Wednesday 18 February 2009

week-1 communities of practice

Communities of practice:
The term "community of practice" is of relatively recent coinage, even though the phenomenon it refers to is too-old. This turned to provide a useful perspective on knowing and learning. A growing number of people and organizations in various sectors are now focusing on communities of practice as a key to improving their performance (Etienne Wenger ,2002). Unless you are able to involve practitioners actively in the process, your ability to truly manage knowledge assets is going to remain seriously limited and to see it unlimited the knowledge of practitioners is not merely the knowledge of an individual. They need to interact with colleagues because they benefit from the stimulation and because knowledge of any field is too complex for any individual to cover. This is where the notion of community of practice comes to play a critical role.

Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly(Etienne Wenger ,1998).

This will tend to think in a way that the role of managers is not to manage the knowledge directly , but to enable practitioners to do things in an expertised manner.This gives relief as well as challenge , relief because the responsibility for managing knowledge is one that can be shared. It is a challenge because it is not easy to create an environment that is conducive to and enabling of practitioners acting as knowledgemanagers.There are three elements of community of practice namely domain, community, practice.

Domain: It is the area of the knowledge that brings community together, gives it its identity, and defines the key issues that members need to address. As it would be for a team, but by an "area" of knowledge that should to be explored and developed.
Community: The group of people for whom the domain is relevant, the quality of the relationships among members, involves people who interact and who develop relationships that enable them to address problems and share knowledge.
Practice: The body of knowledge, methods, tools, stories,cases, documents, which members share and develop together to gain practical knowledge in their domain, which makes a difference to their ability to act individually and collectively.

The combination of domain,community and practice is what enables communities of practice to manage knowledge. Domain provides a common focus;Community builds relationships that enable collective learning and Practice anchors the learning in what people do.

What do communities of practice look like: They look like Problem solving, Developing new capabilities, Leveraging best practices, Standardizing practices, Time savings, Increase in talent, Avoiding mistakes.


Where does this communities of practice come from: For this the answer is so simple that it came from learning theory(Jean Lave&wenger .E,2000). The term community of practice was coined to refer to the community that acts as a living curriculum for the apprentice. Once the concept was articulated,and started to see these communities everywhere, even when no formal apprenticeship system existed. And of course, learning in a community of practice is not limited to novices. The practice of a community is dynamic and involves learning on the part of everyone.

My own view on communities of practice is what we do regularly in our organizations of knowledge management.Suppose lets consider an example of educational system to apply COP that is very familiar to us.Does community of practice exist here?Yes. Schools and colleges are organizations in their own right, and they too face increasing knowledge challenges. The first applications of communities of practice have been in teacher training and in providing isolated administrators with access to colleagues. There is a wave of interest in these peer-to-peer professional-development activities. But in the education sector, learning is not only a means to an end: it the end product. The perspective of communities of practice is therefore also relevant at this level.The communities of practice affects in three dimensions:

1) Internally: How to organize educational experiences that ground school learning in practice through participation in communities around subject matters?

2) Externally: How to connect the experience of students to actual practice through peripheral forms of participation in broader communities beyond the walls of the school?

3) Over the lifetime of students: How to serve the lifelong learning needs of students by organizing communities of practice focused on topics of continuing interest to students beyond the initial schooling period?

From this view, the school is not the privileged locus of learning. It is not a self-contained, closed world in which students acquire knowledge to be applied outside, but a part of a broader learning system. The class is not the primary learning event. It is life itself that is the main learning event. Schools, classrooms, and training sessions still have a role to play in this vision.This gives a brief understanding of communities of practice.

REFERENCES:
1) Wenger.E,(2004) Knowledge management is a doughnut: shaping your knowledge strategy with communities of practice, Ivey business journal, London N6A 3K7.
2) Wenger.E,(1998) communities of practice a brief introduction:learning,meaningand identity, Cambridge university press,London.
3) Lave.J&Wenger.E(2002)communities of practice a brief introduction:learning,meaning and identity,cambridge university press,London.

Friday 6 February 2009

WEEK-3 Knowledge management theory

Theory Of Knowledge Management

Knowledge management field deals with many things and this is vast. To start with it i just started with distinction between Data, Information and Knowledge. It gave me some knowledge about knowledge management.

Data: As all know that data is raw facts and figures(Oxford English dictionary). Datum is singular of data. Datum in the computer world is 00001010 . If any body who know binary system think that it is number with value 10 but for who don’t binary system it mean nothing to them. There are chances think it as 10 apples,10desks,or possibly any thing. My view on data is just a factual information , this information becomes useful for analysis, it may be used for making decisions.

Information: The data which is processed by specific procedures which apply relevant meanings and facts to produce information. Information according to oxford dictionary as: “Data arranged in a meaningful pattern”. In my view on the face of it, there is no reason to think that every meaningful sign must carry information, it depends on the context we see as discussed in the class. My information becomes data to someone and vice versa. I will discuss that with an example stating that suppose we have a phone number which is called data but if i get whose that number is and details about that person it may become information.

Knowledge: Its just an acknowledgement according to oxford dictionary that means it is a proof. Knowledge according to(Roos,j.,& Dragonetti,N.C,1998) is a personal subjective process emerging from previous experiences and current events. while information is the objective data about the environment. My view on Knowledge is that which enables the generation of new information with the existing information.

" SUCCESS IN THE MARKET PLACE TODAY IS DIRECTLY
PROPORTIONAL TO THE KNOWLEDGE THAT AN
ORGANIZATION CAN BRING TO BEAR,HOW
FAST IT CAN BRING THAT KNOWLEDGE TO
BEAR AND THE RATE AT WHICH IT ACCUMULATES
KNOWLEDGE"(peter drucker in an article1993)

It is only from the past few years that the world of business has begun to recognize the importance of knowledge as a resource. I will consider mainly in law firms context. Knowledge management in simple words is managing knowledge in a proper way. Knowledge is a fluid mix of contextual information, values, experiences, and rules.

Knowledge management covers three main knowledge activities :
1)Generation
2)codification
3)transfer

Knowledge Generation: It includes all activities which bring to light knowledge which is “new” whether to the individual, to the group, or to the world. The tools for the generation is mainly like a mind (machine)(George Johnson’s book, no date).

Knowledge Codification: It is the capture and representation of knowledge so that it can be re-used either by an individual or by an organization. It is like knowledge captured for later sorting or it is pre-screened.

Knowledge Transfer: It involves the movement of knowledge from one location to another. The goal of such tool is ultimately shared memory and understanding. If knowledge is considered to be alive then it is ever charging and growing. In modern ways electronic communication transfers knowledge.(Rudy L. Ruggles,1966)

The power of knowledge management is to enable and enhance the productivity of these activities and to leverage either value for the group as well as individual. Knowledge management tools are
1)Data management tools
2)Information manage ment tools

Data management tools allow organizations to generate, access, store, and analyse data, usually in the form of facts and figures, which can be considered “raw material”.

Information management tools enable the manipulation of information Examples of this include automated information search and retrieval agents.

Why problems arise in implementation of knowledge?

Because many times organizations react to the ideas of knowledge management by buying the tools, installing them, and then expecting over night results.
Knowledge management envisages a learning loop with in an organization. The knowledge base exists with in the organisation and combining this knowledge with the employee’s own knowledge and this makes achieve some best results. But some times the credit is not going to the right person in this case.

My ideas on knowledge management:

Let me think iam doing a project on XP. Here the main groups are customers and programmers. The customer gives the requirements they need, then the programmers understand the task of customer and splits the task and use the knowledge to complete the task. So here management should complete the task in scheduled time. The programmers in XP keeps its views in the project and simultaneous iterations are done. The beneficial thing in XP is that they keep the customer presence while doing the project. Here, if u see the data which is given by the XP customer is converted in to information by understanding and the programmers implement their knowledge in implementing it and to see the results. here the knowledge is generated ,coded &processed(KM).

References:
1) Roos,J., Roos,G., Dragonetti,N.C and edvinsson,L(1997) Intellectual capital , Mac milliam business press.

2) The new shorter oxford English dictionary clarendon, oxford(1993).

3) Rudy L.Ruggles(1966) Knowledge management tools, Business publications.

4) Peter Drucker(1993) no information

5) George Johnsons(n.d)Machinery of mind

WEEK-2 organisation & strategy

Organization And Strategy

Organization:

Organizations are social entities that are goal directed , designed as deliberately structured and co-ordinated activity systems which are linked to external environment by (Richard L.Daft1997). Organization only exist when it is interacting with customers, suppliers, competitors, and shares information &technology to their mutual advantage. Do u think organizations are important?

Some reasons why organizations are important to u and the society is

1)they bring resources to achieve desired goals and out comes
2)produce goods and services efficiently
3)facilitate innovation
4)use modern manufacturing and computer-based technology
5)adapt to and influence a changing environment
6)create value for owners, customers, employees
7)accommodate ongoing challenges of diversity, ethics, career patterns, and the motivation and co-ordination of employees

So understanding of organization theory enables managers to design organizations to function more effectively(Michael A.Hitt ,1995). There is a distinction in organization as open and closed system. Closed system org in real cannot be seen but for example scientific management ,internal designate,. The organizations that we see in our day to day life are open systems. They interact with the environment to survive. To understand lets view organization as a system. A system is a set of interacting elements that acquires input from the environment, transforms them ,and discharges outputs to the environment. Input to an organization system include employees, raw materials and other physical resources, information, and financial resources. Transformation process changes these inputs into something of value like products and services for customers and clients through output.

Do u think organizations should have structure? Yes, they include small things like
1) Environment
2) Goals and strategy
3) Size
4) Culture
5) Structure
6) Technology

Hierarchy of authority is another word to discuss a lot ,it describes who report to whom . In an organization to be effective, the authority to make decisions should be centralised that to at the top level. The organisation should consist of experienced and innovative people to run efficiently.

Strategy:

Fundamental concepts in the area of strategy are generally accepted and hardly questioned. This means that strategy cannot be summarised into broadly agreed on definitions, rules, matrices and flow diagrams that one must absorb and learn to use(Bob Dewit and Meyer,1999).

If the only tool u have is a hammer, you treat everything like a nail(Abraham Maslow1908-1970 an American psychologist). To avoid hammering strategy issues with only one theory, a variety of ways of viewing strategic questions will be presented.This point can be made clear by extending Maslow’s hammer and nail analogy. To become a good carpenter ,who wisely use a variety of tools depending on what is crafted, an apprentice carpenter will need to learn about these different instruments. One way is for apprentice to study the characteristics and functioning of all tools individually, and only then apply when appropriate.

Understanding the broad spectrum of theories is not an end in itself, but a means for more effective strategizing.There are three dimensions of strategy that can be recognized in every real-life strategic problem situation(Pettigrew,A 1977).

1) Strategy process :It is concerned with how is ,and should ,strategy be made ,analysed, dreamt-up, formulated ,implemented ,changed and controlled ;who is involved ;and when do necessary activities take place ?Here strategies identify the opportunities , threats and create the future.
2) Strategy content :The product of strategy process is referred to as the strategy content.Hierarchy of organizational levels like business ,corporate and network levels comes under this .A strategy may also be for a group of firms.
3) Strategy context :The set of circumstances under which both the strategy process and strategy content are determined is referred to as strategy context .

My critical analysis on organization &strategy is just seen in the following example. Suppose we get an opportunity to perform OLYMPICS ,then what should the organization primarily have is
1) billions of fund
2) thousands of staff members for various specialisations
3) volunteers
4) security
5) sanitation services
6) venues for various activities
7) computer technology
8) broadcasting services and many other resources .

All these are directed towards a common goal of performing OLYMPICS in a extraordinary manner to get fame for the country .So organization in my words is a team driven by people for discovering ,work collectively to produce results and motivated & driven by a leader to share information between them . I like to give an example of how strategy is implemented is When Honda entered the US motorcycle market in 1959, their strategy appeared planned and deliberate. But in reality, good luck, experimentation and instinct played the biggest role in strategy implementation .My opinion is Organizations exist to fulfil a purpose and strategies are employed to ensure that organizational purpose is realised.


References :

1)Bob,D&Ron,M,(1999) International Thomson business press,Netherlands.
2)Richard L.Draft(1997) Intrnational Thomson publication,united states of america.
3) Michael A.Hit, R.Duane Ireland,and Robert E.Hoskisson, Strategic Manegement: Competetiveness and Globalization (St. Payl, Minn.: West,1995),238.
4) Pettigrew, A.(1977) ‘Strategy Formulation as a Political Process’, International Studies of Management and Organization,International Thomson business press Vol. 7 , Summer, pp. 47-72.

KM MODELS.........

knowledge management is a new era & it has its own importance now a days.

Why the models have evolved?

The models have been selected with a view to providing the widest perspective of KM as a whole.Problems seen in knowledge management is that knowledge is not spread equally in the organization.This is reason why we should follow a model.

Some of models i came across..........

Von krogh & Roos KM models (1995) differentiates b/w individual knowledge & social knowledge.In general human is the source of information.Then this information in our senses r manipulated for gaining knowledge & this knowledge is seen in external view to make it through logical views.

Nonaka & Takeuchi spiral model(SECI):

Knowledge is principally "group knowledge" which is converted , mobilised &transferred from one another.
example:Along the individual(researcher) to the group &then to the organisation from there to ontological dimension.One of the model named SECI was the secret for the success of japanese companies.It deals with socialisation,externalization,combination&internalization.

Socialisation:This is sharing the knowledge face to face through social interaction.Socialisation is amongst the easiest forms of exchange knowledge becuase this is what we do in cafeteria. In this there r drawbacks like these r rarely capture,noted.It remains only in mind.This may not result in transmitting and sharing(davenport & prusak 1998).

To improve brainstorming and knowledge cafes must be arranged frequently.

Externalisation:It gives a visible format for tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge.
example: A knowledge journalist is someone who can interview knowledge individuals in order to
extract ,model&synthesize.
HERE knowledge is tangible and permanent.

Combination:It is explicit to explicit knowledge.The process of recombining discrete pieces of explicit knowledge into new form.No new knowledge is created per see;it is a new combination or representation of existing or already explicit knowledge.
example:In developing a training course or curriculam for a university course,existing,explicit knowledge would be recombined into a form that better lends itself to teaching and transforming this content.

Internalization:
It mainly comes with learning while doing.Once knowledge is internalised it is then used by employees who broaden it,extend it & reframe it with in thier own existing knowledge.


So,finally knowledge ,experiences,best practices,lessons learned &so on go through the conversion process of socialisation,externalization,combination but they cant halt at any stages mentiond but only when knowledge is internalised.

REFERENCES:

1)Von krogh,G.,&Roos,j.,(1998)knowledge in firms:understanding managing,london stage publications,

2)Nonaka,l.,&takeuch,h.(1995).the knowledge creation community.Newyork:oxford university press

3)Davenport,t&prusak,l(1998)working knowledge boston:harvard business school press.

4)knowledge management in theory & practice.