MANAGING KNOWLEDGE FOR THE DIGITAL FIRM

1. 10 Chapter MANAGING KNOWLEDGE FOR THE DIGITAL FIRM

2. OBJECTIVES • Why do businesses today need knowledge management programs and systems for knowledge management? • Define and describe the types of systems used for enterprise-wide knowledge management and demonstrate how they provide value for organizations? • Identify the challenges posed by knowledge management systems and management solutions.

3. Important Dimensions of Knowledge Distinction between data, info, knowledge and wisdom • Data: flow of events or transactions captured by organizations • Information: to turn data into useful info, a firm must expend resources to organize data into categories of understanding, such as monthly, daily, or regional reports • Knowledge: to transform info into knowledge, a firm must expend additional resources to discover patterns, rules, and contexts where the knowledge works • Wisdom: is thought to be the collective and individual experience of applying knowledge to the solution of problems. Wisdom involves where, when and how to apply knowledge

4. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN THE ORGANIZATION Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management • How do firms obtain knowledge ? • They create and gather knowledge using a variety of organizational • learning mechanism • Organizational learning • Through trial and error, careful measurement of planned • activities , feedback from customers and the environments. in • general, organizations create new standard operating • procedures and business processes that reflects their • experience. • Knowledge management • Set of business processes developed in the organization • Creates, gathers, stores, maintains, and disseminates knowledge • Knowledge management increases the ability of the org to learn from its environment and to incorporate knowledge into its business processes

5. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN THE ORGANIZATION Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management • Knowledge Assets • Organizational knowledge regarding how to efficiently and effectively perform business processes and create new products and services that enables the business to create value.Management theorists believe that these know. assests are as important for competitive advantage, than physical assets • Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) • Senior executive in charge of organization’s knowledge management program. They help design programs and systems to find new sources of knowledge or to make better use of existing knowledge in organizational andmanagement processes

6. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN THE ORGANIZATION Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management • Communities of practice (COPs) • are informal social networks of professionals and employees within and outside the firm who have similar work-related activities and interests • Taxonomy • A scheme for classifying info and knowledge in such a way that it can be easily accessed (like a table of contents in a book) Organizational knowledge can be captured and stored using case-based Reasoning. Ex: Accounting and consulting firms have developed structured document and engagement-based (case-based) repositories of reports from consultants who are working with particular clients. The reports typically are created after the consulting engagement is completed and include detailed descriptions of the consulting objective

7. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN THE ORGANIZATION Systems and Infrastructure for Knowledge Management • Tacit (network) Knowledge • Expertise and experience not formally documented which resides in the minds of individual employees • -Structured internal knowledge(explicit knowledge) that exists in formal documents • -External knowledge of competitors,products and markets • Best Practices • Successful solutions or problem-solving methods developed by specific organization or industry

8. Figure 10-1 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN THE ORGANIZATION IT Infrastructure for Knowledge Management

9. INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE WORK SYSTEMS Information Work • Consists of creating or processing information • Divided into knowledge workers and data workers

10. INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE WORK SYSTEMS Distributing Knowledge: Office and Document Management Systems • Office systems • Computer sys, designed to inc the prod of info workers in theoff • Manage and coordinate work of data and knowledge workers • Connect work of local information workers with all levels and functions of organization • Connect organization to external world • Example: Word processing, voice mail, and imaging

11. Figure 10-2 INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE WORK SYSTEMS The Three Major Roles of Offices • Coordination of the work of loc professional and info workers • Coord work in the org across levels and function • They couple the org to the ext env

12. INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE WORK SYSTEMS Typical Office Systems Document imaging systems • Convert documents and images into digital form • Can be stored and accessed by the computer Knowledge repository • Collection of Documented int & ext knowledge in a single location for more efficient management & utilization by the org. Using these tools, knowledge from many diff sources that can be documented in the forms of memo, presentations, and articles can be digitized and placed in a central location for easy storage and retrieval

13. INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE WORK SYSTEMS Creating Knowledge: Knowledge Work Systems Knowledge Work Systems (KWS) • Aid knowledge workers in creation and integration of new knowledge • Specialized tools for specific types of knowledge work • User-friendly interface

14. INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE WORK SYSTEMS Changes in the Construction Project Management Process Figure 10-5

15. INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE WORK SYSTEMS Examples of Knowledge Work Systems • Computer-aided design (CAD) • automates the creation and revision of designs, using computers and sophisticated graphics software • Virtual reality systems • Interactive graphics software and hardware that create computer-generated simulations that provide sensations that emulate sensations real-world activities • Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) • A set of specifications for interactive three-dimensional modeling on the WWW. Users can download a three-dimensional data over the Internet, and virtual world designed using VRML from a server over the Internet using their Web browser • Investment workstations • powerful desktop comp for financial specialists, which is optimized to access and manipulate massive amounts of financial data

16. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE What is Artificial Intelligence? • Effort to develop computer-based systems that behave as humans • Includes natural language, robotics, perceptive systems, expert systems, and intelligent machines

17. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Why Business is Interested in Artificial Intelligence • Artificial Intelligence: types of systems that would be able to learn languages and use a perceptual apparatus. • Stores information in active form • Creates mechanism not subjected to human feelings • Eliminates routine and unsatisfying jobs • Enhances organization’s knowledge base • Generates solution to specific problems

18. Figure 10-8 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE The Artificial Intelligence Family Knowledge management also includes a diverse group of intelligent techniques, such as : - data mining focus on discovering knowledge - expert systems and fuzzy logic distilling knowledge in the form of rules for a computer program - genetic algorithmsdiscovering optimal solutions for problems that are too large and complex for human beings to analyze

19. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Building an Expert System Knowledge engineer • Specialist eliciting information and expertise from other professionals • Translates information into set of rules for an expert system • A knowledge engineer is similar to a traditional systems analyst

20. 10 Chapter MANAGING KNOWLEDGE FOR THE DIGITAL FIRM

21. Multiple Choice Questions( 6 Questions) • Where, when, and how to apply knowledge is referred to as: • wisdom. • information. • data. • knowledge.

22. Multiple Choice Questions • An informal group of people that may deliver work in many different locations, but who share, professional interest is called: • community of practice. • communities of discovery. • communities of interest. • communities of knowledge.

23. Multiple Choice Questions • CAD systems require: • processing nodes. • neural networks. • graphics and powerful modeling capabilities. • groupware.

24. Multiple Choice Questions • When capturing tactic knowledge, which of the following technologies would NOT be used? • Virtual reality • Expert systems • Fuzzy logic systems • Case-based reasoning

25. Multiple Choice Questions • These types of systems would be able to learn languages and use a perceptual apparatus. • Artificial intelligence • Fuzzy logic. • CAD • Intelligent agents

26. Multiple Choice Questions • Organizational knowledge can be captured and stored using:  • case-based reasoning. • neural networks. • user-defined techniques. • backward chaining.

27. True-False Questions(6 Questions) • Because of their complexity and intangible benefits, knowledge-management systems represent only a minor area of information systems investment.  • True •  False

28. True-False Questions • Knowledge is both an individual attribute and a collective attribute of a firm.  • True • False

29. True-False Questions • Knowledge storage generally involves the creation of wisdom.  • True •  False

30. True-False Questions • Architects, engineers, and medical workers use precise simulations of objects provided by virtual reality systems.  • True •  False

31. True-False Questions • Best practice is a scheme for classifying information and knowledge in such a way that it can be easily accessed. • True • False

32. True-False Questions • The majority of knowledge workers do not rely on office systems to increase productivity in the office.  • True • False