structures that support learning structuring actions the structuring actions are levers that are...

Structures That Support LearningStructuring Actions

The structuring actions are levers that are available to a person,a team, or an organization to encourage the development of formalprocesses that capture, store, and disseminate valuable learningfrom successes and failures.

Specific structuring levers that are key forKnowledge Management initiatives and contribute to organizationallearning are:

Slides by Payman Shafiee


• Organizational structure• Norms (policies, procedures)

• Roles• Technology• Leadership

• Education/training/development• Rewards and recognition



A knowledge manager, a team, or an organization can choose from

these structuring levers those that fit the project, work unit, and

organizational context. The challenge is to integrate the appropriate

levers in a specific culture for a unique Knowledge Management

initiative.


Structures That Support Learning Implementation

the question becomes, What levers can I pull or deploy to get the largest return for my organization?


Structures That Support LearningOrganizational Structure

How a company is organized, especially if it is consciouslya knowledge-based company, directly influences the strategy andtactics for knowledge sharing.A hierarchical, siloed organization isless likely to share knowledge across people, teams, and the entireorganization than a highly matrixed organization where

crossfunctional work in teams is a way of life.


Organization Silos are when individual people, departments, or companies, conduct business in a vacuum without taking into consideration the impact their actions have on the entire organization. For instance an accounts payable department always pays on time within the conditions of the purchase order but accounts receivable don't collect cash to support the amount of money going out. Both departments work along merrily without any communication and both feel they are meeting their responsibilities however cash is drained and the corporation continues to borrow money at a high interest rate to support paying vendors and general expenses.


Example: British Petroleum, which reorganized itself into a federation of self-standing businesses to achieve performance results. To prevent losing know-how across businesses in the process of becoming a federation, BP responded by creating peer groups as a formal structure for senior managers to share performance goals and resource allocations. Peer groups consist of the leaders of separate business units that face similar challenges (e.g., the peer group of offshore oil fields or the peer group of chemical refinery business units).

Peer groups encourage networking, cooperation,and communication across the business units. This structuralchange contributed to the organization’s desire and ability to shareknowledge. In addition to the peer groups, BP encourages and supportsnetworks of people and communities of practice that share professionalinterests.



As companies move away from functional organizations, wherepeople are colocated, they put specialist professionals, e.g.,engineers and process experts, into disparate businesses to work oncross-functional teams. Especially in global organizations, thesepractitioners may be dispersed around the world and probably donot know each other.

(Lave and Wenger, 1991)


Definition for community of practice: “a group of professionals within a corporation who are informally bound to one another through their exposure to a common class of problems and common pursuit of solutions. Members within the community of practice freely exchange knowledge that creates an even greater resource base of knowledge”1

Structures That Support LearningOrganizational Structure - Community of Practice

The Purpose: The purpose is a free, and usually informal exchange of knowledge

to increase the resource base of knowledge and experience available to the members both individually and as a group.


Structures That Support LearningOrganizational Structure - Virtual Teams

A virtualteam is defined as a team that has members dispersed across distanceand time who are linked together by some form of electronic communicationtechnology and who are able to physically interact as a team only on a

limited basis (Sessa et al., 1999). People working in virtual teams have been a driver for raising the awareness

of the need to institutionalize Knowledge Management tools and practices, because virtual teams by definition require mechanisms for knowledge sharing.


Structures That Support LearningOrganizational Structure - Virtual Teams


Structures That Support LearningNorms

Norms are: policies, procedures, and rules for accepted behavior within a team or an organization.

Best practices are: tools and techniques associated with improving and optimizing norms

However, “best practices” is a misleading term because a KM principle is that every practice can be improved. Therefore, “better” or “proven” practice is a more descriptive label than “best practice.”


Structures That Support LearningNorms

Technology tools can be used during each phase of a project.Examples are virtual teamworking (VT), a PC videoconference

technology with coaching, Webcasts, and database search tools.

Each of these tools can be made available as part of the technology infrastructure and used when appropriate. For example, PC videoconferences can replace or augment face-to-face meetings.


Structures That Support LearningOrganizational Structure - Technology



Technology is a critical enabler for teams in general and virtualteams in particular. Team and/or communication technology can beseparated into two categories: infrastructure and collaborative app

Infrastructure is: the hardware and software that allowanyone to communicate with anyone else from any place at any time.Without the technical infrastructure that supports communicationand information sharing, virtual teams cannot function.

Components of the infrastructure: are standardized hardware and software as well as networks that provide fast, reliable, consistent access.



Once the infrastructure is in place, collaborative technology (or groupware) applications canbe effectively implemented to address communication across timeand space.The three categories of collaborative technology (Dalton,1992) include group communications, group memory, and groupprocess support.



Group communications involves teleconferencing,screen sharing, group scheduling, meetings support, and groupwriting.

Group memory refers to existing databases, group filing,filtering, and refining.

Group process support involves managing groups and workflow.Each element can be separated, but foroptimum efficiency and effectiveness, the components form a

“system” that combines the core groupware functionality of communication, coordination, and collaboration.



Underlying the use of collaborative technologies is the basicpremise that virtual work requires increased shared efforts,

cooperation, and collaboration.

Schrage (1995) states that the goal of groupware is to create value through human interaction, not just better information. Computer mediation can help distributed teams increase interaction by providing communication, coordination, and collaboration tools.

Although a virtual team cannot function efficiently without somecollaborative technology, without other structuring and sense-makingvariables that include information practices, resources, andcapabilities, performance and learning cannot be sustained.


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