NavigationLatest Articles
Who's new
Who's onlineThere are currently 0 users and 33 guests online.
User login |
Knowledge Management and Intranet Technology - Udo Richard Averweg & Stella Anne JoryUdo Richard Averweg - Information Services, eThekwini Municipality and University of KwaZulu-Natal Stella Anne Jory - Afrika Leadership Development Institute AbstractIntranets are very much suited to use as a strategic tool in knowledge management (KM) due to their ability to support distribution, connectivity and publishing. The Intranet should be seen as integral to an organisation’s KM system and should be tailored to suit and enhance an organisation’s knowledge-sharing activities. The question arises: To what extent does an organisation’s existing Intranet facilitate knowledge-sharing? This question is explored by selection of a large organisation – the eThekwini Municipality, Durban South Africa – as the field of application. Derived from a mixed methodology approach, the results of a recent survey are presented. IntroductionThe validity of knowledge and the power of harnessing it, is widely embraced by empowered nations, vibrant industries and winning organisations. Currently and for the next decade at least, knowledge should be viewed as the most important and valuable resource. Industries and organisations of various sizes and forms, will find value in the realisation that in order to remain sustainable and to successfully supply to the increasing demands of the market, explicit management of intellectual processes, resources, capabilities and particularly knowledge, is crucial. A wide range of industries internationally today, recognise that corporate society rests on the verge of a new horizon in which intellectual capital (IC) is rapidly becoming the new currency in the work domain. Upon reflection of this theme and within the related domain of Knowledge Management (KM), Michael Zack (1999: 125) describes “the primary focus of these efforts has been on developing new applications of information technology to support digital capture, storage, retrieval and distribution of an organisation’s explicitly documented knowledge”. When aligned, organisational strategy and technical competency provide a sound framework to support KM within an organisation. However, the question arises as to whether or not an organisation is making the best investment in its resources or whether (or not) it is managing knowledge in the right way. To use this thought-provoking question as a point of departure, it is worthwhile to consider Tiwana and Ramesh (2001) who promote that the Intranet is well-suited to being used as a strategic tool within the domain of KM due to its ability to support distribution, connectivity and publishing. Furthermore, the Intranet should be seen as integral to an organisation’s KM system and should therefore be designed and tailored to enhance an organisation’s knowledge-sharing activities. From the above analogy, the question whether an organisation’s existing Intranet facilitates knowledge-sharing and KM processes arises. The exploration of this question sets a platform for an opportunity for research within a field of application that seems particularly appealing: a metropolitan municipality – eThekwini Municipality in Durban, South Africa. The appropriate context and appeal arose out of the fact that the first author is situated within the organisation’s Information Services department. Furthermore, given eThekwini Municipality’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP), this study was considered pertinent and relevant. In surveying the parameters of the question, the overriding premise was established as follows: If knowledge is used effectively, it may well provide meaningful utility to the organisation. BackgroundGiven that this research falls within the domain of KM and the field of application is eThekwini Municipality, the authors deem it necessary at this point to briefly explore the following concepts and realities: Knowledge, Knowledge Management, Information Technology (IT), Intranet Technology and eThekwini Municipality. KnowledgeSignificance of Knowledge in Corporate SocietyPeter Drucker (1999: 81) suggests “there is still no history of work, but then also, despite the all the philosophies about knowledge, there is no history of knowledge either. Both should become important areas of study within the next decades, or at least within the next century”. Considering the theories of cognition (epistemology) around the history of science and work, it may be Drucker’s intention to create awareness about the idea that we have not looked carefully and closely enough at the world’s perception of knowledge and work. But whatever specifically he means, his analogy draws together the notions of work and knowledge and the aspiration that these should become “important areas of study”. Furthermore, as an introductory thought, Drucker sets a platform, which forms the theme of ‘Knowledge and Work’ or perhaps more appropriately ‘Work and Knowledge’. Managing knowledge appropriately is at the centre of many discussions around competitiveness and sustainability. Much of the current theory and practices promote that knowledge (and the management of it) may prove useful if the scope and utility of knowledge is aligned with an organisation’s strategy. It also proposes that this should be set on a broader scale than merely IT. In other words, it is argued that the management of knowledge should go beyond a narrow technical focus and encompass other less tangible themes within an organisation. In relation to this, Zack (1996: 125) clarifies the intangible “as the knowledge existing within people’s heads, augmented or shared via interaction and social relationships”. For the purpose of this paper, the analogy draws on the ability to draw together the technology, the notion of shared interaction and the creation of an opportunity for knowledge transfer. Concept of knowledgeFrom a review of the management of knowledge literature, there are many definitions of the concept of knowledge. If organisations are to effectively utilise knowledge and to formulate KM strategies, defining of knowledge for its unique purpose is necessary. Categorisation of the concept of knowledge is now presented: Belief Description Pragmatic Description Communal Description Contextual Description The pragmatic, communal and contextual categories of defining knowledge may be drawn on for the purpose of this research. Knowledge ManagementPrecisely what is KM? Kwalek (2004: 23) suggests that “the literature on knowledge management is disjointed and disconnected”. Pfeffer and Sutton (2000: 22) indicate that KM “tends to treat knowledge as a tangible thing, as a stock or quantity, and therefore separates knowledge as some thing from the use of that thing”. Clearly there are different views on what KM is. From a review of the literature, some definitions of KM are given in Table 1. Some definitions of Knowledge Management
For the purposes of this paper, Gray’s definition (Gray, 2006: 118) will be adopted. Honeycutt (2000: xvii) indicates that KM is a discipline that treats IC as a managed asset. KM is not a centralised database that contains all the information known by an organisation’s workers. It is the idea of gaining business insights from a variety of sources - including databases, websites, employees and business partners – and cultivating that information wherever it resides. Business insight emanates from capturing information and giving it greater meaning via its relationship to other information in the organisation. It should be stated that KM is not about making plug?and?play workers dispensable because all they know is recorded for the next person who fills their shoes – it is about delivering information to knowledge workers, business processes and technology to make organisations and people successful. Intranets, the “in house” version of the World Wide Web (“the Web”) browser based on Internet technology, create a common corporate communications and information sharing system (Brelade and Harman, 2003). Information TechnologyGiven that advances in IT have made it easier to acquire, store or disseminate knowledge than ever before, many organisations are employing IT to facilitate sharing and integration of knowledge (Kankanhalli et al., 2003: 69). There is clearly a need for KM practices in the workplace to enable managers to promote the sharing of knowledge and allow the organisation to acquire and retain IC. For example, eThekwini Municipality is “committed to using Information Technology to make a real difference … municipal decisions have to be based on sound research and information management in order to ensure [service] delivery” (eThekwini Municipality, 2006: 28). KM initiatives in organisations are increasingly becoming important as organisations are making significant IT investments in deploying KM systems (Hahn and Subramani, 2000: 302). Intranet TechnologyPublic and private organisations are beginning to view knowledge as their most valuable and strategic resource. It is increasingly recognised that organisations need to develop better techniques to manage their knowledge assets (Offsey, 1997). Intranets are often depicted as part of the effective solution for knowledge-sharing across departments, functions or geographical locations in organisations to facilitate information sharing and collaboration across departments, functions and different information systems (IS) within the organisation (Bernard, 1996). An Intranet (or internal Web) is a network architecture designed to serve the internal information needs of an organisation using Web (Internet) concepts and tools - see Cortese (1996) and Averweg (2007: 46). Turban et al. (2005: 50-51) indicate that an Intranet is a private network that uses Internet software and TCP/IP protocols. Defined technically, Intranets are the application of Internet technology (and specifically the Web service) for a prescribed community of users (Scheepers and Rose, 2001). An Intranet is a network designed to serve the internal informational needs of an organisation (eg. a municipality) using Internet concepts and tools (Turban et al., 2004: 130). The cost effectiveness of utilising Internet technology has opened the door for organisations to use this same technology to share information within the organisation (Botha, 2004). Technology thus plays an important role in organisations. The basic role of technology in KM can be briefly summarised in functional terms, into the areas of
Intranets create a common communications and information sharing system. Brelade and Harman (2003) suggest Intranets can be used on a “push” basis – where information is presented to employees and on a “pull” basis whereby employees seek out and retrieve information for themselves: “Push” technology is used when it is important that certain material is presented to employees at their workstation. It ensures that no other function takes place until all the information is correctly accessed; and “Pull” technology allows employees to decide when to pull down information from the Intranet that they wish to view. The “views of the end users are more important than in most other studies” (Skok and Kalmanovitch, 2005: 736). To provide a seamless experience between viewing pages on the Web and viewing information on an Intranet, access is usually via a standard Internet browser. The commonly used Internet browser in eThekwini Municipality is Microsoft Internet Explorer. eThekwini MunicipalityeThekwini Municipality comprises six clusters/service units (Office of the City Manager, Treasury, Governance, Sustainable Development and City Enterprises, Corporate and Human Resources & Health, Safety and Social Services) and employs approximately 20,000 employees. The Information Services department is located in the Office of the City Manager. eThekwini Municipality has some 6,000 networked desktops (personal computers, thin clients and laptops) and electronic communication (ie. e?Mail) is via Novell’s GroupWise (Client version 6.5). A total of 6,654 GroupWise accounts exist in eThekwini Municipality. There are approximately 1,500 Internet accounts utilising either Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator web browsers. Research MethodologyAll research is varied. Hence disparate approaches are taken and shown in dissimilar research. For this research, a mixed methods research approach will be adopted:
From the eThekwini Municipality Intranet report compiled by Ask Africa, the reported findings will inform this study. The data used in this research will be sourced from eThekwini Municipality Intranet research report (dated July 2006) compiled by Ask Africa. Survey and ResultsExtracted from the eThekwini Municipality Intranet report (Ask Africa, 2006), the reported results are now presented and explored. These findings serve as a base point to further identify shortfalls and possible opportunities for a more effective contribution to KM within eThekwini Municipality. The ascending rank order of Agree/Strongly Agree responses to benefits the Intranet holds, is reflected in Table 2. Table 2. Ascending rank order of Agree/Strongly Agree responses to benefits the Intranet holds(Adapted from eThekwini Municipality Intranet report compiled by Ask Africa, 2006: 26) Statement From Table 2, the greatest perceived benefit that the Intranet holds for employees using it is as a platform to share and access inter?department (ie. clusters/service units) information. The second highest reported benefit was as “an effective way for organisational interaction”. van der Walt et al. (2004: 4) suggested the importance evaluating an organisation’s Intranet to ascertain its contribution to potential knowledge?sharing in an organization. The third highest reported benefit was as the quickest “focal point to disseminate and get organisational communication” The lowest reported benefit was for employees to use the Intranet for their daily work functions. The ascending rank order of Agree/Strongly Agree responses to the design of the Intranet is reflected in Table 3. Table 3. Ascending rank order of Agree/Strongly Agree responses to design of Intranet Statement From Table 3, it appears that most respondents surveyed were generally satisfied by the text, font and colours used but there was some disagreement on the images, pictures and overall design of the Intranet website. For respondents surveyed, this suggests that images and pictures used on the website require improvement for eThekwini Municipality employees to obtain user satisfaction (Ask Africa, 2006: 35). The ascending rank order of Agree/Strongly Agree responses to the usability of the Intranet is reflected in Table 4. Table 4. Ascending rank order of Agree/Strongly Agree responses to the usability of the Intranet Statement The drop down menus are easy to use 70.0% 20.0% 10.0% From Table 4, it appears that navigation improvements are required. Furthermore while respondents surveyed agreed that they are able to navigate the Intranet website quickly and easily, they felt that there was no clear direction is provided. This suggests the navigation needs to be improved for Beginner users so that they have a better indication of where to go to find the information they are seeking (Ask Africa, 2006: 41). The ascending rank order of Agree/Strongly Agree responses to the content of the Intranet is reflected in Table 5. Table 5. Ascending rank order of Agree/Strongly Agree responses to the content of the Intranet Statement From Table 5, it appears that respondents surveyed felt that the information on the Intranet is relevant and reliable. However, improvements in the updating of information and the quality of information seeking are required. This suggests that while the information on the Intranet website is generally seen to be reliable, the regular updating of content and finding information that an employee is looking for, needs to be improved (Ask Africa, 2006: 45). An important use of most Intranets is to find documents that lead to employees who have knowledge because there is no other way that the organisation helps identify expertise and experience among its employees. Wells et al. (2000) indicate that less than 5.0% of employee knowledge is actually captured and accessible across the organisation. Intranet satisfaction is directly influenced by having the right content, features and design factors (Kaplan, 2001: 1). Discussion of ResultsFrom the survey results there appears to be areas for improvement in the Intranet design, usability and content areas. A post-study discussion describing why this may be the case, suggests that
The above challenges arising from the existing Intranet and usage thereof provide an opportunity for synthesis with the existing literature (as outlined in Section 2). It is argued that this may lay a foundation for improving the utilisation of the Intranet and towards the transferring of knowledge within a given KM strategy. Table 6 reflects this challenge and action. Table 6. Translating Challenges and Gaps into action Improvement requirement Functional role of technology In using Gray’s (Gray, 2006) KM definition and its correlation with the extracted definitions of knowledge which promote effective action (pragmatic classification), shared experience and information (communal classification) and information in context (contextual classification), there is argument for the fact that better utilisation, a more effective design of the existing Intranet may contribute significantly to the knowledge-sharing activity in the organisation. An Intranet may be classified as a KM application since it is capable of distributing knowledge. An Intranet is seen as a tool for the more efficient sharing and creation of knowledge within organisations using both “push” and “pull” technologies. However, in the case of eThekwini Municipality’s Intranet, it appears that far greater use is being made of the “pull” technology (as opposed to “push” technology). Furthermore the reported results tend to suggest there appears to be limited knowledge?sharing and/or KM in eThekwini Municipality. Some Concluding RemarksGiven eThekwini Municipality’s IDP and its overall intent to respond to social and economic needs of citizenry, the value of knowledge to organisational effectiveness is crucial at this point. IT, with the enabling role of Intranet technology, should be seen as significantly important to enhance the management of knowledge within eThekwini Municipality. By doing so, it will serve to ensure that knowledge is used effectively by providing meaningful utility to the organisation and towards its KM strategy. References
Submitted by storytelling on 21 May 2009 - 9:36am. categories [ ]
|