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Knowledge Transfer: From Creation to Application
The document discusses the importance of knowledge transfer in organizations, emphasizing its role in enhancing employee skills, engagement, and organizational competitiveness. It outlines various strategies and practices for effective knowledge transfer, including fostering communities of practice, leveraging technology, and ensuring collaboration between human resources and knowledge management. Additionally, it addresses the challenges of transferring knowledge during organizational changes and the need for continuous improvement in transfer methods.
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Knowledge Transfer: From Creation to Application
- 1. Connecting Creation toApplication. Albert Simard Knowledge Manager Defence R&D Canada INF0NEX Public Sector Human Resource Management January,18-21, 2011; Ottawa, ON Knowledge Transfer:
- 2. A Definition… KnowledgeTransfer: Act, process, or instance of conveying, copying, or causing knowledge* to pass from one person, place, or situation to another. * As used here, knowledge includes all forms of content: objects, data, information, knowledge, and wisdom.
- 3. Knowledge Transfer – Human Resource Perspective Increases employee skills and capabilities Supports career development Enhances employee engagement and retention Mitigates human resource risks Enables succession planning The more employees know, the more valuable they are to the organization.
- 4. Knowledge Transfer – Knowledge Management Perspective Enables organizational work Leverages knowledge for multiple uses Reduces duplication and reinvention Supports preservation for future use Facilitates collaboration and synergy Enhances competitiveness and sustainability Knowledge transfer is the lifeblood of an organization.
- 5. Outline Individuals CommunitiesContext Strategy Practices
- 6. Different Views ofPeople Workers – who, what, when, where, why, how Human capital – workforce, skills, productivity, salaries Human nature – behavior, attitudes, interests Communities – connectivity, functionality, impacts Culture – domain, ideology, values, norms, rituals Human Resources – staffing & retention, supervision & performance, training & development Individuals
- 7. Incentive Framework PeterStoyko (2010) Individuals Creativity Willingness Engagement Productivity Attitudes Motivation Functionality Behavior Compliance Organizational Results Individual Response Type of Incentive
- 8. Incentives Compliance (you will) Pay, job security, duty, penalties Military, manufacturing, law, policies Meet quotas, minimum standards, no change Motivation (you’ll be rewarded) Ambition, challenges, bonuses, rewards Efficiency, productivity, quality Increases, improvements, evolutionary changes Engagement (would you like to?) Autonomy, mastery, purpose Design, innovation, discovery Commitment, involvement, revolutionary changes Individuals
- 9. Why Engage KnowledgeWorkers? Knowledge cannot be conscripted; it must be volunteered. Knowledge workers need to commit to and become truly involved in their work. Ideally, they work: Not because it is asked of them, Not because they expect something in return, Because they want to; they enjoy doing it. Individuals Human resources + knowledge management PARTNERSHIP
- 10. Engagement: Autonomy Task: what to do (% of time, mutual agreement) Time : when to do it (schedule, location) Technique : how to do it (results, not methods) Team : (self-organization, select coworkers) Daniel Pink (2009) Individuals
- 11. Engagement: Mastery Mindset: (want to excel, can increase ability and skill, learning, practice) Pain : (perseverance, passion, overcoming obstacles, long-term, time & effort) Asymptotic : (approach, but never quite reach, close but can’t touch) Daniel Pink (2009) Individuals
- 12. Engagement: Purpose Goals: quality of life, life with meaning, looking beyond oneself, social responsibility, stewardship Words : indicate intent, describe meaning, affect attitude, guide behavior, soul-stirring, emotional Policies : ethics, individual choice, meaningful ends, guidance Daniel Pink (2009) Individuals
- 13. Engagement Methods Hire“engageable” employees Match projects, passions, proficiency Stress employee ownership Clarify mutual goals and expectations Earn trust continuously Provide frequent feedback Talk and listen often Wendy Fenci (2008) Individuals
- 14. Engagement Signals PositiveMutual expectations Listen to ideas Ask for help & advice Jointly review progress Freely share information Work collaboratively Delegate decisions Negative Monitor closely Don’t include in planning Ignore suggestions Seldom interact Withhold information Control tightly Approve all decisions Tosti & Nickols (2010) Individuals Science knows much more about engagement than departments practice.
- 15. Outline Individuals CommunitiesContext Strategy Practices
- 16. Community of PracticeGovernment, department Sector, branch, division staff Scientists, engineers, lawyers Policy analysts, regulators Finance, purchasing officers Information, communication specialists Communities People who share common expertise, skill, or profession (position, work, colleagues)
- 17. Community Benefits Participants- Help with their work - Solve problems - Find experts - Receive feedback - Place to learn - Latest information - Enhance reputation Management - Connect isolated experts - Coordinate activities - Fast problem solving - Reduce development time - Quickly answer questions - Standardize processes - Develop & retain talent Outputs - Tangible : documents, reports, manuals, recommendations, reduced innovation time and cost - Intangible : increased skills, sense of trust, diverse perspectives, cross-pollinate ideas, capacity to innovate, relationships, spirit of enquiry Communities
- 18. Common Characteristics ofCommunities Self-governed: norms and guidelines govern practices. Self-organized: purpose, direction, and management. Productive enquiry: answer questions based on practice. Collaborate: synchronous and asynchronous channels. Generate knowledge: new knowledge is created. Support members: provides a forum for mutual support. Saint-Onge & Wallace (2003) Communities
- 19. Diverse Attributes ofCommunities Size: small to large; large communities need structure Structure: informal, semi-structured, structured Diversity: homogeneous to heterogeneous Boundaries: often cross boundaries Life-Span: few years to permanent Establishment: informal or formal Wenger et. al. (2002) Communities
- 20. Community Behaviors PositiveDialogue Trust Safety Meritocracy Equality Outliers Negative Discussion Debating Arguing Agenda Authority Assuming Majority Consensus Groupthink Communities
- 21. Networks Interconnection amongmany individuals groups or organizations with common interdependencies, interests, or purpose. Networks are much bigger than communities (100s to 1,000,000s of members). Participants don’t know most other participants, limiting trust and security. Large numbers of nodes leads to complex behavior. Communities
- 22. Network Behavior Positive feedback - The bigger the network, the bigger it gets. Biological growth - Crossing a “threshold” yields self-sustaining, exponential growth. Synergy & emergence – Networks can yield more than any individual can accomplish. Winner take most – There is a tendency for one member to dominate. Extreme leveraging – A small effort can trigger market domination. Kevin Kelly (1998) Communities
- 23. Outline Individuals CommunitiesContext Strategy Practices
- 24. Continuous Transfer Knowledgetransfer should be embedded into all knowledge work. It should occur periodically as part of normal reporting. It should occur whenever something significant is learned. It should involve both explicit and tacit knowledge. Context
- 25. Discontinuous Transfer PositiveChange New employee arrives Employee changes position Employee retires Project completed Negative Change Employee terminated Project ended Location closed Organization shut down Context
- 26. Transfer During ChangeIf previous knowledge was not transferred, it isn’t available for current work. If current knowledge isn’t transferred, it won’t be available for future work. For positive change, people dispose of documents and forget what they knew. Negative attitudes from negative change preclude effective knowledge transfer. If transfer has been ongoing, it’s simply a matter of implementation during change. Context Knowledge transfer connects the past, present, and future. Starting transfer during change is too late!
- 27. Outline Individuals CommunitiesContext Strategy Practices
- 28. Knowledge Infrastructure StrategyPeople learning, motivation, rewards, incentives, staffing, skills Governance roles, responsibilities, authorities, resources Processes work routines lessons learned, best practices, Content, Services data, risk analysis, reports, monitoring, operations, policies Tools systems to capture, store, share, and process content
- 29. Knowledge Management LevelsStrategy Knowledge Assets Knowledge Sharing Knowledge Work Knowledge Transfer Knowledge Infrastructure Stock Flow Business National Defence, Public Safety Defence R & D Canada Markets Resources Government
- 30. Knowledge Cycle StrategyCreation Validation Organization Authorization
- 31. Knowledge Management RegimesStrategy Dialogue Agreements Work Process Hierarchy Interactions Innate Tacit Explicit Authoritative Knowledge Create Collaborate Organize Authorize Purpose (Why) Engage people Connect Communities Capture & Structure Decide & Act Process (How) Environment & Interests People & Connectivity Objects & Tasks Decisions & Actions Entity (What) Responsible Autonomy Negotiated Agreement Organizational Infrastructure Authoritative Hierarchy
- 32. Knowledge Services ValueChain Strategy Use Internally Use Professionally Use Personally Generate Transform Add Value Transfer Evaluate Manage Extract Advance Embed Legend S&T Partners Defence Research & Development Canada Forces, Practitioners, Stakeholders
- 33. Knowledge Users Government users – leaders, managers, planners, advisors, coordinators, workers Body of knowledge – national & international science & technology communities Intermediaries – governments, business, practitioners, trainers, researchers, media, NGOs Practitioners - governments, business, practitioners, trainers, researchers, NGOs, international groups Canadians – e.g., community, well being, safety, employment, education, environment… Strategy
- 34. Transfer Strategy Rich Reach Strategy Advertise Explain Promote Support Intervene Purpose Many Some Few Few One Audience Self-help Consultation Specification Paper Conversation Transfer Canadians Practitioner Intermediary Knowledge Government Destination Popular Professional Complicated Conceptual Complex Difficulty
- 35. Knowledge Markets Communications- one-way dissemination of approved messages and positions. Transaction - two-way exchanges of knowledge products & services. Parallel - Transferring knowledge products & services from two or more providers. Sequential - Multiple organizations sequentially produce and transfer knowledge products & services. Cyclic - Knowledge services “value chains” continuously create and transfer new knowledge. Network - Transfer among large numbers of participants in a “knowledge ecosystem.” Strategy
- 36. Outline Individuals CommunitiesContext Strategy Practices
- 37. Transfer Challenges Trustand safety Organizational culture Incentives and motivation Difficulty of explaining Different expertise Security and privacy Control and hoarding Large distances Different languages Inadequate technology Practices
- 38. HR Approaches toTransfer Training Mentoring Guided experience Special assignments Work shadowing Paired work Succession planning Retiree access Primarily through assignments Practices
- 39. KM Approaches toTransfer Communicate sharing goals regularly Train employees on using sharing tools Demonstrate the benefits of sharing Highlight sharing success stories Practice good sharing behavior Reward good sharing behavior Discourage poor sharing behavior Encourage community development Primarily through behavior Stan Garfield (2010) Practices
- 40. KM Explicit TransferMethods Capture : Represent explicit and tacit knowledge on reproducible media. Inventory : Find, list, and describe knowledge and expertise; map to business needs, value and prioritize. Needs : What needs to be known to conduct business; identify core knowledge and vulnerabilities. Preserve : organize, store, maintain and migrate knowledge throughout its life-cycle. Access : Increase awareness, grant permissions, maximize accessibility, enable search and retrieval. Practices
- 41. KM Tacit TransferMethods Conversations, discussions, dialogue (colleagues, peers) Questions & answers, problems & solutions (novice/expert) After-action reviews, lessons learned (event/group) Capture, document, interview, record (expert/facilitator) Extraction, identify, codify, organize (expert/know engineer) Advising, briefing, recommending (subordinate/superior) Teaching, educating, training (teacher/student) Storytelling, narratives, anecdotes (teller/listener) Explaining, demonstrating, describing (technician/user) Presentations, lectures, speeches (speaker/audience) Practices
- 42. Transfer Technology TelephonyGroupware Video conferencing E-mail Chat rooms Bulletin boards On-line forums Web portal Expertise locator Blogs, microblogs Wikis Practices
- 43. Knowledge Transfer: Movesknowledge from creation to application. Is the lifeblood of an organization. Part of every aspect of knowledge work. It must be enabled, facilitated, & promoted. Needs a partnership between HR and KM.
Editor's Notes
- #29 This is an organizational infrastructure that includes pretty much everything that is needed to run CSS. This applies to KM as well as anything else that we do. Simply put, people use tools and process within a governance structure to increase the value of content and services. It isn’t a matter of focussing on one or more parts of the infrastructure. All parts must be reflected in a task, project, or program if it is to succeed.
- #33 Many departments are mandated to produce content and to use it to achieve sector outcomes. Knowledge services show the flow of departmental outputs from generation through final use. We can think of the flow of services as a value chain, with several stages. Each stage involves one of three processes – embedding, advancing, and extracting value Four stages embed value; three advance it along the value chain, and three stages extract value from knowledge services. As previously, all of the organizational infrastructure and hierarchy are involved in every stage. The first five stages of the value chain are internal to a department – what can be managed. The last four stages relate to the sector and society – these can only be influenced. Content management is a key part of the management stage. The provider/user market model is represented by the vertical line between the organization and the sector. As you can see, knowledge services involve a lot more than transferring content. It also involves more than service delivery. Achieving sector outcomes and results for Canadians requires that the services be actually used to fulfill a want or need.
- #34 A third question is the service delivery strategy. As shown previously, recipients of knowledge services can be divided into a number of user categories. Users are a more proactive way to look at delivering services, in that users produce outcomes and realize benefits, whereas communicating to audiences implies simple receipt of services. Outline the six.
- #35 The framework goes beyond passive delivery of services to proactive use to yield outcomes. This table shows content difficulty, audience size, level of interaction, and one example of use for the six user categories. Summarize the table. If you remember only one thing about the richness spectrum, let it be that the best methods to use at either end of the spectrum are both infeasible and ineffective at the other end.