni (2005; 2006) as a guiding framework to qualitatively assess the KM capability of the Secretary of the Air Force Financial Management and Comptroller (SAF/FM) organization—a military organization recognized for exceptional KM efforts. The research resulted in rich, contextual findings with regard to the specific KM efforts underway within SAF/FM. Interestingly, the nature of these efforts translated into KM capability levels lower than expected; however, precise areas for improvement were identified

Study of Organizational Knowledge Retention Practices in the Utilities

One key to the successful and long-term survival of an organization involves knowledge capture and retention. The knowledge may include company secrets, lessons learned, and hard-earned best-practices that are lost, forgotten, or disorganized in the event of staff loss or early retirement. In the United States, the aging workforce poses a specific difficulty vis a vie utility workers. Many are quickly approaching retirement and operations staff are heavily impacted by this movement. Properly capturing and retaining employee’s tacit knowledge is a labor-intensive task as it is usually transferred through personal observation with demonstration, mentors, apprenticeships, or on-the-job training. Consequently, articulating the tacit knowledge of an aging workforce is a challenging and time-consuming effort without proper preparation, oversight, and application of established knowledge retention strategies. It is advantageous for an organization to have implemented a fully encompassing knowledge management (KM) system during its inception; an exit interview is not enough. The development should begin concurrently with the hiring process, thus capturing newfound knowledge early. An accessible database for critical company data aids in knowledge retention, but even proven methods cannot capture all knowledge efficiently. The system is often overburdened by an abundance of information, which results in indistinguishable lessons and outdated instructions. It is crucial to have a balanced and working system for a functioning organization, but any implementation is preferable to none. This paper examined the methods and strategies utilized to capture and retain critical information within a local utility. Current operations staff and management have provided data by completing a Knowledge Management Capability Assessment. It was determined that the utility has a low operational knowledge management capability. This process has increased the understanding of current KM strategies and provides the local utility actionable data to improve upon or develop such strategies

„Tudásmenedzsment-profil” érettségi modell

A szervezetek üzleti sikere nagyban függ attól, hogy a munkatársak tudását milyen módon sikerül hasznosítani. A tudás a piaci verseny egyik meghatározó tényezőjévé vált. A 2000-ben megrendezett lisszaboni csúcson az Európai Unió államfői elhatározták, hogy az uniót „2010-ig a világ legversenyképesebb és legdinamikusabb tudásalapú gazdasági egységévé kell tenni”. E célkitűzéssel azonosulva a Pannon Egyetem Szervezési és Vezetési Tanszékének Stratégiai Menedzsment Kutatóműhelye 2004-ben egy új kutatást indított, amelynek fő célkitűzése, hogy a gyakorlatban hasznosítható, ugyanakkor elméletileg és módszertanilag megalapozott megközelítést dolgozzanak ki, amely elősegíti a szervezetek tudásmenedzsmenttel kapcsolatos tevékenységeinek tudatos kialakítását és megvalósítását. A kutatás eredményeképp megalkották a „Tudásmenedzsment- profil” folytonos érettségi modellt, amely hét determináns faktor segítségével leírja egy szervezet tudásmenedzsment-gyakorlatát. A modell a tudatos tudásmenedzsment-gyakorlat feltérképezésének egy eszköze lehet, amelynek alapját képező tudásmenedzsment-faktorok meghatározzák a tudásmenedzsment- gyakorlat során kidolgozandó és fejlesztendő területeket. Bevezették a „Tudásmenedzsment-indexet”, amely egy szervezet tudásmenedzsment-gyakorlatának fejlettségi szintjét mutatja meg

Metodología de implementación de proyectos de Sistemas de Gestión de Conocimiento

Knowledge management in higher education institutions is a research topic that has increased over the last ten years. Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) are solutions to attend to the knowledge gaps through projects. This research, with a hermeneutic literature review method, analyses prescriptive and hybrid knowledge management models for higher education institutions and general methodologies for implementing KMS. Based on the results of this analysis, a methodology for the implementation of knowledge management system projects is proposed with an agile and incremental approach and considering the recommendations of the ISO 30401 standard on Knowledge Management System Requirements. The proposed methodology includes other methodologies for knowledge management such as knowledge auditing and maturity assessment, and other methodologies for analysis, design, and development solutions.La gestión del conocimiento en las instituciones de educación superior es un área de investigación cuyo desarrollo se ha incrementado en los últimos diez años. Los Sistemas de Gestión de Conocimiento (SGC) permiten implementar las soluciones para atender las brechas de conocimiento mediante proyectos.   Con esta investigación fundamentada en una de revisión de literatura hermenéutica, se analizan modelos de gestión de conocimiento prescriptivos o híbridos para instituciones de educación superior y metodologías generales de implementación de sistemas de gestión de conocimiento.  Con base en los resultados de este análisis se propone una metodología de implementación de proyectos de sistemas de gestión de conocimiento con un enfoque ágil e incremental y considerando las recomendaciones del estándar ISO 30401 sobre requerimientos de SGC.  Se integran en la metodología propuesta otras metodologías propias de la disciplina de gestión de conocimiento como la auditoría de conocimiento y la evaluación de madurez de gestión del conocimiento, así como otras metodologías de análisis, diseño y desarrollo de soluciones

Ethnography and Management Talent as a Tools to Knowledge Sharing in the Consulting Sector

The goal of this paper was to understand if the current KM practices in a consultancy organization met what the workers preferred and in what way ethnography could be integrated in these practices and give guidelines for future studies where it can be integrated in the talent management process. The results showed an organization with employees willing to share their knowledge and obtain it through methods that involve the participative observation employed in ethnography as in the Socialization process of the SECI Model

The Evaluation of Knowledge Management Maturity Level in a Research Organization

Abstract: Currently, knowledge is considered as the most important asset of an organization and the knowledge management applies the internal and external assets of organization and provides a capability for the organization to develop new knowledge, innovation, and technology. It is essential to acknowledge the knowledge management in the mentioned organization, given that the studied organization is a knowledge-based organization with the assignment of designing and developing complex products in various domains of the target market, and taking into consideration the following reasons; Excessive increase in organizational information and lack of proper control on information; Lack of proper mechanisms to exercise the experiences of previous failure and learning from them for the future projects; The existence of various and disperse expertise in the organization's level and low-experienced workforce. Hence, the first step in achieving the objectives of knowledge management is recognition of current status of the knowledge management capabilities at the organization's level and it can be achieved through the knowledge management maturity models. To obtain the opinions of project managers on the followings factors can be enumerated as the main objective in evaluating knowledge management maturity level in an organization: Collecting, sharing and applying the learned lessons (experiences) The existing strengths and limitations in current processes, procedures, and systems in regard to the learned lessons The challenges or obstacles in the path of sharing the learned lessons Recommendable improvement areas This paper is an account about the evaluation method of knowledge management maturity level in the studied organization in addition to the results of this evaluation

Industry 4.0 Maturity Assessment: A multi-dimensional indicator approach

Purpose - Industry 4.0 has offered significant potential for manufacturing firms to alter and rethink their business models, production processes, strategies, and objectives. Manufacturing organizations have recently undergone substantial transformation due to Industry 4.0 technologies. Hence, to successfully deploy and embed Industry 4.0 technologies in their organizational operations and practices, businesses must assess their adoption readiness. For this purpose, a multidimensional analytical indicator methodology has been developed to measure Industry 4.0 maturity and preparedness. Design/methodology/approach- A weighted average method was adopted to assess the Industry 4.0 readiness using a case study from a steel manufacturing organization. Findings- The result revealed that the firm ranks between Industry 2.0 and Industry 3.0, with an overall score of 2.32. This means that the organization is yet to achieve Industry 4.0 mature and ready organization. Practical Implications- The multi-dimensional indicator framework proposed can be used by managers, policymakers, practitioners, and researchers to assess the current status of organizations in terms of Industry 4.0 maturity and readiness as well as undertake a practical diagnosis and prognosis of systems and processes for its future adoption. Originality/ value- Although research on Industry 4.0 maturity models has grown exponentially in recent years, this study is the first to develop a multi-dimensional analytical indicator to measure Industry 4.0 maturity and readiness

Knowledge management maturity model : the case study of a portuguese technology enterprise

Master in Corporate SciencesIn today scenario, Knowledge Management plays an important role in the competitiveness and performance of the Organizations in general. Through an efficient KM implementation organizations can tap the real benefits of knowledge generation and usage, which leads to a boost in the innovation processes and subsequently in performance. A KM Maturity Model can help organizations identify the progress of Knowledge Management and improvements to be made. Then with the current state-of-the-art assessed it becomes almost natural to find the path to the next higher level of KM Maturity. This research adds to the body of knowledge by its literature review on Knowledge Management and KM Maturity Models. But above all this research contributes with the application of one of those models in a Portuguese IT Organization. The objective is to answer the question: “What is the Knowledge Management Maturity Level of an organization?” The data for the selected model was collected by an instrument proposed in the chosen model in the form of a survey. Interviews with key players in the Organization were conducted and secondary data was also considered. All this information was treated and a conclusion about the Knowledge Management Maturity Level of the company is given at the end.No cenário de hoje a Gestão do Conhecimento desempenha um papel importante na competitividade e performance das organizações em geral. Através da aplicação eficiente da Gestão do Conhecimento(GC) as organizações conseguem aproveitar os reais benefícios da geração e utilização do conhecimento, o que leva a um estimuto nos processos de inovação. Um modelo de maturidade de GC pode auxiliar as organizações a identificarem o andamento da gestão do conhecimento e melhorias a serem realizadas. Depois, com o actual estado-da-arte avaliado torna-se quase natural encontrar o caminho para o próximo nível de maturidade de Gestão do Conhecimento. Esta investigação contribui para o conjunto de conhecimento pela sua revisão da literatura sobre Gestão do Conhecimento e Modelos de Maturidade de GC. Mas acima de tudo, esta investigação contribui com a aplicação de um desses modelos em uma organização Portuguesa de TI. O objetivo é responder à pergunta: "Qual é o Nível de Maturidade da Gestão do Conhecimento de uma organização?" Os dados para o modelo seleccionado foram recolhidos por um instrumento proposto no modelo escolhido e sob a forma de um inquérito. Entrevistas com key-players da Organização foram realizadas e dados secundários também foram considerados. Toda esta informação foi tratada e uma conclusão sobre o Nível de Maturidade da Gestão do Conhecimento da empresa é dado no final

Maturity Models in Information Systems Research: Literature Search and Analysis

This article collects and analyzes seventy-six maturity model articles that have been published in leading Information Systems (IS) journals and conference proceedings during the past fifteen years. We study the IS literature on maturity models from three different perspectives: a research perspective, which is particularly relevant for scholars who are interested in the design and adoption of maturity models; a publication perspective, which reflects the interests of authors and reviewers of maturity model articles; and a practitioner’s perspective, which is especially relevant for maturity model users and consultants. The results are interesting in several respects. From the research perspective, the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is the most dominant foundation of past IS research on maturity models. In contrast, theories on the design and adoption of maturity models are distinctly rare in our sample. The publication outlets that are considered feature quantitative and qualitative empirical research alike, but―with a decreasing number―purely conceptual research as well. Of late, past maturity model research can mainly be located in the area of IT and organizations, while the formerly very popular domain of IS development is of less interest today. As for the publication perspective, we find that the level of publication activity in the field has generally been increasing over the last fifteen years, with North American and European researchers dominating the academic discussion. Finally, with regard to the practitioner’s perspective, we compile advice on the practical application of maturity models from a critical analysis of the literature. It is hoped that the results can stimulate and guide future research in the field and inform the development and usage of theoretically sound maturity models in practice