Knowledge Management: Brainstorming, Nominal Group Techniques and Consensus

This article discusses the use of brainstorming, nominal group techniques, and consensus in knowledge management. It also explores the factors that led to the failure of a global company's knowledge management project and the stages of a knowledge management project lifecycle.

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Knowledge Management
Name
Institution

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TASK 1
4.1: Brainstorming, nominal group techniques and consensus
Question A
Most companies use the reward system as a method of rewarding efforts and increasing
the employees’ worth. However, this may not be the case for all employees. Some employees
view monetary rewards as a hindrance to personal growth. Therefore, developing employees’
recognition program may act as one of the best ways to employee personal growth perception
problems. The company may introduce structure programs which constitute frequent recognition
events such as breakfast with the boss or banquets. Another recognition is award presentation in
front of peers.1 This makes employees feel appreciated among a group of people. This builds
their morale and may lead to the high achievement of the organization’s goals. A new office or
upgraded workspace is another way that may improve employees’ personal growth and
perception problems. An upgrade office space will create a more conducive environment for
employees or an employee to execute organizational tasks. For example, if employees used to
work in an open office layout, the management may decide to make it a landscape office layout
or reward an employee by allocating them to an enclosed office layout.
Additionally, involving employees’ in decisions making improves the employee’ growth
problem. Some organization neglect employees in the decision-making process. This makes
employees feel sidelined. Some decisions made by the top management where the employees
were not considered in the process may affect employees and demotivate them. Contrary,
involving employees’ in decision making allows employees to air their opinions. Besides, a job
1 Hosam Al-Samarraie and Shuhaila Hurmuzan, "A Review Of Brainstorming Techniques In
Higher Education" (2018) 27 Thinking Skills and Creativity.

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well by an employee can be recognized by empowering the employee as an internal consultant to
other staff. This may make the employee feel appreciated for the job done hence motivating the
employee to continue delivering their best for the success of an organization.
Question B
The group consisted of five members. The group aimed to find a solution to the personal
worth perception problem faced by employees in large companies. The group applied the
nominal group technique to come up with a solution that will best resolve the employee personal
worth perception challenge. The first stage was the key presentation of questions which were
read loudly to all the group members.2 The questions included the rewards that have reduced the
perception of personal worth and the ways which can be used to raise the perception of personal
growth. The second stage is the silent phase. During this stage, the group members generated
ideas silently on how to solve the problem of employee personal worth perception. The silent
generation of ideas gave members adequate personal time to think and created a problem-
centered environment without interruption.
The third stage that the group applied according to NGT was the round-robin recording of
ideas. During this stage, the leader that the group had elected went around the table recording the
ideas from each group member. The leader asked for clarification if the idea was not well
presented. This assisted each member to participate freely. The fourth phase was the
clarification. The participants discussed and clarified unclear factors until every member was
comfortable enough. The group went through the last and interesting phase which was voting.
The participants had selected a few resolutions for employee self-worth perception. They
2 David Dryden Henningsen and Mary Lynn Miller Henningsen, "Generating Ideas About The
Uses Of Brainstorming: Reconsidering The Losses And Gains Of Brainstorming Groups
Relative To Nominal Groups" (2013) 78(1) Southern Communication Journal.

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included tea with the boss, being involved in decisions making, new office, and taking the
position of an internal consultant.
ideas
Participant
1
Participant
2
Participant
3
Participant
4
Participant
5
Total ranking
Office
space 20 40 15 35 110 2
Involvemen
t in decision
making
10 32 152 194 1
Internal
consultant 30 30 30 90 3
Therefore, according to the voting results, the best solution to employee self-worth
problem was involving the employees’ in the organization’s decision making.
Question C
The group applied the consensus decision-making approach with the aim of choosing a
resolution to the issue of employee personal worth perception to which all the group participants
can commit. To arrive at the solution, the members started with the first step which was
introducing and clarifying the problem by sharing important information.3 The second step was
exploring the problem by gathering thoughts and reaction. At this stage, the group also collecting
ideas that will assist them for solving the issue such as offering training, paid parking fees,
3 Ivan Palomares, Luis Martinez and Francisco Herrera, "A Consensus Model To Detect And
Manage Noncooperative Behaviors In Large-Scale Group Decision Making" (2014) 22(3) IEEE
Transactions on Fuzzy Systems.

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recognizing members by giving them awards as the best employee of the year.4 The participants
discussed the ideas raised raising their merits and demerits. The participants then moved to the
next step which was looking for emerging proposals. The fourth step was discussing, clarifying,
and amending their proposals by giving every member a chance to contribute. The fifth step was
testing for agreement. There out of four members came to the conclusion that recognizing
employees by giving them awards as employees of the year is the best solution which all member
of the group can commit to. The group then moved to the last stage which was implementation
and decision making. The group decided that the idea will be implemented at the start of the
company’s financial year.
Task 1: Knowledge Codification
Question 5.1
4 Ignacio Javier Perez et al, "A New Consensus Model For Group Decision Making Problems
With Non-Homogeneous Experts" (2014) 44(4) IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and
Cybernetics: Systems.

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Instance of
B.
Horse Frame
Thoroughbred Frame
It is an: animal
It is a: 18 hand
Does it jump: yes
Families: Thoroughbred
Aspect
Location:
Aquis Farms
Mini: instance frame
It is a: Thoroughbred
The animal boards in a: full
board
Aspect
Location:
Stable
Student Frame
Families: student

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Instance of
C
Instance of
Task 2: Knowledge developers
Student Frame
The student is a: young woman
The student is an: undergraduate
The student is a: horsewoman
Mini: instance Frame
Name: Brenda
Height: medium
Specialization: liberal arts
Year: third
Aspect
Location: room
Aspect
Location: Melbourne
Airline Frame
Pilot Frame
The pilot is a: human
He is a: captain
He is a: certified
Aspect
Location: Burnside
Mini: instance frame
He is a: pilot
His name is: Fred
The age is: 30
Aspect
Location: Clearfield County

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Personally, a skilled generalist with developed interpersonal skills would be preferred in
KM. This because in creating knowledge-based systems, analytical skills and communication
skills are crucial essentials for working with this type of technology. There are no set rules that
should be followed in problem solving or calculations especially by a computer. Additionally, I
have learned that a person with developed interpersonal skills can learn easily how to write and
develop computer programs.5 Therefore, choosing a persona with developed interpersonal skills
compared to a well-developed computer programmer for successful knowledge development.
7.1: knowledge management implementation
According to the case study of the global company, there three knowledge management
factors that led to its failure. The factors include technology, project management, and content.
Technology failures refer to the elements of knowledge management infrastructure, technology,
and tools. Several factors were behind the technological failure of alpha. The first factor is the
overreliance.6 The global company over-relied on knowledge management tools which made it
assume the tacit elements of knowledge. The second technology factor is maintenance. The
global company experienced a high cost of managing the knowledge management tool. This
forced the management of the company to intervene by terminating the knowledge management
project.
The second category of knowledge management failures is content. This refers to the
properties of knowledge itself. There are several failures which are under the content category.
5 M. Birasnav, "Knowledge Management And Organizational Performance In The Service
Industry: The Role Of Transformational Leadership Beyond The Effects Of Transactional
Leadership" (2014) 67(8) Journal of Business Research.
6 Mario J. Donate and Jesús D. Sánchez de Pablo, "The Role Of Knowledge-Oriented Leadership
In Knowledge Management Practices And Innovation" (2015) 68(2) Journal of Business
Research.

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The first factor is that the content of the company was created fragmentarily from distinct groups
of knowledge management users. The alpha team which was hired by the global company to
create a blueprint for maintaining and gaining global by handling services and market leadership
the team involved another to develop an intranet system. Another factor was that the content was
not organized in a way that was relevant to the task being done handled. More so, the knowledge
management users found out that the content was difficult to digest.
The third category is project management. This is the management of the knowledge
management project. There were several elements behind the failure of the global company’s
project management. The first factor is the general cost of the knowledge management project.
The costs were far much higher from the estimated costs of the whole project. As time elapsed,
the costs were beyond control which made the management to decide between cutting its loses
and terminating the project.7 The second factor that led to the failure of the project management
was the engagement of many external consultants which created confusion in the knowledge
management project.
Based on the global company case, the knowledge management project is identifiable
through a lifecycle which could be split into three stages. The first stage is the initiation. This
stage includes advocating and learning and developing a strategy. During the initiation stage, a
determined team was gathered to handle a particular knowledge management need. Additionally,
the users’ requirements were assembled and the required systems and methods were created.
However, according to the case study, the global company did not have adequate content on
knowledge management. This is because the knowledge management project of the global
7 Mohammad Reza Farzin et al, "A Survey Of Critical Success Factors For Strategic Knowledge
Management Implementation: Applications For Service Sector" (2014) 109 Procedia - Social
and Behavioral Sciences.

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company had the content that could not support crucial business processes since it was
constructed fragmentarily by several groups within the company. Therefore, content is useful for
knowledge management project to succeed. Even if a company has an impressive technological
sophistication, knowledge embracing the culture, and efficient process, a knowledge
management project may not succeed if it lacks useful content. This one of the reasons which
made the global company fail.
The second stage is the implementation stage which constitutes of designing and
launching KM initiatives and Expanding and support initiative. At this stage, the knowledge
management project was initially turned out to the entire company. The third stage is the
institutionalization of knowledge management. Since the alpha team had recruited other teams
which included business IT, knowledge content, and business architecture. Due to the teething
issue of utilizing the new technology and poor translation of design needs for the system to
function, the information technology failed to finish the first workbench for the sales function as
scheduled.8 After introducing the internet system in the project, it was treated with doubt from
other functions of alpha. This made the work of the alpha team to be in doubt at the end of the
year. The company perceived alpha to be losing managerial control over its related information
technology resources. The company lost faith in KM and disbanded alpha.
References
Al-Samarraie, Hosam and Shuhaila Hurmuzan, "A Review Of Brainstorming Techniques In
Higher Education" (2018) 27 Thinking Skills and Creativity
8 Cristina Villar, Joaquín Alegre and José Pla-Barber, "Exploring The Role Of Knowledge
Management Practices On Exports: A Dynamic Capabilities View" (2014) 23(1) International
Business Review.

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Birasnav, M., "Knowledge Management And Organizational Performance In The Service
Industry: The Role Of Transformational Leadership Beyond The Effects Of Transactional
Leadership" (2014) 67(8) Journal of Business Research
Donate, Mario J. and Jesús D. Sánchez de Pablo, "The Role Of Knowledge-Oriented Leadership
In Knowledge Management Practices And Innovation" (2015) 68(2) Journal of Business
Research
Farzin, Mohammad Reza et al, "A Survey Of Critical Success Factors For Strategic Knowledge
Management Implementation: Applications For Service Sector" (2014) 109 Procedia - Social
and Behavioral Sciences
Henningsen, David Dryden and Mary Lynn Miller Henningsen, "Generating Ideas About The
Uses Of Brainstorming: Reconsidering The Losses And Gains Of Brainstorming Groups
Relative To Nominal Groups" (2013) 78(1) Southern Communication Journal
Palomares, Ivan, Luis Martinez and Francisco Herrera, "A Consensus Model To Detect And
Manage Noncooperative Behaviors In Large-Scale Group Decision Making" (2014) 22(3) IEEE
Transactions on Fuzzy Systems
Perez, Ignacio Javier et al, "A New Consensus Model For Group Decision Making Problems
With Non-Homogeneous Experts" (2014) 44(4) IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and
Cybernetics: Systems
Villar, Cristina, Joaquín Alegre and José Pla-Barber, "Exploring The Role Of Knowledge
Management Practices On Exports: A Dynamic Capabilities View" (2014) 23(1) International
Business Review