Write an essay on The knowledge management.
The knowledge management is the ability to capture, develop, store and share the information in the company repository and using to gain strategic and tactical advantage in the total process (Richter and Niewiem, 2009). The KM is an important system which can integrate all major and minor functions in a firm which enables the power of the decision making at right time (Luo and Liberatore, 2009). In this case study we take a look at the actors, the situation and circumstances, with redefining new solutions in KM (knowledge management) perspective.
The Manic Marketers market image for the outsiders was high on branding that attracted the job seekers. The sixty team members exemplified their calibre in the business circuit which helped to grow rapidly. The Manic Marketers presented a well drafted interview job description that seemed compelling for the prospective job seekers who wanted to be a part of their bandwagon. The key words of open and collaborative are the builders of expectations in the job seekers, while projecting the self image as world class knowledge environment led to substantiate their secret to early success in the business world (Ko, 2014). The last line in the advertisement stated explicitly the work is fun, as if party time for all. The short and crisp message of the vacancy position explained that was needed in the nutshell was catchy. The interview was very smooth, where Manic Marketers projected the KM (knowledge management) factor, collaboration within teams, feedback process was explained that helped to set the expectations of the KM framework existing in Manic Marketers.
The induction post interview was good as the technology platforms, organisational culture which enabled the KM showed the minimalist approach to work and even the offer letter emailed. The orientation had managers from Manic Marketers stating the documentation happens by default while there are many KM systems and structure in Manic Marketers which was not shown to the candidate. The hands on approach to records management system, financial system, library with the detailed process of knowledge objects collection that went into records and HR process was shown (Sturdy and Wright, 2011).
The first instance of the distorted reality of Manic Marketers that was entirely different was visible with the week 2. This becomes evident when the freshly inducted Damon was not able to comprehend the task at hand and the Manic Marketers departments, processes that were not explained. The first barrier in decoding the actors in the project titled ‘GB: Garabaldon Brothers’ with seven people to head the project were all coded. This was a major obstacle as there is no phone intimation, coordination from the other team members, and clients were listed in coded form. It took considerable effort to understand the file papers and understand the process of the transactions that has happened in the past. The KM factor failed in Manic Marketers as documentation process did not follow a rule while the rule book was not explicit in the file inner cover. The management of Manic Marketers assumed it is easily comprehendible for others showed the myopia in thinking process. Taking coding is universal in Manic Marketers there was no system where coordination of the team (seven members) which should have been a briefing email to all the participants about Damon heading. The KM factor here is very rudimentary where corporate knowledge dissemination did not happen which defined the work smarter tenets projected by Manic Marketers. Learning in training did not correspond to the actual work process, neither on the job hands on experience existed in Manic Marketers for the first task.
The mentor in a company is essentially a friend irrespective of the organisational hierarchy and lends a hand to the less experienced person for product, process, service knowledge inputs enabling to build a trust and foster the positive behaviour (Chen, 2011). The mentor hence, needs focussed determination of the knowledge transfer from one to other and help to resolve the problem. The mentor in the case of Manic Marketers is the key to understand the gaps in the KM framework which Damon was having difficulty. The mentor could visibly see the different training and the job challenges which Damon is facing. The initial support is induction training related, while the hands on experience, to apply that training knowledge in Manic Marketers had gaps that led Damon to figure out the coded information. The mentor in Manic Marketers was not organised and the support Damon received post orientation training was negligible. The mentor referred to some other people who were not helpful at all showed that work load was too much and mentors could not contribute to come to Damon’s assistance.
Effective mentoring however needs constant engagement process, that showed extended support to the mentee, dependable and authentic to the needs and problems of mentee (Swart and Harvey, 2011). The above case in Manic Marketers presented a unique opportunity for the mentor to understand the Damon’s inability to link the dots, and be a part of the mainstream employee. The mentor could have done the following roles to help Damon be equipped for the first task in Manic Marketers. The work process mentor is the ideal one as the product, process and service is closely hinged to it. It also allows relating to different clients, delivery systems, negotiation patterns that are critical for dealing with them. There is also technology mentor who can be of help to aid systems to reach out through intranet and internet, KM framework, accessibility rules and codes, BCP (business continuity planning) management for IT (information technology) systems, methods, backup and the use of tools to aid KM delivery (Nikolova et al. 2009). The mentor aiding the second week would have helped the ‘training period’ and ‘golive’ phase to join as a continued process, would have helped the new employee to adjust to the work procedures faster. The consequence would have been a better KM managed firm that helped to stick to the expectations projected in the job vacancy advertisement.
The Manic Marketers did have extensive client base and segregation of the client’s information in one file, the actors who have dealt in past, records of the transactions by value and date. However, it had coded the company knowledge in such a manner that is not easily comprehendible by the new comer Damon. There should have been information segregation in the Manic Marketers that could have streamlined the operations. Manic Marketers faltered in knowledge sharing and coding extensively which is evident from the case study. Before the technological support began, in Manic Marketers, Damon faced challenged in decoding the files for the first task.
The files are the company knowledge properties and there are many departments as well so codification of classified files of a select group of clients is necessary. Based on this tenet, Manic Marketers scored high while it did not have file de-codification KM system. It has a well documented process to maintain transactions, contacts, billing and orders in one single file that is not coded. To maintain the corporate information secrecy within teams and in the company as well, Manic Marketers should have devised a separate coding list for the GB project which should have access to the current project members. For all the members who have left Manic Marketers and to save guard the coding analogy, it should be changed the moment one member of the project team leaves or resigns. The data security should be stored in the intranet and accessible remotely from any computer around the world by members of the project team (Napier et al. 2009).
There intelligent KM system in Manic Marketers could have been a integrated framework for the project GB where the automatic update of the information to all members would help to align the team composition, its creation, meeting date, agenda and dates. The codifiable knowledge of the Manic Marketers would help old staff to connect through IT based communication and keep updated the new employees about what has happened and what to discuss. An effective KM system could have helped the project to be allocated electronically without face to face meeting where the agenda and meetings could have been electronically scheduled. Availing the records online would have helped to do information to be shared online at real time basis, which would have helped all the members of project to be prepared and focus on the key deliverable actions needed (Napier et al. 2009). All of these would have helped Manic Marketers to streamline the legacy information to be updated, for real time access and also to be better prepared for due course of future action.
The case of Manic Marketers showed that the issue of organisational culture is hyped towards newly inducted employees, while the old staff had their own ways of working. The management of Manic Marketers was not aware about the inability of Damon who was not able to comprehend project file codes neither there was any attempt by the mentor to do so. The absence of systems in KM, the heavily coded file and knowledge not being disseminated without mentor aiding it gave Manic Marketers to be more of a closed KM framework. This indicates that the social capital level is very low, and each of the projects with the individual team members is busy to help each other. Knowledge as information therefore is static, not aided by humans neither IT has made the KM system static. It did set the expectations of the KM systems in the orientation however failed in the execution as sharing of the business coding was not done to Damon a new comer. The file that was shared did have documentation which was implicitly coded by the previous owner that supports the codification in knowledge repository principle (Napier et al. 2009). However the new staff not at easy to access the information is a indication of the absence of codes in internal core knowledge repository. The Manic Marketers KM system had weaknesses that showed the physically unavailability of the members to aid each other. This shows the necessity to create a intranet group pertaining to the project members and setting up communication support and accessibility support to drive forward. The Manic Marketers management foresightedness to visualise project driven approach to task and segregating the team distinctly on the intranet KM is a weak point. The records management not linked to a centralised coded corporate knowledge repository which was absent is a major weakness. The security of the data in the GB project is at stake with members already leaving Manic Marketers needed differential coding that was not done. The management is not explicit about the work procedures, while they assumed the new comer will find it themselves. This attitude towards managing records, zero knowledge dissemination and projection of the Manic Marketers brand image will get a bad press. Manic Marketers did not acknowledge that they needed to revive and align the KM systems neither the management encouraging creating systems to share the knowledge.
Assuming that the brand Manic Marketers is successful in the business circle however, its KM needs an overhaul which is evident from the above case study. There are many ways to develop a framework but the ideal one will be a customer centric model which is demand driven and aligns functions in one integrated platform (Nikolova et al. 2009). This main KM framework can be then customized into client specific KM systems that connect the intranet, communication and KM repository. Each of these will allows capturing data, store, retrieve, access on a web based platform which will require the security passwords. This revamped system will help the Manic Marketers to segregate client or project based approach to task and align the resource allocation virtually. It also allows any single staff to be a part of multiple projects designed in the Manic Marketers new KM system. The central access of these inclusion of the members in the Manic Marketers client based team will require IT head, Manic Marketers CEO head and project head authorisation. This strategy will automate tasks, help to align and schedule the tasks, meetings using KM system aided through IT (Chen, 2011). Manic Marketers thus can manage multiple clients and multiple projects in each of the clients that from user (staff) point of view can be prioritised as per upcoming events or activities. This will help the project tollgates as activity based events which will require each of the member’s attention. The task creation and delivery involving one or more can be amended and it is this customisable feature which will help the Manic Marketers management to align physical presence, strategies into desired outcomes effectively. The designing of KM system in Manic Marketers will also have access protocols and time stamps of who accessed what, on real time. This will keep the CIA (confidentiality, integrity and accountability) of any action, inside Manic Marketers which will be for an official purpose and disintegrate the coded files that Manic Marketers has currently. The KM strategy will be backwards as all action created will be customer oriented that will set off series of actions in the Manic Marketers KM system and set relevant alerts in the departments and key staff(s).
Sharing is an important feature in KM and it will be limited to the members only with protocol driven strategy in safeguarding client integrity (Chen, 2011). The cases of information or past projects, that adds value to the Manic Marketers work procedures can be segregated into a central repository which will help the staff to update knowledge level and in subsequent application process (Swart and Harvey, 2011).
6. Conclusion
The above case is a classic example of KM in ideology and not in action as much of it needed a well designed IT system, in Manic Marketers. The issue however was much deeper as the culture to share was not there, so it made KM redundant. The implied knowledge was closely held and not shared explicitly that neither had protocols to be shared to relevant people. Manic Marketers KM system needs a thorough redesign which will enable old data to merge with future projects. The above new system proposed with allows the idealistic picture of the Manic Marketers staff to perform and aid strategic and tactical decisions in real time.
References
Chen, C.Y. (2011). Managing projects from a client perspective: The concept of the meetings-flow approach. International Journal of Project Management, 29(6), pp.671–686.
Ko, D.G. (2014). The mediating role of knowledge transfer and the effects of client-consultant mutual trust on the performance of enterprise implementation projects. Information and Management, 51(5), pp.541–550.
Luo, W. and Liberatore, M.J. (2009). Achieving it consultant objectives through client project success. Information and Management, 46(5), pp.259–266.
Napier, N.P., Keil, M. and Tan, F.B. (2009). IT project managers’ construction of successful project management practice: A repertory grid investigation. Information Systems Journal, 19(3), pp.255–282.
Nikolova, N., Reihlen, M. and Schlapfner, J.F. (2009). Client-consultant interaction: Capturing social practices of professional service production. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 25(3), pp.289–298.
Richter, A. and Niewiem, S., 2009. Knowledge transfer across permeable boundaries: An empirical study of clients’ decisions to involve management consultants. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 25(3), pp.275–288.
Sturdy, a. and Wright, C. (2011). The active client: The boundary-spanning roles of internal consultants as gatekeepers, brokers and partners of their external counterparts. Management Learning, 42(5), pp.485–503.
Swart, J. and Harvey, P. (2011). Identifying knowledge boundaries: the case of networked projects. Journal of Knowledge Management, 15(5), pp.703–721.
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