The Foundation SP strategy
is concerned with sharing ideas and using technology to leverage existing
knowledge within the organisation effectively. I think this aspect of digital technology
relates more to knowledge management, i.e. the strategy is how to use digital
technology, particularly social media, to share knowledge. For it to be effective, knowledge management processes have to be
followed.
Knowledge management
(KM) is defined as a strategy developed to identify and leverage the
intellectual assets of an organisation in order to sustain competitive
advantage (Halawi, Aronson and McCarthy 2005). The strategy is to create an
organisational environment that encourages creativity, effectively development
and application of knowledge to enhance innovation and create sustainable
competitive advantage.
Knowledge can be “tacit”
or “explicit”. (Nonaka, 1991; Train and Ebgu 2006). Tacit knowledge is
possessed by individuals through experience or intuition and is difficult to
formulate or communicate. It is the foundation for action and what causes the
commitment of people to a particular craft or profession, technology or product
market or work-group or team activities.
Tacit knowledge may
be “technical” or “cognitive”. Technical dimension is sometimes referred as
“know-how”, craft or special skills. The cognitive dimension is complex and
refers to mental disposition, beliefs, values, viewpoints etc. Explicit
knowledge is discrete, codified and can be easily communicated in a symbolic
and natural language, for example, manuals, multimedia, electronic media that
are available in organisations etc.
In terms of
strategic importance, tacit knowledge is generally said to be more important, as
it is inimitable and comprise 80% of all knowledge while explicit is 20%.
Knowledge management
has a process which has to be followed to make it effective. The first
challenge is getting people motivated to share their knowledge and experiences.
And how is learning and improvement going to be measured? Tacit knowledge is
embedded in individuals and people are not always ready to share their
expertise. This cannot be done with technology alone as people have to be
prepared to do something before it can be done.
I think the second
challenge is that knowledge is often used interchangeably with information so
that information technology approach is automatically linked with communication
and sharing of knowledge. According to Wilson (2002), there is a clear
distinction between knowledge and information. Knowledge is abstract and
embedded in the minds of people concerning what they have learned, known and
understood. By contrast, information is the expression of knowledge through
oral, written, graphic, gestures or body language. So, there has to be a format
as to what form this communication and sharing will take.
A digital leader in
my organisation would face the same challenges. I think the solution lies in
not treating this as a technological issue that is separate from other management
issues. As strategy, it is a management issue and has to follow the normal
strategic process. It is not a separate process from human resources and learning,
and these have to be integrated together, especially now that knowledge is
widely known to be a strategic asset and distinctive capabilities have become a
source of competitive advantage.
References
Halawi L, Aronson J
and McCarthy R (2005) “Resource-Based View of Knowledge Management for
Competitive Advantage” The Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management Volume 3
Issue 2, pp 75-86, available online at www.ejkm.com
Nonaka, I. (1991) The
Knowledge Creating Company, Harvard Business Review November – December 1991, http://www3.uma.pt/filipejmsousa/ge/Nonaka,%201991.pdf
Wilson, T., D.
(2002) The ‘nonsense of knowledge management’ Information Research, Vol. 8 No.
1, October 2002, http://informationr.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html
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