Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

The “Building Trust” and “Knowledge Sharing” lists in the Idea section of the toolkit under
Resources.
Q25: The capacity of employees to tackle and take a flexible approach to problems is ...
Q25-3: Selecting level 3 indicates that employees are sometimes able to be flexible in their
approach to solving problems. A KM strategy implementation may offer a vehicle for improving
employee's capacity to solve problems and stay flexible in how they deal with issues. The Four
Organizational Processes section in the Executing phase of the toolkit process and the
Nurturing Organizational Health section in the Sustaining Phase may provide insights on the
need for flexibility.
Q25-2: Selecting level 2 indicates that employees are not good at tackling and taking a flexible
approach to problems. In this situation it may be best to delay the KM strategy or create training
as part of the strategy mechanisms to improve employee capacity for problem-solving and
flexibility. The Four Organizational Processes section in the Executing phase of the toolkit
process and the Nurturing Organizational Health section in the Sustaining Phase may provide
insights on the need for flexibility.
Q25-1: Selecting level 1 indicates that employees have difficulty solving problems and being
flexible. This kind of a condition is frequently created by a strong control oriented organization,
which has not empowered the workforce and is intolerant of mistakes. Under these conditions it
may be very difficult to implement a successful KM strategy. The Four Organizational
Processes section in the Executing phase of the toolkit process and the Nurturing
Organizational Health section in the Sustaining Phase may provide insights on the need for
flexibility.
Q26: The energy level and spirit of the workforce in my Utility is ...
Q26-3: Selecting level 3 indicates that the employees have a medium energy level and spirit
toward their work. Under these conditions it may be possible for a successful KM initiative to
pull a workforce together, increasing energy and improving Utility performance at the same time.
In any case, a medium energy level workforce is going to move slower toward an objective, and
therefore the implementation program needs to take this into account.
Q26-2: Selecting level 2 indicates that the employees have low energy levels and not too much
spirit towards their work. This would most likely make it quite difficult to implement a KM
strategy. However, the KM strategy might be implemented in a manner which would improve
the energy level and spirit of the workforce, providing management and senior leadership are
personally involved and use that involvement to communicate with their employees. You might
wish to review the Ensuring Leadership Commitment section in the Planning phase of the
toolkit process and the myriad of Idea lists including Recognition, Knowledge Sharing and
Rewards and Communications Publications located under Resources.
Q26-1: Selecting level 1 indicates that the employees have very low energy levels and little or
no spirit towards their work. When this occurs, there are generally larger underlying issues at
play. Regardless, this situation would make it very difficult to implement a KM strategy. One
approach would be to create a problem solving team or hold a collaborative problem solving
forum to surface and address these critical issues. Various resources in the toolkit may be of
assistance. For example, there is a discussion of the Collaborative Problem Solving Forum in
D-20
©2011 Water Research Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.