December 17th, 2007 11:02 AM By WCG Staff
Expertise
The issues of expertise and qualification are complex multi dimensional issues that can have negative or positive impact on profitability, effectiveness and efficiency. The complexity in evaluating knowledge, expertise, as well as qualifications can be caused by factors such as lack of uniform standards, subjectivity of particular field, social and cultural norms, as well as the speed of knowledge creation.
Nevertheless, virtually any solid organization will require some methodology to assess expertise in order to fully take advantage of its impact on organizational effectiveness and efficiency. Hence, in terms of knowledge management, the most basic and fundamental process will be the assessment of individuals as well as overall organizational level of expertise and knowledge.
Within this purgative, it is vital to emphasize that research should be the first step. In order to maximize the outcome of knowledge and expertise evaluation, research and development are the corner stone’s of successful S.O.P. However, the quest for perfection should not stand in the way of results. Hence, research and development as well as actual implementation should contain sensible aspects that would translate into practical applications.
A note of caution: there has to be a differentiation in how and why different employees with varying level of responsibilities, duties and job descriptions can and must be evaluated. This will become more obvious in follow up entries. In the coming days and weeks we will outline explicit procedures which are successfully tested both in academic as well as real world situations.
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November 27th, 2007 14:05 PM By WCG Staff
The essence of knowledge and knowledge management lies within the assumption that the most appropriate knowledge and insight enables the frontline workers and managers to systematically achieve better results. Such assumptions lead to extensive research and implementation which is ultimately geared toward greater profitability of a given organization. However, the mere existence of knowledge and implementation does not necessarily translate into greater effectiveness and efficiency. It is important to point out that knowledge and knowledge management have to be strategically designed and implemented in order to achieve the greatest possible effectiveness and efficiency. Hence leading to the issue of pragmatism.
Pragmatism essentially refers to the initiatives that enforce the most vital aspect of knowledge management; practicality. Pragmatism which is originally a philosophical concept was basically referring to logic and its applications in philosophy as well as in other disciplines. In terms of business and its respective sub categories, pragmatism is a rather fundamental concept which refers to application of practical measures that are geared toward actual real life implementation and benefits to the given organization. Though it appears that such explanation is a simplification of pragmatism, the real world applications are rather simple. In its most basic form, pragmatism is the process of finding the best solution to real world problems in business by means of research, implementation and testing to achieve a practical solution. Though research and implementation has been used for a long time, the real difference in pragmatism is the testing to find the most viable solution. However, one has to diffrentiate between the most obvious forms of knowldge.
Insight knowledge refers to the personal experimental learning which occurs by trial and error. In this particular approach the knowledge creation occurs because of stakeholders’ personal or professional interest to improve upon most pressing weaknesses that are noticed. Insight knowledge is abstract because it depends on individuals’ interest. On the other hand, the outside knowledge is created and maintained by external units such as educational institutions and training organization. This particular branch of knowledge is more easily associated with the academic aspects such as theories and established norms.
The ultimate goal of either one of those knowledge concepts is to understand that knowledge and learning can be subjective as well as objective, yet independent from its form or origin it can contribute to organizational standing. Similarly such understanding of knowledge creation or the desire thereof, may enable creative input not only based on traditional wisdom but also in non – traditional and abstract ways that may be beneficial and address untraditional concerns.
Independent from any previously discussed sub topic, it is important to emphasize that every and all phases of knowledge creation, maintenance and sharing requires constant monitoring and quality assurance. Though many facets of business require quality assurance, knowledge management and distribution requires a particular rigid approach due to it’s dynamic and ever changing nature of knowledge and its respective sub categories.
Ultimately, pragmatism and its respective application in business depend on one major factor i.e. testing. The assumption is that unlike other theories and methodology, testing will allow the stakeholders to measure results and adjust their respective strategic measure and implementation to improve final results.
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November 06th, 2007 10:31 AM By WCG Staff
Pragmatism in its most basic term refers to practicality. Translating such an abstract concept as to who and how someone can be pragmatic is one of those typical academic propositions that is limited in terms of real life application. However, there is a real issue with pragmatism with employees and management.
The issue of pragmatism may be essentially a symbiotic relationship among several factors which may include logic, common sense, standard operating procedures as well as external societal and cultural impact. The relationships and the respective impact of any of the above named factors can be constant as well as dynamic. Hence it is vital to point out that though planning and execution of organizational culture may be all what can be done to encounter external influencing factors.
Going back to the basic issue of pragmatism, it is obvious that virtually all organizations that rely on human capital will in one way or the other also rely on the effectiveness and efficiency of those individual members. Hence, the most important factor will be the control and change of behavior that can be achieved by formulating and executing organizational vision. Similarly, it has to be assumed that in order to eliminate guess work or uncertainties, the organizational vision and mission should be translated in a methodology which does not leave much guess work.
This brings us to the concept of Standard Operating Procedures or as widely known SOP. Any SOP which has been compiled to include organizational procedures to maximize effectiveness and efficiency and subject to constant review and evaluation result in internal organizational coherence which may in turn eliminate the guess work by employees and managers. Certainly there are exceptions that may require a different approach. Particular industries may require creativity and out of box thinking that may prove to be vital to industries that involve abstracts such as art.
Yet ultimately, pragmatism and its respective impacts can have a great deal of impact on organizational success or failure. The human capital which is the driving force behind organizational effectiveness and efficiency has to be molded and shaped to adhere to organizational and institutional prospective and goals. Nevertheless it is very important to point to societal and cultural factors that embrace individuality and creativity. Such particular setting can add more factors that need to be included into preparations and composition of SOP.
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September 26th, 2007 15:02 PM By Staff
Knowledge management is certainly one of the rather under estimated aspects of business management. In its most basic forms, knowledge management refers to any practice which involves the creation, maintenance and distribution of knowledge to a particular set of personnel. Essentially knowledge management is the designated discipline to aid in educating as well as maintaining employees’ ability to conduct their respective duties to the greatest possible effectiveness and efficiency.
Nevertheless, it is important to examine the impact of knowledge management on particular sub divisions of a given organization. Sales and marketing are both some of the most fundamental aspects of a successful venture; and both can be positively impacted if knowledge management is conducted properly.
It is safe to suggest that employees of any given organization are the most important asset. Hence it is not farfetched to suggest that the resources devoted to educate and maintain the existing knowledge of employees can and will be of great deal of benefit to any for profit organization. It is not difficult to imagine or even suggest that knowledgeable and informed employees maybe more effective in their daily duties. Similarly the same concept would apply to sales force and marketing divisions; the more knowledgeable those employees the more likely they will be able to introduce and explain product and services which may in turn result in more sales.
Naturally there has to be a distinction between task specific knowledge and general industry knowledge. In terms of jobs specific knowledge, it is rather obvious that any given individual should be proficient. Yet further education will be only of benefit. On the other hand, general industry knowledge may also enable the given individual to draw comparisons which may be also of benefit.
Ultimately knowledge management and knowledge management systems are simply another vital tool to enhance the ability of the most significant and vital asset of any given organization; namely its human capital. It is futile to dismiss the value of information, knowledge as well as education in terms of their benefit to individual and organizational well being, effectiveness, efficiency as well as profitability.
In the coming days and weeks we will go into the details of knowldge management.
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