Knowledge Management Systems, Research Paper Example

There are many challenges when developing a knowledge management system. When developing or implementing any new idea or project there are hurdles that the project team will encounter that span outside of the viability and functionality that the project is going to provide There are outside factors that could present themselves as obstacles but understanding those challenges can turn those obstacles into opportunities. These challenges include factors such as the culture of the people providing the knowledge as well as those accepting the knowledge, value of the knowledge, the orchestration and preparation of the knowledge for consumption and use as well as the integration and flow of knowledge for full implementation for the end users.

To understand the challenges of the knowledge management system life cycle it is first critical to understand what knowledge management is and what encapsulates its lifecycle. The knowledge management’s purpose is to package knowledge from subject matter experts regarding key systems, processes, procedures, experiences or insights and provide that knowledge to others within the organization (Hislop). This system of knowledge transfer is utilized to systematically seek out knowledge from individuals and transform that into a neat and encompassing package delivered to end users so that they can gain that hard earned knowledge in an easier and quicker fashion than the subject matter expert. This is accomplished through a project management oriented fashion but slightly deviates from the core best practices of project management due to the nature and agile approach needed to implement a knowledge management system. The life cycle of a knowledge management system follows in a similar pattern to that of a conventional system life cycle in terms of initiation of the project, organization and preparation of material and information, execution of the efforts and closing the project. The phases include initiating, planning, executing and closing actions but the major difference between a standard life cycle and that of a knowledge management lifecycle lies within the process of evaluation and testing. Therein lays another challenge to progressing through the knowledge management life cycle. The process to extract and package the knowledge of the subject matter experts is a different process than what the organization is accustomed to and unintentional roadblocks or hurdles may be placed in the path for the implementation of the knowledge management system.

There are risks to every reward and with the implementation of a knowledge management system there are daunting challenges that the organization will face while trying to achieve successful implementation. One of the biggest challenges and the first which will be discussed is the challenge of the organization’s culture (Dalkir and Liebowitz ). The culture puts many pressures on the implementation of the knowledge management system each coming from different directions. One of the pressures comes from the management and leadership of the organization. In order to provide a quality knowledge management system it is imperative to have full support and backing of leadership. If the culture of the organization’s leadership is to approve projects and become laissez-faire with the implementation there could be potential impacts to the integration and acceptance of the knowledge into the organization. When the leadership actively supports a project implementation from the inception to completion of the project, the organization, as a whole, moves toward that goal and the opportunity for adoption of the project’s deliverables increases.

The culture of the subject matter experts also comes into play. Sharing knowledge within an organization provides many benefits to the organization as a whole but can be seen as diminishing the value of the subject matter expert because they do not hold the key information to run the organizational process they own. Those with the information hold the power of the organization and if the culture of the organization is to retain that information and power than the knowledge transfer from the subject matter expert to the knowledge management system will not be successful. This type of cultural challenge is twofold regarding the subject matter expert and their perceived value of the knowledge management system. The challenge of demonstrating the value of the knowledge management system sets upon the shoulders of the implementation team with the support of the organizations leadership. The knowledge management project team can show the supporting data regarding value but the support of leadership must also be present to integrate that value into the strategic vision of the organization (Tiwana). The culture change from withholding knowledge to openly sharing knowledge is led by the leadership of the organization and supported by providing incentives and motivations to provide that knowledge.

Another challenge revolving around the culture is those that are expected to utilize the knowledge. The end users not only need to accept and utilize the actual knowledge management system but also utilize the knowledge that is housed within the system. That being said, the acceptance process for the knowledge management system is crucial. The knowledge gathered and utilized within the system should encompass many factors. The first is ensuring the ease of the use of the system is targeted toward the casual user and that the learning curve for using the system is not very steep. The end user is there to find a solution to an already existing issue that they are trying to mitigate and solve. The knowledge management system should not overly complicate the existing situation by expecting the end user to learn and adapt to a completely new and non-intuitive system. If the ease of use challenge is mitigated the next issue revolves around the available knowledge within the system and the depth of that knowledge. The end user’s acceptance will depend on if their needs were met and if their experience was pleasant while using the system. Change is already a difficult obstacle and challenge that would only be complicated if the information is not accessible by the end user. The challenge is to balance the amount of knowledge with the ease of use of the system.

Along with the challenge of having the right knowledge, at the right time, that is easily accessible to the end user creates another challenge. That is managing the knowledge that is gathered from the subject matter experts, data from other systems and integrating all of that information into a central location. The challenge of integrating systems can become a project all on its own and the ability to provide an area where all the data is collocated, either through virtual networks or residing on the same physical storage device, involves creating those key connections, maintaining the hardware and software, sustaining the knowledge management process and eliminating outdated or redundant information. The challenge of data maintenance is critical in that the knowledge must keep pace with the changing business and processes. Old information is more detrimental to the knowledge management system than having no information at all. The challenge of culture revolves around people, availability and obsolescence of knowledge.

There are three key areas that provide a basis for the knowledge that is in the knowledge management system. These three areas provide a challenge due to the fact that if any are neglected the system would become antiquated and unusable. These areas are data accuracy, interpretation and relevancy (Becerra-Fernandez, Sabherwal, and Gibson ). The first is data accuracy which means that the knowledge or data that is inputted into the system must be accurate and ultimately reliable. The challenge is ensuring the accuracy and maintaining the level of effort required for validation of the data. The next is the ability for the information to be interpreted by the user. The data that is inputted into the knowledge management system must be able to be meaningful and usable to the end user. Without usable information the system will fail. Lastly of the three, the relevance is critical. This falls in line with obsolete information and the power of the data relies on how up-to-date the data is and how it relates to the knowledge required by the end user. Managing these three areas is a challenge to the knowledge management system because without a focus on all three of these areas the system would not be utilized to its intended purpose.

Knowledge management systems are built to provide a set of knowledge and information that is usable and integral to the performance of the organization. The challenges faced by those implementing and using the knowledge management system revolve heavily on those that are inputting, maintaining and sustaining the information making sure the knowledge is usable, accurate, up-to-date and easily accessible. The culture of the organization dictates how the knowledge will be accessible and how it will be used. The focus is to shift the culture from harboring all of the knowledge to an open and sharing community of knowledge transfer. The challenges also include the actual data itself and how it is presented. The data must be organized, succinct, easy to use, accurate, reliable and available. With those challenges met the implementation of a knowledge management system should be a success.

References

Becerra-Fernandez, I., R. Sabherwal, and C. F. Gibson.Knowledge management : Systems and processes. Armonk: Sharpe Incorporated, 2010. Print.

Dalkir, K., and J. Liebowitz. Knowledge management in theory and practice. 2. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2011. Print.

Hislop, D. Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. 2nd . New York : Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.

Tiwana, A. The knowledge management toolkit, orchestrating it, strategy, and knowledge platforms. Prentice Hall, 2004. Print.