Why should employees educate each other? Why is it beneficial for both the company and employees? What is the best way to organize training? What results to expect? A story about the program "Internal teacher", operating in the company "Hlebprom".
about the author
Ekaterina Kozlova, Personnel Assessment and Selection Manager at Khlebprom JSC. Graduated from Chelyabinsk State University(specialty - "Management of the organization"). In the field of personnel management since 2010. At Khlebprom OJSC, she is engaged in recruitment, support of internal corporate policy, programs of adaptation, motivation and evaluation of employees, as well as promotion of the HR brand in social networks.
If you have knowledge, give others
kindle your lamps from it.
Thomas Fuller
For twenty years now, companies have been actively encouraging the exchange of knowledge between employees (knowledge sharing), but it is still difficult to consider this process as effective.
Why share knowledge
Some employees do not share their experience: there is neither time nor desire. One is afraid of losing his status by becoming a circular errand boy. Another worries about layoffs: “If I share my knowledge, why would I need one myself?”
What does the knowledge of individual employees bring to the company? Very real successes: attracting new customers, improving production indicators, new types of products and services. Understanding this, we have created a special program at Khlebprom JSC - "Internal Teacher". The goal is to help employees share knowledge with each other, making this process convenient.
So, the task of the company is to encourage employees to actively and with pleasure share knowledge for the benefit of their careers and the organization as a whole. Then the company even if some employees decide to leave.
How is it organized
Participating in the Inner Teacher program is simple—only four steps. I'll tell you about each on the example of the training "Effective selection and assessment of personnel." But first, a few words about the training itself.
We have wanted to train employees in recruitment for a long time. This is due to the peculiarities of the structure of OAO Khlebprom. Although it is a large company with four production sites and 16 sales departments, but the staff of the personnel management service (HMS) is not everywhere. Therefore, managers are responsible for hiring and evaluating personnel. Until recently, this activity was not generalized: only the CMS employees assessed candidates according to the company's competency model, while local managers acted intuitively, guided by their own experience. That is why the head of the EMS and the head of the recruitment, adaptation and assessment department decided to develop a special training (so that the staff is evaluated according to common standards at all levels).
So four steps.
Request. We are waiting for proposals with training topics from our employees. How do you know if a topic is relevant? First of all, this applies to those with which other employees have difficulties (for example, low speed in Excel, etc.). This is easy to track just by watching the work.
Program creation. Employees before starting their teaching activities take an introductory course - they learn how best to teach adults. After that, they participate in a special training "Internal teacher". Here they are taught to conduct workshops and interactive training programs.
Further, together with the leader of the project "Internal teacher", the participant draws up a training program (defines target audience, content, number of potential students, etc.), after which a pilot study group is formed.
The target audience of the training "Effective recruitment and assessment of personnel" were senior and middle managers, as well as employees from, applying for leadership positions. Program participants had to master such tools as competency assessment interviews, case interviews, and projective methods.
Test run. Under the supervision of the project manager, the newcomer conducts the first workshop. At the end of this lesson, it is analyzed, students share their opinions, and adjustments are made. If the training was successful, then it is put on stream.
Implementation. At this stage, the employee independently conducts training and evaluates its results, consulting with professional trainers if necessary.
To date, more than 40 people have completed recruitment training.
Benefits of the Inner Teacher Program
Let's start with the benefits for the company:
The company does not spend money on external coaches.
The time of full-time trainers is freed up for other projects.
The company receives highly qualified and versatile specialists.
Benefits for employees:
The professional level is growing.
Employees learn to speak in public, which is in demand not only at work.
Many people are just interested in learning a new specialization - a teacher, a coach.
Corporate gifts in gratitude for quality training. Moreover, the employee himself chooses a gift: it can be an iPad, or interesting training at the expense of the company.
The program has been operating in the company for two years. During this time, we have more than eight courses. Among them: "Basics of project management", "Working in Excel and accounting database", "Effective recruitment and assessment of personnel", "Basics financial literacy”, “Marketing for non-marketers” and others). In total, eight internal trainers from among the staff managed to train more than 330 colleagues.
In addition to internal achievements, the project also has external recognition. Just the other day, "Internal Teacher" took third place in the "Effective" nomination for all-Russian competition best projects Nomination Awards 2014 for non-material motivation of personnel. This place of honor was taken by each of those who put their energy and effort into training colleagues. We are sincerely grateful to all our internal teachers for this important work!
ITeam expert comment: In the conditions of Russian business, not many companies are ready to hire a knowledge management specialist and hire a new person. In most cases, one of the employees of the company will become the engine of change. I agree that the tasks of knowledge management are close to the field of personnel management, however, in my opinion, the main criterion for choosing a knowledge management project leader should be the desire of a person to do this project, his passion for the idea of CM. Specialization in this case plays a secondary role, since, most likely, innovations will have to be created.
Consultant consulting company ITeam
Alena Simonova
It’s hard to believe now that just recently, while working for a Big Four consulting company, I had to argue with an HR director who was sure at the time that HR couldn’t be involved in the knowledge management (KM) process.
Over the past 1.5 years, the attitude towards KM in our country has changed. Many people know that in the West the theory and the practice of KM following it have been developing for more than 35 years. We also know that the perception of CM has changed along the way (from enthusiastically optimistic to gloomy and pessimistic). The understanding of the essence of CM and approaches to its implementation has also changed.
Because the for a long time KM was considered exclusively technological process, a set of IT solutions, then only an IT director or CIO (Chief Information Officer) could become a KM leader, initiator and executor. When it became obvious that another component, organizational, was missing for the success of the CM, the requirements for the professional and personal qualities of the CM leader changed accordingly. In one CKO (Chief Knowledge Officer) job description, I came across the following characteristics: “CKO ... must be an excellent organizer, have pronounced leadership qualities, skills in psychology and interpersonal relations, presentation experience and communication skills and also have some knowledge in the field information technologies". Which of the well-known positions best fits this description? I remember the HR director. Communication skills, practical psychology skills and the ability to apply this knowledge in conflict situations along with professionalism in their field of knowledge - aren't these the qualities that we see in our HR director (or would like to see)? And yet, in the West, HR directors rarely become CM leaders and initiators of CM programs. Usually the CKO is a completely separate position, although his position is high and usually the CKO is the 2nd or 3rd person in the company.
In our country, everything is different. CM solutions began to be applied in practice only a few years ago, so we quickly passed (more precisely, we are passing) the stage of a technological approach to CM. Probably, for this reason, HR directors often become the initiators and leaders of KM programs in our country. At more than 15 public and client CM events I hosted over the past year, about 60% of the attendees were HR directors and managers.
Indeed, the role of the HR director in the successful implementation of the CM program can and should be significant.
Knowledge sharing is a mandatory element of CM, because if knowledge remains with its owners (employees), then we will not be able to manage it (save, structure, customize and carry out other operations that will allow us to use it effectively for the benefit of the company). Community members (company employees) can share their knowledge in many ways: traditionally (using e-mail, directories, databases or departmental file cabinets), orally (at meetings, during training programs, in specially created communities, at lunch and in “ smoking room", when communicating with a mentor, during corporate events, etc.), as well as with the active use of corporate technological solutions(databases, directories, portals, company intranet, etc.).
Depending on the goals, companies prefer one or another way of sharing knowledge, although each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages (which is why I always recommend a reasonable combination different ways knowledge sharing). At the same time, it is possible to exchange and store knowledge using technological solutions (databases, etc.) only if the knowledge is formalized: reflected in letters, reports and other documents. Communication at meetings, in communities, at meetings, at dinner, etc. allows the exchange of knowledge informally.
The exception is communication in forums and discussions, where employees exchange informal knowledge, but at the same time this knowledge remains fixed (saved).
If a company needs to store knowledge in the form of documents using technological solutions, then this approach is called "codification" (codification or people-content-people). When it is important to share informal knowledge, this approach is called "personification" (personification or people-to-people).
So, without the support and participation of the HR director in the implementation of the KM program, many of its mandatory elements may be “overboard”, and if details are excluded, the operation of the entire mechanism will go wrong.
Formation of a corporate culture that takes into account CM. It is said that the hardest changes are cultural ones. Even Leo Tolstoy wrote that "everyone dreams of changing the world, but no one seeks to change himself." I also read from some authors about our “behavioral lack of culture”, they say that it is precisely for this that foreign citizens do not always like us. Indeed, in the vast majority of Russian companies, to my much to my regret, there is still work to be done in this respect!
It is possible that a climate of trust will not soon be everywhere in Russian companies. This is also due to some features of the economy of our country. But the creation of a corporate culture of a company that takes into account CM, overcoming “behavioral lack of culture” is quite within the power of HR directors! I noticed such a feature: in those Russian companies where a special corporate culture(“Ruyan” or School of Managers “Arsenal”), knowledge really works for the company!
Identification of experts. We know that not in all Russian companies the job responsibilities of employees are formalized and described. Developed job descriptions or not, theoretically, the HR director and HR service managers know better than anyone which of the employees and in what areas of knowledge greatest experience. CM involves identifying experts and creating “the most favorable conditions” for them to share their experience, especially if the company uses the “personification” approach. A well-known and long-used way of sharing knowledge is mentoring. Mentor (coach) - the same expert around which a group of less experienced employees is formed.
Therefore, it is the HR service that will help identify those experts whose knowledge and experience are especially important for the company at different stages and for solving various problems.
Job descriptions for company employees, whose duties will also include some KM functions. When we talk about the successful application of CM ideas, we assume the participation of all employees. Although, as I wrote, Russian practice it is not necessary at all. Nevertheless, as a rule, most of the company's employees take part in KM processes. And Mr. Hunter (Vice President of Gartner Group) believes that “in most cases, when it was possible to successfully implement CM, the real impetus for the development of the project was given by the employees themselves, who declared that they were ready to support this project, because then the company would work better” . And the opinion of the vice-president of Gartner Group can be trusted! Therefore, most employees have completely new job responsibilities related to their CM activities. Some of their working time will be spent on CM. Describing new responsibilities and adding to existing ones, that is, “legitimizing” them, is the task of the HR service.
Psychological support for KM-professionals. As they say, knowledge management is a delicate matter, and the service of a KM professional is both dangerous and difficult. You would also not like it if you suddenly had new responsibilities, and your employees had to devote part of their time to a process, the need for which is not yet obvious to you. In practice, this is exactly the case: I have not met a single head of a company or department who would deny the importance of CM, but at the same time would agree to immediate changes. Almost always, department heads and middle managers resist and sabotage the proposed solutions for a while. At the same time, difficult conflict situations which are sometimes difficult to deal with. It is in such situations that the help of a “third party” is needed, which has sufficiently wide powers and authority, has knowledge and experience in psychological support and is well acquainted with official duties"conflicting parties". Ideally, this assistance should be obtained from the HR director. True, in my practice, only in one company such assistance was actually provided.
Training for newbies. If the company already has KM experience, then the “newcomers” coming to the company will perceive this experience as an “iron rule” if you tell them about it at a special presentation. After all, when we join a company and we are told, say, that it is not customary to drink tea in the workplace, then we will drink tea in specially designated places (unless our own subsequent experience convinces us otherwise). Therefore, the task of the HR service in this case is to include the KM-orientation course in the “orientation of new employees” program and form groups of newcomers.
When in 2000 the same Big Four consulting firm was joined by a new legal department, then a special KM educational program was held for them. As a result, in the future, legal staff, together with their boss, took great interest in all CM events and always supported the proposed CM initiatives.
Creation of conditions for oral "spontaneous" exchange of knowledge. Sometimes we share knowledge by accidentally or deliberately meeting with colleagues or partners in a smoking room, a hallway, or at corporate events. We will do this much more willingly if the environment is comfortable. We also know that well-organized corporate holidays and other events are often more effective in developing and strengthening relationships in a company than written rules and procedures.
Search for KM-professionals. We already know that CKO - the leader of the CM program must be a bright personality and, in addition to having very specific professional qualities and skills, also possess a special charisma. Finding such a professional is not easy, and in order to complete this task, the HR director must have a good understanding of exactly what tasks a CKO will perform.
Of course, we should not, and will not be able to, shift the responsibilities of CM professionals to HR departments. I'm only talking about cooperation and support. No one, except for CM professionals, will be able to do their job, no one will develop and implement the strategy and tactics of CM, and will not provide professional information support for the business. But the role of the HR director is so important to the success of the CM process that I will add this factor to the success factors of the CM that I have written about extensively. Therefore, if we want the knowledge of our company to really work, we must get support for the company's management, determine the objectives of the CM, find a CM professional, a leader, understand what knowledge is important for our company's business and choose a CM scenario, involve in the CM processes and motivate employees, and be sure to enlist the support of the HR director of our company.
Maria Marinicheva
Operators and departments are working on the technical implementation of the law on identification in messengers
In January, Roskomnadzor, on the basis of FSUE TsNIIS, created a working group that is preparing for the implementation of the requirements of the law on the identification of users of instant messengers ( the federal law dated July 29, 2017 No. 241-FZ). In addition to employees of the RKN and the Institute of Communications, it also included representatives of cellular companies and instant messengers. The experts are faced with the task of creating an information exchange center between operators and instant messaging services, as well as considering possible alternative methods of user identification.
Interaction Center
As it became known to RSpectr, at the meeting working group Representatives of the business community propose to create a single operational center for user identification on the basis of FSUE TsNIIS. As Denis Paltsin, head of the department for control and supervision in the field of communications of Roskomnadzor, explained, it is assumed that the institute will enter into agreements with messengers on behalf of operators under an agency scheme. cellular communication and be a single point of information exchange between operators and instant messengers. This approach was proposed for the convenience of interaction between a large number of messengers (according to preliminary estimates, more than 100 services) and mobile operators (more than 60 operating operators, including virtual ones).
Recall that since 2013, ZNIIS has been maintaining a database of transferred subscriber numbers (MNP service). The proposal was approved by the working group. Now the operators are working on the issue of financing the creation of such a center. The planned costs will amount to 30 million rubles. In the future, this amount may be adjusted. The operators are also preparing a unified public offer agreement with the organizers of the instant messaging service.
Roskomnadzor and Rossvyaz have begun preparing proposals to amend government decree No. 904 dated October 11, 2013. The amendments relate to the issue of financing FSUE TsNIIS in terms of covering operating costs for the information exchange system and should be sent to the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications in February.
ZNIIS will be a single point of information exchange between operators and messengers
At the next meeting of the working group (January 23), the participants discussed the technical aspects of creating a single operations center. A decision was made to develop a draft terms of reference for the creation of an information exchange service, as well as draft specifications for two interfaces for interaction with this system: for operators and for messengers.
Alternative Methods
The second task facing the experts is the development of an alternative method of user identification. The fact is that not all messengers link accounts to a phone number. Among the services popular in Russia that carry out identification using a login / password are Facebook Messenger and Skype. And the law requires all messengers to carry out identification by subscriber number.
To solve this problem, the operators offered to test the Mobile Connect platform developed by the GSMA. The service allows a cellular subscriber not to enter a login and password on the sites, but to identify himself by a phone number. The principle of operation is as follows: the user of the site registers via Mobile Connect, receives a message about the authentication request on his mobile gadget, confirms or rejects it. The subscriber does not need logins and passwords and does not send his personal data to the site. The GSMA website says that the service pays special attention to security.
Among the services popular in Russia that carry out identification using a login / password are Facebook Messenger and Skype
Mobile Connect is already in use in India, China, Finland, France, Spain, Australia and most countries Latin America. Cellular operators supporting this technology include Telefonica, Orange and Vodafone.
Reports that Russian operators are testing Mobile Connect appeared at the end of January. However, it turned out that companies will probably use this service not only for simplified authorization of subscribers, but also to comply with the requirements of the law on the identification of messenger users. As the RKN explained to RSpectr, now this service is at the testing stage and it is too early to talk about its use.
Delay in enforcement
The Messenger User Identification Law came into force on January 1, 2018. About the new rules for the operation of Rspectr services at the end of December. However, to implement the requirements of Federal Law No. 241, additional legal framework. Bylaws developed by the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications in October 2017 (Procedure for User Identification and Procedure for Blocking Access to Services) are in the active phase of interdepartmental coordination.
It is also worth noting that the law applies only to instant messengers that are in the register of information dissemination organizers. This list includes, for example, the services of Mail.ru Group and Yandex, Telegram and WeChat. But other popular messaging services are not yet registered in the registry.
World control experience
In various countries of the world, there is experience in regulating messengers. In China, users of social networks and microblogging are required to provide their identification numbers. For this reason, many Western services (WhatsApp, Facebook) are blocked in the country. Chinese law states that “when registering for Internet access, registering for a social network, connecting a landline phone, or mobile communications providing information publishing or transmission services to the client, when signing the agreement (on the provision of services), the client must provide a genuine identity card. If it is not provided, then the service operator has no right to serve the client.”
In China, users of social networks and microblogging are required to indicate their identification numbers
Sweden is also struggling with anonymity on the Internet. The norms obliging to register on the Web were adopted back in 2011 after the terrorist attack by A. B. Breivik. True, they apply to a greater extent to comments on the Internet.
In June 2017, the French municipal deputy, president of the branch of the National Center of Independents and Peasants party, Hubert Faillard, supported the restriction of anonymity in Internet messengers: “Our country has been seriously affected by terrorism in recent years, and we perfectly understand the steps of the Russian authorities aimed at restricting anonymity in messengers. Serious restrictions have already been introduced in our state in this regard, and movement in this direction will continue.”
Encryption in instant messengers also raises questions from the authorities. For example, WhatsApp, which uses end-to-end encryption, experienced this issue in the UK. The 2016 Investigatory Powers Act 2016 requires technology companies to provide public services the ability to access the content of the correspondence of users of instant messengers. The law also provides for the possibility of requiring developers to implement backdoors in the security system of instant messengers.
The inability of the intelligence services to read the correspondence is outraged by French President Emmanuel Macron: “Large Internet companies refused to provide access to data ... This situation is unacceptable.” A similar statement was made by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull: "The privacy of a terrorist is not more important than public safety."
In Iran, in connection with the organization of political unrest through social networks and instant messengers, the state is trying to gain access to correspondence and even completely block these services. The Iranian authorities had the greatest difficulty with the Telegram messenger, known for its strong encryption technology.
Image: lori.ru
If you try to compile a list of areas in which knowledge management has proven to be effective, then such a list will not end. The problem of knowledge sharing, encouraging employees to participate in the process of accumulating and using collective knowledge and implementing knowledge management systems is relevant in all sectors of the economy. Even if a company operates in an area where competitive advantages do not play a decisive role in business development, and innovation is not the main criterion for success, knowledge management is still necessary. After all, we live in an era of ever-increasing globalization, dramatic change and interaction. Today, knowledge management is not just a wealth accumulation tool. It's a means of survival.
Knowledge management is a systematic process of searching, using and transferring information and knowledge. This is the process by which an organization reproduces knowledge, accumulates and uses in the interests of obtaining competitive advantages.
The purpose of knowledge management is to accumulate intellectual capital, identify and disseminate information and experience, create conditions for the dissemination and transfer of knowledge. In practice, this is the systematic and purposeful formation, updating and application of knowledge to enhance the efficiency of the company.
Knowledge management as a function of management solves such problems as:
giving value to knowledge can ensure a more efficient existence of the company;
diagnostics and analysis of the knowledge that the company has (what knowledge is available - how to make the transition from implicit to explicit knowledge, what knowledge is needed);
acquisition of knowledge (for example, purchase or internal reserves);
the embodiment of knowledge in products, services, documents, databases, software(improving efficiency, increasing productivity by reducing costs);
creation of a knowledge management system (motivation for the exchange of knowledge and experience, creation of an organization structure that facilitates the exchange of knowledge);
Knowledge management functions
Analytical - at this stage, the transition of information to knowledge is carried out (methods: comparisons, consequences, connections);
Distributive - ordering knowledge, assessing its usefulness, classifying knowledge, experience according to criteria, entering knowledge into corporate memory. Creating a corporate memory allows you to identify valuable knowledge for the organization and structure it according to the criteria of value, issue and scope. Corporate knowledge reflected in corporate memory may include the following segments:
customer knowledge;
knowledge about competitors - a mechanism for success, strategies;
knowledge about the product - its place in the market, what value this product creates for the consumer, who buys it and why;
knowledge about processes management methods, technology, innovation;
knowledge about finance;
knowledge about people - a motive, what knowledge they have, advanced training.
Structuring according to the criteria of value and scope contributes to the rapid dissemination of the necessary knowledge. Thanks to the availability of the knowledge base for all employees, it becomes clear what issues this or that employee is dealing with and what knowledge he has, as well as speeding up the transfer of knowledge from one employee to another.
Security - building barriers to the leakage of knowledge and information. Spreads on production processes, customer knowledge, financial documents, experience, strategic plans;
Integration - extracting knowledge from corporate memory (by exchanging knowledge between departments, different levels of management, sharing experience between employees). One type of integration is the sale of knowledge;
Creation of new knowledge - for example, buying and renting.
By managing knowledge, the organization seeks to create and consolidate its competitive advantages, to maximize the professional and personal qualities of employees. Knowledge management includes the functions of providing personnel with the necessary knowledge, their application in practice, control over their use, organization of storage and distribution. The competitiveness of the organization depends on the effectiveness of the implementation of each knowledge management function.
Organizations compete using different strategies. The best result is achieved when a company, when developing and implementing a knowledge management strategy, correlates it with its strategic goals and key aspects of the overall corporate strategy, as well as with marketing, innovation, financial, personnel management and other strategies implemented in the company. This means that knowledge management efforts need to be concentrated on areas that contribute to the achievement of strategic objectives.
Consider some knowledge management strategies that allow you to form intellectual capital and use it to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the organization.
There are seven basic strategies for the formation and use of knowledge in an organization. Three of them are to effectively form and use knowledge within one of the types of intellectual capital. Three more strategies involve achieving a positive effect from the interaction of two different types of intellectual capital (human and organizational, human and relationship capital, organizational and relationship capital). The seventh strategy is based on the simultaneous interaction of all three elements of intellectual capital. Thus, the basic knowledge management strategies are aimed either at the exchange of knowledge within one type of intellectual capital in order to increase it, or at the effective transfer of knowledge from one type of intellectual capital to another.
The first strategy, based on the formation and use of knowledge within the framework of human capital, answers the questions: “How is knowledge exchanged between employees of the organization?”, “How is their competence increased and how is it used to increase the competitiveness of the organization?” This strategy is aimed at developing the individual competence of employees through training.
The second strategy is aimed at the formation and use of knowledge within the organizational capital (information system, databases, organizational structures, copyrights, patents, licenses).
The third strategy is the formation and use of knowledge in the external relations of the organization. The strategy is based on marketing technologies.
The fourth strategy is aimed at the interaction of human capital and relationship capital. The strategy includes techniques and methods of interaction with consumers that increase the individual competence of the employees of the organization. For example, any form of feedback received through sociological research can be used to improve the skills of employees. Sometimes, within the framework of the fourth strategy, one can single out actions aimed at transferring individual competence from the employees of the organization to external structures (books of company success stories).
The fifth strategy is aimed at the interaction of human and organizational capital. It answers the question: “How does the individual competence of employees contribute to the construction of elements of the internal structure of the organization, and how can individual competence be increased with the help of elements of the internal structure?” The strategy deals with the transfer of individual knowledge into internal corporate systems, where it is fixed and becomes available to all employees (the best management decision, information resources).
The sixth strategy is aimed at the productive interaction of relationship capital and organizational capital. For example, systematic surveys of consumers, telephone hotlines, on their basis, for example, the improvement of goods takes place. Or customer complaints about equipment defects are collected, a database is created that serves as the basis for prompt assistance to customers who can use the “hot line” and receive a qualified answer.
To ensure competitiveness, some organizations in the process of serving customers give them additional information that serves as a factor in the effective use of the goods sold. For example, a firm sells fertilizers and seeds to farmers. Through its sales representatives, it supplies them not only with goods, but also with weather reports, crop forecasts, and helps to select the necessary agro-technical solutions, taking into account the specific soil conditions of each farm.
The sixth strategy collects sales data to streamline the production process.
The seventh strategy is aimed at the movement of knowledge simultaneously between all types of intellectual capital.
The main goal of all strategies is to increase the efficiency of using all available resources of the organization.
Knowledge management can be seen as the process by which an organization manages to profit from the amount of knowledge at its disposal. The following processes are distinguished in knowledge management activities: 1) formation; 2) distribution and scope; 3) use of knowledge.
The purpose of the first stage is to determine what knowledge the organization needs, from what sources and in what ways it will be acquired, how much it will cost, who will do it and when. This process breaks down into the following:
1.1. Definition of knowledge;
1.2. Acquisition of knowledge;
1.3. Accumulation of knowledge;
1.4. Development of knowledge.
1.1. In the definition phase, it is necessary to establish what core knowledge is critical to the implementation of the strategy and the success of the company. Basic basic knowledge is a set of expert knowledge, tools, methods necessary for the implementation of relevant strategic opportunities. This basic knowledge is immediately divided into subject areas:
market - production, competition, pricing, suppliers, partners;
consumer - requests, prices, expectations, requirements, feedback;
product - properties, functionality, cost, quality;
service - purchase, maintenance, repair;
management - business strategy, structures, workforce, modernization;
employees – skills, knowledge, career goals, interests, benefits, wages.
After the distribution of knowledge by subject areas, it is necessary to assess the existing level of competence of employees in each area of knowledge. It is necessary to determine whether employees have sufficient knowledge and experience to achieve a high result. An expert assessment of professional skills (knowledge, experience) should be made. There are two types of assessment: operational - which considers the current skills and performance required to maintain existing core knowledge, strategic - which determines what existing knowledge can be transferred to provide future core knowledge.
When the difference between the existing and required levels of competence is determined, specialists in the respective fields of knowledge create training programs.
1.2. Management tasks at the stage of acquiring knowledge:
choice of sources of knowledge;
selection and concentration of significant information;
obtaining new knowledge.
In order to become usable, knowledge, experience, competencies must be streamlined and refined. In addition, you need to know where and how to get the necessary knowledge and experience. Knowledge can be obtained from external and internal sources. External: public rating systems (media, general public, publications); political forces (authorities); assessment knowledge and technology (courses, seminars, research, best practices, environmental monitoring), economic structures and trends (customers, suppliers, competitors). The more effectively the organization collects, processes and integrates relevant external information into internal decision-making processes, the higher will be the level of its competitiveness. In addition to external sources, a company can draw knowledge from internal sources: internal training and education, business strategy, leading company specialists, organizational planning, organizational structure, employee proposals, corporate information publications.
1.3. accumulation process.
The main goal of knowledge management is to create corporate memory. The tasks of managing the process of knowledge accumulation are:
classification of knowledge;
knowledge codification;
ensuring the availability of knowledge.
Corporate memory exists in three different forms: in human memory, on paper, and in in electronic format. There are several approaches to ordering knowledge for its storage in corporate memory. The accumulated experience can be generalized and presented in a certain classification: external and internal, profession, theoretical and practical knowledge. Creation of corporate memory requires the solution of the question of what types of knowledge, i.e. what types of intellectual resources need to be presented in an explicit systematized form, how to extract the knowledge possessed by certain employees of the company, and how to make it understandable and accessible to others. Thus, any knowledge or any information that contributes to the success of the organization must be stored in this memory. This includes knowledge about products, production processes, customers, marketing market needs, financial results, experience gained, strategic plans and goals, etc. The professional knowledge of the organization should also be part of the corporate memory. Professional knowledge includes:
cognitive knowledge (“know that”): very good knowledge of the basic discipline, achieved by professionals through intensive training and certification;
craftsmanship ("know how"): translates "book learning" into effective performance; the ability to apply discipline-specific rules to solve complex real-world problems;
systemic understanding (“I know why”): deep knowledge of the entire system of relationships, causes and effects that underlie a particular discipline;
personal motivation for creativity (“I want to know why”): covers the will, motivation and attitude to success.
An organization that nurtures the desire for knowledge (“want to know why”) in its employees can thrive in the face of rapid change and renew its cognitive capabilities, skills, and systems understanding to compete in product and service markets. By developing corporate memory within the organization, knowledge sharing can be facilitated, as innovations implemented in one department of the organization become available to other departments if they are stored in the organization's memory.
Corporate memory is divided into 4 main types: a) "top"; b) "sponge"; c) "publisher"; d) pump.
The "top" - the simplest form of organization of corporate memory - is used as an archive, which can be accessed as needed.
"Sponge" - provides a more active collection of information compared to the "top". A fairly complete corporate memory is being created, the use of which to improve the quality of organizational processes depends on each employee individually.
"Publisher" - the function of corporate memory coordinators is to analyze the experience gained, connect it with knowledge in corporate memory and send the combined knowledge to employees for whom the experience gained may be relevant.
"Pump" - includes elements of both active collection and active dissemination of knowledge.
A company can also use a fairly new approach to the collection and dissemination of internal information, called "open management book". The implementation of this system requires the implementation of three main actions. First, for each employee of the company, data is collected daily that reflects the results of the work performed. Secondly, the information collected once a week is transmitted to all employees of the company, from the secretary to the director. Thirdly, employees are trained, which allows them to correctly understand the processes that take place in the company. The more employees adequately understand the processes actually taking place in the company, the higher their assistance in solving existing problems.
1.4. The process of knowledge development involves the identification of new knowledge and the replenishment of corporate memory. One of the tasks is to obtain non-verbal, implicitly expressed knowledge from experts and turn it into explicit, documented. Ways to develop knowledge: training employees outside the organization; The holding of trainings; inviting instructors from outside for training; distribution of already existing knowledge within the organization. The development of knowledge is attractive when it corresponds to the current or future capabilities of the company.
Sufficient time requires not only the creation but the dissemination of knowledge. Some firms form knowledge creators - R&D units. As awareness of the importance of knowledge grows, many organizations are realizing that knowledge creation should not be an isolated activity. They believe that being a knowledge creator is the responsibility of every employee in the firm.
Dissemination and exchange of knowledge is aimed at solving such problems as:
search for the necessary knowledge, providing employees with quick access to knowledge, quick retrieval of knowledge from corporate memory;
transfer of knowledge through the use of new information technologies;
creation of conditions for the exchange of experience as a result of group interaction, informal communication of company employees;
assimilation of knowledge, creation of opportunities for training and advanced training of company employees.
Internal information sharing is important, but if an organization is inaccessible to its external environment, its strategy will fail. Therefore, in knowledge management, the exchange of knowledge is of great importance not only within the company, but also with the external environment: consumers, customers, suppliers, partners.
Use of knowledge - active application in the implementation of tasks, in solving problems, making decisions, searching for ideas, learning. Tasks of knowledge management in the process of using knowledge:
creation of conditions for the use of knowledge in business processes, decision-making (accessibility of knowledge);
employee training;
sale of knowledge.
Based on intellectual capital, new products are created that can be sold outside the company. This applies primarily to organizational capital: inventions, technologies, computer programs, databases. It, to a greater extent than other types of intellectual capital, is the property of the company and can be an independent object of sale and purchase.
Knowledge management as a process includes stages; formation - dissemination - use of knowledge. In the course of management, various methods of knowledge extraction are used: communicative and textological.
Communicative methods - the analyst's contact with sources of knowledge: employees or experts. Communication methods are: passive and active. Passive - the leading role in the knowledge extraction procedure is transferred to the expert, and the analyst only records the expert's reasoning during his work on making decisions or presenting his position. Passive methods: observation, "thinking out loud", lectures. In active methods, the initiative passes to the analyst, who is actively in contact with the expert - in games, dialogues, round-table discussions. Active methods can be individual and group. Group - a group of experts or employees. Textological methods - methods for extracting knowledge from documents (service manual, regulations, articles, monographs, textbooks).
Imitation – an attempt to learn the strategy, technology and functional activities of other firms and to apply someone else's experience. Benchmarketing is a method of studying and using someone else's experience. Benchmarketing helps to significantly reduce costs and increase labor productivity. Benchmarketing began to be seen as a relatively cheap and accessible method of obtaining new knowledge. Benchmarketing can be defined as a systematic process of identifying the best organizations, evaluating their products, technologies, methods in order to use the best practices of these companies. The main stages of benchmarking:
1. Selection of products, services, technologies, methods for comparison;
2. Selecting a company for comparison;
3. Collecting the necessary information about the accumulated experience;
4. Information analysis;
5. Adaptation and application of the best experience.
Acquisition – firms buy other firms not only because of their production capabilities or customer base, but also to gain their knowledge. Some knowledge is contained in processes and ordinary work, but most of the knowledge is contained in people. If competent employees leave the organization, their experience will go with them. In order to retain knowledge, the acquiring firm must identify employees with the most significant knowledge base and ensure that they remain in the company using all possible methods of motivation.
Buying knowledge - buying methods: hiring new employees.
Knowledge rental - hiring consultants, attracting scientific and other organizations to develop a new product.
In all cases, the main task of acquiring organizational knowledge is the development of core competencies that generate new products. New knowledge enriches competitive advantage.
Conditions for effective knowledge sharing
The most difficult task when implementing a knowledge management system is to create an appropriate organizational culture. In an ideal business world, every member of an organization has easy access to the knowledge of their colleagues. Employees are willing to share their know-how and the organization is growing rapidly thanks to the continuous flow of new knowledge.
Unfortunately, the modern world of business is far from ideal. This is a world where knowledge is not shared, but is securely stored and protected. A new category of employees "portfolio careerists" has appeared. Often changing jobs, people take with them not only experience and knowledge, but internal and external connections.
Now the speed of dissemination and application of new knowledge is especially important - this increases the mobility of the company, its ability to change: quickly transfer in order to quickly apply. A company whose employees have free access to collective knowledge, make equally high-quality decisions and equally quickly and effectively respond to all changes in the environment, gets unlimited opportunities for growth and development. If effective work with knowledge and information is not established, then problems may arise in the organization:
information overload - resources are irrelevant, unknown to employees, the same information is searched for many times;
waste of experience - both individual and collective (unprofessional actions, the wheel is being reinvented);
communication between departments is disrupted - wrong decisions are made, actions are duplicated.
It is difficult to instill in employees the need to share their knowledge. For most people, this need goes against everything they've been taught since day one of school. At school and institute they teach that a person differs from those around him in what he knows. Jeffrey Pfeffer believes that the internal competition that exists in the company hinders the successful exchange of knowledge. He draws attention to the fact that internal competition may seem fair to employees, but it comes at a cost to organizations. As a rule, the ranking of people, departments and divisions, as well as the internal competition that it leads to, is justified by the fact that it is fair and the desired behaviors are encouraged. Many organizations use some form of benchmarking and performance, especially when it comes to assessing the effectiveness of management and/or pay systems. At first glance, notes D. Pfeffer, the fairness of the comparative assessment does not raise any doubts, if we imagine that the performance of the seller is evaluated by the total volume of sales made by him. But, does the sales volume depend solely on his good will and the desire to do his job well, or can he be influenced by factors beyond his control, such as poor quality or a meager range of products you sell? The answer is obvious. Thus, even if he is not involved in the occurrence of these and other problems in his company, they can still have a negative impact on the evaluation of his performance.
On the other hand, all sellers are equally affected by factors outside their sphere of influence, and therefore it seems appropriate to evaluate their performance against each other. If all the top 10 sellers received the same bonus regardless of the amount of equipment sold, none of them would be hurt by factors beyond their control. As long as the performance of an individual employee is higher than the performance of his colleagues, he will earn his points and receive corresponding rewards. Thus, a comparative assessment of effectiveness seems logical.
However, the advantage of comparative performance evaluation - its apparent fairness in the face of external factors outside the sphere of influence of employees - is also its disadvantage. All people primarily care about their status, therefore, at best, they simply refuse to help their colleagues, which can increase their efficiency, and at worst, they deliberately interfere with their work. .
According to D. Pfeffer, there is internal competition in a company if:
people have an incentive to refuse to help their colleagues or even purposefully interfere with their work;
leaders behave as if performance is the sum of the actions of individual employees, and not the result of interdependent behaviors such as cooperation, knowledge sharing, and mutual assistance;
management treats employees as participants in a competition or game in which there are a limited number of winners and many losers;
employees feel that someone is watching them closely and constantly comparing them with colleagues; as a result, they begin to observe what their internal competitors are doing;
a comparative rather than an absolute assessment of effectiveness is used;
leaders value competition and have extensive experience playing (and winning) zero-sum games;
Ways to overcome destructive internal competition:
hire, reward (at least in part) and retain employees based on their ability and willingness to work with their colleagues for the good of the company;
fire, demote and penalize employees who seek to achieve their personal goals in the first place;
focus the attention and energy of employees on the fight against external competitors. At the same time, stop all manifestations of internal competition;
abandon performance criteria and pay systems that encourage internal competition;
use criteria that evaluate collaboration between employees;
create an organizational culture in which the personal success of employees is inseparable from the success of their colleagues;
make sure that company leaders set the right example - collaborate with colleagues, help them and exchange information;
appoint to leadership positions those employees who have experience of successful teamwork;
in every possible way encourage cooperation, mutual assistance, exchange of information and experience among employees.
The refusal of employees to share knowledge lies not only in internal competition that exists in the company, M. Marinicheva suggests the following reasons: “shy mimosa syndrome”, star disease syndrome, “not invented by us” syndrome, the syndrome of true professionals.
Syndrome of "shameful mimosa"
I don't think I know anything special;
no one will be interested in what I know and do;
There are many true professionals in the world.
2. Star sickness syndrome
hardly anyone understands what I'm doing;
I will not tolerate being tested;
I can't waste time with your questions.
3. Syndrome "not invented by us"
everything is different with us here;
except ourselves, no one understands us;
our problems are unique.
4. Syndrome of real professionals
success depends entirely on professional independence
real professionals don't need advice
if I consulted with others, I would not have reached what I have now
In order for employees of an organization to share knowledge, three conditions must be met:
1. employees must trust each other and the employer (atmosphere of trust);
2. employees must be motivated to share experience and knowledge
3. in the organization it is necessary to create conditions for the preservation of formalized knowledge, as well as for the exchange of experience.
Consider an atmosphere of trust. For example, fear hinders the exchange of knowledge. Employees are afraid to tell their boss bad news, even if it's not their fault. This is the desire to distance themselves from negative information as much as possible, people are afraid that if they tell someone bad news, they will be accused of involvement. Then employees stop making new proposals to improve workflows, so as not to tell about the error.
How to eradicate fear and inaction:
1. praise employees who have the courage not to hide bad news from management;
3. encourage employees to talk about their failures and the lessons that have been learned;
4. encourage open communication;
5. give people a second chance;
6. do not punish people who want to bring something new to the organization.
The introduction of a knowledge management program is a major organizational change. The main reason for the inactive participation of employees in new processes or negative attitudes is resistance to change and a lack of understanding of what favorable opportunities these changes bring. To reiterate, it is difficult to expect people to voluntarily share what determines their professional value. Therefore, it is necessary to create such conditions when it becomes profitable. Or vice versa, to create such conditions when it will be unprofitable for people not to share knowledge.
First of all, people need to know what will count as a contribution to the collective knowledge system. There are three main (most popular) approaches to solving this issue.
input information - if the company already has a formalized repository of collective knowledge, the metric might be to count how often each employee contributes to the knowledge base. However, a good manager will agree that such a measurement system is far from perfect, as it does not take into account full cycle knowledge sharing. With such a measurement system, the user of knowledge remains outside the field of view of the metric. By introducing such a metric, the company's management runs the risk of giving an incentive to employees to invest useless knowledge in the database. After all, a knowledge provider, in order to earn a reward, can contribute absolutely unnecessary information to the collective knowledge base. There is a known case when an employee of the company IBM obtained a document of his colleague from the computer memory and passed it off as his own, trying to earn a reward for contributing to the collective knowledge base. The manager will pay more attention not to the quantity but to the quality of knowledge.
Imprint - an organization can focus not only on replenishing the knowledge base, but also on the active participation of employees in the exchange process as knowledge users. This approach involves rewarding those employees who use the knowledge available in the collective base to advance new ideas, processes and (or) products. Despite the fact that this approach has its advantages over the previous one, it cannot effectively motivate employees to share their knowledge, but rather encourages them to use someone else's.
Input/output information - most effective method evaluate the exchange of information and create an atmosphere of cooperation and interaction is to evaluate the entire cycle of knowledge exchange. The company rewards employees not only for their contribution to the knowledge base, but also for the value of the knowledge they contribute, thanks to which colleagues will be able to improve their work. By implementing such a system of metrics, management sends a clear message to employees: the company values not only those who share their knowledge, but also those who use it effectively. Good way visualization of such a system is to depict a circle, the perimeter points of which will be all users and knowledge providers. These points are connected by lines, the number of which corresponds to the frequency of interactions (you can analyze the information flows of the Intranet or the volume of e-mail). The result of this visualization will be a diagram of the interaction of the company's employees, which demonstrates the community's desire for cooperation and the process of knowledge sharing. You can go even further and identify the communities within the organization that have been the most innovative and successful in terms of knowledge sharing at certain times.
Consider good ideas for successful employee participation in new processes, including knowledge management processes:
The presence of elements of the game. For example, in one of the domestic companies, as a result of certain efforts, a corporate portal was created, where the information necessary for work was placed. How to get the attention of employees? September 1 was declared the day of knowledge in the company. The developers of the corporate portal organized a quiz for employees, the answers could be found in the portal. The winner received a new computer, and the rest got cups with the inscription "New knowledge - new opportunities." Photo the best participants published in the corporate newspaper.
Create a mechanism for assessing the merits of each colleagues. Example. In one of the companies, when discussing issues on the intranet, its participants thanked each other for help, expert opinion, advice. At the end of the month, everyone who received a reward from colleagues received a small reward.
We encourage authorship best ideas, celebrate success stories, not only financially, but also publicly, or you can assign honorary titles, such as "Quick Mind", score points for published and read documents in the internal environment, then convert points into rewards (t-shirts with company logos, keyboard, Appliances). For example, there may be a different gradation of points: we write an idea in the idea bank, if it is implemented, then a large number of points, or participation in seminars for beginners, where there is an exchange of experience, or from colleagues with whom they shared experience.
