10.7 Roles of People in Knowledge Management

Managing knowledge typically requires a full-time staff who examines, structures, filters, catalogues, and stores knowledge so that it is meaningful and can be accessed by people who need it.

If they identify specific knowledge that an employee or client might need, they send it directly to them, thus adding value to the organization.

Members of knowledge management teams include:

Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO)

CEO

Other officers and managers

Members and leaders of communities of practice

KMS developers

KMS staff

CKO's must do the following:

Set strategic priorities for knowledge management

Establish a knowledge repository of best practices

Gain a commitment from senior executives to support a learning environment

Teach information seekers how to ask better and smarter questions

Establish a process for managing intellectual assets

Obtain customer satisfaction information in near real time

Globalize knowledge management

The CEO is responsible for championing the KM effort. 

Communities of practice (COP) have appeared within organizations that are serious about their knowledge management efforts. 

A COP is a group of people in an organization with a common professional interest. The community is responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of the knowledge it contributes and for identifying its potential use.

9.7 Managerial Issues

1) Facilitating global trade - language translation is becoming very important. Very important in e-commerce where the translation of Web pages is a critical success factor. The use of intelligent systems has progressed rapidly. 

2) Selecting a system - Companies have an option to select an IOS infrastructure from several types and vendors.

3) Partner's collaboration - In an IOS, there are at least two parties so collaboration is critical. Many failures result from lack of partner's cooperation.

4) New infrastructures - XML, Web services and other tools are gaining popularity but are not universally excepted. Many smaller companies might be better off to wait and see what infrastructure to implement. Managers need to assess the risk of waiting while competitors are moving.

5) Globalization - The issue of going global depends on what info systems are needed. There are multiple issues that need to be considered, such as multiple languages, different currencies, tax requirements, legal aspects, and cultural differences. 

6) Using exchanges, hubs, and other services - Viable options since the service providers provide the IOS infrastructure. Using third-party providers can be cheaper, but loss of some control may become a problem. Selecting the appropriate system is critical.

7) Partner and supplier relationship management - Modern business is increasingly using partners. The trend for outsourcing means more partners. Cultivating PRM and SRM is not simple and needs to be planned for and organized properly.

8.7 Product Life Cycle Management

Product life cycle management or PLM, is a business strategy that enables manufacturers to control and share product-related data as part of product design and development efforts and to support supply chain operations. 

The core aspect of PLM is the central management of all product data and the technology used to access this information.

4 Phases of the PLM

1) conceive

2) design

3) realize

4) service

PLM can have a significant impact on engineering change, cycle time, design reuse, and engineering productivity.

Studies have shown that electronic based collaboration can reduce product cost and travel expense, as well as reduced costs associated with product-change management. 

PLM's ultimate goal is to move info through an organization as quickly as possible to reduce the time it takes to get a product to market and increase profitability.