Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

value in a specific situation or location. The KMb approach taken depends on the timing,
application, situation and needs of the Utility and stakeholders it touches.
The KMb approach accompanying Project 4003 implementation included a combination
of events, publications, Internet exchanges and development of meta-tools (the Readiness
Assessment Instrument and KM Toolkit) that will enable drinking water utilities to plan and
implement the organizational change needed to support implementation of knowledge
management strategies and initiatives in drinking water utilities.
To raise awareness of KM in the drinking water utility industry, over 1224 drinking water
utilities across the nation were contacted via the survey process (hard mail with a cover letter
defining KM and its significance to drinking water utilities) and follow-up telephone
interactions. During this process, 1001 individuals were engaged in one-on-one telephone
conversations of 5-10 minutes in length concerning knowledge and Knowledge Management
related to drinking water utilities. Figure A.1 shows the number of these conversations per state.
From this process, 33 project studies were developed representing 22 drinking water utilities.
These are available in the KM Toolkit.
During these conversations, Knowledge Management was defined in terms of the predetermined
elevator speech, the 4003 research project was detailed, and participation in the
survey process was requested. Periodically, 3, 4 or 5 individuals in a single Utility were engaged
CA
130
OR
15
WA
46
NV
14
ID
3
UT
10
MT
5
WY
6
AZ
21 NM
4
CO
29
ND
3
SD
7
NE
6
TX
51
KS
6
OK
7
MN
35
IA
18
MO
15
AR
13
LA
6
WS
26
IL
36
MS
2
IN
20
MI
33
KY
TN 19
AL
18
OH
36
GA
18
WV
1
SC
14
FL
56
PA
34
V
A
NC
24
2
NY
33
NH
7 ME
13
M
A
45
CT
16
NJ 19
D
DE 3
MD
13
AK
7
HI
3
Figure A.1 Number of one-on-one telephone conversations on KM with drinking water
Utility personnel per state
A-3
©2011 Water Research Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.