Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

Knowledge Audit 8
An inquiry into what knowledge an organization has, who has it and how it flows throughout the
organization.
Supports: organizational assessment, strategic planning, succession planning, decisionmaking,
knowledge sharing, knowledge retention, organizational learning
LEVEL OF EFFORT
SIZE OF UTILITY
SCOPE OF WORK
HIGH
SCALABLE
WIDE
―The best audits capture not only what the key knowledge is that advances important goals,
but why people think it’s important, where it resides and who knows the most about it.‖ 1 A
knowledge audit—designed to meet the needs of a specific organization—moves beyond
knowledge mapping to include evaluating the state of an organization’s technology, how well the
organization’s processes support knowledge sharing, and the work styles and culture of the
people within the organization. A successful knowledge audit can show needed changes in
organizational and personal behavior, enabling technologies and business processes so that
knowledge can be applied to improve how well the utility achieves its mission. It can also be
valuable in pointing out improvements to existing processes, clarifying the knowledge people
really need, and locating sources of that knowledge.
The knowledge audit begins with Knowledge Mapping, a process for identifying and locating
knowledge within the organization. Now this information can be used to design a knowledge
management system. For example, information that is used by a large number of employees
would become part of a web-based application widely available to multiple employees (see
Case Example #1). As a second example, Communities of Practice might be implemented to
help mitigate identified knowledge gaps within a specific area or practice, mobilizing knowledge
from one source of expertise in the organization to a larger team of employees who can use that
knowledge to improve their efficiency and effectiveness.
Tiwana offers a six-step process for the multidisciplinary group of people who make up the
audit team to document knowledge assets.
(1) Define the goals. This would include targeting of specific goals or knowledge and
identifying any constraints.
(2) Determine the ideal. This does not have to be extremely detailed.
(3) Select the method to use. The method should be one with which your organization is
comfortable. For example, a virtual survey process may be a good starting point for
a geographically dispersed organization, but not very effective for groups of
employees who do not regularly use computers.
(4) Perform the audit and document assets. This becomes an internal benchmarking
product that can later be used to evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge
management initiatives. This would also be the place where a knowledge map is
developed for use across the organization.
8 Jeff Angus, the Project Director of Data Works, Ltd., Seattle, Washington
C-59
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