Salient Points

of
“Chapter 3:
What Types Of
Knowledge
Exist?”
from
“A Leader’s Guide to Knowledge
Management: Drawing on the Past to
Enhance Future Performance”
Authored by John P. Girard and JoAnn
L. Girard

APRIL 18, 2023

KNOMAN

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Common dilemmas of organizations:

What is Information Overload?

Information overload describes the excess of information available to a person
aiming to complete a task or make a decision. This impedes the decision-making
process, resulting in a poor (or even no) decision being made.

What Is (Disruptive) Technology?

Disruptive technology is an innovation that significantly alters the way that
consumers, industries, or businesses operate. A disruptive technology sweeps away
the systems or habits it replaces because it has attributes that are recognizably
superior.

Recent disruptive technology examples include e-commerce, online news sites, ride-
sharing apps, and GPS systems.

In their own times, the automobile, electricity service, and television were disruptive
technologies.

What Is Globalization?
Globalization refers to the spread of the flow of financial products, goods,
technology, information, and jobs across national borders and cultures. In economic
terms, it describes an interdependence of nations around the globe fostered through
free trade.

What Is Downsizing?
Downsizing is the permanent reduction of a company's labor force through the
elimination of unproductive workers or divisions. Downsizing is a common
organizational practice, usually associated with economic downturns and failing
businesses. Cutting jobs is the fastest way to cut costs, and downsizing an entire
store, branch or division also frees assets for sale during corporate reorganizations.

What Is Deregulation?
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Deregulation is the reduction or elimination of government power in a particular
industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry. Over the
years, the struggle between proponents of regulation and proponents of government
nonintervention has shifted market conditions. Historically, finance has been one of
the most heavily scrutinized industries in the United States.

Terrorism Definitions
International terrorism: Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or
groups who are inspired by, or associated with, designated foreign terrorist
organizations or nations (state-sponsored).

Domestic terrorism: Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to

further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a
political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.

Of all these issues faced by organizations across several

industries, downsizing, and information overload demand
the attention of organizational leaders as they seem to be
widespread in so many organizations—public, private, not-
for-profit.

The enablers of transfer

“Infrastructure, culture, technology and measurement are all necessary enablers [of
knowledge management]; none alone is sufficient. Rather, they must all work in
concert to achieve sustainable success” (O’Dell et al., 1998, p. 71). The premise that a
number of interrelated and interdependent elements comprise the knowledge
management model is grounded in system theory and supported by other recent
research (Calabrese, 2000; Mohamed, Stankosky, & Murray, 2004;
Weber, Wunram, Kemp, Pudlatz, & Bredehorst, 2002).

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Though we agree with O’Dell and Grayson’s premise, it is important to underscore
Leadership as an enabler as suggested by many others (Mohamed et al., 2004;
Weber et al., 2002). Leadership subsumed in each category rather than as a stand-
alone subject area

Three (3) Models of KM

1. Knowledge Management: The Architecture of Enterprise Engineering
Colloquially termed the Pillars of KM, this important model remains one of
the most studied and quoted descriptions of the complex knowledge
management system. The foundation of the model is that each of the pillars
represents a key element critical to knowledge management programs
(Calabrese, 2000; Mohamed et al., 2004).

Recent research further strengthened the authority of the model by

statistically validating the existence of the four key elements and supporting
their professed values and comparative significance. However, this important
study did not consider all of the other representative models, and therefore it
could not state categorically that the other models were not equally valid and
valuable (Calabrese, 2000).

2. European network for knowledge management

The second model originates from Europe and “aims to identify and support
commonality in KM terminology, application, and implementation in Europe”
(Weber et al., 2002, p. 1). This robust model offers a holistic and concise view
of the major elements—much of which supports currrent North American
academic and business views of knowledge management. The model not only
reinforces the notion of system thinking but also follows traditional
philosophies, based largely on Nonaka and APQC, in terms of the major
components necessary for a successful implementation of knowledge
management.

3. U.S. Department of Navy’s Balanced Knowledge Management model

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 The U.S. Department of Navy, a world-renowned leader in public sector
knowledge management, developed the final model. In 2002, under the
leadership of Alex Bennet, the Department of the Navy was recognized as one
of the most important knowledge management organizations in North America
(Chatzkel, 2002).

A review of the various knowledge management models suggests five enablers—

Technology, Leadership, Culture, Measurement, and Process— are common in at
least three of the five models.

The Japanese often use a Torii as a portal to enter a sanctuary—for us the sanctuary
is a knowledge environment. Normally the Japanese construct a Torii with two
vertical bars supported by two or three horizontal bars. Key to the structural
integrity of the Torii is the lowest horizontal bar, or Nuki, which binds the remaining
horizontal and vertical bars. In the Torii, the trinity of Technology, Leadership, and
Culture bonded by the Nuki of Process is illustrated. The highest bar in this Torii,
known as the Kasagi, is Measurement. Like a real Torii, this highest bar is not
essential to the structure’s integrity; however, it plays an important role in ensuring
the Torii is noticed and respected

Torii, a New Model for the Enablers of Knowledge Management

Case Study: Buckman Laboratories

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Buckman Laboratories is a chemical manufacturer and distributor headquartered in
Memphis, Tennessee. They sell more than 1,000 different specialist chemical
products around the world while employing over 1,200 people. However, they have
become more renowned for their innovative corporate knowledge management
network. Today, business leaders from some of the highest technology sectors visit
Buckman Laboratories to learn about knowledge management.

In 1992, Bob Buckman decided that his company required a Cultural Revolution. He
decided to develop a system that would create a strategic advantage in a very
competitive market in which his corporation operated. The corporate culture he
envisaged was one where all employees shared knowledge to help the company
rather than guarding the knowledge to use for personal gain. He realized that such a
radical change would be difficult for his competitive, sales-oriented employees, but
he knew it was the right thing to do for the corporation and its long-term success

Bob Buckman desired a system where individual salespeople could rapidly exchange
knowledge in a collaborative manner to effectively engage the customer. His vision
was a system where these individuals would all add to and draw from the knowledge
base. The individuals would work as a team and together they would be more
powerful and more effective than the sum of the individuals. Having clearly
articulated the End State of his proposal, the initial challenge was to determine how
to put this revolutionary system into place. To implement his novel knowledge
management system, Buckman and his team had to overcome two significant
obstacles: technology and culture.

The first barrier was a technical one in that the communication infrastructure of the
early 1990s was immature. To address this unacceptable situation, Buckman
established a virtual Intranet on CompuServe, a public online system. Next, he leased
laptop computers with modems for his entire sales force (Fulmer, 1999). This early
example of a virtual private network was extremely innovative.

Buckman’s second hurdle, which remains extremely relevant today, was how to
convince his workforce to share valuable knowledge—in other words, how to
develop trust.
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Buckman offered incentives for those who participated, but he also made it clear
there would be few opportunities for those who opted not to contribute. Focusing on
the positive, Buckman awarded the highest contributors with rewards such as
computers and trips. He developed a code of ethics that stressed the importance of
individuals, and he worked with the sales force to develop a new compensation plan
that balanced sales with collaboration.

This excellent lesson is not unique to Buckman as collaboration, trust, and mutual
respect—in other words, corporate culture—are key ingredients to all effective
knowledge management implementations.

Influencing commissioned-focused sales representatives to give up their hottest

commodity—knowledge—is an amazing feat. All employees shared information
to help the company, rather than guarding the information to use for personal gain.

Case History system. This electronic knowledge base codified the challenges
uidentified by the sales force and their suggested solutions. This explicit knowledge
transfer process permitted the frontline sales team to query quickly the system to
determine how others had responded to challenging or unique questions from
customers. In the first decade, the knowledge base was populated with nearly 2,500
real cases, allowing salespeople to resolve problems more effectively and efficiently
than ever before .(O’Dell et al., 1997)

The raison d’être for Buckman’s cultural revolution was to deploy knowledge at the
point of sale. By putting knowledge in the field, at the point of sale, Buckman
believed he could add value that his competition could not accomplish.