Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

The Lehigh County Authority Workforce Plan—which is tied to their concern over knowledge
retention—offers a leadership model in support of their vision to be the leading
water/wastewater provider in the Lehigh Valley region in every dimension. This model
addresses the areas of strategic planning, human resources, technology, public service,
financial management, industry leadership and operations optimization. The Authority considers
this model as a dynamic tool to use in assessing the organization’s hiring needs while
simultaneously serving as the expectations of their leadership team. Baseline leadership skills
are also listed in the Plan. As another example of leadership development, in Project Study #7
an employee leadership and development program is being used to build knowledge skills.
In addition to providing resources and guidance to their team, a primary job of the project
(team) leader is to monitor and assess project progress. Information on progress must be
evaluated, comprehended and acted upon. Variations should be investigated, and adjustments
made when necessary, while keeping the entire project team informed. While an in-depth
treatment of project management actions is beyond the scope of this project, included here is a
quick synopsis of management actions during the expansion and growth phase and
sustainability phase. The prioritization matrix is a tool for setting priorities for tasks or issues.
The Four Organizational Processes
In every organization there are four processes that are used continuously, although often
they are used unconsciously, invisible or merged together depending on the problem and
experience of the individuals involved. Together, these four processes—creativity, problemsolving,
decision-making and implementation—constitute a procedure for ensuring all aspects of
a situation are taken into account. Knowledge is at the heart of all four of these processes, and
undoubtedly all four will play a role in planning and preparing for, executing and sustaining KM
strategies and initiatives.
Creativity is both an art and a science. The creative process typically has four stages.
• Stage one is the problem, situation, or opportunity identification where a thorough
discussion of the issues and objectives occurs among interested/responsible
organizational employees to ensure common understanding of the desired effort.
• Stage two is gathering relevant information needed to focus potential new ideas
and to provide stimulation for idea generation.
• Stage three is the actual generation of ideas via brainstorming or some other
technique.
• Stage four is the discussion, evaluation and prioritization of ideas to determine
which ones are the best.
Each of these stages is built upon the collaboration and interactions among individuals and the
exchange of ideas. Further, creativity is part of the learning process. Each assumption leads to
an entirely different set of ideas that are acceptable for consideration. A useful technique to aid
thinking out of the box is to first surface the basic assumptions of individuals and teams that
may underlie an initial response, then change that set of assumptions and follow the
consequences. This frees up the mind to generate more and different ideas. See also concept
mapping and brain writing.
©2011 Water Research Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.