Answer 1
1. The initial interview and orientation presented a very strong message about the knowledge environment operating at Manic Marketers. What features were portrayed? How did these differ from reality?
2. A mentor has certain functions in an organization. Identify the types of support offered by this mentor. What else could the mentor have done to help Damon gain organizational knowledge?
3. In this context, the recording of client data is a major benefit to the organization. Identify the types of information that should be included and discuss how they might have been recorded as codified knowledge. Review KM Viewpoint 2.1 (on the four the page of the pdf available in the Moodle website) and identify the other forms of knowledge which would have been of value to Damon in this initial stage.
4. Using KM Viewpoint 2.2 (on the 6 th page of the pdf available in the Moodle website), evaluate the social capital factors which were evident in the knowledge environment. What, in your opinion were the key weaknesses?
5. Manic Marketers needed to develop some very different approaches to how they share their knowledge. Identify some strategies, which might be considered. How would you implement these strategies? What impediments to sharing can you identify?
In an organizational setting, knowledge management is effective in nature only when there exists a knowledge environment where knowledge sharing is high and different stakeholders can work together for a common objective. The case study shows that the current knowledge management practices are not good for Manic Marketers. There is certainly a scope of improvement for company. It is important that radical and fundamental changes should be brought in the existing knowledge management principles of the company (Akhavan & Zahedi, 2014). The existing knowledge management system of Manic Marketers have some elements; however, there is a need of improvement. The case study presents that the organization shows good aspects of its knowledge management platform in the interview and the orientation week. However, the good policies are observed in the real job scenario. The case study shows the case of Damon who joined the company and he was given an initial impression that company believes a lot on knowledge sharing. However, he was stuck in his first project because he was not able to identify the relevant stakeholder. The basic documentation system was present for the organization. However, the documentation was not adequate in nature. People used the short form BG to mention a person and Damon was not able to figure out the meaning of BC for a long time. It can be said that the organization lacked the key standards across its knowledge management platform.
Answer 2
The case study suggests that Manic Marketers have decent knowledge management systems wherein the knowledge sharing is effective and efficient. The key featured that was portrayed in the orientation program was the emphasis on the philosophy of the company that they do not want to re-invent the wheel. The case study highlighted that organization believes in documenting and sharing everything. With the focus on sharing, different departments in the organization have access to the work done by other departments. The interview also focused on the need of collaboration and knowhow for employees. As per the aspects portrayed in the case study, organization has been able to develop a culture where people can work together with high level of productivity. The organization has a clear agenda that the people should not waste time to do the work that is already being done by some other employee in some other department.
However, the reality of the organization was not similar to interview experience and orientation. It appears that the actual working environment at Manic Marketers was not efficient. There were number of loopholes in the system. For example, the name BG was not clear to Damon. In fact, Damon tried hard to contact various individuals in the organization to understand the meaning of BG, but he was unsuccessful. He then also searched the knowledge management system in the company. However, that system also had only the short form of BG without the full description. Damon also searched various local documents in the organization, still he was not able to resolve the mystery of BG. This shows that there was a strike difference between the features that were portrayed and the actual reality at Manic Marketers.
A mentor may share with a mentee information about his or her own career path, as well as provide guidance, motivation, emotional support, and role modelling. The positon of mentor is particularly more important for new employees of the company. The new employees would often find it difficult to adjust to the environment of the company and mentor helps the new employees to get accustomed to the climate of the company. Moreover, any new employee has certain apprehensions and doubts about the company and mentor helps employees to get answer to those doubts. The types of support that generally a mentor can provide is much more than the official job-related support. In an effective organizational setting, mentor can also provide emotional support and other type of support that would make employees comfortable and would help them to settle in the initial weeks.
Answer 3
The case study does presents a good picture of mentor. The case study highlighted that mentor was supportive in the orientation week. However, mentor was not supportive of Damon after the first week of orientation. It appears that mentor and other employees were burden with a lot of work load. Damon wanted some help from the mentor. However, mentor did not have time to help him.
The mentor of Damon could have done a number of things differently to help him. For example, the mentor could have helped him to find the full name of BG. Not only this, the mentor could have provided a true picture of the organization, job and responsibilities. In this case, Damon was completely in shock as he was not able to work effectively due to lack of information (Song, 2016). He was not able to gain the required organizational knowledge and as a result he was not able to start his project.
The company records were the starting point for Damon to start his work. The knowledge management viewpoint suggests that there are various forms of knowledge that can be used to help organizations (Hasan & Zhou, 2015). In this case, the other forms of knowledge that would have been of value to Damon in the initial stage can be discussed as:
Know What: It means the knowledge of what is required of the project. The what part sets the expectations from employees.
Know Who: The ‘who’ parts establish the key stakeholders of the organization. In this case, Damon was quick to realize that BG is one of the key stakeholder of the project.
Know How: It means the means and procedures in place to do the things and get the things done. For example, the way to connect BG and other stakeholders of the project.
Know Why: It means the overall objective of the project.
Know Where: It means the key locations and organizational settings where key stakeholders should meet.
Know When: It is more linked with the timelines of the project. The understanding of the ‘when’ part can help the project managers to adhere to the deadline of the project.
Know If: The understanding of ‘Know If’ helps the decision makers to be ready with the fall-back plan in place. With the fall-back plan, the stakeholders of the project can take the corrective course of action in case project does not go through as expected (Donate & Pablo, 2015).
Answer 4
One of the key aspects of knowledge environment is social capital factors. The social capital factors are the key factors that can help organizations to establish the environment of knowledge within the organization. There are number of social capital factors and out of these some were present in the case and some were not present. The key factors which were evident in the case can be discussed as:
Social capital factors that were evident in the knowledge environment of the company
- The key processes and the outcomes are documented. This is one of the key social capital factors that was present in the case of Manic Marketers (Wang, Noe & Wang, 2014).
- The units or departments in the organization collaborate together and share the business intelligence. This social factor was also present as the record of BG captured the past information about the business conducted between client and Manic Marketers.
- People regard networking as the core business. As a job responsibility, it was expected that Damon would do the networking and find the solutions of his problem (Davenport, 2015).
The key social factors that was not evident from the case can be discussed as:
Weaknesses of the social capital factors that were not present in the case
- All stakeholders are involved in development and knowledge sharing. In this case, some of the stakeholders had no clue of what was happening in the organization.
- Key experts in the organization are identified and can be readily contacted. It was a key weakness as Damon was not able to contact the key senior decision maker of Manic Marketers.
Some of the strategies that might be considered by Manic Marketers can be discussed as:
Strategies to improve knowledge sharing
- Different departments or units of the organization should have regular team meetings where they can share the learnings from each other.
- The organization and management should also establish certain guides and policies regarding the documentation. It is not only important to document the things, but it is also important to document the things in a correct manner.
- It is also suggested that Mani Marketers should increase the use of Information Technology for its knowledge management environment. With the use of Information Technology, the company would be able to bring further efficiency and improvements in the knowledge sharing platform.
Developing strategies is only one part of the solution. The next part is effective implementation. The implementation strategies that should be considered by Manic Marketers can be discussed as:
- It is suggested that organization should have an assessment phase in place wherein the organization would thoroughly assess the existing knowledge management system.
- It is recommended that management of Manic Marketers should involve various internal and external stakeholders while making any changes for the knowledge management principles in the organization (Barros, Ramos & Perez, 2015).
Once the key strategies are developed and the framework is established for the implementation of the policies, the next step would be to understand the key roadblocks and develop the strategies to overcome the roadblocks. The key impediments or roadblocks for Manic Marketers can be discussed as:
- The change management would be difficult as there would always be some employees that does not want to change.
- The organization would need initial investment to develop Information Technology infrastructure. The arrange of the funds can also be a challenge.
Conclusion
The above report discusses the case study of Manic Marketers. One of the key conclusions that could be derived from the above report is that that the current knowledge management platform for Manic Marketers is not effective. The report discusses various steps that the organization should take to improve its knowledge management system. It is important that the management of Manic Marketers should establish the short term and long-term plans of knowledge development. The focus on continuous improvement in the knowledge management system would ensure that Manic Markers can bring the real time optimization in the system. The way forward for the organization is to collaborate with different stakeholders. It is important that the management of Manic Markers should take inputs from employees to bring changes in the existing knowledge management system. It can be concluded that the organizations must develop and implement the key strategies of improvement. Once the key strategies are implemented, it is important that management should collect feedback from employees and record the improvements. One of the key challenges for organization would be change management challenge. However, with effective communication in place, the organization can overcome this challenge. The integrated approach and the collaboration among different units and departments of the organization could definitely be a game changed for Manic Marketers.
References
Akhavan, P., & Zahedi, M. R. (2014). Critical success factors in knowledge management among project-based organizations: A multi-case analysis. IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, 12(1), 20.
Barros, V. F. D. A., Ramos, I., & Perez, G. (2015). Information systems and organizational memory: a literature review. JISTEM-Journal of Information Systems and Technology Management, 12(1), 45-63.
Davenport, T. H. (2015). Process management for knowledge work. In Handbook on Business Process Management 1 (pp. 17-35). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Donate, M. J., & de Pablo, J. D. S. (2015). The role of knowledge-oriented leadership in knowledge management practices and innovation. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), 360-370.
Hasan, M., & Zhou, S. N. (2015). Knowledge Management in Global Organisations. International Business Research, 8(6), 165.
Song, J. (2016). 6 Knowledge and the Multinational Enterprise. International Business: Emerging Issues and Emerging Markets, 102. 11 – 14
Wang, S., Noe, R. A., & Wang, Z. M. (2014). Motivating knowledge sharing in knowledge management systems: A quasi–field experiment. Journal of Management, 40(4), 978-1009.
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