For A-Plus Writer Only

Final Portfolio Project

Name

Institution

Introduction

An important point of view that organizations in today’s world are taking, or are supposed to take, in an effort to be effective in knowledge management (KM), is that knowledge does not simply exist. Traditionally, it was assumed knowledge simply existed and all an organization had to do was “capture it, codify it, and share it (McElroy, 2002).” As such, technology became the solution to capture, codify, and share knowledge, meaning that information technology could be looked at as the only solution to knowledge management. A new perspective, in what is referred to as second-generation knowledge management, is that “knowledge is something that we produce in human social systems, and that we do so through individual and shared processes that have regularity to them” (McElroy, 2002). In short, the second-generation KM approach dictates that knowledge can be created and, further, an environment that supports the use and sharing of this new knowledge (or supports knowledge processing) can be created. This essay looks to discuss a knowledge management program for Global Energy Company, based on the principles of second-generation KM and the four pillars of knowledge management.

The Three Principles of Second-Generation KM Selected

In an effort to bring about a transformation at Global Energy Company, three second-generation KM principles have been selected. The first principle, which has been borrowed from McElroy, for use in bringing about the much needed transformation, is organizational learning. He suggests that learning is a part of knowledge management and in order for knowledge sharing to be successful the company has to promote a culture of learning. As such, Global Energy Company would also steal a page by integrating the culture of learning in its organizational culture. This will include both individual learning and group learning, which relates to teamwork in the context of Global Energy Company. Group learning is a type of learning that is possibly the best learning approach to support organizational learning and subsequently, knowledge sharing. The other principle is the use of information technology, which enhances access to information and knowledge, making it an important element of knowledge sharing and has also been discussed by McElroy, in knowledge production (creation of new knowledge) and knowledge processing, not just knowledge capturing, codification, and use. The third principle is the institution of proper leadership, meant to bring about the cultural change that will further precipitate and environment that supports the creation of new knowledge and knowledge processing. In the next three sections, this paper will discuss how these three principles of KM will be implemented in the organization.

Organizational Learning

As has been mentioned earlier, this transformation will focus primarily on second-generation KM. Owing to its capability to utilize the entire life cycle, second generation KM provides the organization with new opportunities to come up with new knowledge. It is involved in the creation as well as the integration of knowledge. This means that, thanks to second generation KM, organizations do not have to rely on knowledge that exists – they have the opportunity to create their own knowledge of the own situations in order to deal with their own problems. Knowledge, therefore, becomes a social process because it is acquired and produced from the people within these organizations. The involvement of second generation KM within the entire life cycle also makes it possible for an environment to bring about sustainable innovation to be created (McElroy, 2002). Having made the process of knowledge acquisition and integration a social process, it also becomes possible to promote what is referred to as organizational learning. Learning is understood to be a continuous process and it is aimed to make improvements an organization-wide scope.

This means that, owing to the use of second generation KM, the organization is able to bring in continuous improvement through learning. In an effort to promote learning at individual, group, and organizational levels, Global Energy Company will be focused on having access to the right content, which will be accomplished by engaging all stakeholders to contribute their points of views on various issues, ideas, and opinions, not to mention that they will set their own learning goals, based on their responsibilities. Knowing what they need to achieve, they will be able to find new things to learn in order to achieve these goals. In addition, the organization will be focused on the development of an attitude of attaching more value to competency enhancement aimed at the accomplishment of motivational creativity. Motivational creativity has been associated with much greater value than the development of cognitive skills (Knapp, 1998), which is why focus will be focused on promoting creativity and then sharing the ideas created within the group, hence supporting both individual and group responsibility in learning.

Using Information Technology to Create Knowledge

As has been noted earlier, first-generation km capitalizes on the capturing, codification, and use of knowledge by use of technology (McElroy, 2002). This does not mean that this is the only purposes that information technology can serve in knowledge management. While it is true that second generation KM is not trapped in technology and is able to make effective and efficient use of human factors to come up with solutions for operational problems, it can use technology to put to meaningful effect knowledge production and knowledge processing. It means that second generational knowledge does not have limitations as far as the creation of knowledge is concerned, unlike first-generation KM. Information and Communications Technology is used in promoting knowledge sharing because it is a tool that facilitates access to information, but it can also be instrumental in be instrumental in the development of an environment that supports knowledge creation and sharing (Hendriks, 1999).

There are natural barriers to the process of creating knowledge, such as lack of access to information that can be eliminated by the use of information and communications technology. Using this technology, therefore, it becomes possible to create channels of communication that enhance the interactions that are required amongst employees within an organization in order to facilitate group learning. Employees need to network within the learning environment in order to share the resources and information that they have to realize how they can make use of this information to enhance their skills and, subsequently, performance, which results in knowledge creation. Since these networks provide strong, accessible, and empowering communication channels (Moffett, McAdam, & Parkinson, 2004), in an effort to make networking easier for the company, I would integrate novel Information Technology tools, such as social media, to facilitate networking and, subsequently, enhanced knowledge creation and sharing within and among teams.

Leadership

Among the four pillars of knowledge management, leadership is one. It is important to have good leadership in order to create and share knowledge within an organization, which is one of the core aspects of organizational transformation or the formation of a strong foundation for bringing about positive change. In order for knowledge to be created and effectively shared, it is paramount to have operational strategies and tactics that will bring about an environment that supports the dynamics of knowledge management (Bixler, 2002). In this regard, leadership will be the third principle that will be used in bringing about the change that is needed at Global Energy Company.

As has been mentioned earlier, it is through this good leadership that a cultural change will come about, bringing about a culture of learning and an, as a result, environment that supports the creation of new knowledge and knowledge processing. I have noted that the company has adopted a global approach o leadership because it supports the interaction of its employees with local communities in what it refers to as community practice. This is an element of knowledge development or creation because it helps in making the employees better understand the communities they serve. However, I would integrate in this approach a team effort, which would mean that teams would have to combine their ideas in the community practice approach, which is an element of promoting knowledge creation and sharing.

Conclusion

This project is focused on the implementation of a knowledge management program that uses second-generation knowledge, focused not only on knowledge processing (the creation and operationalization of knowledge) but also on the creation of an environment that supports knowledge processing. As such, the above three principals will form the foundation of accomplishing this objective, which include organizational learning, the use of technology, and proper leadership for a positive cultural change.

References

Bixler, C. (2002). Applying the four pillars of knowledge management. KMWorld Volume 11, Issue 1.

Hendriks, P. (1999). Why share knowledge? The influence of ICT on the motivation for knowledge sharing. Knowledge and Process Management (6)2, 91.

Knapp, E. (1998). Knowledge Management. Business and Economic Review 44 (4), 3.

McElroy, M. W. (2002). The New Knowledge Management - Complexity, Learning, and Sustainable Innovation. Butterworth-Heinemann.

Moffett, S., McAdam, R., & Parkinson, S. (2004). Technological utilization for knowledge management. Knowledge and Process Management 11, 3;, 175.