Addis Ababa University

School of Information science

Graduate Program
INss 626: Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning
KM System Life Cycle
 KM initiatives

 primarily aim at fostering an organizational ICT environment

that is suited for knowledge work

 provides
for more visibility of organizational resources, skills and
knowledge processes

 allows
for a more systematic strategic management of (core)
competencies in an organization
 Knowledge management activities

 the
act of managing knowledge can be
characterized by the following four activities:

 1. acquire knowledge (learn, create, or identify);

 2. analyze knowledge (assess, validate, or value);
 3. preserve knowledge (organize, represent, or
maintain); and
 4. use knowledge (apply, transfer, or share).
 KM activities ….cont’d
 One of the major KM processes aims at
identifying and locating knowledge and knowledge
sources within the organization.

 Valuable knowledge is then translated into explicit

form,
 often referred to as codification (organization,
classification, arrangement) of knowledge,

 Knowledge management is a continuing cyclical

process with no end
KM Life Cycle -- General
 KM Cycle process

 Zack KM cycle (1996)

 McElroy (1999)
 Bukowitz and Williams (2003)
 Wiig (1993)
 Nickols (1999)
 Roller (2003)
 Zack KM Cycle
 Acquisition Refinement  Store/Retrieve
Distribution  Presentation

 Acquisition of data or information addresses the

issues regarding source of materials such as scope,
credibility, accuracy, timeliness, relevance, cost,
control and exclusivity.

 The guiding principle is “source data must be of the

highest quality; otherwise the intellectual products will
be inferior. (Garbage in – Garbage out)
 Zack KM Cycle …cont’d

 Refinement:
 Migrating from one medium to another
 Restructuring, relabeling, indexing
 Cleaning up
 Standardizing
 Statistical analysis
 Thisstage creates more readily usable knowledge objects and
by storing the content more flexibly for future use.
 Zack KM Cycle …cont’d
 Storage/Retrieval –
 physical (file folders, printed information)
 Digital (database, knowledge management software)

 Distribution – describes
 how the product is delivered to the end user. (Fax,
print, website, email)
 Medium of delivery
 Timing, frequency, form, language, etc.
 Zack KM Cycle …cont’d

 Presentation/use
 The effectiveness of each of the preceding steps is evaluated here

 Does the user have enough context to be able to make use of this
content?

If not, the KM cycle has failed to deliver value to the individual and
ultimately to the organization.
 McElroy KM Cycle

 Individualand group learning

 Knowledge claim validation
 Information acquisition
 Knowledge validation
 Knowledge integration
 McElroy KM Cycle … cont’d
 McElroy emphasizes that organizational knowledge
is held both
 subjectively in the minds of individuals and groups
 objectively in explicit forms.

 Togetherthey comprise the distributed

organizational knowledge base of the company

(i) Individual and group learning

 Represent the first step in organizational learning
 Knowledge is information until it is validated
 McElroy KM Cycle … cont’d
(ii) Knowledge validation:
 Involves codification at organizational level
 Formalized procedure is needed for the receipt and
codification of individual and group innovations

(iii) Information acquisition

 the process by which an organization acquires
knowledge claims or information produced by others –
usually external to the organization
 Plays a fundamental role in formulating new
knowledge claims at the organizational level.
 Eg. Subscription services, library services, research
initiatives, think tanks, etc.
 McElroy KM Cycle … cont’d

(iv) Knowledge validation

 Knowledge claims are evaluated to determine their veracity and
value
 Decision that they are of greater value than existing knowledge in
the organizational knowledge base

(v) Knowledge integration

 The process by which an organization introduces new knowledge
claims to its operating environment and retires old ones.
 Includes all knowledge transmissions such as teaching, knowledge
sharing and other social activities
 Bukowitz and Williams KM Cycle
 Get  Use  Learn  Contribute  Assess 
Build/Sustain  Divest

 Get consists of seeking out information needed in order

to make decisions, solve problems, or innovate.
 Challenge is not so much in finding information but in
dealing effectively with the enormous volume of
information that can be obtained

 Information overload has created the need to sift through

the vast volume of knowledge

 User needs must be well understood in order to match

information seekers with the best possible content
 Bukowitz and Williams KM Cycle …
 Use:deals with how to combine information in new and
interesting ways in order to foster organizational innovations.

 Learn:
refers to the formal process of learning from experiences
as a means of creating competitive advantage.
 Organizational memory is created so that organizational learning
becomes possible from both successes (best practices) and
failures (Lessons learnt)
Bukowitz and Williams KM Cycle …
 Contribute:
deals with getting employees to post what
they have learnt the communal knowledge base.
 Only in this way can individual knowledge be made
visible and available across the entire organization. – (Is
it possible to get all that resides in the heads of
individuals?)

 Assess:
 evaluate intellectual capital
 define mission critical knowledge
 Map current intellectual capital against
future knowledge needs.
Bukowitz and Williams KM Cycle …
 Build and sustain:
 ensures that the organization’s future intellectual
capital will keep the organization viable and
competitive
 Allocate resources to the growth and maintenance of
knowledge
 Channel resources to create new knowledge and
reinforce existing knowledge
 Divest:
 The organization should not hold on to assets (Physical
or intellectual) – if they are no longer creating value.
 Understand why, when where and how of formally
divesting parts of the knowledge base.
 An Integrated KM Cycle

 Onthe basis of the study of some of the major approaches to

KM cycles, we can integrate KM cycle in four major stages

 Knowledge Capture and/or creation

 Knowledge Codification
 Knowledge Sharing and dissemination
 Knowledge Acquisition and Application
 An Integrated KM Cycle … cont’d

 Knowledge capture refers to the identification and subsequent

codification of existing internal knowledge and know-how
within the organization or from external sources

 Knowledge creation is the development of new knowledge

and know-how innovations that did not have a previous
existence with the company.
 An Integrated KM Cycle …

 Assessment is needed
 Is this content valid?
 Is it new or better?
 Is it of sufficient value to the organization?

 Maintain
a link between the knowledge and those
knowledgeable about the content

 Contextualization- identify the key attributes of the content in

order to better match to a variety of users.
 An Integrated KM Cycle …
 KMcycle is reiterated as users understand and decide to make
use of content.
 Users will validate usefulness
 Users will signal when it becomes out of date
 Users help to validate the scope of the content
 Users will advise what best practices could be and what lessons
could be learnt

Users will come up with new content which is contributed to the next
cycle creation