ikms newsletter

A Career in Knowledge Management?

by Kan Siew Ning

The management of information and knowledge is important for every organization whether or not the senior management refers to it explicitly as knowledge management (KM). In every company that takes KM seriously, managers at all levels are expected to facilitate and enhance knowledge flow within his team, and between his team and other teams. Knowledge-centric firms that use knowledge as a competitive weapon would have assigned one or more officers to provide focus to KM work within the company. Depending on the company, these officers have different job titles – ranging from knowledge manager to Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) and sometimes to Chief Learning Officer (CLO).

Are you considering a career in Knowledge Management but don’t know where to start? Have you heard a lot about CKO’s but don’t know what they actually do? This article attempts to answer these questions by providing an overview of KM jobs and their required competencies.

Evening Talk March '06

By Paolina Martin

The evening talk held on 23 March 06 impressed two groundbreaking developments in the KM field, corporate blogging and techniques for knowledge elicitation. There was a turnout of some 30 people who were interested to learn about these new developments and found the evening well invested.

The first talk was by Ms Quek Pek Noi, a Learning Development Officer with the SAFTI Military Institute. He talk was titled Building Capability through Cognitive Apprenticeship: The Singapore Armed Forces Competency-based Learning Project”.
The talk by Professor Peter Keen was an inspirational and enlightening one. The talk entitled “Knowledge Mobilisation: Leveraging and Extending Knowledge Management”, had Professor Keen presenting a new development in the knowledge management arena, particularly corporate blogging.

Overall, the presentations were light and informal and the participants had a lively and interactive discussion on the developments and techniques shared by the presenters.

Naked Conversations

How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers
by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel.

The book has three main parts; the advent of blogging and the benefits to be achieved, which seemingly outweigh the risks, suggestions for effective blogging including what not to do, and finally, emergent technologies for blogging.

The book begins with reasons for why the advent of blogging should not be disregarded, with indications of its potentially powerful influence on corporate business. The authors share their insider views on personal blogging at Microsoft, and the management sentiments surrounding blogging about Microsoft which had softened with time and increasing adoption.

A good introductory read to blogging, the book offers useful and practical advice about good blogging practices, such as keeping the blog authentic with typo errors and all, as well as how to avoid getting “hammered” in the blogosphere.

A lot of the material on the blogs themselves covers blogs of specific individuals in business and not so much corporate blogs per se. This is probably because it is just starting to permeate the corporate sphere. Still, the book provides an impressive list of blog sites to check out and provides enough inspiration to make you want to start one of your own!

Review by Paolina Martin

KM in practice

Hi there!

As you can read, this newsletter has some practical tips on Scorecards in SME's and KM in R&D.
I would like to interview practicing members and go on a discovery tour together.
Writing a short article about what YOU are doing everyday is great reflexion!

So, drop me a mail with a brief summary who you are and how your work relates to KM and I will visit you at work. We can then discuss and benchmark your activities, followed by the satisfaction that your hard work is appreciated by the other members in the society. That is what makes a society strong and valuable!

If your work is really useful to others we may invite you to come and give a talk about it! Support on how to deliver this talk will be given by the Exco members, because we enjoy doing that kind of stuff.

So, take that step (together with a friend) and call or mail me.
Looking forward to great discussions!

Cor Beetsma (hp: 98393711, email: beetsma@mac.com)

Balanced Scorecard® inside small groups

Apparently Balanced Scorecard (BSC) seems to be success inside big enterprises (see 1000 Fortune enterprises every year) where some characteristics are putted together:
• Strong leadership;
• Collaborative Corporate governances;
• Strategic Plan quite well defined;
• Shared Mission and Objectives;
• Staff Motivation;
• Medium / High (information Technology (IT) involvement.

Problems arise when we start talking about Small and Medium Enterprises and worst when we talk about Micro Enterprises (SMME) and as well known, they perform 95% of all Portugal enterprises (same for Spain or almost average in Europe).

Interview with Ms Sim Sok Hian, KM head of DSO

Interview of Sim Sok Hian, KM and Innovation Head of DSO National Laboratories.
by Cor A. Beetsma.

Introduction of Sim Sok Hian.
She a networker, well connected in DSO, Singapore’s foremost R&D organization with 900 research scientists and engineers whose jobs are to enhance SAF’s potency on the battlefield as well as contribute to national security. She is aware of the corporate history, structure and primary work of programs and labs. She provides the invisible connection of people through her informal network and personal touch with TLC: tender loving care.
She believes that KM can provide value to the organization and to the people as long as one remains sensitive to the complexities of work environment and to the needs of people.

Read on!

Content Management Seminar

Aug 05. Almost 20 iKMS members attended the 2-day Content Management Seminar 2005 held in August. Judging from the feedback forms, the Seminar was well received mainly due to good sharing by the invited subject matter experts who insightfully taught us on taxonomy, intranet design and management, inverted pyramids style of writing, digital rights management, search considerations and enterprise document management. These topics are all important building blocks in any content management framework.

Book Review: Cultivating Communities of Practice

By Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, William M. Snyder

Book Review by Gabriel Sim

Introduction
We have heard how much “Communities of Practice” will revolutionize learning in an organization by helping to unlock tacit knowledge. While it is very easy to understand the theory behind CoPs, implementing the concept can be very challenging.

In this key reference book, Cultivating Communities of Practice, by Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M. Snyder, provides a crystallized perspective by submitting a structural model for the CoP’s based on the experiences culled from the World Bank, Shell Oil and McKinsey & Co. The authors also illustrate design principles to help readers understand and cultivate CoPs in their own organizations.

Special interest group on - “Innovation in knowledge-based Singapore”

Objectives
This special interest group (SIG) is formed to provide an open space for interested members to share and put into practice their knowledge of innovation and knowledge management outside of their organisational or individual boxes. Its primary focus is on the values that can be realised when innovation and KM are combined as: -
• Knowledge management is an important link between innovation and enhanced economic performance.
• The business of a knowledge-creating company is continuous innovation which is based on the construction of new knowledge.
• Creativity is the seed of all innovation and at heart of knowledge management.
• But often mechanisms, prejudices and priorities damage the effectiveness of the
knowledge at the heart of innovation.

Initially the focus will be on Singapore as it is a common denominator to the members. From here this SIG will grow as a community of practice and build on global perspectives

CALL FOR PAPERS

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A GATEWAY TO EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN AFRICA

The Knowledge Management Research Team sponsored by the National Research Foundation in collaboration with the Information Studies Programme, School of Sociology and Social Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg) will host the abovementioned conference from 22-24 February 2006. This conference is going to provide an opportunity for knowledge sharing and collaboration among academics, researchers, and information and knowledge practitioners.

Sue Myburgh
University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia