values of business schools
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The Added Value of Knowledge Management Alec Vuijlsteke EBSLG Continental Meeting Ljubljana 25 March 2004. Values of business schools. Professionalism Synthesis of theory and practice International perspective Entrepreneurship. These values are supported by effective KM. Definition of KM. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
The Added Value of Knowledge Management
Alec Vuijlsteke
EBSLG Continental Meeting
Ljubljana 25 March 2004
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
These values are supported by effective KM
Values of business schools
• Professionalism• Synthesis of theory and practice• International perspective• Entrepreneurship
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Definition of KM
• My definition of KM› Every process or practice of knowledge
creation, acquisition, use and share
› With the goal to improve performance and learning in an organisation
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
KM at VLGMS
• Tasks of the Librarian› Academic Library
› Research support• Working papers & publications• Research intranet ...
› Knowledge management• Closely related to research support• Limited to explicit knowledge, not tacit knowledge
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Ms Access database for input
Online version for usersResearch Database
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Principle: create once, use many times
Research Database
• Retroactive tool› For who is who
› For Academica vitae
› To trace who is working on what
› To extract research data for eg. accreditations
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Create once, use many times
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Research evaluation tool
What research is planned?
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Research evaluation tool
What research is effective = has been realised?
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Scope of KM activities
• Management of information in the School is OK, Knowledge Management is not OK
• Need for more KM-initiatives:› Supported by information management
› Responding to the needs of the organisation
› Taking into account the specificities of an academic institution!
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Scope of KM activities
• Why have more KM initiatives?› Clear needs
• To share (more) knowledge• Of incentives for employees to share knowledge• Of more structured knowledge sharing instead of “ad
hoc” and “acidentally”• To prevent loss of knowledge when an employee
leaves te organisation
• The Librarian could supply added value by undertaking such initiatives
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
KM in academic environments
• A lot of literature exists on KM› Mostly in (multinational) company settings <->
academic educational institutions have a specific situation
• Specific situation in comparison with companies:› Less corporate culture of teamwork and mutual
trust that facilitate KM
› Intellectual autonomy and academic freedom
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
KM in academic environments
› “Sub-cultures” with own vocabulary
› Scepticism about each other’s methods and research
› Knowledge management is often not optimal• Often loss of knowledge• Duplication of knowledge• Well managed knowledge is not always considered
as a competitive advantage• Fear of central manipulation of data
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
KM in academic environments
• Knowledge is nonetheless THE business of academic institutions, in 3 domains:› Education and Learning
› Research and Training in Research
› “New” activities• technology transfer• consulting• partnerships with companies• spin-off entrepreneurship• lifelong learning and “work-based learning”
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Internationalisation
Increasing market competition
Virtualisation through ICT
Teaching and LearningResearchNew activities
KM in academic environments
• 3 forces influence these 3 domains
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
KM in academic environments
• “ICT virtual world” facilitates KM initiatives› Electronic learning environment with online
learning material “today’s students log on rather than read the book on the train”
› Course websites and discussion fora complement traditional teaching methodes
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
KM in academic environments
› ICT makes more and more information sources on an equal basis available to researchers as well as students
› ICT supports virtual research teams
› Academic institutions want to inform customers and stakeholders about research via ICT
• E-newsletters• Knowledge portals = platforms that offer all sorts of
digital research objects
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
• Example INSEAD Knowledge portal
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
• Example Knowledge@Wharton
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Role of the Librarian?
• Broaden traditional information management with KM initiatives
• A lot of institutions do not see how the Librarian can be linked to KM!
• But the Librarian has certain advantages: › “unsuspected party”
› Feeling with different disciplines and cultures
› Can promote the knowledge culture across the different research centres
› Can offer KM-tools to the whole community
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Role of the Librarian?
• Conditions for successful action› Strong consciousness of the social and culture
factors that influence knowledge sharing
› Attitudes more important than tools
› Support of the management board
› Tackling of politicking
› Good co-operation with other parties: HR department, researchers, IT department,…
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Role of the Librarian?
› Develop the communication and motivation skills to make clear the new role of the Librarian:
Someone who encourages people to share (tacit and explicit) knowledge and to learn from each other across borders
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Role of the Librarian?
• Approach› Raising consciousness
› Needs analysis + which knowledge networks do already exist?
› Processes that generate a lot of frustration are opportunities for KM initiatives
› Go where the energy is: take KM initiatives towards groups that have to share knowledge
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
The future?
• For typical information management tasks the Librarian will have an increasingly “back office” function
• For new KM activities: a “front office” function is possible?
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
The future
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
The future
• Amazon becomes starting point for book searches?
Is this book available in my library?
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
The future?
The librarian/knowledge manager:• KM developer
› In co-operation with researchers and student administration manage digital ‘objects’ (Knowledge portals)
• KM integrator› Integrates knowledge in education and research
› Acts as “knowledge broker” between persons and information sources
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
• KM educator › Trains employees in information skills & how
knowledge can be organised, stored and shared
• KM researcher› Uses information science and technology for
new possibilities in KM
Alec Vuijlsteke 2004
Thank you for your attention
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