Chapter 13 Leadership and Reward Structures

1. Chapter 13Leadership and Reward Structures The Knowledge Management Toolkit Amrit Tiwana

2. From the CIO to the CKO • CIOs have distinct responsibilities: IT strategy, development of systems, connectivity, IT support, and general IT management. • Whether the individual holds the title of Best Practices Manager, CEO, or Strategic Knowledge Manager, the key role that this individual plays is still the same: to make the KM system and processes an integral part of regular, daily work. • Although there is often a CIO where there is a CKO, the reverse is not always true.

3. KM Leadership Roles : • Championing: • Educating users: • Educating the management team: • Measuring the impact of KM: • Mapping and Defragmenting exiting knowledge: • Creating the technology channels: • Integrating business process with the technology enablers:

4. The Knowledge Leader’s job Description • Optimizing process design for KM: • Creating channels: • Integrating KM: • Breaking barriers and eliminating impediments: • Watching the learning loop: • Creating finacial and competitive value: • Support IT and eliminating knowledge flow gaps:

5. The CKO as Organizational Glue • Convincing two distinct groups about the value of KM • Management • Knowledge workers

7. Initiatives and the CKO • The initiatives that a CKO must take fall into four broad categories, as shown in Figure 13-2. • The primary task of a CKO is to enable, not control, KM. • Management initiatives relating to both tacit and explicit knowledge can be subclassified into two groups of tasks for a CKO: the organizational and the technical responsibilities. • On the technological front, a CKO needs to build channels for distribution of explicit knowledge and sharing of tacit knowledge.

9. Initiatives and the CKO • On the organizational front, these tasks include the following. • Identifying knowledge gaps: • Creating a culture of knowledge sharing: • Creating appropriate metrics: • Developing communities of practice: • Diffusing best practices: • Training. • Structuring processes.

10. Initiatives and the CKO • Removing knowledge sharing barriers: • Aligning local knowledge: • Creating process triggers: • Why is the customer retention level so low for product X? • Why does the customer want to buy a competing product (at a higher price) after having tried ours? • Why is the customer not satisfied with our product? • Marking KM a part-and-parcel of routine work:

11. Initiatives and the CKO • The technological initiatives that a CKO is responsible for include the following: • Building directories: • Creating channels: • Extending the intranet: • Supporting group work: • Providing tools for collaborating problem solving:

12. Initiatives and the CKO • The technological initiatives that a CKO is responsible for include the following: • Supporting remote work: • Building repositories: • Infusing external knowledge: • Enabling tacit knowledge application: • Introducing cross-functional tools:

13. The Successful Knowledge Leader • The CKO must have a fairly good understanding of the technology that will be deployed as a part of the KM system. • The CKO also need the skills of an effective manager and an entrepreneur. • A CKO needs to understand the working of the company inside out to be able to comprehend its vital process. • Create and see the big picture and, at the same time, translate it into tasks and concrete deliverables.

14. Reward Structures to Ensure KM Success • It’s the CKO’s responsibility to motivate employees to use and add value to the KM system and, in turn, the firm. • Buckman Labs • Chaparral Steel • Pfizer • The knowledge leader should also consider the relative stability of employees, their jobs, and modes of working.