Alba is one of the largest industrial companies in Bahrain as well as it is one

Question

Alba is one of the largest industrial companies in Bahrain as well as it is one of the largest producer of Aluminum products in the world. In recent years, global competition in aluminum products has increased forcing Alba to restructure its operations and maintain its market share as a leading global company. Among other things, Alba is considering implementing Knowledge Management system to induce change through knowledge creation, creativity and innovation. Both explicit knowledge and implicit knowledge are considered as a strategy to ensure the success of the new knowledge management system. Knowledge sharing, knowledge culture, knowledge workers and knowledge acquisition represent important elements in knowledge management aiming at improving organizational performance and strengthening global competition. Companies, including Alba, need to pursue strategies that support innovation, knowledge sharing and technological learning. In view of the above statements, answer the following equations: 1. Provided you are familiar with various models that focus on knowledge creation and knowledge dissemination for supporting the performance and competitiveness of the organization. You are requested to develop a model for Alba showing how KM processes and cycles are used to implement knowledge management tasks by the organization. Be sure to identify the key enablers that allow the company to achieve its objectives. Keep in mind that Alba is a Bahrain-based company operating in an environment driven by several internal and external forces including cultural, educational, and technical and etc.…Now compared to the models of knowledge management you are familiar with, can you explain why your model for Alba is more applicable for solving Alba knowledge management initiatives? 2. What are the processes that Alba must pursue in order to organize, manage, transfer and acquire knowledge. You can use the model you have developed to explain your answer. 3. If Alba would like to capture both tacit and explicit knowledge to enhance its global competition, what are the steps that Alba must take to achieve such goals? With regard to tacit knowledge, based on your own experience with your colleagues at work, how do you explain the attitude of these colleagues toward sharing and hording of knowledge. 4. The book used in our knowledge management course contains several interesting and informative articles about knowledge management. Based on your understanding of the subject of knowledge management, you are requested to select and critically examine the ideas presented in one of the articles of the book. You need to highlight your own views as why you agree or disagree with the author. Your answer should not exceed 1000 words.

Explanation / Answer

Knowledge Sharing

As stated earlier, knowledge management is fundamentally about making the right knowledge or the right knowledge sources (including people) available to the right people at the right time. Knowledge sharing is therefore perhaps the single most important aspect in this process, since the vast majority of KM initiatives depend upon it. Knowledge sharing can be described as either push or pull.The latter is when the knowledge worker actively seeks out knowledge sources (e.g. library search, seeking out an expert, collaborating with a coworker etc.), while knowledge push is when knowledge is "pushed onto" the user (e.g. newsletters, unsolicited publications, etc).

Knowledge sharing depends on the habit and willingness of the knowledge worker to seek out and/or be receptive to these knowledge sources. The right culture, incentives, and so on must therefore be present.

In the rest of this section I will discuss the concepts of knowledge sharing according to the different types of knowledge.

Explicit Knowledge and Knowledge Sharing

Successful explicit knowledge sharing is determined by the following criteria (Bukowitz and Williams 1999):

IT systems have proved extremely useful in aiding or performing many of these functions.

Explicit Knowledge Sharing and IT

IT is useful in most stages of the knowledge sharing process, and it is used for content management as well as data and text mining (looking for hidden knowledge, relationships, etc. within data and documents).

Content management systems are used to update, distribute, tag, and otherwise manage content. They may include a wide range of functions, including web content management and document management systems (which I consider separately). They may be used to (based on Wikipedia entry):

Document management systems use numerous advanced indexing, searching, and retrieval mechanisms (e.g. using meta data or content from the actual document) to facilitate explicit knowledge sharing.

To take advantage of all of these functions, it is a foregone conclusion that the system was chosen and implemented appropriately. This aspect is discussed in the section on knowledge management systems.

All in all, IT is a very useful tool in the management of explicit knowledge and information. This is not to say that humans no longer play a part. They certainly do, and knowledge and content managers are instrumental in ensuring that the knowledge is relevant, up to date, and presented correctly.

Implicit Knowledge can be defined simply as knowledge that is not explicit. However, there is a subtle difference between Implicit Knowledge and Tacit Knowledge in that it is presumed that Implicit Knowledge hasn’t yet been codified but that it likely can be codified, while Tacit knowledge may well be impossible to codify. It could be said that Implicit Knowledge is that which hasn’t yet been “put together” either by expression, concept development, assumptions that lead to principles, or through analysis of facts or theory.

Implicit Knowledge is very much about “knowing how” to do something (which explains to some degree why the terms Implicit Knowledge and Tacit Knowledge are sometimes used interchangeably) but it is something that we may not be able to explain or describe explicitly. Implicit Knowledge is often tapped into indirectly and unintentionally.

Embedded knowledge refers to the knowledge that is locked in processes, products, culture, routines, artifacts, or structures (Horvath 2000, Gamble & Blackwell 2001). Knowledge is embedded either formally, such as through a management initiative to formalize a certain beneficial routine, or informally as the organization uses and applies the other two knowledge types.

The challenges in managing embedded knowledge vary considerably and will often differ from embodied tacit knowledge. Culture and routines can be both difficult to understand and hard to change. Formalized routines on the other hand may be easier to implement and management can actively try to embed the fruits of lessons learned directly into procedures, routines, and products.

IT's role in this context is somewhat limited but it does have some useful applications. Broadly speaking, IT can be used to help map organizational knowledge areas; as a tool in reverse engineering of products (thus trying to uncover hidden embedded knowledge); or as a supporting mechanism for processes and cultures. However, it has also been argued that IT can have a disruptive influence on culture and processes, particularly if implemented improperly.

Due to the difficulty in effectively managing embedded knowledge, firms that succeed may enjoy a significant competitive advantage.

Embedded knowledge is found in: rules, processes, manuals, organizational culture, codes of conduct, ethics, products, etc. It is important to note, that while embedded knowledge can exist in explicit sources (i.e. a rule can be written in a manual), the knowledge itself is not explicit, i.e. it is not immediately apparent why doing something this way is beneficial to the organization.

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