Knowledge Management Systems

Most Organisations have information systems in place (with or without IT support) that are designed to disseminate information within their Organisations. These systems were generally referred to as Management information systems (MIS). However, in the late early 90’s more and more Organisations adopted Information technology to achieve competitive advantage and so specific information systems emerged with focuses either on management activities or business processes. Such Information Systems are the Decision support systems (DSS), Executive support systems (ESS), Executive Information Systems (EIS) and Enterprise Systems. An emerging need for Organisations to capture and retain its knowledge, which forms a large part of its intangible assets, has given birth to a line of systems referred to as Knowledge management systems (KMS) (Alavi M. & Leidner D.E. 1999).

A Knowledge Management System is one that enables an Organisation to efficiently manage its processes for capturing and applying knowledge and expertise (or forte). This system should be able to capture all essential knowledge that may be used to improve the organisation’s business processes and make it available as and when needed. The system should also have a link to other sources of knowledge which may be external. (Laudon K.C. & Laudon J.P., 2007)

Laudon & Laudon (2007) categorised KMS into three broad categories which can be further broken down into specialized types.

• Enterprise-Wide KMS
• Knowledge work systems
• Intelligent techniques

KMS in the Organisation

Several research and studies have been carried out on the use of knowledge management systems in an Organisation. Alavi M & Leidner D.E. (1999) carried out a survey on over 190 companies some of who already had KMS and others who were still developing their KMS. The study showed that when asked what they want Knowledge to do for them, their responses could be categorized into three broad groups namely:

Information based knowledge: Internal (clients, competitors and suppliers) and External (financial, HR, product information)

Technology based Knowledge: Intranets, internets, e-mail, Global IT infrastructure etc.

Culture based Knowledge: (also termed organisational/Structure) Includes; Team work, ethics, organisational culture etc.

The survey although carried on a sample that is arguably narrow, represents the opinions of more than three prominent industries (Manufacturing, Financial and retail). Managers within these sectors, the survey shows, believe that in developing a KMS, all three classifications must work together. Some managers had the opinion that the technology component makes up for 20% of the whole KMS, focusing on cultural learning within the Organisation.

Organisational knowledge is viewed as a key resource and a tool to gain advantage. Therefore, the general objective of KMS is to help an Organisation achieve competitive advantage. An Organisation that is able to create transfer and store its knowledge and operational efficiencies, ensuring competitors cannot easily emulate them, would achieve competitive advantage within its industry

Role of IT in supporting KMS

The act of knowledge management in Organisation is not a new concept. Manufacturing companies in the past practised this by people applying new knowledge to manufacturing processes. What is new is the use of IT in Knowledge management? Going by the three broad categories identified in the last section, we see that IT has a part to play in Knowledge Management.

The common technologies being used in KMS today are: Browser, Electronic mail (e-mail), search/retrieval tools, information repositories, videoconferencing, external server services and WWW server. For now, the intranet seems to be the most used technology in knowledge management, followed closely by e-mail and search/retrieval tools (Alavi M. & Leidner D.E. 1999).

The Knowledge management value chain by Laudon & Laudon (2007) shows a flow of knowledge which includes information systems activities in addition to management and organisational activities. This value chain says that the activities within a KMS can be categorised into four: Acquire, Store, Disseminate and Apply. It further breaks downs those business activities and processes that make up the 3 broad categories (see table 1)

Table 1

	Acquire	Store	Disseminate	Apply
IT/IS activities	Data mining, Knowledge workstations, Knowledge discovery, Expert knowledge networks	Document mgt sys, Knowledge database, Expert systems	Intranet, Push e-mail, Search engines collaboration	Decision support systems Enterprise application
Organisational activities	Communities of practice, Personal networks (Blogs), Organizational practice/routines, Knowledge culture	Organisational routines, Organisational culture,	Training, Informal networks, Organisational culture	New IT-based business processes, New products, New markets,

Adapted from Laudon & laudon (2006)

References

Alavi M. & Leidner D.E. 1999. Knowledge Management Systems: Emerging Views and Practices from the Field. Proceedings of the 32^nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. IEEE

Laudon K.C. and Laudon J.P. (2006). Management information systems: managing the digital firm (10^th edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall pp436