IT assignment essay on: knowledge management practices

Introduction

            This report is basically concerned with performing an audit of knowledge management practices that were performed in Hewlett-Packard. The current knowledge position of the company will be critically assessed in this report which would include the identification of knowledge management practices that are being followed in the organization. All the aspects pertaining to the knowledge management such as knowledge sharing across various business units of the organization, knowledge environment including the external and internal business environment, knowledge resources, needs and gaps will be critically assessed in this report. The application of knowledge audit tools will also be performed in order to better assess the knowledge performance of the organization. The complete assessment of the knowledge management practices would lead to certain recommendations to the company which can be utilized in order to improve the knowledge management practices over the current practices that are being followed in the organization. Finally, all the findings would be presented in the conclusion section of this report regarding the entire knowledge management scenario that prevails in the organization (Awad and Awad 2004)

Background of the Study: This report is to the CEO of Hewlett-Packard describing the current knowledge management practices of the company. The objective of this report is to make recommendations to the CEO so that the existing knowledge management practices of the organization can be improved. Thus, the assessment of the current knowledge management practices of Hewlett-Packard would lead to certain recommendations so that the overall improvement in knowledge sharing can be possible.

Aim or Purpose of the Report: The report aims at providing knowledge management solutions to the company so that better knowledge sharing within the company can be possible and ultimately leads to overall growth of the organization.

Current Knowledge Position of Hewlett Packard

Knowledge management has a significant role to play in the achievement of overall success in the organization. By effectively managing the knowledge, it becomes possible for the company to achieve competitive advantage over others (Rollett 2003). In case of Hewlett-Packard, knowledge management is considered crucial for the success of the organization. Higher emphasis is being placed on the concept of knowledge management by the company, as it believes that the rapid success that it has achieved in the past is because of the knowledge management practices that are being performed by it. Employees of the organization also have a desire to learn and share their knowledge with others so that their combined effort would enable the organization to attain its goal comprehensively. However, the mode of operations that is being followed in the company is decentralized organizational structure and as such, the sharing of knowledge among its employees across its various business units is a difficult task. In order to ensure the proper sharing of knowledge across all its business units, there were various knowledge management practices that have been undertaken in the organization in the past. Some of the major knowledge management initiatives that are undertaken include Trainers Trading Post, the Connex guide to internal experts and HP Network news. The current knowledge position of Hewlett-Packard can be better assessed by considering the below mentioned discussions:Purpose of the Organization: Hewlett-Packard is known for becoming the successful high tech firm. There has been a widespread recognition of Hewlett-Packard for its knowledge pertaining to markets, products and customers. It is regarded as one of the biggest competitive advantage of the organization. But, as the decentralized system of organizational structure is being followed, the knowledge has been widely dispersed across its business units that have little perceived need to share with one another. As such, in order to ensure successful sharing of knowledge across all its business units, there are various knowledge sharing initiatives that have been undertaken within the company. Thus, the main purpose of the organization as identified is to effectively manage the knowledge across all its business units as it believes that effective management of knowledge would enable it to achieve competitive advantage over others. It is also quite clear from the knowledge management initiatives that are being undertaken by the company so as to allow its employees to share knowledge in a most effective manner and thereby contributes towards the achievement of the organizational goals.

• External Knowledge Environment: The knowledge environment in which the organization exists is highly complicated as there has been a high demand of knowledge for the successful performance of the company. This fact can be better cleared from the achievements as possible in case of Hewlett-Packard Company from its successful management of knowledge. As a result of its effective knowledge management practices, the company has achieved huge success which indicates that the need for managing knowledge in extremely important. In order to survive in the complex external business environment, it becomes essential for the companies to manage knowledge effectively (Liebowitz et al. 2000).
• Organizational Structure including Internal Knowledge Culture: As far as the internal structure of the organization is concerned, Hewlett-Packard follows a decentralized organizational structure. As such, the management of knowledge across all its business units becomes a difficult task. However, the company aims at adopting various kinds of knowledge management programs so that the internal management of knowledge within the organization can be possible. The sharing of knowledge is considered essential among all the employees across all its business units, as it ensures the success of the entire organization. There is little organized sharing of information, employees and resources across units. As such, the internal knowledge management system of the company is considered to be quite ineffective, which lead to the various kinds of initiatives on the part of the company so that the knowledge sharing among all its employees within the organization can be performed effectively.
• Knowledge Workers: The task of knowledge sharing can be performed effectively in case when the workers have sufficient knowledge to share. In other words, it indicates that the knowledge base of the employees should be strong enough to support its sharing across all the business units effectively. Knowledge workers imply the individuals within the organization that have the ability to effectively share and communicate their knowledge among the other members of the organization. In case of Hewlett-Packard, the employees are known for having sound business knowledge. In addition to this, employees at Hewlett-Packard also believes in learning and sharing knowledge, but the internal structure of the organization is not supportive enough to ensure the best possible sharing of such knowledge (Liebowitz et al. 2000).
• Implication of Technology in Knowledge management: Technology has a major role to play in the effective management of knowledge within the organization. With the rapid enhancement in the field of technology, there are various technological systems that are available for effectively managing the knowledge. Some of these include Knowledge Management System (KMS) which facilitates the better management of knowledge within the organization. The implication of information technology in effectively managing the knowledge can also be established in case of Hewlett-Packard, as one of the major initiatives of the company is to ensure management of knowledge for the computer dealer channel. The system used by the company is known as HP Network News. This system has been used by the company for the purpose of networking and also for sharing knowledge among its stakeholders. For instance, the dealers of the company are encouraged to share data by downloading the information from the notes database as developed by the company.
• Knowledge Resources and Knowledge Sharing Practices: For the effective sharing of knowledge, the existence of sufficient knowledge resources is essential. Knowledge resources imply the sources that can be used in order to create knowledge within the organization. It can be the availability of sufficient information so that the process of knowledge creation can be possible and ultimately, it can be shared among the employees. In case of Hewlett-Packard, the most important knowledge resources of the organization is its technically oriented engineers who posses sufficient knowledge about the ways in which organization’s functions are performed. In addition to this, there are more than 2000 trainers that are widely distributed through out the organization and they facilitate the effective sharing of knowledge among the employees of the organization. The knowledge sharing practices in the organization are being performed through workshops by means of informal networking and also by establishing common language and management framework for knowledge management. Most of the knowledge sharing practices in the organization is being performed by the creation of workshops (Smith 2005).
• Knowledge Needs and Gaps: Although, the workshops has been created and various other initiatives have been undertaken in order to ensure the effective sharing of knowledge, yet there exists various gaps between the effective knowledge sharing process. The knowledge sharing among the work groups in the organization is found to be effective, whereas it remains inefficient in case of various business units of the organization. The knowledge gaps as identified is with respect to the information sharing across business units, as there is little organized sharing among the employees from various departments. The effective management of knowledge requires good amount of cooperation among all the existing employees of the organization from different business units. But is has been found missing on the part of Hewlett-Packard, as the sharing of information across different business units of the organization was missing. This has been the major gap in the process of effective sharing of knowledge. Apart from this, there has been an extensive need of knowledge sharing at Hewlett-Packard as the company believes that it would enable them to attain competitive advantage (Liebowitz et al. 2000).Knowledge Audit Tools

            There are various knowledge audit tools that can be used in order to audit the knowledge of an organization. By the application of knowledge audit tools, it becomes possible to perform a detailed examination, review assessment and evaluation of an organization’s abilities and also its knowledge management activities. In addition to this, the evaluation of the company’s information systems and its knowledge enabling tools and technology can also be possible through knowledge audit. There are various such knowledge audit tools that are available and the most appropriate ones include knowledge survey or need analysis, knowledge inventory, Knowledge flow analysis and knowledge mapping (McNabb 2006). The application of all these knowledge audit tools with respect to the given case study is discussed as follows:

• Knowledge Survey or Need Analysis: Knowledge need analysis is concerned with the identification of information that is needed to the users in order to perform their jobs in a most effective manner. In simple words, it indicates the need for knowledge that is essential for the employees to perform effective knowledge sharing. It is used by examining the background activities so that the accurate need analysis can be possible. In case of Hewlett-Packard, this tool has been utilized in order to identify its need for knowledge and it indicates that there is a high necessity for effective knowledge sharing within the organization (Richards and Kang 2009).
• Knowledge Inventory: Knowledge inventory implies locating knowledge assets and resources within the organization. It has been widely used to identify the knowledge resources of the organization. With respect to Hewlett Packard, its application indicates that the technical engineers and the availability of information becomes the major knowledge inventory of the organization.
• Knowledge Flow Analysis: The movement of knowledge throughout the organization can be better assessed through the knowledge flow analysis. It can be used to assess the flow of knowledge and the analysis of the case of Hewlett-Packard indicates that the flow of knowledge was low across different business units of the organization, but it was high in case of work groups that performs within the organization (Richards and Kang 2009).
• Knowledge Mapping: The visualization of the knowledge can be performed with the help of knowledge mapping, as by the application of knowledge need, inventory and flow analysis, most of the knowledge requirements of the organization can easily be identified and the best possible actions for improving the knowledge can be possible (Richards and Kang 2009).

Recommendations

            A brief analysis of the case has been performed and the analysis of the case indicates that there are various initiatives that are being taken by Hewlett-Packard in order to improve in knowledge sharing potential. The effectiveness of knowledge sharing has been found in case of work groups that are being performed within the organization, but it remains less in case of various business units that exists within the organization. As such, the complete analysis of the case results into certain kinds of recommendations to the company so that its knowledge sharing activities can further be encouraged within the organization and better attainment of the organizational goals become possible. Some of the major recommendations to the company are presented below:There should be an organized knowledge sharing process within the organization, as an organized knowledge sharing process was found missing which results into inefficiencies in the proper sharing of knowledge among the employees across the business units.

• There are more than 2000 trainers throughout the organization that provides training to small groups and because of having such large number of trainers, it becomes difficult to facilitate effective knowledge to the employees and thus, it becomes a major barrier in the overall process of knowledge sharing. As such, it has been highly recommended that the training to the employees should be provided on a larger basis so that the effective sharing of knowledge can be possible.

In addition to this, it is also essential for the company to perform a knowledge management project on a broader scale so that the participation of all the employees across the business units can be possible and it would facilitate the knowledge sharing as well. The project should aim at encouraging employees to contribute their knowledge by way of their participation from the different business units. The knowledge process that will be performed should be shared among all the employees for ensuring better sharing of knowledge to attain organizational goals.

Conclusion

A brief assessment of the knowledge management activities of Hewlett Packard has been performed and the assessment indicates that knowledge management is highly valued in the organization, as the company believes that the attainment of competitive advantage can be possible through effective knowledge management. The knowledge management at Hewlett Packard indicates that it has been effective with respect to work groups, but its efficiency is low in case of business units of the organization. The assessment of current knowledge position of the organization has been performed through knowledge management tools which indicate that there exist knowledge gaps. For effectively filling this knowledge gaps, it has been recommended that the organized sharing of knowledge should be encouraged and the company should run a project on knowledge management that encourages participation of all the employees in the process.

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