THE KNOWLEDGE

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
LIFE CYCLE
CHAPTER 2
About the chapter
• The chapter begins with the discussion upon Challenges in building KM
systems in the organisation, Knowledge Management System Life Cycle
(KMSLC):Major approaches, The Meyer and Zack KM Cycle, The Bukowitz
and Williams KM Cycle,The Wig KM Cycle,An integrated KM Cycle.
Challenges in building KM Systems
1. Changing Organizational Culture
• Changing culture is not a overnight exercise .The number one challenge is that
getting people to share their knowledge. It Involves changing people's
attitudes and behaviours.
2. Knowledge Evaluation:
• Assessing the worth of knowledge is a complicated and challenging step.

3
Challenges in building KM Systems
3. Knowledge Processing:
• Involves the identification of techniques to acquire, store, process and distribute
information.
• Sometimes it is necessary to document how certain decisions were reached. This is a
major challenge in KM building
4..Knowledge Implementation:
• An organization should commit to change, learn, and innovate. Quite a challenging
task in building KM.
• To store the Lessons learned from experience

4
 KM System Development Life
Cycle
Stage Key Qs Outcome

Evaluate existing What is the problem? Statement of

infrastructure objectives
Is system justifiable? Performance criteria
Is system feasible? Strategic plam

Form the KM team Who should be on Standardised

team? procedure for system
How will the team development
function?
Knowledge capture What and whose K Acquisition of K core
should be captured?
How would K capture
proceed?
5
 KM System Development LC

Stage Key Qs Outcome

Design KM blueprint How will K be Design of KM system

represented? Hardware/ software
implementation details
Test plan
Security
Test the KM system How reliable is the Peer reviews
system?
Implement KM system What is the actual User friendly system
operation? Training program
How easy is it to use?

6
 KM System Development LC

Stage Key Qs Outcome

Manage change and Does the system Satisfied users

reward structure provide the intended
solutions?

Post-system evaluations Should the system be Reliable and up-to-

modified? date system

7
Explanation of KMSLC steps

1.Evaluate existing infrastructure

• Will current knowledge be lost through retirement,

transfer, or departure to other firms?
• Are experts available and willing to help in building a
KM system?
• How critical is the knowledge to be captured?
• Check to see how current technology will match
technical requirements of the proposed KM system

8
2.Forming the KM team
• Identify the key stakeholders in the prospective KM system.
• Identify factors of team success:
• Caliber of team members
• Team size
• Leadership and team motivation

9
3.Knowledge capture
• Explicit knowledge captured in repositories from various media
• Tacit knowledge captured from company experts using various tools
and methodologies
• Knowledge developers capture knowledge from experts in order to
build the knowledge base

10
4.Design of the KM Blueprint

The KM system design (blueprint) addresses several issues:

• System feasibility with existing company IT infrastructure
• Finalize scope of proposed KM system with realized net benefits
• Decide on required system components

11
5.Testing the KM System
• Verification procedure: ensures that the system is right
• Validation procedure: ensures that the system is the right system

12
 6.Implementing the KM
System
• Converting a new KM system into actual operation

13
7.Manage change and reward
structure

14
8.Postsystem evaluation
• How has KM system changed accuracy and timeliness of decision making?
• Has the new system caused organisational changes? How constructive have
they been?
• How has the new KM system affected the attitude of the end users? In
what way?
• How has the new KM changed the cost of operating the business?
• In what way KM affected relationships between end users in the
organisation?

15
References
• Read Chapter 3; on KM by Awad

16
Major Approaches
• Major Approaches- describes the major phases involved in the
knowledge management cycle, encompassing the capture, creation,
codification, sharing, accessing, application, and reuse of knowledge
within and between organizations. The major approaches to KM
cycles are presented from Meyer and Zack (1996), Bukowitz and
Williams (2000), and Wiig (1993)
The Meyer & Zack KM Cycle
The Meyer and Zack model is one of the most complete picture of the key elements
engaged in the knowledge management model.

The stages are :

1. acquisition,
2. refinement,
3. storage/retrieval,
4. distribution,
5. and presentation/use.

This cycle is also known as the “refinery.”

The Meyer & Zack KM Cycle
1.Acquisition of Data or Information
Acquisition of data or information addresses the issues regarding sources
of “raw” data such as scope, breadth, depth, credibility, accuracy,
timeliness, relevance of data. Highest quality source data is required, else
the intellectual products produced downstream will be lower.

• 2.Refinement
Refining also defines cleaning up content that is being acquired.Or
standardizing like conforming to templates of a best practice or lessons
learned as used within that particular organization.
The Meyer & Zack KM Cycle
3.Storage / Retrieval
Storage can be physical (file folders, printed information) as well as digital (database,
knowledge management software).
4. Distribution
Distribution defines how the knowledge is to be delivered to the end-user (like fax,
print, email) and encloses not only the medium of delivery but also its timing,
frequency, form, language, and so on.
5. Presentation
Context plays an important role in Presentation or Application stage. Here the
concern is : does the user have enough context to be able to make use of this
content? If not, the KM cycle has failed to deliver value to the individual and
ultimately to the company
The Bukowitz and Williams KM Cycle
The Bukowitz and Williams KM Cycle

Get
• The first stage, get, consists of seeking out information needed in
order to make decisions, solve problems, or innovate.
• Knowledge management diverges from information management is
that “getting” of content encompasses not only traditional explicit
content (e.g., a physical or electronic document) but also tacit
knowledge.
• This means information users need be connected not only to content
but also to content experts—people—where most of the valuable
tacit knowledge resides.
The Bukowitz and Williams KM Cycle

Use
• The next stage, use, deals with how to combine information in new
and interesting ways in order to foster organizational innovation.
The Bukowitz and Williams KM Cycle

Learn
• The learn stage refers to the formal process of learning from
experiences as a means of creating competitive advantage.
• An organizational memory is created so that organizational learning
becomes possible from both successes (best practices) and failures
(lessons learned).
• Learning is absolutely essential after the “getting” and “using” of
content; otherwise, the content is simply warehoused somewhere
and does not make a difference in how things are done within the
organization.
The Bukowitz and Williams KM Cycle

Contribute
• The contribute stage of the KM cycle deals with getting employees to
post what they have learned to the communal knowledge base (e.g., a
repository). Only in this way can individual knowledge be made visible
and available across the entire organization, where appropriate

• Examples of content that employees should be encouraged to contribute

include the sharing of best practices and lessons learned so that others
do not repeat the same mistakes.
• A good system should be in place to maintain the results of
organizational learning—a good organizational memory management
system, often in the form of an intranet of some sort.
The Bukowitz and Williams KM Cycle

Assess
• Assessment refers to the evaluation of intellectual capital .It requires
that the organization define mission-critical knowledge and map
current intellectual capital against future knowledge needs.
• The organization must also develop metrics to demonstrate that it is
growing its knowledge base and profiting from its investments in
intellectual capital
The Bukowitz and Williams KM Cycle

Build and Sustain

• The build and sustain step in the KM cycle ensures that the
organization’s future intellectual capital will keep the organization
viable and competitive.
• Resources must be allocated to the growth and maintenance of
knowledge, and they should be channeled in such a way as to create
new knowledge and reinforce existing knowledge.
The Bukowitz and Williams KM Cycle

Divest
• The final step in the Bukowitz and Williams KM cycle is the divest step.
• The organization should not hold on to assets—physical or intellectual—if they are no
longer creating value.
• In fact, some knowledge may be more valuable if it is transferred outside the
organization.
• In this step of the KM cycle, organizations need to examine their intellectual capital in
terms of the resources required to maintain it and whether these resources would be
better spent elsewhere. This involves understanding the why, when, where, and how
of formally divesting parts of the knowledge base. An opportunity cost analysis of
retaining knowledge should be incorporated into standard management practice. It is
necessary to be able to understand which parts of the knowledge base will be
unnecessary for sustaining competitive advantage and industry viability.
The Wiig KM Cycle
• Wiig’s KM cycle addresses four major steps in the cycle
• 1. Building knowledge.
• 2. Holding knowledge.
• 3. Pooling knowledge.
• 4. Applying knowledge

The cycle addresses a broad range of learning from all types of sources: personal
experience, formal education or training, peers, and intelligence from all
sources. We can then hold knowledge either within our heads or in tangible
forms such as books or databases. Knowledge can be pooled and used in a
variety of different ways depending on the context and the purpose.
The Wiig KM Cycle
The Wiig KM Cycle
1.Building knowledge refers to activities ranging from market research
to focus groups, surveys, competitive intelligence, and data mining
applications. Building knowledge consists of five major activities:
1. Obtain knowledge.
2. Analyze knowledge.
3. Reconstruct/synthesize knowledge.
4. Codify and model knowledge.
5. Organize knowledge.
The Wiig KM Cycle
• 2.Holding knowledge consists of remembering, accumulating knowledge in repositories,
embedding knowledge in repositories, and archiving knowledge.

• Remembering knowledge means that the individual has retained or remembered that item of
knowledge (i.e., knowledge has been internalized or understood by a given individual).
• Accumulating knowledge in a repository means that a computer-resident knowledge base has
been created and that knowledge has been encoded, permitting it to be stored in organizational
memory.
• Embedding knowledge consists of ensuring that it is part of business procedures (e.g., added to a
procedures manual or training course).
• Finally, archiving knowledge involves creating a scientific library and systematically retiring outof-
date, false, or no longer relevant knowledge from the active repository. Archiving typically
involves storing the content in another, less costly, or less bulky medium for less frequent future
retrieval.
 The Wiig KM Cycle

Examples of knowledge held by companies include intellectual property,

patents, knowledge documented in the form of research reports, technical
papers, or tacit knowledge, which remains in the minds of individuals but
which may be elicited and embedded in the knowledge base or repository
(e.g., tips, tricks of the trade, case studies, videotapes of demonstrations by
experts, and task support systems). In this way, the organization’s holdings
of valuable knowledge are documented in repositories or in people and are
therefore available for future reference and use.
The Wiig KM Cycle
• 3.Knowledge pooling consists of coordinating, assembling, and accessing and
retrieving knowledge.
• Coordination of knowledge typically requires the formation of collaborative teams to
work with particular content in order to create a “who knows what” network.
• Once knowledge sources are identified, they are then assembled into background
references for a library or repository in order to facilitate subsequent access and
retrieval.
• Access and retrieval then addresses being able to consult with knowledgeable people
about difficult problems, obtaining a second opinion from an expert, or discussing a
difficult case with a peer.
• Knowledge can be accessed and retrieved directly from the repository as well (e.g.,
using a knowledge base system to obtain advice on how to do something or reading a
knowledge document in order to arrive at a decision).
The Wiig KM Cycle
• Organizations may pool knowledge in a variety of ways. The employee
who does not have the necessary knowledge and know-how to solve
a particular problem can contact others in the organization who have
solved similar problems either by obtaining the information from the
organizational knowledge repository or by finding an expert through
the expertise locator network and contacting that person directly. The
individual can then organize all this information and request that
more experienced knowledge workers validate the content.
The Wiig KM Cycle
4.Finally, there are innumerable ways to apply the knowledge, including
the following:
• ■ Use established knowledge to perform a routine task—for
example, make standard products, provide a standard service, or use
the expert network to find out who is knowledgeable about a
particular area.
• Use general knowledge to survey exceptional situations at hand— for
example, determine what the problem is and estimate potential
consequences.
AN INTEGRATED KM CYCLE
On the basis of some major approaches to KM cycles, we can distill an
integrated KM cycle. The three major stages are:
• 1. Knowledge capture and/or creation.
• 2. Knowledge sharing and dissemination.
• 3. Knowledge application.
In the transition from knowledge capture/creation to knowledge
sharing and dissemination, knowledge content is assessed. Knowledge
is then contextualized in order to be used (“application”). This stage
then feeds back into the first one in order to update the knowledge
content