Roles of People in Knowledge Management

One of the vital elements for successfully managing a knowledge warehouse is having a full-time staff. The staff goes through information, examines, filters, catalogues, and stores knowledge so that it is very accessible and easy to find when people need it. The staff is also beneficial because they can help people search for information or send them exactly where they need to go to get the information they need (i.e. environmental scanning). The staff is also capable of gathering individuals with common knowledge to filter through the information and find out what is important. The main problems that occur with knowledge management happen because of issues with people. It is important that many people are involved so that there are more people to help prevent and catch problems. The most vital people that should be involved in knowledge management are the chief knowledge officer, the CEO, managers of the organization, leaders of the communities of practice, KMS developers, and KMS staff. Each of these members play an important role in knowledge management whether it is development, management, or use. KMS cannot be successful without the effort of all the members.

It is important for cultural receptivity to happen with respect to knowledge management. It is important to make sure that all members of the organization are on-board for the use of knowledge management because it requires a great deal of team work. Most companies have a chief knowledge officer (CKO) that “maximize the firm’s knowledge assets, design, and implement knowledge management strategies.” According to the book, the chief officer must do the following:

· Set strategic priorities for knowledge management
· Establish a knowledge repository of best practices
· Gain a commitment from senior executives to support a learning environment
· Teach information seekers how to ask better and smarter questions
· Establish a process for managing intellectual assets
· Obtain customer satisfaction information in near real time
· Globalize knowledge management

It is important that the CKO make an environment that facilitates knowledge management and sharing. This change should be fully supported by all top managers in the organization. It is also important for the CEO to make knowledge management a priority. Again, it is very important that the whole organization support.

Communities of practice are “groups of people in an organization with a common professional interest.” These communities are vital to the organization that is committed and serious about knowledge management.

It is also important that the organization have a full-time staff to manage the knowledge. Consulting firms can also be hired for this purpose.

Managerial Issues in Interorganizational and Global Information Systems

1. Facilitating Global Trade – One of the most important issues in facilitating global trade is making sure that language barriers and language translation is effective and efficient. While borders are disappearing, translations are vital to the success of an organization. For example, if the translation on a web page is wrong then consumers are less likely to purchase your products. Global trade has dramatically increased as a result of the internet and trade agreements like NAFTA and the European Union. It is important to know the legal and tax issues of the foreign companies that you do business with. It is also possible that leaders in efficiency can give advice to developing countries.


2. Selecting a System – There are various retailers that sell IOS infrastructure so companies have options and can tailor the options to their needs.

3. Partners’ Collaboration – Collaboration and understanding is key for an IOS because there are at least two organization involved. If your partners do not cooperate, then it is likely that your processes will fail. As a company, it is important to persuade your partners that the relationship is beneficial for both parties.


4. New Infrastructure – New infrastructures for companies can be very expensive and hard to make work for many companies, especially if they are small. It is difficult to gauge whether to wait and see how the new infrastructures do in the market or whether to follow your bigger competitors. This is an issue that should be carefully and strategically reviewed by management.

5. Globalization – The issue of going global can be solved based on the IT systems that would be necessary for a company to have in order to be successful. It may be expensive and require a great deal of work so a company should look at all of the possible problems and alternatives before making the decision to go global. Potential problems include language barriers, currency differences, tax and legal requirements, and cultural differences.


6. Using exchanges, hubs, and other services – The Internet is a good way to facilitate exchanges. A third party is a very good option for many companies. Doing that can save a great deal of money but there is the potential loss of control.

7. Partner and Supplier Relationship Management – One of the most common ways to do business today is through partnerships. With the trend in outsourcing becoming even more popular, this results in more partners for companies. It is common even with companies such as Microsoft.

Product Life Cycle Management

Product life cycle management is a business strategy that enables manufacturers to control and share product-related data as part of product design and development efforts and to support supply chain operations. This is very important for companies in today’s culture. PLM allows companies to centralize their management of all the products’ data.

There are four phases of the product life cycle;
· Conceive
· Design
· Realize
· Service

Each of these phases has different technologies that go along with it and that must be implemented at each stage. Stage one is when a company plans and designs their PLC. Stage two sets in stone what the company wants to do. The company develops and tests the product before releasing it to the market. The third stage occurs when the company manufactures, markets, and sells their product to their consumers. And the final stage occurs when the company maintains the product, does repairs, and the product is eventually phased out.

There are several different companies that offer PLM tools such as IBM, SAP, EDS, Matrix, and PTC. Many of these models allow record keeping, billing, and document tracking. Each company can pick a model that will be the most beneficial for their structure and their needs.

PLM can have a significant impact on several areas of a company. It can benefit cycle timing, design changes, and productivity. It is also a big jump for a company. Integrating different processes within an organization can be time consuming, difficult, and expensive but the benefits outweigh the negatives. The main goal is to move information through an organization as quickly as possible to reduce the time it takes to get a product to the market and to increase profitability.

One of the main problems that many companies are facing is that they are trying to get products to the market too fast and there are many problems that have occurred as a result. Companies are trying to get their products to the market and are not making sure that the second step of their PLM is complete. As a result, this is costing them a great deal of money. An article relating to this is pasted below.

http://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=17441&SectionID=2