KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is wholly owned by the New
ID: 3756062 • Letter: K
Question
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT:
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is wholly owned by the New Zealand Government and serves as the nation’s central bank. Towards the end of the 1990s, with the rapid advances in technology and the accompanying shift to a global community, the Bank began to experience a slight rise in the level of staff departures. Initially, staff were leaving from predominantly operational areas where the loss of knowledge was not as critical. In these areas, much knowledge had been captured through documented processes and procedures. However, when staff concerned with policy started leaving, it became critical to consider how to deal with this potential loss of knowledge. As a policy-making organisation, the Bank had always been reasonably good at sharing information. When any development was taking place, it was normal practice for information to be readily exchanged with problems arising only where previous actions had been forgotten about, or staff members had left the organisation and, as a result, the information was not readily accessible. However, despite this seemingly strong knowledge-sharing practice, there was still a culture of structural silos within the organisation, with little boundary crossing between departments. This was emphasised in the policy areas where staff members were closeted in offices and were rarely seen to leave other than at lunchtime or at the end of the day. Concurrent to the increasing level of staff turnover and problems arising from structural silos, the Bank was going through an organisational “rightsizing” program. There was also growing interest in knowledge management within the wider environment at a national level from the government and public sector as well as within commercial and academic circles. The nature of the work of the Reserve Bank was such that it required a range of specialist skill sets that were not readily available within New Zealand. This was mainly due to the fact that each country has only one central bank, and therefore does not have a large pool of individuals with the specialist skill sets, such as macro-economics and banking supervision, that are required. Consequently, recruitment of staff was effectively limited to a global pool of specifically skilled labour drawn from central banks around the world. In addition to the scarcity of skill sets, the average length of service at the Reserve Bank was more than nine years. During this time, staff members accumulated an extensive knowledge of the Bank and its operations, resulting in a very high exposure to loss of knowledge on the departure of key staff. As a consequence of this exposure and of the “rightsizing” program that the Bank was then undergoing, the Bank recognised that it needed to take action to minimise the risk of knowledge loss. One of the most significant steps in the Bank’s journey to knowledge management was the establishment of the Knowledge Services Group. This group, comprising staff from across the organisation, was charged with identifying the importance of knowledge management for the Bank that included: People to Knowledge. This category consisted of infrastructure-type activities aimed at improving knowledge repositories as well as making them easier to access. People to People. This category was identified primarily as a culture issue and focused on sharing the experience and knowledge of staff and making it easily accessible through maintaining and developing contact networks. Institutionalise Knowledge. While the Bank was good at capturing decisions, it was not always as efficient in its responses to them. For example, the thinking that went into its decisions, the alternatives discussed, and market reactions were not always captured. Consequently, there was little learning captured for reuse. Collaborative Culture. The intent of this was to change the culture so that sharing became second nature within the organisation, and as a consequence, moved away from the view that “knowledge is power” to one of “knowledge sharing is power.” Q1: Explain how knowledge might be created at The Reserve Bank of New Zealand through Nonaka’s Model of Organisational Knowledge Creation (also known as SECI model). Must cover two modes in the SECI model. Q2:Critically analyse the case study to identify the most appropriate Knowledge Management Approach (Codification, Personalisation or Hybrid) for The Reserve Bank of New Zealand. One mark for Identifying the Most Appropriate Knowledge Management Approach Q3:Based on the cases study, identify two (2) Knowledge Management Tools that could be used to promote knowledge transfer. Describe the tools and justify your selection. q4:Critically evaluate these two (2) Knowledge Management Tools (from Question 3), with particular reference to the concepts of Velocity and Viscosity.
Explanation / Answer
staff members accumulated an extensive knowledge of the Bank and its operations, resulting in a very high exposure to loss of knowledge on the departure of key staff. As a consequence of this exposure and of the “rightsizing” program that the Bank was then undergoing, the Bank recognised that it needed to take action to minimise the risk of knowledge loss. One of the most significant steps in the Bank’s journey to knowledge management was the establishment of the Knowledge Services Group. This group, comprising staff from across the organisation, was charged with identifying the importance of knowledge management for the Bank that included: People to Knowledge. This category consisted of infrastructure-type activities aimed at improving knowledge repositories as well as making them easier to access. People to People. This category was identified primarily as a culture issue and focused on sharing the experience and knowledge of staff and making it easily accessible through maintaining and developing contact networks. Institutionalise Knowledge. While the Bank was good at capturing decisions, it was not always as efficient in its responses to them. For example, the thinking that went into its decisions, the alternatives discussed, and market reactions were not always captured. Consequently, there was little learning captured for reuse. Collaborative Culture. The intent of this was to change the culture so that sharing became second nature within the organisation, and as a consequence, moved away from the view that “knowledge is power” to one of “knowledge sharing is power.” Q1: Explain how knowledge might be created at The Reserve Bank of New Zealand through Nonaka’s Model of Organisational Knowledge Creation (also known as SECI model). Must cover two modes in the SECI model. Q2:Critically analyse the case study to identify the most appropriate Knowledge Management Approach (Codification, Personalisation or Hybrid) for The Reserve Bank of New Zealand. One mark for Identifying the Most Appropriate Knowledge Management Approach Q3:Based on the cases study, identify two (2) Knowledge Management Tools that could be used to promote knowledge transfer. Describe the tools and justify your selection. q4:Critically evaluate these two (2) Knowledge Management Tools (from Question 3), with particular reference to the concepts of Velocity and Viscosit
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