[.ca] Knowledge Management Case Book: Siemens Best Practises (ISBN 3895781819)

A comprehensive insight into KM in a global firm:
This knowledge management casebook is one of the best documented case studies of knowledge transformation at work in a global business powerhouse. Siemens has been rated as one of the top ten KM-driven companies worldwide according to an international benchmarking exercise (MAKE _ most admired knowledge enterprise), thanks to its comprehensive efforts at fostering, promoting and optimizing knowledge utilization. The 19 chapters covering Siemen_s KM journey have been compiled by a team of 44 writers, including business executives, managers, interns, professors and graduate students. The material is divided into 7 sections, covering overall KM strategy, transfer techniques, communities of practice, e-learning, and organisational change. With a diverse group of companies and almost half a million employees globally, Siemens is one of the world_s oldest and most successful corporations _ which successfully adapted to the chaotic world of the Information Age to re-structure itself around its most valuable assets: its knowledge base and people. _Companies today live in knowledge ecologies where one company feeds knowledge into another. What counts is a networked approach to KM, involving internal as well as external parties. The logic behind this is as simple as it is compelling: if you cut off the outflow of knowledge, you will also cut off the inflow. We believe, therefore, that the firm_s openness to external experts and the sharing of ideas within a broad network will be a key driver for maintaining competitive success at Siemens,_ begin the editors Thomas Davenport (KM expert) and Gilbert Probst (professor at the University of Geneva). _Increasingly, information is either a part of, or an important facilitator of, Siemens_ diverse businesses. Since KM is greatly enhanced by the effective use of IT, it_s not surprising that Siemens was a relatively early and enthusiastic adopter of KM. The IT-driven nature of the company_s businesses also provides a strong motivation to manage knowledge effectively. One attribute of these technologies is that they change very rapidly; keeping up with various computing and communications technologies is much easier when a company has a system for rapidly circulating new knowledge,_ according to the editors. But KM is more than technology, and Siemens has also focused on a culture of sharing, synergy, and customer focus, especially in markets and fast-moving technology areas where the customer needs are more for total business solutions and sector intelligence than mere technology components. KM at Siemens began in a bottom-up manner via various mid-level initiatives in communities of practice and bodies of knowledge. Managers of these initiatives themselves formed a semi-official community of practice. This was then followed by a corporate knowledge function which officially supported and coordinated these various initiatives, via the creation of the Corporate KM (CKM) office in 1999. The Corporate KM (CKM) office held an international meeting in Munich in May 2000, drawing over 200 managers and KM practitioners to formally reflect on the company_s KM strategy via the CKM Council and CKM TaskForce. Moving beyond a loose association of KM followers, the company now has formal support, constancy, transparency and a joint approach for KM practices. The vision statement, goals and roles at the company now formally emphasise the role of knowledge and sharing. CKM has initiated over a hundred KM projects divided across lines of geography, industry, and functions. It has received numerous awards across Europe and the US, such as APQC, MACILS, KVD and Teleos. KM capacity building at Siemens is promoted by yet another initiative, the Knowledge Community Support (KCS) project, founded in 1999 with support from units like Corporate Technology, Siemens Business Services, and Siemens Qualification and Training. It promotes the use of knowledge communities within Siemens, via coaching, hotlines, resources, newsletters, and its own Web site. It maintains an employee portal and a directory of all knowledge communities in the company, Communities@Siemens. KCS expects that in future, community management will be as common as project management. Yet another area of KM focus at Siemens is the use of e-business methodology. It formed the Centre for e-Excellence in May 2000 to analyse business transformation via the Internet. A quarter of the sales of Siemens itself is expected to be eventually transacted via the Internet _ 50 per cent or more of its consumer products. Challenges faced by Siemens on the KM front include balancing energies, resources and rewards for local versus global KM initiatives on a daily basis, managing the knowledge-sharing tension between different business units, and nourishing KM during hard economic times. Each of the chapters in the book ends with useful discussion questions and key propositions from each case study. It would be suitable to end this book review with a sampling of these propositions. _The economic value of knowledge does not lie in possessing it, but in using it. Pilot projects for KM must have clearly defined, measurable objectives that can be achieved in less than six months. However, the changeover to a knowledge-based company involves a change process that can span several years,_ according to the authors. Knowledge management and learning management are two complementary disciplines that are continuously growing closer and support an innovative and agile enterprise. Knowledge sharing should not be reduced to appendices to everyday practice, but must become intertwined with practice. Casewriting about this sharing is a useful learning tool, teaching method, and knowledge recap mechanism via its ability to tease out details and provoke or inspire further action. Such methods are already used by other companies like British Petroleum (Post-Project Appraisal) and Xerox (pre-thought and after-thought cases on KM tools). An interplay between writers from the outside and inside helps elicit crucial details in the case stories. _When established procedures are not conducive to the sharing of knowledge, the company must be ready to restructure itself into an organization more amenable to knowledge sharing. Over time, the intrinsic benefits of sharing knowledge should become apparent and the system then becomes self-perpetuating, thereby rendering incentive systems obsolete,_ the authors recommend. >>>>>>>>> Madanmohan Rao is the author of _The Asia-Pacific Internet Handbook_ and can be reached at madan@inomy.com