ikms newsletter

Newly elected Exco had its first meeting

The newly elected iKMS Executive Committee (EXCO) held its first meeting in March 2005 to discuss the budget, roles of each member and to decide on the iKMS activities for the year.

The EXCO members are:

· President - Kan Siew Ning
· Vice-President (membership) - Bruno Trezzini
· Vice-President (collaboration) - Goh Su Nee
· Treasurer - Ng Kah King
· Secretary - Mok Wee Piak
· Exco member (administration) - Senthil Sundram
· Exco member (iKMS website) - Angie Ang
· Exco member (e-newsletter) - Cor Beetsma
· Exco member (JIKM) - Lee Chu Keong
· Exco member (other publications & publicity) - Wesley Wong and Andrew Tan
· Exco member (evening talks & KM training) - Paolina Martin and Lee Foon Yee

Read more about them here:
http://www.ikms.org/aboutus/committee.htm
We look forward to an exciting year, with Evening Talks, workshops and seminars.

Your contribution to the newletter is encouraged, as well as your participation in the events we organise to enrich your KM experience.

See you at the next event!

Book Review: The Wisdom of Crowds

The Wisdom of Crowds
by James Surowiecki (2004)

Summarised by Lee Yee Fuang

James Surowiecki, the New Yorker financial columnist, provocatively argues that, in many circumstances, the crowds collectively reach better decisions, solve problems more efficiently and even predict the future better than the smartest man or woman alone. This challenges our mental model that valuable knowledge is concentrated in a very few hands, therefore key to solving problems or making good decisions is finding that one right person who will have the answer. His central argument is supported by social scientists who salute "self-organising, decentralized systems," (p. 70).

On the Characteristics of Knowledge (by Lee Chu Keong)

Knowledge has been described as a slippery and esoteric concept. This has made it very difficult to define and very difficult to distinguish from information. Knowledge managers must be cognizant of some of the interesting characteristics of knowledge when they attempt to manage knowledge by embarking knowledge initiatives, typically efforts to encouraeg knowledge sharing, knowledge creation, or knowledge codification. In this brief article, I draw on various examples to illustrate some of the more interesting characteristics of knowledge. The list is not meant to be exhaustive, but meant for reflection and contemplation by those who are intrigued by the ethereal qualities of knowledge.

iKMS SIG Report: Intellectual Capital Management

Angie, Swee Siong, Hui Ying, Andrew and Wesley were attending an Intellectual Capital seminar organized by Dr. Christopher Yeung. Wesley looked puzzled after Dr. Yeung explained the basic concept of intellectual capital.

Wesley: “ Dr. Yeung, I still don’t understand, how come an organization can have a market capitalization of $85 billion when the fixed asset is only $930 million?”

Dr. Yeung: “It is all about intangibles; goodwill if you like, the intellectual capital of an organization….”

KM and the More Competitive Law Firm

iKMS and corporate member LexisNexis partnered to present our third KM Seminar this year, focused on KM for law firms. The half day event was held on 5 August, and attracted 25 participants, representing 13 law firms, 5 government agencies, and legal personnel from a corporate legal department and the educational sector.

Knowledge of Ourselves and Knoledge of the Things Around Us

Don't you think that our knowledge of the things around us is so great (we have calculated the value of *pi* to 1.2 trillion digits -- yes, this is the number that is frequently approximat in our calculations involving circles as 22-over-7), and our knowledge of ourselves miniscule?

The humna being is full of paradoxes and conundrums -- all defy understanding -- all defy "knowledge". Perhaps this is because human being is knowledge itself!

Reference:

See: http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,5638320%255E1702,00.html

Knowledge as a Journey

Knowledge can be seen as a point, a stop, a station, in a *journey*.

To Daveport and Prusak, the "journey" consist of the following cognitive stations:

Data ... Information ... Knowledge ... Wisdom [DIKW]

To others, though, the "journey" passes through different stations:

George Por: Data ... Information ... Knowledge ... Intelligence ... Wisdom [DIKIW]

Russell Ackoff: Data ... Information ... Knowledge ... Understanding ... Wisdom [DIKUW]

The Nonsense of Knowledge Management

Professor Wilson wrote an article entitled "The Nonsense of Knowledge Management" (available at http://informationr.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html).

His conclusion is interesting:

The conclusion is reached that "knowledge management" is an umbrella term for a variety of organizational activities, none of which are concerned with the management of knowledge. Those activities that are not concerned with the management of information are concerned with the management of work practices, in the expectation that changes in such areas as communication practice will enable information sharing.

These are some questions that come to mind after reading his article:

1. are Wilson's criticisms valid?
2. how have the criticisms come about? (what/where are their roots?)
2a. has it got to do with how KM has been implemented?
2b. has it got to do with an over-emphasis on technology
2c. has it got to do with how knowledge has been defined? (objects vs process)
3. how to address these criticisms (Wilson’s criticisms are very difficult to deny)

LCK

Editor's Note ...

JUNE ISSUE: KM in SMEs

This issue we look at the challenges faced by SMEs in Singapore and how KM can address some of their needs.

SMEs form a significant part of Singapore's economic landscape. There are 92,000 SMEs in Singapore. Collectively, they make up 92% of all establishments, and employ 53% of the workforce. Many MNCs today were SMEs of yesteryear e.g. Yahoo, eBay, Google ... SMEs are the incubators of future economic giants.

The truth is, SMEs face a number of challenges in doing business. For example, it is difficult for them to reach out to new customers and new markets because of the high cost of advertising and business promotion. They are also constrained by their physical size. Being small and unknown, they may not be able to secure the trust and confidence from potential customers.

The good news is that the rapid explosion of the Internet is driving dramatic changes in the way businesses operate and compete. It is causing a fundamental shift in the way businesses are conducted, and the rules of competition are being redefined in the knowledge economy.

Singapore has a list of Enterprise 50 companies which are ranked based on the following set of key performance indicators: operating profit before tax; turnover; growth in operating profits; growth in turnover; return on total fixed assets; operating profit per employee; percentage of turnover from overseas operations; percentage of payroll spent on training and percentage of revenue invested in research and development (R&D). It is insteresting to note that knowledge management is one of the qualitative factors taken into consideration besides management philosophy, innovation and market presence.

So what can KM offer to SMEs? Read on …

FT Liu
Editor
iKMS Newsletter

Feature Focus

KM and SMEs

by F T Liu

On Sep 28, 2003, Ngiam Tong Dow, one of Singapore’s most accomplished civil servants (for 40 years) gave an unprecendented frank interview with The Sunday Times that shook up many Singaporeans. On the subject of knowledge, this is what he has to say:

Take our industrial policy. At the beginning, it was the right thing for us to attract multinationals to Singapore. For some years now, I've been trying to tell everybody: 'Look, for God's sake, grow our own timber.' If we really want knowledge to be rooted in Singaporeans and based in Singapore, we have to support our SMEs. I'm not a supporter of SMEs just for the sake of more SMEs but we must grow our own roots. Creative Technology's Sim Wong Hoo is one and Hyflux's Olivia Lum is another but that's too few. We have been flying on auto-pilot for too long. The MNCs have contributed a lot to Singapore but they are totally unsentimental people. The moment you're uncompetitive, they just relocate.

Knowledge Management, the leveraging of knowledge within an organisation to add value to the business, is going to be key for SMEs in order for them to break free from the limitations of physical size and limited resources. SMEs share many knolwedge management requirements of larger enterprises but are constrained by their tigher budgets.