Knowledge management research and practice:visions and directions

This editorial paper outlines key directions for knowledge management research and practice. The editorial team presents the results from a small survey of academics and practitioners about the present and future of knowledge management, and the editors include their own informed views on how this journal can help promote scholarly inquiry in the field.

Knowledge management and the limits of knowledge codification

Purpose - The idea that knowledge needs to be codified is central to many claims that knowledge can be managed. However, there appear to be no empirical studies in the knowledge management context that examine the process of knowledge codification. This paper therefore seeks to explore codification as a knowledge management process. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws on findings from research conducted around a knowledge management project in a section of the UK Post Office, using a methodology of participant-observation. Data were collected through observations of project meetings, correspondence between project participants, and individual interviews. Findings - The principal findings about the nature of knowledge codification are first, that the process of knowledge codification also involves the process of defining the codes needed to codify knowledge, and second, that people who participate in the construction of these codes are able to interpret and use the codes more similarly. From this it can be seen that the ability of people to decodify codes similarly places restrictions on the transferability of knowledge between them. Research limitations/implications - The paper therefore argues that a new conceptual approach is needed for the role of knowledge codification in knowledge management that emphasizes the importance of knowledge decodification. Such an approach would start with one's ability to decodify rather than codify knowledge as a prerequisite for knowledge management. Originality/value - The paper provides a conceptual basis for explaining limitations to the management and transferability of knowledge. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Proposing a systems vision of knowledge management in emergency care

This paper makes a case for taking a systems view of knowledge management within health-care provision, concentrating on the emergency care process in the UK National Health Service. It draws upon research in two casestudy organizations (a hospital and an ambulance service). The case-study organizations appear to be approaching knowledge (and information) management in a somewhat fragmented way. They are trying to think more holistically, but (perhaps) because of the ways their organizations and their work are structured, they cannot ‘see’ the whole of the care process. The paper explores the complexity of knowledge management in emergency health care and draws the distinction for knowledge management between managing local and operational knowledge, and global and clinical knowledge.

Knowledge management in a New Zealand tree farming company:Ambiguity and resistance to the "technology solution"

Purpose - Managers at the company attempt to implement a knowledge management information system in an attempt to avoid loss of expertise while improving control and efficiency. The paper seeks to explore the implications of the technological solution to employees within the company. Design/methodology/approach - The paper reports qualitative research conducted in a single organization. Evidence is presented in the form of interview extracts. Findings - The case section of the paper presents the accounts of organizational participants. The accounts reveal the workers' reactions to the technology-based system and something of their strategies of resistance to the system. These accounts also provide glimpses of the identity construction engaged in by these knowledge workers. The setting for the research is in a knowledge-intensive primary industry. Research was conducted through observation and interviews. Research limitations/implications - The issues identified are explored in a single case-study setting. Future research could look at the relevance of the findings to other settings. Practical implications - The case evidence presented indicates some of the complexity of implementation of information systems in organizations. This could certainly be seen as more evidence of the uncertainty associated with organizational change and of the need for managers not to expect an easy adoption of intrusive IT solutions. Originality/value - This paper adds empirical insight to a largely conceptual literature. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Comparing knowledge management between organisations:searching for good practice

This paper reports ongoing work that is attempting to find out ‘what is good practice for knowledge management’. The data we have to analyse this issue is 109 maps of knowledge (on knowledge management) which were built during 18 group workshops with 152 people from 15 different organisations. The maps contain data on the aspirations and action plans which UK managers have to improve knowledge management practices in their organisation. So far we have attempted a number of approaches to analysing this data, both inductive and deductive, but we still feel there is more to be learned from the rich data set we have. The paper presents a flavour of the work we have done, have considered doing, and have resisted doing. The aim of the paper is to stimulate debate on the strengths of our analyses and, more importantly, on amassing views of how it can be further strengthened, and the difficulties and dilemmas which might need to be overcome.

Knowledge management: a review of the field and of OR's contribution

This paper examines the field of knowledge management (KM) and identifies the role of operational research (OR) in key milestones and in KM's future. With the presence of the OR Society journal Knowledge Management Research and Practice and with the INFORMS journal Organization Science, OR may be assumed to have an explicit and a leading role in KM. Unfortunately, the origins and the evidence of recent research efforts do not fully support this assumption. We argue that while OR has been inside many of the milestones there is no explicit recognition of its role and while OR research on KM has considerably increased in the last 5 years, it still forms a rather modest explicit contribution to KM research. Nevertheless, the depth of OR's experience in decision-making models and decision support systems, soft systems with hard systems and in risk management suggests that OR is uniquely placed to lead future KM developments. We suggest that a limiting aspect of whether OR will be seen to have a significant profile will be the extent to which developments are recognized as being informed by OR.

Achieving closure through knowledge management strategy

Case studies of knowledge management practices are often conducted in organizations where the aim is to manage knowledge for future operational improvements. What about knowledge management for organizations with limited life-spans that are preparing for closure? Such organizations are not common but can benefit from knowledge management strategy. This case study concerns the knowledge management strategy of an organization that is preparing for its final phase of operations. We facilitated two group workshops with senior managers to scope a strategy, following which the organization initiated a set of projects to implement the resulting actions. This paper reviews their implemented actions against those designed in the workshop to shed light on knowledge management in this uncommon situation.

Using knowledge management to drive performance

Organisations are gathering ever more information, but are less good at analysing it and utilising the resultant knowledge for improved performance. Here Paul Collier, co-author of research on the subject, discusses how finance can help improve matters.

Intelligence agents (knowledge management)

Reports some insights into knowledge management (KM) derived from UK one-day workshops with six businesses, three non-profits and one public sector organization. Lists the four questions posed to participants and discusses the themes which emerged, e.g. the need for a KM strategy to make raw information more useable, KM performance measurement etc. Stresses the need for commitment from a top-level champion and a wide range of employees to make this work and identifies three types of solutions for improving KM strategy: technological (e.g. databases and intranets), people (e.g. motivation, retention, training and networking) and processes (e.g. procedural instructions and balancing formal/informal knowledge sharing methods). Finds that accountants and senior managers do not generally see KM as very important but argues that management accountants are suitable knowledge champions who could develop explicit links between KM and organizational performance.

Making a journey in knowledge management strategy

This paper reports results from an ongoing project examining what managers think about knowledge management in the context of their organisation. This was done in a facilitated computerassisted group workshop environment. Here we compare the outcomes of workshops held for two relatively large UK organisations, one public sector and the other private. Our conclusions are that there are relatively few differences between the perceptions of these two groups of managers, and that these differences stem more from the stage of the knowledge management life cycle that the two organisations have reached, rather than from the difference in context between public and private sector. © iKMS & World Scientific Publishing Co.

Building user commitment to implementing a knowledge management strategy

In the IS literature, commitment is typically considered to involve organizational or managerial support for a system and not that of its users. This paper however reports on a field study involving 16 organizations that attempted to build user involvement in developing a knowledge management strategy by having them design it. Twenty-two IT-supported group workshops (involving 183 users) were run to develop action plans for better knowledge management that users would like to see implemented. Each workshop adopted the same problem structuring technique to assist group members develop a politically feasible action plan to which they were psychologically and emotionally dedicated. In addition to reviewing the problem structuring method, this paper provides qualitative insight into the factors a knowledge management strategy should have to encourage user commitment. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.