Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

30 | Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water Utilities
The third factor is technology. Technology plays a strong role in support of knowledge
sharing by providing information resources, network and communication technologies; knowledge,
virtual learning, and community collaboration systems; and team collaboration artifacts such
as electronic whiteboards, displays, and software packages. Video conferencing and the use of an
Intranet and the Internet greatly affect how information and knowledge are created and shared.
Coupled with good information management, technology helps create and support the flow of
information (and knowledge) across the utility.
On Likert scale from 1 (very poorly) to 5 (very well), 205 responders to the Project 4003
survey valued the level of information system integration (information consistent and accessible)
at a mean of 3.08. This represents the lowest mean in the survey, and is considerably below the
mean of the means (the average of the overall survey response) of 3.44. Further, the mean was 3.35
for the quality of information contained in IT systems. See the discussion of the relationship
between information technology, information management and KM at the end of Chapter 6.
As technology changes the way that work gets done, it influences the culture. While ideally
technology in the future would be invisible, currently it is this interrelationship between workers,
software, and hardware that changes work processes and thereby knowledge worker behavior.
The fourth factor is time and space. Time can be an ally or an enemy, depending on the
utility’s understanding of it and the resources available to respond to emergent opportunities and
threats. One aspect of time is as a boundary condition for focused sharing and interactions. For
example, in Relationship Network Management employees manage their interactions to sustain
trust and respect in their relations, thereby ensuring future access to their network, a necessity for
quick response. Ideas flow across organizations in a nonlinear fashion, and the path cannot always
be traced by cause-and-effect relationships. Space represents part of the context within which
knowledge is shared. For example, spatial surroundings play a large role in the efficiency and
effectiveness of teams as they meet to create ideas or solve problems.
The fifth factor is policies and rules. While some rules may be required, free knowledge
flows and creativity respond better to directives in the form of guidance. Some generic ideas that
foster the nature and spirit of knowledge sharing are:
• Everyone has access to anyone in the utility.
• No one can say “no” to a new idea except a senior leader.
• All prioritized e-mails and phone calls are answered within 24 hours.
• If time is short and no one is available, make the decision and explain later.
• Use a team and personal network for all difficult decision.
• Everyone knows the size of their action space (boundaries of their influence); everyone
tries to earn a larger space.
• At staff meetings, leaders take the time to ensure employees understand the line-ofsight
question, the direction and values of the utility. (Line-of-sight refers to the clear
connection between what an employee does every day and how it contributes to the
mission and purpose of the utility.)
• Context and potential consequences are always addressed before any significant action
is taken.
• Real-time lessons learned and after action reports are prepared and disseminated.
• Employees have assignment and careers, not jobs, and, where possible, are regularly
reassigned. Thus, they work for the utility, not a given individual.
• All employees have a responsibility to monitor the external environment for threats
and opportunities and to report them ASAP to the appropriate, accessible person.
©2011 Water Research Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.