Knowledge Management and Innovation Theory
Introduction
Arguably, world economy in the recent post-industrial times can be said to be an information-intensive atmosphere. A good number of scholars assert that, competition both in global and local market, distinction of the market place, as well as profitability is influenced by efficient knowledge. There are numerous definitions that have been put forward to explain the term ‘knowledge’, depending on the area in which it is applied. In this particular context or rather in the business context, the term ‘knowledge’ is used to refer to the state of being aware and able to understand specifics, truth, or information that is achieved through learning or experience.
Admittedly, to an organization or rather an enterprise, knowledge is considered as being an asset. However, unlike material assets this type of asset appreciates with time rather than depreciating, (Amrit 2002). It is evident that thoughts lead to new thoughts, and when knowledge is shared the receiver is augmented while the giver stays with it. Notably, creation of knowledge by organizations is considered to be promoting competitive advantage for firms that operate in the modern world marketplace. This is the reason why most firms concentrate most in sharpening their expertise of creating knowledge in different fields. According to the modern organizational theory, organizations are seen as systems that “process” information as well as, “solve” predicaments, (Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995). It is assumed that the elementary task for an organization is the way it handles information and decisions in a tentative shifting atmosphere.
It is argued that enthusiastically handles a shifting environment usually creates information a...
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Knowledge work according to Raman, (1999), contains activities, which are "information-based, knowledge intensive and knowledge generating" (p. 2). The paper's theme is, "organizations staying ahead of the competition have come to realize knowledge and knowledge workers are their key to success in today's environment where knowledge and information have become commodities" (Raman, 1999, p. 1). This paper's theme traces the historical development of knowledge management and knowledge workers; differentiates between knowledge workers and non-knowledge workers, and illustrate the knowledge workers experience in the author's organization. Knowledge systems contain the potential to increase business value (Bang, Cleemann, & Bramming, 2010).
Research in Motion (RIM), an international conductor of wireless modernization, reformed the industry of mobile with the launch of Blackberry solutions in 1999.After this Black berry products and services have endured to bring prompt changes in the lives of numerous people around the world by improving their mode of communication and banding them.
T.D. Wilson (2002) makes a point of identifying several sources of articles, references and course syllabi with varying takes on knowledge management within organizations. Wilson is convinced that organizations misuse the terminology “knowledge management” and that their activities are more concerned with managing information than with the management of knowledge (Wilson, 2002). Wilson defines knowledge as involving “the mental processes of comprehension” or, as “what we know” and information as the expression of what we know and can convey through messages (Wilson, 2002). By researching the use of the “knowledge management” Wilson conveys that the terms knowledge and information are used interchangeably, which results in an inaccurate application
Methods The article is divided largely in four major sections. The introduction lays out different basic concepts used in knowledge management (KM) for our better understanding of the topic. Then, the author continues on by touching upon various factors and steps involved in decision making processes. The first section delves into sources of knowledge and the second section explains incorporation of the different sets of knowledge at different steps of decision making processes. Thirdly, the integration of all the factors above is emphasized. All the key components together bring forth 4 different dimensions. Having access to knowledge whether it’s bas...
BlackBerry, formerly known as Research in Motion (RIM), was a market leader and innovator for smartphone products. The business and government sectors found the BlackBerry device particularly useful because of its email capabilities, superior security system, and convenient keyboard. As the smartphone industry began to shift its focus towards the average, everyday customer, competition increased, and BlackBerry’s first-mover advantage began to decline. Over the past five years RIM has changed its corporate name to BlackBerry, been purchased by private equity firm Fairfax Financial, written down over $1 billion in assets and unsold inventory, and laid off more than 40% of its workforce (Connors).
In 2007 and after the huge success of apple’s iPhone, Blackberry decided to diversify from the Enterprise market into a new market segment(consumer market) using its existing product(the business phones).
In times of economic change it is important for companies to remain flexible and adapt in order to be sustainable. New theories of management have developed to tap into a company’s core competencies and give it the ability to shift its product offerings and stay competitive. One theory that has gained popularity is Knowledge Management. A 1997 survey of 200 large US firms found that 80% of corporations had initiated knowledge programs of management. Both corporations and non-profit entities have adopted knowledge management practices - Monsanto, Hewlett-Packard and BP as well as the Army, Navy and the World Bank. As Peter Drucker, who coined the term “Knowledge Worker”, wrote in his Managing in a Time of Great Change, “Knowledge has become the key economic resource and the dominant – and perhaps the only – source of competitive advantage.”
We know that we all have some kind of knowledge. Knowledge can be information or skills that we possess, and no one can take it away from us. Knowledge is an intangible asset, and it cannot be destroyed and it does not depreciate. However it can build back destroyed tangible assets. To a business, knowledge is a valuable asset, and while there may be many employees who possess the same knowledge, due to required education or shared knowledge within the company, every single employee will hold some knowledge that’s different from the others.
Knowledge sharing can be defined as a ‘dispersing’ the knowledge with the colleagues in the company. Hendriks (1999) pointed out that knowledge sharing is composed of two parts: “the knowledge owner externalizes the knowledge; (2) the knowledge demander internalizes the knowledge” (Yesil et al., 2013). It can be also defined as collection the knowledge of your own organization and knowledge of other organizations.
Knowledge sharing is process that happen in organization to make knowledge accessible and can acts as a basis for innovation in the future. Creating and sharing knowledge is possible when the members of organization willing to synergies from combination different background of experience and education. Knowledge sharing can be called knowledge transfer with the process spreading throughout the organization and spreading across individuals, groups that use any kind of communication channels, which have several pillars according Alavi and Leidner (2001), such as: know the value of the knowledge, willingness of the source to share knowledge, media richness of communication channels, willingness to get knowledge and ability to recover
With today’s rate of development in technology, there has also been an immense increase in global information sharing. Innovations in technology and design seem to be emerging in the market almost every month. One of the key aspects of any business is to gather, organize and efficiently apply this information. According to Antonic (2005), economic assets are fast becoming of secondary importance in the market as companies ascribe more importance to intellectual capital. With the right application of Knowledge Management methods, companies can achieve a competitive advantage through managing the immense amount of information available (Balanced Scorecard Institute, 2002).
Hansen M., Nohria N., and Tierney T. (1999), “What’s your Strategy for Managing Knowledge?,” Harvard Business Review (March 1999), 106–16.
Knowledge is a currency meant to be transferred as frequently as possible in order to buy and sell ideas, information, and tools. Seeing knowledge as a currency allows us to invest in our structures and organizations so as not to cap the potential of not only the businesses, but also the work force behind those businesses. Mr. Si-Chi Chin excellently details why knowledge transfer is important. He wrote, “The goal of knowledge transfer is to train a system to recognize and apply knowledge acquired from previous tasks to new tasks or new domains” (Chin, 2013 p.3).
Innovation management is the management of innovation processes. It actually refers both to the product and organizational innovation, but in this paper I will mention more about innovation in project based organizations.
1).Innovation Management:Innovation Management is the form of looking into future, of being creative, imaginative .It is used in the growth of product and also organizational innovation. It also includes tools which allows higher management & engineers to communicate with basic understanding of goals and its processes .Its main focus is to allow the organization to react quickly occurring within an organization, using its efforts to implement new ideas or its products. It also involves persons in contributing to the development of the companies manufacturing and also its marketing. Through development also innovation process can be done. There are two types of process involved in innovation management one is pulled and the other is pushed. Pushed process is the one in which the organization uses its technology to discover profitable applications. Pulled process is the one in which the focus is mainly in developing the efforts to find the solutions. There are two phases in innovation management .First phase includes design of the innovation and second phase includes the implementation. Internal bench marking can be established to measure the innovation. Managers should focus on ones attention on innovation cause to be necessary to infer something from information received on the complexity.