Are social networks more than social?

The hottest Web 2.0 issue is, perhaps, social network. Using web content analysis tools, one can derive much useful information about users. By targeting those who exhibit "right" personal characteristics, a business can identify a promising customer base for their products / services.

Theory and practice in knowledge management

A smart and bold entrepreneur or manager came up with a great idea and gave it a try. It worked. The idea was duplicated at other locations to produce more evidence for its value. The experiences inspired and fueled development of a new theory, which in in turn inspired practicing managers to adopt the new thinking in their department or company. This dynamic, two-way interaction process goes on until everybody seems to have taken it for granted. Then, it disappeared from the public scene. From business strategy researchers, knowledge as a strategic asset and knowledge management as a crucial value-creating activity have been taken for granted. However, a close look at their discussion quickly reveals much impact of km on most of the components in their frameworks.

This book, The new age of innovation, does not carry km in its title. Yet, km lies at the core of everything. Knowledge is the input and output of business processes. ICT infrastructure facilitates or even enables knowledge creation, dissemination, and application. Value-creating business models are driven by km activities. Innovative business strategies essentially encompasses innovative km activities.

About the online class experiment

The first experiment provides some insights for future improvement.

Students are not used to the informal nature of blogs and the fact that blogs can be edited after they are posted. Actually, they don't have to finish everything at one time. Coming back at it several times would be more fun and less burden. They should feel free to add and expand their thoughts. Lacking the spirit of freedom, blogging would not turn into anything substantial.

I wonder what'd happen if these are made clear to the students before the experiment.

Thoughts about blogging

Blogging ought to be part of daily life.

Forget about reputation. Forget about who's reading. Just concentrate on your thoughts. Not everybody is a guru about something. But everybody can write down what's in their mind. Start with a purpose. Set up as many blogs as you want. There needs to be some for school, some for work, and for life, and for anything else.

Is time a barrier? No. Passion is.
Don't know anything that you can write about? The fact is, you do know something that you can write about. At the very least, you are an intellectual, a human being that feels and thinks.

Just like with any program implementation, starting small is a good advice. Blogging is a habit worth developing.

Blogs for good and bad

Blogs spread good news and bad news at a rapid speed. While we praise their ability to deliver great benefit, we shouldn't neglected the possibility of damage the may be caused by faudulent blogs. Take a look at this story as an example. We certainly don't need this kind of blogs in the midst of global financial turmoil.

Implications of knowledge spiral

Everything, good and bad, is a cycle. The knowledge spiral cycle consists of internalization, socialization, externalization, and combination. The internalization quadrant involves one learning from assimilating - by reading, listening, observing, or other means - what's external into his knowledge base. The socialization stage brings out his understanding or insight to the sharing community. As a result, private knowledge becomes public (or shared) knowledge.

The externalization phase turns a collective insight into a visible form - prototype, formula, equation,report, meeting minute, paper, or design drawing. Tacit knowledge becomes explicit knowledge at this point. The explicit knowledge inevitably gets confirmed or challenged by other knowledge. This process leads to more understanding and deeper learning.

One may begin at the socialization quadrant or the internalization quadrant. The internalization process is stimulated by the explicit knowledge, whereas socialization requires exposure to sharing of tacit knowledge. Both exist in the real world.

The knowledge spiral model describes the necessary steps one goes through in learning. Knowledge creation and knowledge sharing are simply different points in the knowledge life cycle. Not all knowledge has great problem-solving power. Knowledge gets updated and even gets obsolete. One's knowledge spiral is really an on-going process. Intellectually, one grows along the way.

Dual roles of knowledge in knowledge economy

The two definitions of knowledge economy - economy of knowledge as products and knowledge-based economy - are actually two sides of the coin, or two related views of the same phenomenon. As the economic vitality is propelled by innovative knowledge, the knowledge itself may be packaged as a valuable product. Cloud computing provides a good example. Well-established online companies like Amazon depends on its powerful information infrastructure for everything it's doing in the online market space. They are now making their processing capabilities available to the small businesses who want to go online but lack the technological resource to do it. The cloud computing phenomenon illustrates the fact that knowledge can play dual roles in the knowledge economy point of view - knowledge as a product and knowledge as an asset. There are companies, however, that specialize in creating or gathering patents with the hope that they'll profit from their collections someday.

A logical flow for teaching KM

Environmental factors: Knowledge economy, global nature of major issues, and
Theoretical foundation: Strategic value of knowledge, knowledge attributes,...
Cases: ....
Technologies:...
Implementation strategies and applications: Collaboration, innovation, organizational culture, community of practice
Challenges:performance measurement, knowledge accounting

Blogs for converting tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge

Whereas most of what we know only resides in the head, it is crucial that we try hard to ducoment it in some way. Explicit knowledge is more manageable than tacit knowledge. It helps the knower even more, actually. Ever pull out the album that has your (or loved ones) childhood pictures? We all need to keep track of what we have learned, what we think, and how we feel along the way. That kind of deep conversation with self may also help others understand real you.

When used with discipline, blogs can be a great tool for knowledge creation (reflective thinking) and knowledge transfer (sharing).

One learns from wiki that, in the group work, everybody is held responsible for the group outcome. Individual preformance directly impacts group performance.

Through blogging, one experiences the difficulty of converting tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge. Difficult, yet crucial. No wonder knowledge management is claimed to be a core competence that drives competitive advantage.

Business is about providing solution

People often ask wrong questions. Then they try very hard to figure out how to solve those wrong questions. As a result, one problem solved often leads to another problem being created. It may even be a much bigger problem! Buckman Laboratories is in specialty chemical products market. Their competitive advantage primarily stems from their customer-centric approach to doing business. Everything they do starts with customer problems. Their knowledge-intensive internal processes seek to solve customer problems. Customers constant bring about new problems. Buckman Labs thrives in creating and mobilizing new knowledge to satisfy their customers requirements.

Managing codified knowledge

We know that what we don't show that we know (tacit knowledge) is usually much more than what we show. We also know that learning and knowing often take place at the individual level. After all, how great a team can be without great members? No wonder most KM literature stresses management of tacit knowledge more than that of codified knowledge. Perhaps only technology vendors would devote entire articles on description of how to manage codified knowledge. However, it's also true that not everything that is tacit should remain tacit. We can't argue against the value of documentation in management of information systems. Managing a large application portfolio lacking documentation support is difficult assignment. Similarly, codifying knowledge may also be a discipline issue. Painful, perhaps. But with a little experience, things can get easier and easier. Converting what is tacit to an explicit form is a valuable competence that requires conscious and disciplined effort. Remember, the effect of increasing return will be experienced here.

Knowledge Economy

Understanding the driving forces and characteristics of knowledge economy provides motivation for the organization to be serious about knowledge management. After all, if nothing but knowledge can sustain competitiveness, where is the room for putting off activities of knowledge accumulation and knowledge application?

It's clear that smart product and service impress customers. It's also clear that smart products and services are only delivered by smart people through smart business process and smart management. It's less clear, however, how to create a smart organization that is characterized by extraordinary value-creating power. The field of knowledge management represents an attempt to systematically deal with this challenge.

I learn, I know, I grow, and I rejoice

Knowledge is an outcome of learning. Learning feeds innovation. Innovation creates value, value for all stakeholders. Learning is an essential skill in the knowledge economy. One of the best things a business manager can do and should do is to develop and nurture a culture of organizational learning in the organization. Technological tools are great. But, ultimately, it's people that make the greatest difference. The same people may perform very differently under different leaderships and management styles. Besides, not all types of knowledge ought to be treated in the same way. How to best synchronize application domain, people, technology, process, and measurement still remains a major challenge for managers today. Is it analytic or holistic in nature? Both, I'd say. Is it more important for some sectors than the others. I'd be tempted to quickly say Yes. But a little more thinking pulled me back to say "Well, not quite." Nobody can solely rely on his muscle to perform excellently at work. Brain power has to be drawn upon and utilized in order to produce innovative value and sometimes even just to get by in today's business environment.