Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

Knowledge Management
Knowledge Management (KM) is all about people—individuals, groups and
organizations—effectively applying their knowledge. KM looks at the organization through
an information and knowledge lens and asks the question: What can leaders and managers
do to help employees work more efficiently and effectively, be proactive, and take the best
actions to support the goals and strategy of the Utility? In short, KM can help resolve a
specific problem, change a culture, or prepare an organization (and individuals) for a better
future.
KM consists of a group of related ideas, principles and practices that, when tailored and
applied by experienced people to specific issues, can improve the quality of the Utility’s
decisions and actions. The unifying theme is its focus on information and knowledge. It is
also an approach to increasing the Utility’s capacity to deal with growing change,
uncertainty and complexity. For example, one KM objective is to build a collaborative
learning organization with employees who create, share, leverage, and apply their
information and knowledge in support of Utility objectives. The payoff includes rapid
response, employee satisfaction, quality work and fewer mistakes. When individuals begin
to understand the potential offered by KM—and that it is all about helping them use their
knowledge better, they often get excited. This happened in Project Study #11.
At different times in its history and implementation, KM has been focused on information
systems, communities of practice, and knowledge strategies. Combining these focuses, the
U.S. Department of the Navy considered KM from three viewpoints: information, decisionmakers,
and the organization.
From the viewpoint of information: Connecting information and people. This includes
searchable and linked information repositories consistently organized through the use of
a taxonomy; and the flow of information through systems support of communities, teams
and various communications and intermediation approaches (connecting those who
need knowledge with those who have the knowledge).
From the viewpoint of the decision-maker: Facilitating understanding. This includes
the use of meta information to ensure understanding of the context of how specific
information has been used in the past (and its effectiveness in that situation). This also
includes the ability to access what is needed (information literacy) and to have open
communications with others to build awareness and facilitate the creation of new ideas
(relationship network management). Further, it focuses on the ability of individuals and
teams to understand what is accessed and effectively use it to make decisions (critical
thinking, systems and complexity thinking; decision-making in a complex environment,
From the viewpoint of the organization: Nurturing a knowledge sharing culture. This
also means nurturing a learning organization, which includes encouraging and
supporting communities of practice and communities of interest, and rewarding
knowledge sharing. It also includes leadership commitment and providing the guidance,
©2011 Water Research Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.