Perspectivas sobre la Gestión del Conocimiento en las Organizaciones (Traducción)

Por: Chun Wei Choo*

CONOCIMIENTO DE TRABAJO

En su conocido libro, Davenport  y Prusak,  definen el conocimiento como "una mezcla fluida de experiencias enmarcadas, valores, información contextual, y la visión de expertos que proporciona un marco para evaluar e incorporar nuevas experiencias e información. Se origina y se aplica en la mente de los conocedores. En las organizaciones, a menudo se incrusta no sólo en documentos o depósitos, sino también en las rutinas organizativas, procesos, prácticas y normas. "En su opinión, las organizaciones se comportan como los mercados del conocimiento, con los compradores (personas que buscan el conocimiento para resolver un problema), los vendedores (personas con una reputación internalmarket por tener amplio conocimiento sobre un proceso o tema), y agentes (personas que hacen conexiones entre las personas que necesitan el conocimiento y los que lo tienen: porteros, llaves de frontera, bibliotecarios corporativos).

Los mercados funcionan haciendo que los precios y los mecanismos de pago. En los mercados del conocimiento, tres tipos de pagos operan: la reciprocidad, la reputación y el altruismo. Un empleado bien se tomará el tiempo y esfuerzo para compartir el conocimiento si se espera que el favor que se devolverá cuando es su turno para solicitar o comprar conocimiento. Un intercambio de conocimientos empleado también puede ser recompensado al ganar una reputación de ser informado y estar dispuestos a compartir sus conocimientos.

Algunas personas disfrutan ayudando a los demás, y compartir conocimientos altruista. Cualquiera sea la razón o incentivo para compartir, los mercados del conocimiento requieren un ambiente de confianza para que funcione.

Cualquier organización que quiera sobresalir en la gestión del conocimiento tendrá que funcionar bien tres procesos KM: generación, codificación y transferencia de conocimiento. La generación de conocimiento se refiere a las actividades que incrementan el acervo de conocimientos de la organización. Se examinan cinco modos de generación de conocimiento: adquisición, dedicando los recursos; fusión, adaptación y creación de redes de conocimiento. Las organizaciones pueden adquirir conocimientos mediante la contratación de las personas, la compra de otra organización, o el alquiler / arrendamiento de conocimiento externo. También pueden dedicar recursos a la generación de conocimiento mediante el establecimiento de unidades que llevan a cabo la investigación y el desarrollo. Los autores señalan que algunas bibliotecas corporativas funcionan como departamentos de I + D, el desarrollo y la prestación de nuevos conocimientos a la organización. La generación de conocimiento a través de la fusión puede ocurrir cuando se juntan los diferentes individuos y grupos con diferentes especialidades y perspectivas para trabajar en un problema o proyecto. La adaptación se lleva a cabo cuando la organización responde a las nuevas condiciones de su entorno externo. Aquí, la generación de conocimientos es el resultado de la adaptación de las organizaciones a cambios significativos competitivos, económicos o tecnológicos, y los recursos adaptativos más importantes son los empleados que pueden adquirir nuevos conocimientos de forma rápida y que tienen la apertura para aprender nuevas habilidades. Knowledgeis al modo genera en las redes de personas de una organización que comparten intereses comunes de trabajo, se enfrentan a problemas comunes de trabajo y están motivados para intercambiar sus conocimientos. Las organizaciones pueden tratar de formalizar estas, las redes de auto-organización informal con el tiempo. Codificación del conocimiento. Davenport y Prusak ofrecen cuatro principios que deben guiar la codificación del conocimiento organizacional.

1. Los gerentes deben decidir cuáles son los objetivos de negocio del conocimiento codificado se

servir.

2. Los gerentes deben ser capaces de identificar los conocimientos existentes en diversas formas

apropiado para alcanzar estos objetivos.

3. Gestores del conocimiento deben evaluar el conocimiento de la utilidad y conveniencia de su codificación.

4. Codificadores deben identificar un medio apropiado para la codificación y distribución.

La codificación del conocimiento tácito se limita generalmente a la localización de una persona con el conocimiento, señalando el buscador a la misma, y ​​alentándolos a interactuar. Por ejemplo, un mapa de conocimiento (un mapa real, un Páginas amarillas, un directorio de base de datos) puede ser construido para que apunte al conocimiento pero no lo contiene. Tratar de convertir el conocimiento en un "código" a veces puede parecer que anule el propósito de comunicarlo. El reto consiste en codificar el conocimiento y aún dejar sus atributos distintivos intacta, la creación de estructuras de codificación que pueden cambiar la manera más rápida y flexible que el conocimiento en sí mismo. Davenport y Prusak sugieren que las historias, en su capacidad para incorporar y ampliar la experiencia, y de combinar sentimiento y pensamiento, puede ser una manera de capturar el conocimiento sin la eliminación de su riqueza.

Organizaciones transfer.Since conocimiento se comportan como los mercados del conocimiento, se deben crear espacios de mercado y los lugares donde este comercio y el intercambio de conocimientos pueden ocurrir. Gran parte de la transferencia de conocimientos se produce a través de conversaciones personales, por lo que lugares como enfriadores de agua, salas de charla, ferias de conocimiento y foros abiertos se convierten en importantes escenarios para el intercambio de información. Un tema importante en Davenport y Prusak es la discusión de que el intercambio de conocimientos entre las personas y grupos en una organización puede ser la tarea más desalentadora en la gestión del conocimiento. La mayoría de los obstáculos están relacionados con la cultura de la organización. Davenport y Prusak identifican siete barreras: falta de confianza, las diferentes culturas, vocabularios, y marcos de referencia, la falta de tiempo y los lugares de reunión, el estado y las recompensas que van a los propietarios de los conocimientos, la falta de capacidad de absorción de los beneficiarios, la creencia de que el conocimiento es una prerrogativa de grupos particulares, el síndrome de "no inventado aquí", y la intolerancia por los errores o necesidad de ayuda. Davenport y Prusak distinguir entre la transferencia de conocimientos formales e informales, y señalan que: "la transferencia de conocimiento informal está en peligro por el sentido aparticularly Americana de lo que es y no es un trabajo" real ". . . un empleado que lee un libro en su escritorio, sin duda un enfoque efectivo para la adquisición de conocimientos-se mira con desconfianza ... Una empresa que pretende valorar el conocimiento, pero desalienta la lectura y hablar por horas de trabajo envía mensajes mezclados. El mensaje más convincente es que el conocimiento no es muy apreciado después de todo. Los gerentes deben reconocer que la disponibilidad de tiempo "holgura" para aprender y pensar puede ser uno de los mejores indicadores de la orientación de los conocimientos de la empresa ".

*.- Información sobre Chun Wei Choo

Professor Education:

PhD: Information Studies, University of Toronto

MSc: Information Systems, London School of Economics

MA: Engineering, University of Cambridge (UK)

BA: Engineering, University of Cambridge (UK)

Administrative responsibilities:

Chair, Programs Committee

Biography:

Chun Wei joined the Faculty of Information in 1993 after completing his Ph.D. there. He has a Bachelor and Masters degree in Engineering from the University of Cambridge (UK), and a Masters in Information Systems from the London School of Economics. His recent books include the The Knowing Organization (2nd ed, Oxford University Press 2006), Strategic Management of Intellectual Capital and Organizational Knowledge (Oxford University Press 2002), Web Work: Information Seeking & Knowledge Work on the WWW (Springer/Kluwer 2000), and Information Management for the Intelligent Organization (3rd ed, Information Today 2002). His articles and papers have appeared in the Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, Financial Times of London, Information Research, Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, Journal of Documentation, Journal of Knowledge Management, National Post of Canada, and Sloan Management Review.

At the Faculty of Information, Chun Wei teaches the following courses:

INF 1230 Management of Information Organizations

INF 1325 Online Information Retrieval

INF 2149 Administrative Decision Making in Information Organizations

INF 2176 Information Management in Organizations: Models and Platforms

For more information, visit Chun Wei's website at choo.ischool.utoronto.ca.

Research highlight:

Professor Choo conducts research in the areas of knowledge and information management, information seeking behaviour, and organizational learning. A current project looks at organizations as epistemic communities; another examines information seeking and use in early warning systems.

Research description:

Research interests

Knowledge management

Information management

Information seeking

Environmental scanning

Organizational learning

Early warning

Projects

For more about these and earlier projects not shown here, visit Chun Wei's website at choo.ischool.utoronto.ca.

"Information Seeking and Use in Early Warning." Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Standard Research Grant (2009 - 2012). Principal Investigator.

"Information Seeking and Use in Group Knowledge Work." Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Standard Research Grant (2005 - 2008). Principal Investigator.

"Managing knowledge and information in times of major organizational transition." Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Initiative on the New Economy research grant (2003-2006)

Selected publications:

For more publications and to download papers, visit Chun Wei's website at choo.ischool.utoronto.ca.

Articles

Choo, C.W. 2013, in press. Information Culture and Organizational Effectiveness. International Journal of Information Management.

Choo, C.W. & Nadarajah, Indrani. 2013, in press. Early Warning Information Seeking in the 2009 Victorian Bushfires. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology.

Marton, Christine & Choo, C.W. 2012. A Review of Theoretical Models of Health Information Seeking on the Web. Journal of Documentation 68(3): 330-352.

Cyr, Sylvio & Choo, C.W. 2010. The Individual and Social Dynamics of Knowledge Sharing - An Exploratory Study. Journal of Documentation 66(6): 824-846.

Alvarenga Neto, Rivadávia & Choo, C.W. 2010. Beyond the Ba: Managing Enabling Contexts in Knowledge Organizations. Journal of Knowledge Management 14(4): 592-610.

Choo, C.W. 2009. Information Use and Early Warning Effectiveness: Perspectives and Prospects. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 60(5): 1071-1082.

Choo, C.W., Pierrette Bergeron, Brian Detlor, Lorna Heaton. 2008. Information Culture and Information Use: An Exploratory Study of 3 Organizations. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 59(5): 792-804.

Choo, C.W. 2007. Information Seeking in Organizations: Epistemic Contexts and Contests. Information Research 12(2).

Choo, C.W., Colin Furness, Scott Paquette, Herman van den Berg, Brian Detlor, Pierrette Bergeron, Lorna Heaton. 2006. Working with Information: Information Management and Culture in a Professional Services Organization. Journal of Information Science 32(6), 491-510.

Choo, Chun Wei. 2005. Information Failures and Organizational Disasters. Sloan Management Review Vol. 46 no. 3: 8-11.

Books

Choo, Chun Wei. 2006. "The Knowing Organization: How Organizations Use Information to Construct Meaning, Create Knowledge, and Make Decisions," 1st edition 1998, 2nd edition 2006. New York: Oxford University Press.

Choo, Chun Wei, and Nick Bontis (eds). 2002. "Strategic Management of Intellectual Capital and Organizational Knowledge," New York: Oxford University Press.

Choo, Chun Wei. 2002. "Information Management for the Intelligent Organization," 1st ed 1995, 2nd ed 1998, 3rd ed 2002. Medford, NJ: Information Today Inc.

Choo, Chun Wei, Brian Detlor and Don Turnbull. 2000. "Web Work: Information Seeking and Knowledge Management on the World Wide Web." Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Conference papers

Evans, Max, Wensley Anthony, & Choo, C.W. 2012. How Shared Language and Shared Vision Motivate Effective Knowledge Sharing Behaviour. Paper presented and published at 13th European Conference on Knowledge Management, Sep 6-7, 2012, Cartagena, Spain.

Alvarenga-Neto, Rivadavia, & Choo, C.W. 2010. The Post Nonaka Concept Of Ba: Eclectic Roots, Evolutionary Paths and Future Advancements. Paper presented at 2010 ASIS&T Annual Meeting, Oct 22-27, 2010, Pittsburgh, PA.

Choo, CW. 2009. Information Culture in Organizations. Presentation in panel on Information Seeking and Use in Diverse Organizational Contexts. 2009 ASIS&T Annual Meeting, Nov 6-11, 2009, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Presentation.

Choo, CW. 2008. Sensemaking and Knowledge Creation in Early Warning Detection: A Perspective Using the Brunswik Lens Model. 8th International Conference on Knowledge, Culture and Change in Organizations, Aug 5-8, 2008, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. Presentation.

Carvalho, R.B., Ferreira, M., Choo, C.W., da Silva, R.V., Joia, L.A. 2008.Analysis of the Effects of Technological and Organizational Features on Intranet and Portal Usage. Proceedings of the 14th Americas Conference on Information Systems. Aug 14-17, 2008, Toronto

Detlor, B., Choo, CW, Bergeron, P., Heaton, L. 2006. Information Behavior Realities in Organizations. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, Austin, TX, Nov 3-9, 2006.

In books

Choo, C.W. 2007. The Social Use of Information in Organizational Groups (preprint). In Information Management: Setting the Scene (Vol. 1), p. 111-125, A. Huizing & E.J. de Vries (Eds.), Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science.

MacIntosh-Murray, Anu, and Chun Wei Choo. 2006. Information Failures in Health Care. In Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, vol. 40, edited by B. Cronin. Medford, NJ: Information Today Inc.

In collection

Choo, C.W. 2005. Environmental scanning as information seeking and organizational learning. In Introducing Information Management: An Information Research Reader. eds. E. Maceviciute and T. Wilson. London, UK: Facet Publishing.

Misc

Choo, Chun Wei. 1999. Closing the Cognitive Gaps: How People Process Information. Financial Times of London, March 22, 1999: 7-10. Also in the National Post of Canada, Aug 21, 2001, 11-13.

Master thesis

“Three Case Studies in Expert Systems Research: The DENDRAL, MYCIN and PROSPECTOR systems”

PhD thesis

"Environmental Scanning: Acquisition and Use of Information by CEOs in the Canadian Telecommunications Industry”

Supervision:

Doctoral

Current PhD students:

Joel Alleyne: Expertise sharing in interprofessional (clinical) care settings

Michael Jones: Information behaviour and knowledge management in Project-based Learning Engineering Teams: A Cultural-Historical Activity Theory approach

Steven Chuang: Pre-candidacy. Environmental scanning in the real estate sector

Natasha Ali: Pre-candidacy. Information seeking behaviour of investment analysts

Completed PhDs:

Max Evans (2012, co-supervision with Prof. Anthony Wensley): "Knowledge sharing: An empirical study of the role of trust in an organizational setting"

Christine Marton (2011): “Understanding how women seek heath information on the Web”

Colin Furness (2010): “Group information behavioural norms and the effective use of a collaborative information system:  A case study"

Mary Cavanagh (2008, co-supervision with Prof. Lynne Howarth),  “Making the invisible visible: public library reference service as epistemic practice”

Scott Paquette (2008):  “Knowledge management systems and customer knowledge use in organizations”

Herman van den Berg (2008, co-supervision with Prof. Brian Silverman):  "Knowledge-based vertical integration: The nature of knowledge and economic firm boundary location"

Anu MacIntosh-Murray (2003): Information Behaviour of Health Care Providers for Improving Patient Safety

Don Turnbull (2002): Knowledge Discovery in Databases of Web Use: Data Mining for Informetric and Behavioral Models of Information Seeking on the World Wide Web

Brian Detlor (2000): Facilitating Organizational Knowledge Work Through Web Information Systems : An Investigation of the Information Ecology and Information Behaviours of Users in a Telecommunications Company

Masters (thesis option):

Natasha Ali "Information and Decision Making Processes Leading to Corporate Failure: Enron and Red Flags"

Sylvio Cyr "The Effect Of Personality Differences, Knowledge Types, And Sharing Targets On The Psychological Costs And Benefits Perceived In Knowledge Sharing Decision Situations"

Mark Schrutt "Bringing IT Back: An analysis and explanation of the causes of IT outsourcing contract terminations"

Joel Alleyne “Knowledge Networks”

Ann Rockley “The Impact of Multimedia on Online Documentation— An Experimental Study”

Stefan Powell “Prototyping of a Web Authoring and Mounting System for the Faculty of Information Studies”

Antonio Wisniowski “An Assessment of the Effectiveness of a Natural Language Interface for Information Retrieval”

Rene Sandino “Business Process Re-engineering: A Case Study”

Brian Detlor “An Integrative Approach to Determining Information Needs and Uses: A Case Study of A Natural Gas Marketing Firm”

TEXTO EN INGLÉS

Perspectives on Managing Knowledge in Organizations

For: Chun Wei Choo

WORKING KNOWLEDGE

In their well-known book, Davenport and Prusak define knowledge as “a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the minds of knowers. In organizations, it often becomes embedded not only in documents or repositories but also in organizational routines, process, practices, and norms.”  In their view, organizations behave as knowledge markets, with buyers(people seeking knowledge to resolve an issue), sellers (people with an internalmarket reputation for having substantial knowledge about a process or subject), and brokers (people who make connections between people who need knowledge and those who have it: gatekeepers, boundary spanners, corporate librarians).

Markets work by having pricing and payment mechanisms. In knowledge markets, three kinds of payments operate: reciprocity, reputation, and altruism. A knowledgeable employee will take the time and effort to share knowledge if she expects the favor to be returned when it is her turn to seek or buy knowledge. An employee sharing knowledge may also be rewarded by gaining a reputation for being knowledgeable and being willing to share knowledge.

Some individuals enjoy helping others, and share knowledge altruistically. Whatever the reason or incentive for sharing, knowledge markets require an environment of trust in order to function.

Any organization that wants to excel at managing knowledge will need to perform three KM processes well: generation, codification, and transfer of knowledge. Knowledge generation refers to activities that increase the stock of organizational knowledge. Five modes of knowledge generation are discussed: acquisition; dedicating resources; fusion; adaptation; and building knowledge networks. Organizations may acquire knowledge by hiring individuals, buying another organization, or renting/leasing external knowledge. They may also dedicate resources to the generation of knowledge by establishing units that undertake research and development. The authors note that some corporate libraries function like R&D departments, developing and providing new knowledge to the organization. Knowledge generation through fusion can occur when different individuals and groups with different specializations and perspectives are brought together to work on a problem or project. Adaptation takes place when the organization responds to new conditions in its external environment. Here, knowledge generation is a result of organizations adapting to significant competitive, economic, or technological changes; and the most important adaptive resources are employees who can acquire new knowledge quickly and who have the openness to learn new skills. Knowledgeis al so generated in networks of people in an organization who share common work interests, face common work problems, and are motivated to exchange their knowledge. Organizations may attempt to formalize these informal, self-organizing networks over time. Knowledge codification. Davenport and Prusak offer four principles that should guide the codification of organizational knowledge.

1. Managers must decide what business goals the codified knowledge will

serve.

2. Managers must be able to identify knowledge existing in various forms

appropriate to reaching these goals.

3. Knowledge managers must evaluate knowledge for usefulness and appropriateness for codification.

4. Codifiers must identify an appropriate medium for codification and distribution.

Codification of tacit knowledge is generally limited to locating someone with the knowledge, pointing the seeker to it, and encouraging them to interact. For example, a knowledge map (an actual map, a Yellow Pages, a directory database) can be constructed to point to knowledge but does not contain it. Trying to turn knowledge into a “code” can sometimes seem to defeat the purpose of communicating it. The challenge is to codify knowledge and still leave its distinctive attributes intact, putting in place codification structures that can change as rapidly and flexibly as the knowledge itself. Davenport and Prusak suggest that stories, in their ability to embody and extend experience, and to combine feeling and thought, may be a way of capturing knowledge without removing its richness.

Knowledge transfer.Since organizations behave as knowledge markets, they should create market spaces and places where this trading and sharing of knowledge can happen. Much of knowledge transfer occurs through personal conversations, so places such as water coolers, talk rooms, knowledge fairs, and open forums become important venues for sharing information. A major theme in Davenport and Prusak’s discussion is that the sharing of knowledge between people and groups in an organization may be the most daunting task in knowledge management. Most of the impediments are related to the culture of the organization. Davenport and Prusak identify seven barriers: lack of trust; different cultures, vocabularies, and frames of reference; lack of time and meeting places; status and rewards going to knowledge owners; lack of absorptive capacity in recipients; belief that knowledge is the prerogative of particular groups; the “not-invented-here” syndrome; and intolerance for mistakes or need for help. Davenport and Prusak distinguish between formal and informal knowledge transfer, and point out that: “Informal knowledge transfer is endangered by aparticularly American sense of what is and isn’t ‘real’ work . . . an employee who reads a book at his desk–arguably an effective approach to knowledge acquisition–is looked at with suspicion ...A company that claims to value knowledge but discourages reading and talking on company time sends mixed messages. The more convincing message is that knowledge is not much valued after all. Managers need to recognize that the availability of ‘slack’ time for learning and thinking may be one of the best metrics of a firm’s knowledge orientation.”