Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Using a FuzzyQFD Approach for Successful
Implementation <strong>of</strong> Knowledge Management
Mohammad Mirkazemi Mood 1 , Farhad Daneshgar 2 , Mona Mirkazemi Mood 3 ,
Nima sarabi 1 and Hossein Rahmany Youshanlouei 1
1
University <strong>of</strong> Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2
University <strong>of</strong> Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
3
University <strong>of</strong> Windsor, Windsor, Canada
mohamad_mirkazemi@yahoo.com
f.daneshgar@unsw.edu.au
mona.mkm@gmail.com
nimasarabi@yahoo.com
rahmani82@gmail.com
Abstract: There are a lot <strong>of</strong> differences between Knowledge Management Strategies regarding <strong>the</strong>ir
infrastructures, tools and methods. The cost and time, dedicated to <strong>the</strong> implementation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se strategies make
<strong>the</strong> evaluation and selection <strong>of</strong> a single Knowledge Management strategy a critical affair for all those
organizations that hope to administer <strong>the</strong>m successfully. The number <strong>of</strong> studies which, in <strong>the</strong> literature <strong>of</strong>
Knowledge Management, have tried to apply an applied approach to <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> choosing a knowledge
management strategy ge knowledge management strategy c approach to <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> choosing a knowled و
organizations tha , management strategy nagement is limited. Therefore, <strong>the</strong> present paper seeks to propose an
applicable solution, based on <strong>the</strong> Fuzzy Set Theory and <strong>the</strong> concept <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> House <strong>of</strong> Quality, to make <strong>the</strong>
selection and evaluation <strong>of</strong> a suitable strategy possible and also localized for each organization's needs. The
suitable strategy, in <strong>the</strong> proposed approach, is chosen via a multi-level process and based on <strong>the</strong> relationship
between Knowledge Management performance criteria, Knowledge Creation Processes and Knowledge
Management Strategies. In addition, <strong>the</strong> knowledge management strategies are ranked based on <strong>the</strong>
organization's needs and expectations out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> implementation <strong>of</strong> knowledge management. For this purpose,
<strong>the</strong> Houses <strong>of</strong> Quality which have been successfully adopted in <strong>the</strong> new product development processes are
used. Also, Fuzzy Set Theory has been used to eliminate <strong>the</strong> ambiguities <strong>of</strong> linguistic variables which are used in
<strong>the</strong> judgments and <strong>the</strong>ir conversion to fuzzy numbers. Finally, a case study is conducted to show and prove <strong>the</strong>
applicability <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> proposed approach.
Keywords: KM strategies, knowledge creation processes, KM performance, QFD, fuzzy logic.
1. Introduction
Nowadays, knowledge has become a Competitive Advantage for all organizations. In order to turn this
knowledge to <strong>the</strong>ir advantage, organizations need to manage it. Knowledge Management (KM) is a
process that helps organizations to identify, select, organize, disseminate, and transfer important
skills and information (Gupta et al. 2000). Organizations should pursue an appropriate strategy to
manage <strong>the</strong>ir knowledge so that <strong>the</strong>y can organize all <strong>the</strong>ir resources and abilities in <strong>the</strong>ir hope to
attain <strong>the</strong> ultimate goals <strong>of</strong> Knowledge Management Strategies. Due to <strong>the</strong> fact that any KM strategy
is broad and includes different dimensions <strong>of</strong> humans, organizational structure and technology
(Davenport and prusak 2000), any organization may choose a localized special strategy to attain its
desired goals. Because <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fact that KM strategies and tools impose remarkably large amounts <strong>of</strong>
money on organizations, and also <strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong> process is time-consuming, it is obligatory that
organizations be cautious in choosing <strong>the</strong> suitable approaches, tools and techniques <strong>of</strong> KM and select
<strong>the</strong> most appropriate one. Very few studies, however, have been conducted in <strong>the</strong> literature <strong>of</strong> KM
that aspire to apply an applied approach to <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> choosing a suitable KM strategy based on
<strong>the</strong> organization's needs and expectations out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> implementation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> KM. Therefore, <strong>the</strong>
present paper seeks to propose a FuzzyQFD approach that is based on <strong>the</strong> concept <strong>of</strong> "House <strong>of</strong>
Quality" as well as Fuzzy Set Theory. The approach helps <strong>the</strong> organizations choose a suitable KM
strategy based on <strong>the</strong>ir desired outcome <strong>of</strong> implementing <strong>the</strong> knowledge management.
First, <strong>the</strong> paper conducts a Literature Review regarding previous researches on Knowledge Creation
Processes, KM strategies, KM Performance Criteria, and <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> paper introduces <strong>the</strong> proposed
approach. A case study is also conducted in <strong>the</strong> end that shows how <strong>the</strong> approach has been
implemented in a real organization.
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