Knowledge Management Systems

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Conceptual Framework

Knowledge Management

Knowledge management deals with controlling the processes of knowledge transfer and creation, which in turn assists companies in attaining a higher efficiency and innovativeness (Grover & Davenport, 2001). It should be a part of the different business processes and over time completely mesh together with the organization according to Grover & Daven-port (2001), so that it cannot be noticed as a specific business process separate from others. The activities of knowledge management can be classified by the following three processes:
Knowledge generation
Knowledge codification
Knowledge transfer/realization
(Grover & Davenport, 2001)
Knowledge generation comprises processes involving the ‘acquisition and development of knowledge’ (Grover & Davenport, 2001, p.7). Knowledge codification is the ‘conversion of knowledge into accessible and applicable formats’ (Grover & Davenport, 2001, p.7), and knowledge transfer/realization represents the movement of knowledge to its point of use (Grover & Davenport, 2001). Depending on how a company manages these processes it can leverage its knowledge more effectively (Greiner et al, 2007). Companies realized that value can be extracted from managing knowledge and trying to build and implement a KMS, which aids the activities of knowledge management in an organization.

 Knowledge Management Systems

Knowledge management systems (KMS) are the means by which to put the knowledge management strategy into effect. There always have been personal knowledge management systems for the individual, as they would just reach out for help from somebody they know, who has the knowledge to help solve a problem (McLure-Wasko, 1999). More than ever companies need to locate and map knowledge residing in the company, and extract it to remain competitive and innovative. The advances in information technology (IT) and the creation of information systems (IS) have helped a great deal with these knowledge man-agement processes. ISs consist of three parts: application programs, information resources and/or knowledge bases, and user interfaces, which are used support business processes (Guarino, 1998), essentially any information technology used to help people get specific tasks done. Knowledge management systems are a particular type of IS, which are ‘devel-oped to support and enhance the organizational processes of knowledge creation, stor-age/retrieval, transfer, and application.’ (Alavi & Leidner, 2001, p.114) This is done with the help of tools like, online directories, databases, and many forms of information rich communication channels (Alavi & Leidner, 2001). Unlike an IS, a knowledge management system does not only deal with information though, but it focuses on knowledge and how users across an organization can gain access to knowledge, or the person from who the knowledge originated (Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Gray, 2000; Wu & Wang, 2006; and McLure-Wasko, 1999). Another important difference pointed out by McLure-Wasko (1999) is the ownership of knowledge in a KMS.
A traditional IS’s information belong to the organization, a KMS however manages knowl-edge owned by individuals or communities of an organization. This distinction is very im-portant, as not all knowledge by members of an organization can be codified, and conse-quently might be lost to the organization. If the organization can gain access to an individ-ual’s knowledge and encourage people to share their knowledge, then value can be ex-tracted from an otherwise hard to access source (McLure-Wasko, 1999).
Three common functions of a KMS are:
1) Coding and sharing of best practices
2) Creation of corporate knowledge directories
3) Creation of knowledge networks
(Alavi & Leidner, 2001)
The first point might be the most common and widely used application of KMS (Alavi & Leidner, 2001), which entails the use of repositories to ‘provide information or knowledge to support operations, management, analysis and decision-making.’ (Wu & Wang, 2006, p.729) The second and third functions of a KMS are also very important. The second func-tion basically refers to the creation of knowledge maps (Wu & Wang, 2006; & Alavi & Leidner, 2001) to depict who knows what in the company, and how they can be contacted. The creation of knowledge networks refers to the development of communities, which cooper-ate and bring together different specialists, some of these communities can also be referred to as communities of practice (CoP) (Vorakulpipat & Rozgui, 2008; Ruggles, 1998; & McDer-mott 1999).
KMS are an important part to an organization’s knowledge management strategy, because members with access to the KMS can acquire a large amount of information, which can help them solve problems, or get in touch with the right knower. But KMS need to be ‘ap-propriate, accurate and accessible’ (Karlsen & Gottschalk, 2004, p.4) in order to be valued by and successful among its targeted users. Organizations need to create ‘systems, methods and procedures’ (Karlsen & Gottschalk, 2004, p.4), which foster the use of KMS and make it user-friendly. The overreliance on IT can be detrimental to the success of a KMS as well (McDermott, 1999; Davenport & Prusak, 2000), as it misses the management of knowledge, and just becomes another IS. It is therefore crucial to consider the type of knowledge a KMS will manage in a given situation and adapt it accordingly to achieve the best possible user experience (Alavi & Leidner, 2001). It also needs to be aligned with other KM activi-ties and strategies of an organization to be successful. Otherwise, the lack of support might lead to a low acceptance among organization members and ultimately to a useful but empty KMS without users (Alavi & Leidner, 2001)
The main knowledge management tools in use at the consulting agency were extracted from an interview with Mattias Eklund, the manager responsible for the company’s KMS in Sweden and listed in table 2-1.

Searchable Database

Searchable databases are used to store many different kinds of documents. Their main function is to simplify the sharing and locating of knowledge. The tool creates an index for other Knowledge Management functions, both personalized and codified. You can through the database find documents about regions, industries and companies, but it also enables you to locate tacit knowledge such as networks and knowledge experts.

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Case Study

You can as an employee at the consulting company find reference Case Studies through the searchable databases. This can provide you with a framework for projects and tasks. You will find knowledge about general challenges, solutions and positions with regards to a sce-nario similar to the Case study.
Offers/Value Propositions
You are able to find already established packets of value propositions for services through the searchable database. These value propositions includes estimations of prices, payment conditions, delivery terms and timeframes. This provides knowledge to employees and clients at an early stage.

Reports

The most common use of the searchable databases is to find and upload reports. Every-thing from internal industry reports, client history and financial assessments can be found through the databases. The consulting company has no formal incentive system for en-couraging sharing and retrieving reports. The usage of the system will however contribute to your personal development and advancement in the company

Network

A lot of the tacit knowledge available in a company is hard to transfer. The consulting company works actively to enable the transfer of tacit knowledge by incorporating sharing and searching knowledge into the business culture. Networks are an important tool in or-der to successfully do this. At the consulting company they have established Communities of Practice and what they call Centers of Excellence. These networks are a center to share knowledge and are not limited to departments or countries.

Presentations

Presentations are another way to share the tacit knowledge. The benefit of presentations is that you can more easily communicate tacit knowledge, thus sharing it among individuals. Presentations are also used to inspire feedback and ensure an ongoing discussion.
Knowledge Experts
One method that the consulting company uses to incorporate knowledge sharing in to the business culture is by identifying and using what they call Knowledge Experts. These are individuals within the company that possess unique knowledge within an area. The Know-ledge Experts can then be sent to educate and create networks among targeted divisions that are seen to benefit from the expertise.

Monthly Meetings

Monthly Meetings is a way to share tacit knowledge within divisions, networks and offices. The meetings are set up in order for everyone to be routinely share new knowledge that is generated throughout the company. This provides a basis for discovering and applying new methods and solutions through knowledge sharing.

An Approach to KMS Success

DeLone & McLean’s IS Success Model

It is not easy to measure the success of KMS directly (Fahey & Prusak, 1998), as some benefits from a KMS, such as improved knowledge flow and innovativeness are hard to measure. Despite this issue research has been rather limited on models measuring the suc-cess of a KMS (Wu & Wang, 2006; Halawi et al, 2007/2008; Kulkarni, Ravindrani & Freeze, 2006). Since KMS is a kind of IS (Alavi & Leidner, 2001) a model that can measure the success of an IS might also be appropriate for measuring a KMS’ s success (Wu & Wang, 2006; Petter, DeLone & McLean, 2008). A model that can and has been used exten-sively to measure IS success, is the D&M IS success model (Seddon, 1997), which has been used and adapted in different studies to measure KMS’s success (DeLone & McLean, 2003), therefore it is important to understand its conception.
After reviewing conceptual and empirical studies regarding IS’s success DeLone & McLean (1992, 2003) came up with six dimensions that reflect IS success:
• System Quality
• Information Quality
• Use
• User Satisfaction
• Individual Impact
• Organizational Impact
DeLone & McLean (1992) combined a temporal process model with a causal model, to de-scribe the process of an IS and understand how each dimension was connected and how they impacted the IS’s success.
Figure 2-1 (DeLone & McLean, 1992)
Their model (figure 2-1) was based on communications research by Shannon and Weaver (1949) and the information influence theory of Mason (1978). Shannon and Weaver (1949) iden-tified three levels in communications: a technical level, a semantic level and an effectiveness level.
The technical level represented the accuracy and efficiency of a communication system, which produces information, the semantic level describes how efficient the communication system is at conveying the meaning of a message, and the effectiveness level illustrated the effect of the message on the recipient (Shannon & Weaver, 1949).
Each of these levels is represented in the D&M (DeLone & McLean, 2003), and measuring how an IS succeeds at each of these levels is the basis for its overall success. Semantic suc-cess was measured through information quality, and use, user satisfaction, individual impacts and or-ganizational impacts are used to measure the success of the effectiveness level.
As can be seen in their model the dimensions were interrelated and therefore close atten-tion was necessary, when defining the dependent variable and trying to measure an IS’s success (DeLone & McLean, 1992). DeLone and McLean (1992, p.88) suggested the model ‘needs further development and validation before it could serve as a basis for the selection of appropriate IS measures.’ After 10 years they re-evaluated their model (DeLone & McLean, 2003) in order to adopt it to the findings regarding this model and address critics.

1 Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Problem Discussion
1.3 Purpose
1.4 Research limitations
2 Conceptual Framework
2.1 Knowledge Management
2.2 Knowledge Management Systems
2.3 An Approach to KMS Success
2.3.1 DeLone & McLean’s IS Success Model
2.3.2 A KMS Success Model
2.4 Knowledge Management Strategies
3 Method
3.1 Research Approach & Study Design
3.2 The case study approach
3.3 Data collection
3.3.1 Sampling
3.3.2 Survey Design & Distribution
3.4 Reliability and Validity
3.4.1 Reliability
3.4.2 Validity
4 Results & Data Analysis
4.1 Pre-Survey Interview
4.2 Descriptive statistics
4.2.1 System Quality
4.2.2 Knowledge or Information Quality
4.2.3 User Satisfaction
4.2.4 Perceived KMS Benefits
4.2.5 System Use
4.2.6 Discussion
4.3 Standard Multiple Regression
4.3.1 Results
5 Discussion
6 Conclusions
7 Implications & Future Research
List of references
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