Please read the following instructions carefully before attempting assignment: This assignment covers lesson no.

25-29

Last date for submission of assignment is 10th july,2008

Make sure that you upload the solution before due date. accepted after the due date. No solution will be

Note:

If you are unable to upload your solution file on VULMS then VU email server can only be used to send attached file. E mail received from any other email server like yahoo, gmail, hotmail, etc shall not be entertained at any cost. Give the answer according to question, no mark will be given for irrelevant material. Dont rely only on handouts, use other reference books also. Plagiarism will be strictly dealt. Cheating or copying of assignment is strictly prohibited; No credit will be given to copied solution. Once you have uploaded the assignment on LMS, it will not be replaced under any condition.

Q.1 Explain how much technical skills, professional experience

and a university degree is important for knowledge worker? Discuss your beliefs with examples? (5 marks) A knowledge worker is expected to have both professional experience and soft traits such as a sense of culture, political and personal aspects of knowledge in business. The personal aspects includes open, candid and effective communication skills, warm and congenial personality that accommodates knowledge sharing in a group setting sensitivity to political pressures in the department or organization in general, and accommodating the job as well as peers within cultural constraints. Lawyers, consultants and scientists are all knowledge workers. One difference between knowledge workers and white collar workers is the level of education and specialized training. As a rule, the majority of knowledge workers have a university degree. Knowledge work Is about creating, manipulating and sharing knowledge in the workplace. Like it or not employers continue to be more impressed with paper qualifications than practical experience. A paper qualification might not assure competence, but its a door opener with long-term potential for the applicant.

Distinguish between traditional managers and smart managers? (5 marks)

Q.2

Traditional managers focus on the present. They are action-oriented, spending most of the time delegating, supervising, controlling, and ensuring compliance with set procedures they were once workers or super employees and were promoted to managers. When they manage subordinates, they know all aspects of the business, because they were once there. The goal of management is stability on the job and meeting deadlines. In contrast, smart managers focus on organizational learning to ensure operational excellence. Because of continuing change and improvements in the workplace, they cannot be expected to have mastered the work of subordinates. As a result, they take on the role of leaders, where change is the primary goal, clearly the challenge is to get the department of the organization moving in the direction of the goal in line with the rate of change. Their focus is on the future, developing strategies and sharing vision through effective communication with knowledge workers.

Assignment # 04Spring Semester, 2008

Q. Write down the attractive aspects for a knowledge worker to stay in an organization for a long period? (10 Marks) One factor that affects knowledge worker performance that isn't well understood is the physical work environmentthe offices, cubicles, buildings, and mobile workplaces in which knowledge workers do their jobs. There is a good deal said about this topic, but not much known about it. Even more unfortunately, most decisions about the knowledge work environment are made without seriously For those companies whose competitive edge depends upon their being able to always remain on the cuttingedge of technology, being located in a place that is able to supply highly educated workers in sufficient quantity and quality is their No. 1 site location requirement.

The new age economy, with its attendant paradigm shifts in relation to the human capital, in terms of its acquisition, utilization, development and retention, has placed a heavy demand on today's HR professional. Today HR is expected to comprehend, conceptualize, innovate, implement and sustain relevant strategies and contribute effectively towards giving the company its winning edge. With a dynamically changing and volatile demand-supply equation, especially against erratic attrition trends and cutthroat competition no longer restricted to local or regional boundaries, a need for strategizing and putting in place a robust mechanism for attracting and retaining top talent becomes vital for the company's very survival and growth. The new age workforce comprises mostly of knowledge workers, who are technosavvy, aware of market realities, are materially focused and have higher propensity to switch jobs. They prefer to experiment and explore new opportunities, are high risk takers with higher aspirations and expectations and generally have a totally different mind-set about job and careers. In an organization employees could be broadly classified into four categories: strugglers and under performers. This constitutes about 1/5th of total human capital at our disposal and these people obviously qualify to be the first candidates for the pink slip. The other two segments comprise of the 'solid performers' and the 'stars' who are at the higher end of the performance continuum. The former may be relatively lower in their potential as compared with the latter, but contribute immensely to the company's overall performance. We could call this as the 'talent' segment. This is the segment we do not want to lose. We've got to protect this group from the pull of all non-retentive forces and that needs effective retention strategies that have to be kicked into high gear. Before we discuss the various retention strategies/plans that could be used for retaining the talented employee, lets' quickly look at the factors that have a bearing on talent acquisition and retention. Factors impacting Talent Acquisition and Retention The company's brand image crowns the list of the priorities for the job seeker, other important considerations being; the pay package and other pecuniary benefits, the class and quality of people that work in the company, the challenges of the job and attractive of the position and designation, the opportunities for career growth and professional development and the kind of technology, he would be exposed to. From the company's perspective, its brand equity, philosophy, vision, mission, culture, values and ecology have a direct bearing on talent attraction and retention. Other company-related attributes that impact employee retention include high demand on performance, need for competencies, broader, deeper and diverse job expectations, need for re-skilling and re-deployment, career offerings and growth prospects, goal and role clarity, policies and processes and organizational communication. Why to manage talent

Skills, knowledge and talents are distinct elements of a person's performance. The distinction among the them is that skills and knowledge can easily be taught, whereas talents cannot. Further, one must never confuse talents with skills and knowledge. Skills are the capabilities that can be transferred from one person to another. For accountants arithmetic is a skill. Knowledge is of two types: factual things you know, and experimental understandings you have picked up along the way. Ask a great accountant when he smiles and he will tell you 'when the books balance'. A love of precision is not a skill, nor is it knowledge. It is a talent. If one doesn't possess he will never excel as an accountant. So if someone doesn't have this talent as part of his filter, there is very little a manager can do to inject it. The recipe of success for any knowledge economy organization hinges on its ability to leverage human capital, so as to deliver business results. Employee development and retention plays a pivotal role in their growth. Hence, managing talent in the LPG era, where cutting edge being provided by HR, has assumed added importance. It is slowly drawing on the minds of HR professional that it is easier to get good people but it is very difficult to retain them. Then the next question arises as to what are the challenges for HR in this regard. What are the challenges that HR professionals or top management face in managing talent. First quite often in their bid to attract talent HR oversells the organization to the new recruit. It is easy to recruit good talent but very difficult to retain them especially if the foundation of the relationship has been based on misrepresentation of the truth. The new recruitee feels cheated, and thus sowing the seeds of self-centeredness. The next challenge for both HR and the employee is to ensure that there is clarity in the communication of roles and responsibilities. However, quite often roles are defined but not the performance parameters. Without proper techniques and clearly defined parameters, measuring performance will remain subjective, often based on likes and dislikes of the seniors measuring the performance. Finally, having ill-structured compensation packets. For instance, an organization matching the new recruits last drawn salary in the previous organization which results in two colleagues in the same grade, performing similar job drawing widly, disproportionate salaries. Not withstanding the above listed and other challenges it's everybody's knowledge that in the knowledge economy an organizations ability to attract and retain talent is sine-quo-non for success. We are all aware that while it is easier to get good people it is very difficult to retain them. So the retention strategies have to be viewed holistically against the total systemic framework of "talent" the "company" and the 'environment'. Attrition and retention should be seen as reciprocal phenomena, which have an inverse relationship with each other. Recruitment and needs for downsizing must also be considered in conjunction. An understanding of the inherent considerations of an individual who wishes to join a company and continue to stay, and potential compulsions, which push him away, would help.

Further, retention strategies should be designed such that the retentive forces are maximized and the debilitating forces minimized. Retention strategies should not be orchestrated in isolation but must from part of the overall strategies for strengthening the pull on the talent, which in fact include sourcing, staffing and development strategies in addition. A robust sourcing strategy is crucial to the exercise since the type of people one selects should not only fit into the job in terms of skill set but should match the company culture in terms of attitude, personality and commitment. An effective selection process ensures the entry of the right kind of people into the organization, with the desired loyalty and sense of belonging that goes a long way in restricting attrition in the long run. What needs to be done The first step for individual companies is to develop detailed profiles of the kind of people they are after by analyzing the job profiles, career paths, background and experience of their current high performers. Once we know what we are looking for, there are a number of routes we can take. Some get what they need largely through acquisitions, which is fine if acquisitions are an intrinsic part of corporate strategy. Some "outsource" by picking up people they believe are better trained elsewhere. Those who can attract the best college graduates and excel at early development, "in source", instead. Secondly, aggressive development strategies complement the retention strategies in a big way. Providing opportunities to the employee for both professional and career growth and giving the due priority to this important activity makes the company's position in the market for talent attractive and compelling. Well articulated strategies in the context of sourcing and development argument the retention strategies in crafting a powerful employee value proposition that remains central to the problem of attraction and retention of top talent. Thirdly, the ability to define, develop and deliver a winning employee value proposition should be at the core of all retention strategies particularly for large companies facing challenges from a multitude of smaller companies as employers. The lure of the latter in terms of excitement, flexibility, impact (a big fish in a small pond) reward and even equity ownership has to be countered with a stronger proposition bolstered by the formers magnitude of impact (big fish in a big pool), depth (vast resources to take risks and to support big decisions) and variety (large spectrum of expertise and experience to be shared).

All retention strategies must be built around a compelling, distinctive and exiting employee value propostion. Further, these strategies must cover three distinct yet overlapping domains; cultural, transformational and transactional. So, let us dwell upon the cultural aspects as relevant to the issues under construction. a. Culture is somewhat like "the operating system" of the organization. It drives the organization and its actions. It guides how employees think, act and feel. It is dynamic and fluid, and it is never static. Some aspects of culture are visible and tangible and others are intangible and unconscious. Some of the most visible expressions include the architecture and dcor, the clothing people wear, the organizational processes and structures, and the rituals, symbols and celebrations. Essentially organizational culture is seen in two broad dimensions. The hard dimensions relate to the functional, technical and control aspects, while the soft aspects deal with inspiration, emotion, energy, enthusiasm, collaboration and camaraderie, openness, sense of belonging, etc. A culture that is open, trusting, nurturing, authentic as well as empowering tends to attract and retain top talent. b. Transformational strategies that impact retention in good measure encompass mentoring, coaching, counselling, competency and performance development programs, retraining, re-skilling, re-deployment and job rotation, challenging assignments, job enrichment and above all promotion of a knowledge building and knowledge sharing culture.

Total Marks: 10 Instructions:

Please read assignment.

the

following

instructions

carefully

before

attempting

the

Last date for submission of solution is April 28, 2008. All instructions will be considered during checking assignment. So, consider all these. You are required to attempt the assignment as word document. The assignments attempted in any other format (except MS Word) will not be accepted and will be marked zero. Give the answer according to question, no mark will be given for irrelevant material. Dont rely only on handouts, use other reference books also.

Mention the source which you are using for preparing your assignment. You are allowed to mention definitions, basic concepts in the language and words which are mentioned or written in your source but the application of those concepts must be in your language, in your own words, either you are using any reference books or any other source. Use 12 point font in Times New Roman. Plagiarism will be strictly dealt. Try to explain concepts in your own words. Make sure that you upload the solution before due date. No assignment will be accepted through E-mail after the due date. Cheating or copying of assignment is strictly prohibited; No credit will be given to copied assignment. Once you upload the assignment on LMS, it will not be replaced under any condition.

Question 01 Marks

Besides using technology, how else can tacit knowledge be transferred?

Shadowing and joint-problem solving are two best practices for transferring or recreating tacit knowledge inside an organization. With shadowing, less experienced staff observes more experienced staff in their activities to learn how their more experienced counterparts approach their work. Another sound approach that Leonard and Swift recommend is joint problem-solving by expert and novice. Since people are often unaware of how they approach problems or do their work and therefore cant automatically generate step-by-step instructions for doing whatever they do, having them work together on a project will bring the experts approach to light. The difference between shadowing and joint problem solving is that shadowing is more passive. With joint problem-solving, the "expert" and the "novice" work hand-in-hand on a task.

Question 02 Marks

What benefits can companies expect from Knowledge Management (KM)?

Some benefits of KM correlate directly to bottom-line savings, while others are more difficult to quantify. In today's information-driven economy, companies uncover the most opportunities and ultimately derive the most value from intellectual rather than physical assets. To get the most value from a company's intellectual assets, KM practitioners maintain that knowledge must be shared and serve as the foundation for collaboration. Yet better collaboration is not an end in itself; without an overarching business context, KM is meaningless at best and harmful at worst. Consequently, an effective KM program should help a company do one or more of the following: Foster innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas Improve customer service by streamlining response time Boost revenues by getting products and services to market faster Enhance employee retention rates by recognizing the value of employees' knowledge and rewarding them for it Streamline operations and reduce costs by eliminating redundant or unnecessary processes These are the most prevalent examples. A creative approach to KM can result in improved efficiency, higher productivity and increased revenues in practically any business function.

Knowledge Management MGMT (630)

Assignment 02

Total Marks: 10 Instructions:

Please read the following instructions carefully before attempting the assignment. Last date for submission of solution is May 12, 2008.

All instructions will be considered during checking assignment. So,

consider all these.

You are required to attempt the assignment as word document. The

assignments attempted in any other format (except MS Word) will not be accepted and will be marked zero.

Give the answer according to question, no mark will be given for irrelevant material.

Dont rely only on handouts, use other reference books also.

Mention the source which you are using for preparing your assignment.

You are allowed to mention definitions, basic concepts in the language and words which are mentioned or written in your source but the application of those concepts must be in your language, in your own words, either you are using any reference books or any other source.

Use 12 point font in Times New Roman.

Plagiarism will be strictly dealt. Try to explain concepts in your own words.

Make sure that you upload the solution before due date. No assignment

will be accepted through E-mail after the due date.

Cheating or copying of assignment is strictly prohibited; No credit will be

given to copied assignment.

Once you upload the assignment on LMS, it will not be replaced under any condition.

knowledge Management MGMT (630)

Assignment 02

Question 01 5 Marks

How might a large organization justify the need for a Knowledge Management System (KMS)?

Ans- There is an increasing emphasis on enhancing an organizations business strategy through the use of systematic knowledge processes, including the development of consistent methods of capturing and sharing knowledge. Large organizations justify the needs for KMS by

Justifying the need for a KMS Identifying the system requirements Clarifying the system specifications Evaluating potential systems Selecting the system and/or its relevant components Implementing the system Evaluating the system acceptance and adoption

Question 02 5Marks

Explain four different Modes of knowledge?

Ans- Knowledge is created through four different modes: (1) socialization which involves conversion from tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge, (2) externalization which involves conversion from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge, (3) combination which involves conversion from explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge, and (4) internalization which involves conversion from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge.

Marks Obtained Assignment # 01 Fall Semester 2007 Student ID: Student Name: Marks: 15 MGMT-630 Knowledge Management

Please read the following instructions carefully before attempting assignment: This assignment covers lesson no.

01 10

Last date for submission of assignment is as per announcement.

Make sure that you upload the solution before due date. No solution will be accepted after the due date.

Note:

If you are unable to upload your solution file on VULMS then VU email server can only be used to send attached file. Email received from any other email server like yahoo, gmail, hotmail, etc shall not be entertained at any cost. Give the answer according to question, no mark will be given for irrelevant material. Dont rely only on handouts, use other reference books also. Plagiarism will be strictly dealt. Cheating or copying of assignment is strictly prohibited; No credit will be given to copied solution. Once you have uploaded the assignment on LMS, it will not be replaced under any condition.

Question # 01 Marks 05

Which came first knowledge or management - and why?

When the earliest civilizations appeared, they were largely constrained by their natural environment and by the climate. Religion, Science and Art were largely determined by extra-human factors, such as seasons and floods. Over the course of many centuries, humans have adjusted to change the equation in their favor, reducing the impact of natural events on their civilization and increasing the impact of their civilization on nature (for better and for worse). Knowledge has been, first and foremost, a tool to become the "subject" of change, as opposed to being the "object" of change. One could claim that the most important inventions date from prehistory, and that "history" has been nothing more than an application of those inventions. Here is a quick rundown (in parentheses the earliest specimen we found so far and the place where it was found): tools (2 million years ago, Africa), fire (1.9 million

years ago, Africa), buildings (500,000 BC, Japan), burial (70,000 BC, Germany), art (28,000 BC), Farming (14,000 BC, Mesopotamia), animal domestication (12,000 BC), boat (8,000 BC, Holland), weapons (8,000 BC), pottery (7,900 BC, China), weaving (6,500 BC, Palestine), money (sometime before the invention of writing, Mesopotamia), musical instruments (5,000 BC, Mesopotamia), metal (4,500 BC, Egypt), wheel (3,500 BC, Mesopotamia), writing (3,300 BC, Mesopotamia), glass (3,000 BC, Phoenicia), sundial (3,000 BC, Egypt).

Once the infrastructure was in place, knowledge increased rapidly on all fronts: agriculture, architecture, bureaucracy, politics, religion, writing, economics, transportation, art, etc. Human knowledge was expanding so rapidly so it needs to be managed. Into the new millennium, Science is faced with several challenges: unifying Quantum and Relativity theories; discovering the missing mass of the universe that those theories have predicted; understanding how the brain manufactures consciousness; deciphering the genome; managing an ever larger community of knowledge workers; using genetics for medical and agricultural purposes; and resuming the exploration of the universe.
With modern tools, the process of knowledge transfer is inherently difficult, since those who have knowledge may not be conscious of what they know or how significant it is. Thus know-how is sticky and tends to stay in peoples heads. Human beings resist taking on new challenges their existing beliefs. What this means for the transfer of knowledge is that simply making new knowledge available doesn't typically result in it being transferred. If you want new knowledge to be imparted to people who hold contrary views, then you need to learn a different way of communicating. Knowledge and information have become the medium in which business problems occur. As a result, managing knowledge represents the primary opportunity for achieving substantial savings, significant improvements in human performance, and competitive advantage. So one can say in knowledge management, knowledge appears first and then there is need to manage it with the evolution of management theories.

Question # 02 Marks 05

Make valuable distinctions between business processing, knowledge processing, and KM?

Solution:

Knowledge Management (KM)

Knowledge Processing

Business Processing

Knowledge Management is a management discipline that focuses on enhancing knowledge processing

Knowledge Processing is what organizations do to produce and integrate their knowledge

A business processing all linked activities that create value by transforming an input into a more valuable output. Both input and output can be artifacts and/or information and the transformation can be performed by human actors, machines, or both. Activities

Activities

Activities

It aims enhancing Knowledge Processing

at

Goal is to enhance knowledge production and integration It enhances organizational learning It helps guard against malfeasance It enhances innovation. Roughly equivalent innovation management Focuses enhancing knowledge to

It separates and differentiate behaviors that produce & integrate knowledge It includes learning and innovation knowledge sharing. It is epistemic, not operational or Business Processing oriented. It aims closing knowledge gaps, not gaps in business states. Accounts for the knowledge used in Business Processing Outcomes include new knowledge, e.g., strategies, business processes, HR

Primary purpose of the business is operational. Roughly equivalent business processes conventional sense to in

Often transactional aimed at closing gaps in business states. Includes all value chain functions and their management. Outcomes include profitability, growth, market share, cycle times, customer retention, employee retention, etc. Business processing behaviors account

on

programs, mktg. strategies, etc. Can also characterize KP performance (e.g., rate of innovation, organizational capacity to learn and adapt, etc.) Input: Input: Input:

for business outcomes, but not exclusively so.

Knowledge Production Outcome:

Outcomes of KM Outcome :

Outcomes of KP Outcome :

Creating training and/or e-learning programs Designing and implementing policies and programs for individual and group learning Designing and implementing policies and programs for communities of practice Designing and implementing IT applications and infrastructures that support Knowledge Production and/or integration (i.e that support Knowledge Processing).

Attending training programs Turning colleagues advice counsel Conducting research Developing operating guidelines procedures new or to for and

Performing work in an ordinary fashion Conducting business of firm Processing business transactions Following established business processes Doing work in accordance with ones job description Working with customers in an ordinary manner Working with coworkers in an ordinary manner the the

Participating in a community of practice in order to create and/or share knowledge Turning to a best practices system for guidance Working on a task force to develop strategy

 Creating innovation incentive reward plans

R&D and

Executing the business strategy of the firm.

Question # 03 An Example

Marks 05

This example uses a bank savings account to show how data, information, knowledge, and wisdom relate to principal, interest rate, and interest. Data: The numbers 100 or 5%, completely out of context, are just pieces of data. Interest, principal, and interest rate, out of context, are not much more than data as each has multiple meanings which are context dependent. Information: If I establish a bank savings account as the basis for context, then interest, principal, and interest rate become meaningful in that context with specific interpretations.
Principal is the amount of money, $100, in the savings account. Interest rate, 5%, is the factor used by the bank to compute interest on the principal.

Knowledge: If I put $100 in my savings account, and bank pays 5% interest yearly, then at the end of one year bank will compute the interest of $5 and add it to my principal and I will have $105 in the bank. This pattern represents knowledge, which, when I understand it, me to understand how the pattern will evolve over time the results it will produce. In understanding the pattern, I and what I know is knowledge. If I deposit more money account, I will earn more interest, while if I withdraw money from my account, I will earn less interest.

the the allows and know, in my

Wisdom: Getting wisdom out of this is a bit tricky. The principle is that any action which produces a result which encourages more of the same action produces an emergent characteristic called growth. And, nothing grows forever for sooner or later growth runs into limits. If one studied all the individual components of this pattern, which represents knowledge, they would never discover the emergent characteristic of growth. Only when the pattern connects, interacts, and evolves over time, does the principle exhibit the characteristic of growth.

Question
If this knowledge is valid, why doesn't everyone simply become rich by putting money in a savings account and letting it grow? Solution: People don't get rich because If bank itself becomes a customer, how it will give money to people for loan. The main source of income of bank is interest on loans. If all people do the same activity of saving, the flow of money diminishes and economic cycle will bring to a standstill.

People don't put money in a savings account in the first priority; they invest their money in the business, and excess deposit into bank. When people find things they need or want more than being rich, so they withdraw money. Withdrawing money reduces the principal and subsequently the interest they earn on that principal.

Question # 01 Marks 07

A business manager, a programmer, and a psychologist all want to become KM designers. Which do you feel will have the least difficulty? Why?

Employees and teams constantly accumulate a wealth of knowledge about core competencies, efficiency and productivity, processes, sales, production, R & D, markets and other elements critical to profitability.

To design a knowledge management following are the four processes and for a person it is necessary to go through them according to his own field.

Process
Capturing

Means of Knowledge collection

Data entry Scanning Voice input Interviewing Brainstorming Cataloging Indexing Filtering Linking

Organizing

 Refining Transfer

Codifying Contextualizing Collaborating Compacting Projecting Mining Flow Sharing Alert Push

KM Designer

Process

Means of Knowledge Collection Data entry Interviewing Data entry Brainstorming Data entry Scanning Voice input Interviewing Brainstorming

Difficulty level

Business manager

Low

Programmer Capturing

Moderate

Psychologist

High

Cataloging Filtering Codifying Indexing Filtering Codifying Cataloging Indexing Filtering Linking Codifying High Moderate Low

Business manager

Programmer Organizing

Psychologist

Business manager

Refining

Contextualizing Collaborating Projecting

Low

 Programmer Psychologist Business manager Programmer Transfer Psychologist

Mining Contextualizing Collaborating Compacting Mining Contextualizing Collaborating Compacting Projecting Mining High Moderate

Sharing Alert Flow Sharing Push Flow Sharing Alert Push High Moderate Low

Question # 02 Marks 08

A knowledge organization derives knowledge from several sources. Identify those sources of knowledge for an organization.

Solution:

A knowledge organization is a management idea, describing an organization in which people use systems and processes to generate, transform, manage, use, and transfer knowledge-based products and services to achieve organizational goals. A knowledge organization also links past, present, and future by capturing and preserving knowledge in the past, sharing and mobilizing knowledge today, and learning and adapting to sustain itself in the future.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

A knowledge organization derives knowledge from following sources:

Customer Knowledge: Their needs, who to contact, customer buying power, buying pattern etc. Product Knowledge: The products in the market place, who is buying them, what prices they are selling at, and how much money is spent on such product. Financial Knowledge: Capital resources, where to acquire capital and at what cost, and the integrating in financial practices.

Personnel Knowledge: The expertise available, the quality service they provide, and how to go about finding experts, especially in customer service.

Question # 01 Marks 09

Multiple experts were used to capture knowledge for the Residential Real Estate KM System. The reasons are: 1. One objective of this KM system is to integrate the expertise in real estate tax and finance, which requires two separate experts. 2. The procedure of making a buy or lease decision is complex and intense process for a single expert to provide all necessary information to come up with a decision. The nature of the problem also suggests that to make a decision, one has to consider both tax and financial issues. Thus multiple experts are necessary to divide the scope into manageable pieces. 3. Multiple experts give the ability to compare and contrast the knowledge captured. The real estate finance expert has deep knowledge in the tax field as well. He was particularly helpful in confirming the tax information captured from the tax expert. Confirming the validity of the proposed recommendation and solution is critical considering the continuously changing tax law. One expert might not be aware of the change, while the other. a. In your opinion, is the use of multiple expert approaches justified for this project? Explain. b. Can the use of two knowledge developers to tackle the problem be justified? What are the conditions for a multiple knowledge developer approach to building this system? Explain. Solution:

a)

A single expert is ideal when you are building a simple KM system with few rules; problem is in restricted domain; when not too much communication is required to knowledge capture; and sharing or leakage of information is not matter. Single expert always works on a single line of reasoning which makes it difficult to evoke in-depth discussion of the domain and also single experts knowledge is sometimes dispersed. In the current situation of Residential Real Estate KM System, system is not easy and has wide range of problems of tax, finance, lease, purchase and sale, also the problems in each area is not restricted in a certain domain and

communication between experts is continuously required to process a deal, so in this case the use of two expert is justifiable.

b)

Complex problem domains like tax, finance, lease, sale and purchase benefit from the expertise of more than one expert especially if knowledge is dispersed and numbers of partial experts are available. As real estate finance expert has deep knowledge in the tax field as well so he can contribute a lot with tax expert. A pool of experts is most often needed to capture sufficient reliable knowledge to build complex KM system. Working with multiple experts stimulates interaction that often produces synthesis of experience. Bringing in a number of experts is bound to enrich the quality of knowledge captured. Due to information and experience of real state expert and tax expert can reach a at quality decisive point very early.

Listening to variety of views allows the knowledge developer to consider alternative ways of representing the knowledge. Two heads are usually better than one, provided they agree to work together environment for generating thoughtful contribution.

Question # 02 Marks 06

Cite three companies that qualify as learning organizations. What makes them unique?

The Learning Organization is a concept that is becoming an increasingly widespread philosophy in modern companies, from the largest multinationals to the smallest ventures. What is achieved by this philosophy depends considerably on one's interpretation of it and commitment to it. The Learning Organization is an organization that learns and encourages learning among its people. It promotes exchange of information between employees hence creating a more knowledgeable workforce. This produces a very flexible organization where people will accept and adapt to new ideas and changes through a shared vision.

"A Learning Organization is one in which people at all levels, individuals and collectively, is continually increasing their capacity to produce results they really care about."

The essence of organizational learning is the organization's ability to use the amazing mental capacity of all its members to create the kind of processes that will improve its own" (Nancy Dixon 1994)

"A Learning Company is an organization that facilitates the learning of all its members and continually transforms itself" (M. Pedler, J. Burgoyne and Tom Boydell, 1991)

"Organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to learn together" (Peter Senge, 1990)

The important points to note about learning organizations:

Are adaptive to their external environment Continually enhance their capability to change/adapt Develop collective as well as individual learning Use the results of learning to achieve better results

Types of Learning in a Learning Organization

A learning organization is not about 'more training'. While training does help develop certain types of skill, a learning organization involves the development of higher levels of knowledge and skill. Following four types of learning is done in a learning organization: 1. Learning facts, knowledge, processes and procedures 2. Learning new job skills transferable to other situations 3. Learning to adapt 4. Learning to learn

Characteristics of a Learning Organization

Observation and research identifies four types of factor:

Learning Culture An organizational climate that nurtures learning. There is a strong similarity with those characteristics associated with innovation.

Processes - processes that encourage interaction across boundaries. These are infrastructure, development and management processes, as opposed to business operational processes (the typical focus of many BPR initiatives).

Tools and Techniques Methods that aid individual and group learning, such as creativity and problem solving techniques.

Skills and Motivation To learn and adapt.

Examples of Learning Organization

There are many example of companies which can be called as Learning Organization but to understand look at the following examples.

1. Shell describes learning as the only sustainable competitive advantage. 2. Toyota 14 management principles make Toyota the worlds greatest manufacturer. One of these 14 principles is Become a Learning Organization. Many have tried to become learning organizations, but, no one has succeeded like Toyota. 3. Apple Computer Japan: In order to implement Learning Organization techniques, Apple implemented five Disciplines which are essential to a learning organization: Team Learning, Shared Visions, Mental Models, Personal Mastery and Systems Thinking.

briefly define tacit and explicit knowledge ---3 benifits to orignizations of KVA analysis-----5 Define Learning orignizations----------------3 Describe the crucial requirements for the successful implementation of knowledgesharing systems------5 Describes Knowledge maps --------5 Concept mapping ----------------------3

1.

What are the key Attributes of Intelligent Behavior (3 Marks)

2. Write steps approaches to Knowldege Value Added (3 Marks) 3. What are the challanges being faced by Knowledge Management? State any Five of them (5 Marks) 4. What are the benefits of monitoring and measuring Knowledge Usage? (5 Marks) 5. What is the purpose of Balance Scorecard? (5 Marks)