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Aim
This exercise encourages managers to identify why they believe knowledge management may be the right solution for their organization.
Learning Objectives
Participants will be able to ...
- understand basic principles of knowledge management
- consider which knowledge management methods are most suitable for particular business needs
Facilitator Guidance
If you are going to embark on a knowledge management program, you need to ensure that you have a real business reason or problem for which knowledge management may be the right solution.
This exercise will provoke thinking around exactly this issue. Questioning the rationale behind the knowledge management program will result in one of two possibilities. It will either reinforce the decision and further clarify business outcomes, or it will highlight questions/doubts/weaknesses about whether embarking on a knowledge management program is the right solution for the organization.
Both outcomes are positive, as embarking on a knowledge management program can be costly, and it is imperative that managers are clear at the outset about the ultimate benefits to the bottom line.
This exercise is suitable for managers at any level, and can either be used to help them establish if knowledge management is for them, or to reconsider the planned outputs/bottom line. The participants will need to have a basic understanding of what knowledge management is before they complete this exercise. It can be completed individually or as a top team. Allow around one hour for completion.
Suggested Resources
- copies of the task sheet
- flipchart
- pens
What to Do (25 minutes)
- Introduce the exercise and explain the learning objectives. You may want to refer to some of the other resources contained in this topic.
- You may also want to ask the participants to revisit their thinking on the purpose and relevance at the end of a workshop.
- The initial stage of the exercise requires personal thinking time. If the group is struggling to think alone, you could instead get the group to work together, and to complete a central flipchart sheet with the ‘answers’ to the questions posed on the task sheet.
- Ask participants to form pairs to discuss the answers that they have identified as individuals, or as a group. They should focus on steps four and five, considering the risks involved in using knowledge management to solve the business problems, and the alternative solutions. You may want to move any debate along by asking:
- What did the introduction to knowledge management tell us about the major benefits of knowledge management?
- What were the major pitfalls of which we should be wary?
- What resources and behaviors/practices would we need to put in place to allow knowledge management to address these business problems?
Review Activity and Apply Learning (35 minutes)
Encourage participants to think about the exercise they have just completed and reinforce learning points by getting the group to create a list of useful pointers to help with making future assessments on the appropriateness of knowledge management for certain situations.
Business Rationale Task Sheet
If you are going to embark on a knowledge management program, you need to ensure that you have a real business reason or problem for which knowledge management may be the right solution. This exercise will help you to think about what rationale will lie behind your knowledge management efforts.
Considering or reconsidering your rationale will result in one of two possibilities. It may reinforce your decision to restructure your KM efforts, and further clarify the business outcomes you anticipate. It may also highlight questions/doubts/weaknesses about whether embarking on a knowledge management program is the right solution to the problems identified within your organization.
Both outcomes are positive, in that they ensure that you are making the decision that best suits your organization.
Task
Individually
- Working individually at first, begin by listing the business reasons for initiating a knowledge management program. These will include the problems that currently exist in your organization, or that you anticipate in the future, that knowledge management will address.
- Against each problem, describe how knowledge management will address this.
- Broadly identify the key resources required in terms of finances, human resources, time, technology, equipment etc. This is a quick, rough estimate.
- What risks or disadvantages can you foresee with each solution?
- Go back to question one and ask yourself what alternative solutions might address the problems. What business reasons are there for these alternative solutions?
Pairs
- Now working with a partner, take it in turns to quickly summarize steps 1–3. Then, concentrating mainly on steps 4 and 5, encourage your partner to think laterally and help him/her to identify any significant risks or opportunities they may not have considered.
- Finally, decide if knowledge management or an alternative solution(s) is the way forward for your organization’s unique situation.
- Be prepared to give up to two minutes’ feedback in the main group.
