Using the company case history provided, carry out a knowledge management assessment in order to identify areas where knowledge management interventions would be both appropriate and beneficial. Please address the following questions:
1. How does the company perceive KM? Do they demonstrate any bias (e.g. more technology than people-oriented, more efficiency than innovation-oriented?) Analyze the definition of knowledge management?-Which key attributes of KM are of particular importance to this company? What are the strengths of their definition? Weaknesses? How would you revise the KM definition in order to improve it?
2. What are the goals of this company - what problem(s) are they trying to address? Which, if any, are KM-related problems? What are the others? Identify the tacit and the explicit knowledge to be addressed for this organization. List both types of knowledge in a table and justify your categorization. What is the company doing well in terms of addressing tacit knowledge? Explicit knowledge? What could they do better? Provide some recommendations and explain how the company would benefit from them.
3. Position the different aspects of KM at the company on the BTOPP framework (Benefits-Tool-Organization-People-Process). In your opinion, are they headed in the right direction? Are they using effective incentives for knowledge sharing? How will they measure the benefits of having KM in place? Have they thought of everything? What would you recommend to this company and in what order/sequence - what should they tackle first? Why? How would you convince them that this is the right step/direction?
You need to evaluate your answers based on completeness in answering the questions, demonstrated understanding of the key knowledge management concepts in discussions and justifications, and appropriate use of examples throughout to support your views. Also you need to evaluate based on the level of persuasiveness of your arguments, justifications, and positioning.