Key Features of Organizational Learning
Knowledge Management or KM is considered as the systematic process of effectively managing, sharing, storing, and capturing the experience and knowledge of employees to enhance overall knowledge of the workforce. The primary purpose of KM is to maximise productivity, efficiency as well as retain crucial information within the organisation. In recent times, most of the organisations are found to utilise social media platforms to enable knowledge sharing and participation, aiming to improve business operations. Thus, the following report aims to provide an in-depth illustration of the KM initiatives along with the way it can be exploited for business value. The present report is going to consider UK-based Retail Company Marks and Spencer (M&S) to determine the way social media is being utilised by the company to exploit the knowledge of organisation that leads to the business innovation. Along with this, issues related to exploitation of business innovation with the help of Social Media systems will also be underlined in relation to the selected company.
In business context, “learning” can be referred to as the conscious attempt of the organisational part for improving innovativeness, effectiveness, and productivity within the technology market and uncertain economic conditions. As mentioned by Di Vaio et al. (2021), KM mainly emphasises upon knowledge creation, refinement, utilisation, and sharing. Each of these processes further supports business processes involving individual learning, innovation, collaborative decision-making, and collective learning. “Intermediate outcomes” related to KM are the improved organisational decisions, behaviors, relationships, processes, relationships, and services that directly influence business to accelerate its growth and profitability.
Every business entity is found to be operating within a competitive and dynamic business environment. In order to accelerate business success, organisations are required to respond and learn market changes quickly so that they are able to manage their existing or future knowledge base in an accurate and systematic manner (Bitkowska, 2020). Organisations are found to apply, share, and acquire new knowledge during the decision-making process and continuously try to upgrade their knowledge base to sustain their competitiveness.
Figure 1: Features Of Organisational Learning
(Source: Sharma, 2017)
Learning organisations offer employees the authority to resolve any kind of complex situation or issues autonomously. Employees obtain the opportunity to present and share their thoughts, ideas, and insight without any fear of being criticised. Along with this, in order to expand their knowledge employees continuously work with their peers and work collaboratively to accomplish common organisational goals. In relation to the above figure, collaborative culture of learning (Systems Thinking), “Lifelong Learning” (Personal Mastery), Innovation mindset (Mental Models), forward-thinking leadership (Shared vision), and knowledge sharing (Team learning) are the key features associated with learning organisation (Sharma, 2017).
In this regard, the case of M&S can be interlinked as the company has been utilising the concept of KM through which they have strengthened their market competitiveness and existing organisational knowledge base. The key reason behind this statement is that success of the selected company is found to be highly relied upon staff development and best practice approach. The company always encourages its employees and offers a wide range of opportunities to employees to enhance their qualifications and skills. This positively influences M&S to foster business innovation and operational efficiency. The company is found to establish a suitable work environment where employees are encouraged to explore their skills and share their ideas that positively drive business success (Marks & Spencer, 2022).
Marks and Spencer: A Case Study
In this regard, it can be mentioned that the selected company has identified the benefits and effectiveness of organisational learning in accordance with which they structured their workplace. The concept of forward-thinking leadership from the features of organisational learning can be interlinked with the management practices at M&S. The key reason behind this statement is that management of the aforementioned company is found to be effective in adapting and accepting change. Along with this, they encourage and work collaboratively with their employees to drive success and accelerate innovation (Fusarelli et al. 2020).
Figure 2: Features Of Forward Thinking Leadership
(Source: Fusarelli et al. 2020)
Thus, it can be mentioned that considering the organisational learning features, M&S has improved its performance efficiency, profitability margin, and productivity by improving employee job satisfaction.
KM plays a significant role for any business entities as sharing, accumulating, and effectiveness strong knowledge helps businesses to establish culture, which can effectively improve employee satisfaction and efficiency (Abubakar et al. 2019). For example, considering advantages from all the existing expertise at the workplace can be considered as one of the effective ways to maximise organisational potential. In most of the cases, it is identified that business entities are found to be associated with a wide range of untapped skills and knowledge that are lying siloed or dormant to department or individual staff. Organisations that fail to explore or identify these untapped skills and knowledge of their employees may not be able to enhance their chance towards improving their business efficiency or bring innovation to the workplace. In this regard, Baltrunaite and Sekliuckiene (2020) underlines with an appropriate and strong management structure, this knowledge, or skills can be identified accurately and can be made, stored, and found in wider workforce, providing a tangible benefit to business.
Recognition, customisation, collaboration, and accessibility can be considered as key features associated with KM and it positively influences business performance. In the context of M&S, it is identified that the company considers its employees as crucial and significant assets that have the potential to offer innovative solutions by exploring their experiences. The management of the aforementioned company believes that KM is not only emphasised upon technology, it also focuses upon the motivation and behaviors of employees.
As mentioned by Garg et al. (2018), effectively managing knowledge at the workplace enhances the chance for companies to improve organisational agility and maximise the rate of innovation. In relation to the M&S, the company always tries to embed the learning into workplace culture to enhance business values and competitiveness. The management of the company interacts with its subordinates and employees to improve learning engagement of employees through networking (Tamkin and Barber, 2022). The company is found to undertake a wide range of employee development programs within which employees obtain the opportunity to present their knowledge, thought, and improve overall, organisational decision-making process.
In this regard, the concept of the techno-centric theory of KM can be interlinked to analyse the KM practices of M&S (Refer to appendix 1). As mentioned by Imhanzenobe et al. (2021), the techno-centric theory is found to emphasise upon technology along with the process of structuring technology enablers in order to facilitate the knowledge flow and information storage. The primary focus of the techno-centric KM is to utilise technology for sharing, gathering, and storing knowledge in a systematic and accurate manner. With the rapid development of technology, organisations are found to show their preferences and concern towards adoption and utilisation of technology-based solutions. Technology can be considered as one of the strong and effective enablers for businesses that drive organisational success by strengthening KM practices. It is identified that business entities utilise social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, LinkedIn, and others to obtain insight into new talents, customer’s demands, and emerging market trends that directly influence ongoing and future business performance (Sarka et al. 2019). The key reason behind mentioning this statement is being underlined in the next adjacent section clearly.
Advantages of Knowledge Management
Innovation generates from the interaction between various knowledge sources, where those sources are being aggregated within groups interacting between (inter) and within (intra) groups. In the context of KM, it is identified that people, content, IT (Information Technology), processes, and strategy are the key components that need to be addressed by companies to enhance business success and growth. Irum and Pandey (2019) in this regard underlines social media (SM) as one of the most widely utilised technology by business entities in this today’s dynamic business environment within its KM endeavors (Refer to appendix 2). It is identified that SM tools have significantly changed the way individuals or people share content, interact, communicate, and collaborate. Ahmed et al. (2019) in this regard mentioned that SM has become the most valuable platform for business in terms of KM and knowledge sharing. It provides companies with a new and most appropriate way to gain new insight into the business landscape and improve overall organisational performance.
On the other hand, it is identified that social media and KM are found to be interlinked to each other as both of the mentioned aspects are being utilised to access and obtain new information with the usage of technology. The key reason behind this statement is that different social media platforms starting from Facebook, to Snapchat or Storybird are found to become one of the integral parts for most of the business entities. It allows businesses to gain, share knowledge, require information, and enhance the chance for driving business innovation. Social media influences employees to share and receive knowledge and thus companies can uncover the hidden talents and utilise the knowledge to gain long-run business success.
The retail giant M&S is also found to utilise different social media platforms for KM and this may be considered as one of the key drivers that leads to their business innovation. The key reason behind this statement is that the aforementioned company utilises social media platforms such as Facebook, and Instagram to share information about their services and products. This enhances their chance to stabilise their brand recognition and profitability margin. On the other hand, customers also share their thoughts and perspectives on social media platforms about specific brands, services, and products (Faull, 2018). This, in turn, enables brands like M&S to gain clear insight into the needs and expectations of their potential customers in accordance with which strategic plan can be executed.
On the other hand, another report published in 2019 underlines, M&S is still in learn and test mode, especially for KM practices through social media platforms. The key reason behind this statement is that the aforementioned company is still trying to develop suitable and appropriate social media content to gain attention from their customers (Joseph, 2019). In addition to this, M&S has been utilising social media platforms to generate brand awareness and strengthen its business network in an effective and accurate manner.
As mentioned by Taylor (2019), organisations like M&S have been utilising social media platforms to enable knowledge sharing and participation aiming to improve overall business operations. Social media platforms have the potential to support different types of KM practices.
Features Associated with Knowledge Management
For example, by establishing presence on social media, employees and employers can obtain new knowledge by perceiving customers’ changing demands and emerging market trends. Obtaining information and knowledge through social media platforms enhance the chance for business to make optimal decisions that lead to innovation as well (Bhimani et al. 2019). On the other hand, M&S is found to be struggling hard in terms of obtaining skilled expertise and retaining their existing expertise for a longer time. Persistence of these challenges negatively influences upon organisational brand reputation and growth. In this regard, the Social Media system may be one of the effective ways for M&S to resolve these issues and drive business innovation. Justification behind stating this is being underlined in the next adjacent section.
Social media provides opportunities to every individual along with businesses to discover new contacts and knowledge by sharing information. It is identified with the growing usage of social media platforms; it opens up opportunities for businesses to establish strong business networks in an accurate and systematic manner (Lytras et al. 2018). In the context of M&S, it is identified that the company has adopted social media platforms to enhance its brand recognition and business efficiency. In addition to this, the company includes social media platforms for its KM practices. However, in terms of improving employee satisfaction or employee retention rate, the company is found to be witnessing challenges. The key reason behind this statement is that considering the following figure, the mentioned company is found to witness a decline of its employee number by 69,577 during the financial year 2021, which was 85,209 in 2017 respectively (Smith, 2022). Inappropriate employee engagement and employee empowerment practices might lead to the growing employee turnover rate that will negatively influence upon organisational future prosperity as well. On the other hand, another news report published in 2020 underlines M&S is going to cut down 7,000 jobs that may negatively influence upon overall business productivity (BBC, 2020).
Figure 3: Employee Turnover Rate At m&s
(Source: BBC, 2020)
Social media systems in this context can serve as effective in terms of retaining high skilled expertise, improving employee job satisfaction, and driving innovation. The key reason behind this statement is that social media platforms such as LinkedIn can be an effective tool for M&S to determine the highly skilled employees according to their business as well as they will be able to maintain information transparency. As mentioned by Qi and Chau (2018), social media platforms such as LinkedIn help business entities like M&S to perceive knowledgeable people and enhance the chance for building trust with target audiences efficiently.
In most of the cases, it is identified that due to lack of knowledge and understanding of business needs, KM practices fail and lead to negative consequences upon ongoing and future business performance. Inappropriate KM practices also hinder the chance for businesses to bring innovation and improve overall business efficiency (Nisar et al. 2019). Thus, the social media system in KM practices brings opportunities for businesses as it enables employees as well as employers to visualise perspectives of target audiences towards their offerings in accordance to which they could transform their operational activities and drive business success.
Conclusion
In the context of overall discussion, it can be mentioned that strong and effective KM practices at the workplace enhance the chance for business innovation by improving the overall business process. The discussion shows that each business entity has been trying to adopt a strategic approach that can drive business success through invitation. The case of M&S underlines, the company has been trying to develop an effective workplace culture and influence their employees as well as employers in such a way so that they could show their commitments in terms of accomplishing common business goals. On the other hand, it is identified that features associated with organisational learning can be interlinked with the organisational practices of M&S, as they always focus upon empowerment of their employees and drive business innovation with the help of new knowledge and ideas obtained from their expertise. Along with this, social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and others are found to influence KM practices positively. The listed company is found to be in the initial stage in terms of social media usage to drive business innovation. It is seen that the company has been experiencing some challenges, which they could overcome by establishing their strong presence on the identified social media platforms in the future.
References
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