Essay on "Knowledge Management Social Network Analysis Remains Relevant"

Essay 3 pages (1455 words) Sources: 2

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Knowledge Management

Social network analysis remains relevant to the contemporary social networking process. The mechanisms for social networking may have changed, potentially adding layers of complexity, but the underlying concept remains the same. The quality of one's social network and the abilities of that network are, if anything, easier to identify with modern technology. The chapters can be updated by including a brief explanation of the tools used in modern social networking. In addition, there are some ramifications to these tools, such as improvements in the speed of communication, the breadth of information available and the size of the social networks. The chapters should focus on these differences and how the model for social network analysis should be adapted to account for these differences.

Knowledge -- in particular tacit knowledge -- is a key source of competitive advantage as it can differentiate a business from its competitors. These competitive advantages derive from ideas and other intangible resources that are linked to the knowledge within the organization (Shani, et al., 2009). Knowledge applications and processes allow the company to do several things: to learn what knowledge lies within the organization; to understand the uses of that knowledge; and to be able to bring disparate sources of knowledge together to generate innovations. Knowledge management systems in particular allow the organization to unlock the knowledge that it holds -- in many organizations knowledge is kept within individuals or small groups, rather than shared throughout the organization. Effective knowledge management systems break down these barriers, increasing the distribution of the knowledge within the organization, but they also manage information in such as way as to avoid information overload, which is itself a barrier to effective use of knowledge.

3. Knowledge management strategy is important to address some of the key challenges businesses face. For example, they face retirement of key personnel, a need for constant innovation and the need to continually address inefficiencies. KM strategy helps the organization to understand the knowledge that the organization has and compare that with the knowledge that the organization needs -- a gap analysis. The strategies in the text are applicable to real world situations. Managers need to be able to evaluate their organizations and understand what knowledge is present -- if the strategies are impossible then the managers need to build better information-gathering systems. For a company such as FedEx a knowledge audit would be challenging because there are a number of firms within the corporation, many of which were acquired externally. Firms tend to compartmentalize knowledge, so it is worthwhile to undertake a knowledge audit but that same compartmentalization makes such an audit more difficult. An easier tactic that could be utilized would be to perform a gap analysis on each individual division, focusing on knowledge specific to success in each line of business such as Express or Office. This would focus knowledge management on steps that are easier to implement because it works within the "compartments" but also has a high degree of value for the firm in that it identifies areas of weakness at the business unit level.

4. In the article Managing Change, several ideas are presented that are critical to organizational innovation and success. The first is that change must come from the top. If the organization senses that leadership is not fully committed to the change process, the organization will lose motivation to change. Leadership is therefore the most critical component of the change process. It is also important that employees be allowed to express their views on the change and to have those views heard. Ultimately, for the change process to be successful, employee buy-in is essential. Employees will be more willing to buy into the process if they feel a part of it. If they are dictated to, and do not feel as though they have any input, particularly with respect to grievances, this will make it more difficult for the employees to commit to the change process. Lastly, the author points out that it is critical for managers not to send mixed messages. When this occurs, the employees become unsure of the direction of the company, making the change process all the more difficult. Management, therefore, needs to be unequivocal in terms of aligning policy, actions and words when describing the change process to the employees and to implementing the change process.

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