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3 Set the vision for value creation through knowledge management.
How will the organization use knowledge management to
bring value to the organization, to customers and to the
organizational stakeholders? How will it measure these assets
and their value and create a knowledge sharing culture? What
will your knowledge strategy be – exploiter, explorer or
innovator? How can multiple views be integrated and change
over time?
4 Establish how an integrated view of knowledge management can be
developed and maintained. Identify the organizational learning
cycle and evaluate it against competitors’ and industry
learning cycles. Develop capabilities for guaranteeing the
availability of high quality content within specific knowledge
communities and the appropriate technology to support
these. Evaluate these across your full network of alliances on
a regular basis.
5 Understand the implications of knowledge for organizational and
network design. The need to foster, share and retain tacit
knowledge, for example, imposes a natural limit on the size of
operating units. Small knowledge-based work groups working
in a matrixed network rather than a hierarchical structure
are generally more helpful to people and work processes
when they rely on effective cooperation than in a hierarchical
reporting structure. IT helps to identify the core alliances
along the virtual value chain and communication channels,
and be prepared to continually change the way people and
processes interact to take advantage of changing circumstances
and get the best out of all resources.
6 Experiment, prototype and fine tune. These are all part of the
iterative strategy whereby initiatives that evolve from experimentation
should build upon each other, eventually involving
multiple communities.
7 Adjust the organization’s external posture and conduct and build
value through innovation. Innovate faster and get new products
and services deployed within the organization and to customers
or suppliers – for example, codified knowledge might be
given away as a customer retention strategy or to tie in
suppliers.
8 Continually measure and monitor knowledge. Most measurement
systems such as financial accounting are inappropriate
for intangible assets such as knowledge management, but
methods such as Balanced Scorecard, economic value added
(EVA) and inclusive valuation methodology can all be
applied. Continually monitor stakeholder actions and
options.