A Capstone report on the Knowledge Management.pptx

Knowledge management is business

1. A Capstone report on the Knowledge Management in a project team of Ericsson

2. Introduction Knowledge management and Benefits in project teams Knowledge Management is the discipline of enabling individuals, teams and entire organizations to collectively and systematically create, share and apply knowledge, to better achieve their objectives. Knowledge management in project teams has the following benefits Reduces time-to-market New products are designed and commercialized more quickly and successfully Resulting In Increased Revenue and Market Share Expanding Profit Margins

3. Purpose and Scope of the report The purpose of the report is to research on the impact on the knowledge sharing the process in project teams due to challenges like communication, structure of the project, time specifications and motivational levels. The report will enlighten the various strategies methods associated with Knowledge management in project teams. The scope of the report will be focused on the ERP systems of Ericsson based on SAP development platform known as R/3. This platform connects the other SAP products based on the relationship management strategies between the supplier and customer. The scope is limited to Ericsson AB in Sweden focusing on various factors to develop competency and to improve the efficiency of the organization . This report will provide us the insight on the challenges associated with the implementation of Knowledge sharing and retention in a project team environment and how to tackle the challenges accordingly.

4. Research Rationale Ericsson is a very strong player with the robust framework in the area of Knowledge management and sharing. The company has extensive resource of tacit knowledge which can be transferred internally across the firm for better results. The actual problem lies when the tacit form of knowledge is difficult to understand and articulate among the users of Ericsson and Buyers. The successful knowledge sharing of tacit knowledge is the ultimate goal for Ericsson and application of explicit knowledge in certain scenarios. Ericsson SAP R/3 domain follows a coupled knowledge management process and there is lack of awareness on the complexity of the knowledge creation and sharing of cognitive ,complex explicit knowledge. The interaction interface is not user friendly and has created confusion in implementation of knowledge sharing process across the project teams.

5. Research Objectives To understand the process of knowledge management in project teams in Ericsson SAP domain by evaluating their success and challenges faced for duration of 1 year . To gauge the impact of KM due to project specific factors like communication, project structure, time constraints and understand the challenges in implementing the tacit and explicit knowledge for the project team of Ericsson. To retain tacit knowledge and encourage the sharing of explicit knowledge in projects teams in order to counter the communication challenges and awareness constraints of SAP module of Ericsson buyers by creating a user friendly and simple interface between Ericsson staff , buyers and end users

6. Tacit and Explicit knowledge   Tacit knowledge was conceptualized by Michael Polanyi and was coined as know –how by Brown and Duguid (1998). Tacit knowledge is an intuitive, hard definition counting more on experience for better understanding. Tacit knowledge is dependent on the information context and personal expectations. It is not easy to communicate tacit knowledge, but it is regarded as most valuable knowledge and can be shared using relevant actions, involvement and commitment to better results (Nonaka, 1994). Explicit Knowledge is defined as the user-friendly or codified and transmittable language in the form of documents for lookup and manuals explaining the procedure. Explicit knowledge can be easily understood through effective communication and can be easily organized, evaluated and presented to people for increasing the effectiveness of the organization (Davenport, Prusak , 1998 ).

7. Characteristics of Tacit and Explicit Knowledge Knowledge Sharing approach of Ericsson (Levin,2004)

8. Tangibility of Tacit and Explicit Knowledge Tacit Knowledge has gaps like difficulty in capturing the codified data in recorded or documented form .Tacit knowledge can be only observed and acquired through practice. The knowledge transfer of tacit form will be a slow, time-consuming, costly and has a higher degree of uncertainty ( Magalhaes , 2004). It is very difficult to deal with tacit knowledge gaps as it requires a complete change in the attitude of the team and not on the information communication. The issue recognition and creating an awareness of the issues to the end users can help in addressing the gaps of tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge cannot be patented as a single entity, and it cannot be traceable or easily recognizable . Explicit knowledge finds its actual application in knowledge theory, and its attributes are designed to store the information, process the data in a presentable manner and finally to support the transition of data based on requirement.The Explicit Knowledge can be conceptualized based on skills of the individual which can be transferred, modified for better communication, accessed and stored at any point of time ( Rus et al., 2001).The tangibility system has the explicit language at the other end based on the application recorded as technical or academic knowledge shared in a formal manner through expressions in maths , manuals, patents and copyrights (Smith, 2001).

9. Application of Knowledge management in project teams of Ericsson. Technology Tacit Knowledge Explicit Knowledge Intermediation Applicable in practice communities Groupware, Intranets, profiling, collaboration, portals and instant messaging options. Externalization Mentoring the team Portals, Document management ,taxonomy of corporate and categorization in an external mode Internalization Apprenticeship scenarios Portals, Search and retrieval in an agent’s perspective. Cognition Based on intuition Workflow management ,decision trees and support and portals facilitating case management Application of Knowledge Management ( Eraut , 2000 )

10. Knowledge management in project teams of Ericsson Learning practices Type of Knowledge Advantages Disadvantages Improvement areas Instructor led training Tacit Knowledge It is best method to opt for teaching courses and in the case of transfer of complex knowledge (Tacit) The method is expensive and cannot be followed globally as there is no presence in some countries. The method is efficient based on the cultural background of trainees and the instructors. Web Based Learning Explicit Knowledge The knowledge creation and transfer process is very easy. The method is inexpensive and has global presence There is risk in the level of understanding of the participants as one of them could have completely understood or one did not understand about the learning at all. The presentations need to be updated on a daily basis and can be made interesting using more graphic interfaces

11. Knowledge management in project teams of Ericsson Learning practices Type of Knowledge Advantages Disadvantages Improvement areas KS Tool Explicit and tacit It is user based tool for exchanging information through interactions, journals and messages. Facilitates the knowledge sharing process Diversion from the knowledge sharing topic is identified as the greatest risk. Ericsson can plan up a reference module for future references and avoid delays in knowledge transfers. On the Job training Tacit knowledge The implementation of the new knowledge is done at the site itself. It helps in questioning in synchronous mode. Investment is large as they have to ensure that the training is understood by the employee. The firm should focus up on efficient ways and means to obtain return of investment. Technical Snapshot Explicit knowledge Highly applicative method for Ericsson suppliers, buyers, end users to get an insight about the products of Ericsson. Very helpful in developing base line competence Challenges in technical implementations related to time and cost .Moreover Ericsson cannot implement this simultaneously. Focus area can be identified by reviewing the domain with more challenges and start implementing Technical snapshot learning methods

12. SAP R/3 model of Ericsson The R/3 platform is based on a 3-tiered model having a interface communication of 3 layers namely presentation ,application and the database. The presentation layer is designed to communicate with the end user. The application layer is responsible for understanding the business logic specific to the end. The database layer is storing all the transactional and configuration information.SAP R/3 has created a development environment where they can either develop or modify the SAP code to create functions. The major challenge in SAP R/3 is the installation and integration of ERP as a part of Ericsson deployment process. The software implementation is also dependent on current solutions and cannot be effective if any new challenge or simplification process is required. The integration of ERP and SAP R/3 has lead to complex process especially with the interface of end user interaction(Gartner,2007). .

13. Understanding sharing of Tacit Knowledgein Ericsson Tacit knowledge management in Ericsson can be understood based on the below scenarios Areas of situational understanding of the process or knowledge supported by experience. Routine or standard procedures in order to meet the work demands without compromising on the overload of information. If there is automation of process and procedures, then the knowledge management is highly tacit. In the areas of intuitive decision making by recognition of patterns, situational responses and increasing queries on the functionality of a process ( Eraut , 2000).

14. Understanding the sharing of Explicit Knowledge in Ericsson Explicit knowledge sharing in Ericsson can be evaluated and understood based on the below scenarios (Bukowitz, Williams 1999) Articulation of the user to comprehend his needs Availability of knowledge base in the form of maps, yellow pages, directories and maps can help in creating more awareness among teams and accessibility process of the knowledge. The guidance criteria fulfilled by knowledge managers with their expertise, communication, assistance and responsibility to promote knowledge sharing at any level in an organization. Knowledge managers must ensure that the information shared is not overloaded (Gamble, Blackwell, 2001 ).

15. Projects Teams –Tacit Knowledge sharing Approach in Ericsson Ericsson buyers suggested that the knowledge sharing must happen within the teams in order to address the challenges on tacit knowledge. In a relational mode it is evident that the tacit knowledge can be well received by experts and people who can configure the knowledge into a simpler mode. These experts can transfer the acquired tacit knowledge in the form of seminars, workshops; web tools, etc. and this knowledge transfer will help in acquiring the desired skills to handle the challenges faced by the Ericsson buyer in Sweden (Levin, 2004). Repeated knowledge transfers will help in getting more enriched experience, and it will be much easier to link the sharing of knowledge in a logic way by accumulating the tacit knowledge and absorb the automatic and easier aspects of tacit knowledge. This will help in the development of tacit knowledge by facilitating the transfer and sharing the process.

16. The explicit knowledge approach of Ericsson is well articulated and caters to the requirements of any process in an organization in a formal manner. The creation and sharing of knowledge are codified in the form of assets and are disseminated to the relevant project teams for further learning. The knowledge dissemination is done in the form of tools like designing SOP’s, discussion of best practices through manuals, drawings, process diagrams, etc. The Information Technology of Ericsson plays a pivotal role in sharing explicit knowledge through company portals, Intranet my learning systems, simulations to get hands on the knowledge applications, etc. Explicit knowledge in Ericsson is retained using a learning management process blended with scientific concepts in a more structured way. There are challenges in categorizing of explicit knowledge based on assets and requirement of the project and lack of procedures to leverage the knowledge (Levin, 2004). Projects Teams – Explicit Knowledge sharing Approach in Ericsson