INTRODUCTION
Why is this survey being carried out – The survey is being carried out to find out how well our companies knowledge management policies are operating.
How will participating in this survey benefit you - Effective knowledge management is not just a fad, but it could directly benefit us because it will enable us to access the firm’s know-how and information more efficiently and quickly. This in-turn will help you deal with the customer’s requests swiftly and efficiently. All this will result in speeding up your professional development and providing you with fresh intellectual challenges.
How long will it take to complete – The questionnaire should take you about 20 minutes to complete. Please see the detailed instructions on the following page.
Please complete the questions when you are unlikely to be disturbed. Also, do not dwell too long on any one question. Your first thoughts are usually your best choice. Even if some questions are not directly relevant to you – please do not ignore them. Your answers are essential in building an accurate picture of the issues that are important to improve knowledge management at the firm.
Intellectual Property - The survey questions have been extracted from the Knowledge Management Assessment Tool (KMAT) that was jointly developed by the American Productivity & Quality Centre and Arthur Anderson in 1995. The KMAT has been provided under license and is subject to the terms set out on the following page under the heading “Intellectual Property Rights”. Please note the restrictions on copyright and use.
What is the last date to complete the questionnaire – The questionnaire should be completed latest by 25th June 2009.
Thank you for taking the time to help me. Please start with the survey now by clicking on the Continue button below.
If you have any queries or would like further information about this project, please call me on 07912625699 or contact me by e-mail at [email protected]
Thank you for your help.
Vishal
Instructions – These additional instructions are provided because the license to the KMAT does not permit the survey to be changed in any way.
1. All the questions are compulsory and each statement has to be evaluated on its own merit.
2. Only read the explanatory text (following the relevant statement) if you need more background information to enable you to evaluate the statement.
3. Please read the statements and evaluate what you think our organisation’s performance is. The scale is as follows:
1=Poor, 2=Below Average, 3=Average, 4=Good, 5=Excellent
Intellectual Property Rights - The survey questions have been extracted from the Knowledge Management Assessment Tool (KMAT) that was jointly developed by the American Productivity & Quality Centre and Arthur Anderson in 1995.
Copyright of this questionnaire remains with the respective authors. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including but not limited to photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing of the authors whose work is subject to such reproduction / transmission”.
Knowledge Management Process
1. Our knowledge gaps are systematically identified and well-defined processes are used to close them.
Organisations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Benchmarking and internal analysis are used to identify opportunities for improvement in knowledge management.
• Customers and employees are surveyed frequently to identify knowledge gaps.
• The organisation creates and updates a map of its knowledge terrain, indicating where information is located and how to access it.
• Knowledge directories exist that list employee’s skill, knowledge, location, and how to reach them; directories of other groups aligned with the organisation are also disseminated.
2. A sophisticated and ethical intelligence gathering mechanism has been developed.
Organisations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• The organisation excels at scanning the environment for information on industry trends, customers, suppliers and competitors.
• Competitor products and services are routinely scrutinized
• The organisation adheres to a published code of ethics for intelligence gathering activities, including how it learns from competitors.
• Criteria have been established for partnering with other companies (internal & external), and these are well-understood throughout the organisation.
• The organisation knows how to protect its legal and financial interests in intellectual property.
3. All members of the organisation are involved in looking for ideas in traditional and non-traditional places.
Organisations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• The organisation benchmarks regularly, to look for best practices.
• The organisation taps a wide range of resources for best practice information, including employees, customers, suppliers, library science experts, alliances, joint venture partners, industry peers, and process leaders.
• The organisation routinely looks outside of its major markets and domestic divisions to global arenas.
• Conferences, industry roundtables, and visits to other facilities are used as source of creative inspiration.
• Everyone, from senior management to support personnel, spends some time visiting and listening to customers.
4. Our organisation has formalized the process of transferring best practices, including documentation and lessons learned.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• The organisation has mapped its business processes.
• Databases of root causes and solutions to frequently encountered problems are updated regularly.
• Success stories involving new tools or new approaches are widely communicated in the organisation.
• Discoveries and solutions are continually leveraged of existing ones.
• Process knowledge is rapidly diffused through the organisation, making it easy to transfer best practices.
5. “Tacit” knowledge (what employees know how to do, but cannot express) is valued and transferred across our organisation.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• The organisation has systems for identifying and passing on the internal knowledge of individual employees (e.g. rotation of divisional personnel, apprenticeships, site visits, sabbaticals, and mentoring).
• Past know-how is made explicit, making it easy to access, understand, and apply.
• Employees are receptive to new ideas, and there is much learning by doing.
• A large percentage of employees’ knowledge remains within the organisation when they leave.
• Process knowledge is rapidly diffused through the organisation, making it easy to transfer best practices.
Leadership in Knowledge Management 6. Managing organisational knowledge is central to our organisation’s strategy.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• The organisation believes there is a strong correlation between knowledge management and improved business performance.
• Senior executives are evaluated on how well they manage organisational knowledge.
• A knowledge management position has been created with the authority and resources to promote the development of knowledge relating to the organisation’s core competencies.
• Day-to-day decision making includes discussions of how well the knowledge elements of products, services, and work processes are being managed.
• Long-range planning has promoted the organisation to develop joint programs with high schools and colleges, insuring future source of knowledge workers.
7. Our organisation understands the revenue generating potential of its knowledge assets and develops strategies to support existing core competencies and create new ones.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Information itself, the technology systems in which it is housed, and the framework for accessing information are all treated as potential sources of profit.
• The organisation increasingly imbeds knowledge in its products and services in order to create “smart” products that command a premium in the marketplace.
• The organisation sells not only traditional products and services, but also knowledge of how customers can use those products and services to improve business performance.
8. Our organisation uses learning to support existing core competencies and create new one.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Employees understand the organisation’s competitive strengths and can articulate how their work and learning contribute to them.
• The organisation leverages supplier knowledge to create competitive advantage.
• Suppliers are invited to participate in the organisation’s knowledge management efforts; part of their evaluation is based on their contributions to these initiatives.
• The organisation is able to identify when the basis of competitive advantage has changed and redirects its learning to create new core competencies.
9. Individuals are hired, evaluated, and recognised for their contributions to the development of organisational knowledge.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Management uses some forms of recognition to reward and encourage those who share their knowledge and support their colleagues.
• Management encourages multiple approaches to achieving goals and promotes strong team players whose efforts expand the organisation’s knowledge base.
• Human resources planning include jointly setting learning objectives with employees and providing them with the means to meet those objectives.
Knowledge Management Culture 10. Our organisation encourages and facilitates knowledge sharing.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Employees routinely share ideas and technology.
• Employees participate in cross-functional teams, keeping up with external marketplace changes and soliciting outside perspective on key projects.
• The organisation has learned how to identify projects that should use cross-functional teams.
• Information hoarding is discouraged.
• Divisions, plants, departments, or units often work on joint projects.
• New approaches to capturing and sharing knowledge about customers, core competencies, and experience are rapidly adopted.
11. A climate of openness and trust permeates the organisation.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Employees share a common way of talking and thinking about issues, allowing information to easily flow up, down, and across the organisation.
• A relatively flat organisational structure further enhances information flow.
• Employees frequently volunteer to help one another, even if they are in different departments or functional areas.
• The organisation has developed a capacity for listening, and members, including management, are able to change their minds without “losing face”.
• Informal meetings that are open to all employees are held regularly; status is not important at these meetings.
• Problems or errors are openly discussed and solutions shared.
• The physical environment is organized in ways that facilitate knowledge transfer (e.g., using shared work spaces or large open-space work areas, or co-location of individuals working on cross-functional projects).
12. Customer value creation is acknowledged as a major objective of knowledge management.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Employees understand how customer value creation impacts the organisation’s financial results.
• Highly segmented customer information exists at every level of the enterprise.
• Management eliminates boundaries that prevent employees from having access to customer information and gives them the authority to respond quickly to customer needs.
• Employees are rewarded for solving customer problems and sharing those solutions with others.
• Collaboration with customers to develop and refine new products or address service issues is commonplace.
• Customers are welcome to visit the organisation at any time to discuss their ideas and business needs.
13. Flexibility and a desire to innovate drive the learning process.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Risk-taking and experimentation are encouraged.
• The organisation tolerates uncertainty and ambiguity.
• Failure is not punished; instead, it is viewed as an opportunity for learning.
• The organisation fosters an “entrepreneurial spirit” and employees are given the time, resources, and support to pursue new ideas.
• The process of relearning and unlearning is considered critical to generating products and services that meet current and future market needs.
• Both internal and external competition serves as a catalyst for new ideas.
• Successful innovations are celebrated enthusiastically.
• Creativity-boosting techniques, brainstorming sessions, agenda-less meetings, and scenario planning help surface unexpected solutions.
14. Employees take responsibility for their own learning.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Management provides employees with the time and resources necessary to achieve learning goals.
• Training is available on demand, when and where employees need it.
• Employees actively solicit information and ideas from outside their departments and often from outside the organisation.
• Employees are encouraged to “own” the analysis of information and determine subsequent action steps.
• Management advocates the use of mentors and advisors to help employees tailor their own performance-focused learning initiatives.
• Employees decide what they want and need to know, and how and when they want to learn it.
Knowledge Management Technology 15. Technology links all members of the business to one another and to all relevant external audiences.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Technology is seen as a means of enhancing collaborative efforts among members of the enterprise.
• Technology is used to minimize barriers of geography and time.
• Technology is available to all employees and all are trained in how to use it.
• Senior management sets an example by personally using new technology.
• The communications system links the organisation, both upstream and downstream, to suppliers and customers.
• Systems are increasingly linked to external knowledge bases, such as those of academic institutions, emerging commercial networks, and the Internet.
16. Technology creates an institutional memory that is accessible to the entire enterprise.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• A formal knowledge capture system exists that enables individuals to learn from the experiences of others and to analyze what they have learned themselves.
• Use of the knowledge repository is well-integrated into systems and processes, allowing individuals to spend less time “reinventing the wheel” and more time on innovative problem solving.
• Software is designed to recognize and retain important information and share it across the enterprise.
• All employees contribute to the content of the knowledge capture system.
• Information capture crosses functional lines, giving employees a “window” into the rest of the organisation’s activities.
17. Technology brings our organisation closer to our customers.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Communications technology permits the organisation to talk directly to customers and troubleshoot as problems arise.
• Customer information is shared across the organisation, ensuring that customer perspectives are incorporated into all products and services.
• Information such as sales data, customer profiles, customer ideas, and customer satisfaction is rapidly fed into knowledge capture systems, thus allowing quick adaptation of products and services to changing market needs.
• Technology allows customers to participate in product development and sample products before they purchase them.
18. Our organisation fosters development of “human-centred” information technology.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Information technology is developed with a clear vision of the business problems it is meant to solve.
• Technology is designed to help employees work more efficiently and make better business directions.
• Systems are flexible and evolve based on how people in the organisation actually acquire, share, and use information.
• User-friendly systems are a priority, and they are designed to be easily mastered without off-line training.
19. Technology that supports collaboration is rapidly placed in the hands of all employees.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• The organisation continually upgrades and replaces collaborative hardware and software.
• Sustaining competitive advantage has replaced traditional investment accounting as the criterion for upgrading hardware and software.
• Resident specialists who understand both technology options and the organisation’s business needs select technology that will be rapidly and easily adopted.
• If a choice exists, the organisation will opt for the more rapid approach of buying and customizing software and networks rather than building them from the ground up.
• The organisation provides employees with time for education about new technologies, allowing them to attend technology fairs and sponsoring such events on site.
• Priority is given to technologies that serve as “information bridges” (e.g., E-mail, work flow tracking systems, group-authoring, and video conferencing).
20. Information systems are real-time, integrated and “smart.”
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Information reaches appropriate decision makers in a timely fashion so it can contribute to business decisions.
• Information from remote sites enters the system immediately and is automatically analyzed in meaningful ways.
• The knowledge capture system can spot and flag unusual trends.
• Frameworks are developed to link previously unrelated knowledge capture systems, such as competitive intelligence, market research, benchmarking, and financial systems.
Knowledge Management Measurement 21. Our organisation has invented ways to link knowledge to financial results.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• The organisation calculates a return on its knowledge investment by tracking the cost of getting information into its processes and products.
• The organisation’s annual report to shareholders includes an assessment of how knowledge capital has contributed to bottom-line performance.
• The organisation monitors the value of its human capital by tracking the incremental revenues generated when employees modify existing products or services.
22. Our organisation has developed a specific set of indicators to manage knowledge.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• The set of knowledge management indicators includes measures such as:
- Customer Relationships: quality customer retention, growth rates.
- Human Resources: quality employee retention, rate of investment in intellectual capital, such as training expenditures, employees on sabbatical, employee development plans in progress.
- Strategic Alliances: value-added from joint ventures, and associations with learning institutions, customers, suppliers, and competitors.
- Innovation: new products/services launched, exited product/services lines, prototypes in test, information value-added to product/services.
- Process Improvements: best practices imported from elsewhere, best practices exported to others, cycle time and cost reductions, productivity and quality improvements.
• The set of measures is refined over time to reflect changes in the organisation’s knowledge management priorities.
23. Our organisation’s set of measures balances hard and soft as well as financial and non-financial indicators.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Soft measures, such as success or war stories, are systematically collected and used as evidence of knowledge development.
• The organisation tracks speed-to-market and speed-to-respond to customers as direct manifestations of improved knowledge management.
• The measurement system goes beyond the traditional accounting framework to incorporate measures of intangible assets such as intellectual and customer capital, as well as the knowledge content of its products or services.
24. Our organisation allocates resources towards efforts that measurably increase its knowledge base.
Organizations that excel at this practice may exhibit some of the following characteristics:
• Investments in the knowledge base and its related systems are correlated with short and long-term financial performance, and everyone understands the linkage.
• The organisation uses economic models to estimate how a lack of investment in organisational knowledge will erode or retard growth through lost revenues to competitors or lowered barriers to entry.
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