Knowledge and Information Management Skills for the Workplace

This report discusses the importance of effective creation, storing, sharing, application, and integration of information in knowledge management development practices. It evaluates Amazon's knowledge and information management culture and offers recommendations for strengthening practices. The report also covers key knowledge management theories and their relevance to Amazon's customer relationship management.

Knowledge and
Information Management
Skills for the Workplace

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Introduction of organisation........................................................................................................1
Introduction of key knowledge management theory or theories.................................................2
Importance to understand effective creation, storing, sharing, application and integration of
information is essential prerequisite for good knowledge management development practices.3
Evaluation of identified scenario within the company. Relevant alternative academic theories
that must be identified and evaluated for checking effectiveness of knowledge and information
management culture in the company in context of creating knowledge asset as well as
maintaining effective customer relationship management..........................................................5
Discussion of organisational knowledge management challenges along with offering
recommendations for strengthening knowledge management practices form the perspective of
knowledge acquisition-retention-transfer....................................................................................7
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................10
Covered in Poster Presentation..................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
At workplace, knowledge and information management skill are essential for achieving
success. Knowledge management is said to a discipline of not capturing knowledge, rather store,
use along with share knowledge. All types of knowledge management skills require individual
techniques which depends on particular goals along with available resources. At same time,
information management is termed to a practice of collecting, managing addition to distributing
information (Liebowitz and Beckman, 2020). It concerns a cycle of business practice comprising
acquiring information from a source to another, custodianship as well as distributing information
to one who require it and disposing with the help of archiving or deletion. Information and
knowledge management skill boosts efficiency of decision making potential of company. Wirth
this, employees access to overall specialisation held at workplace and devise informed decisions
which provide advantages to entity. Purpose of the report is to learn about concept along with
importance of knowledge management in aspect to business knowledge assets and management.
For understanding knowledge and information management system, chosen company is Amazon
which is multinational technological entity that emphasises towards e-commerce, digital
streaming, artificial intelligence as well as cloud computing. It was established in 1994 by Jeff
Bezos at Washington, United States.
The project is prepared in two tasks including report and evaluation of proposed
knowledge management framework. The report highlight introduction of company, key
knowledge management theory and importance of understanding prerequisite for good
knowledge management development practices. It also evaluates effectiveness of knowledge and
information management culture in the company for developing knowledge assets and
maintaining customer relationship management. At last, it discusses potential knowledge
management challenges and some recommendations for strengthening practices from the
perspective.
TASK 1
Introduction of organisation
Amazon is an e-commerce giant having seemingly endless selection along with drive
convenience together with low prices. It works in information technology industry with mission
of continually raising bar of customer experience through using technology addition to
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knowledge for assisting customers to find, discover as well as purchase anything, empower
businesses addition to creators of content for maximising success. The company aims for
becoming most customer centric entity on Earth. In the situation of Coronavirus pandemic, the
entity became default retailer as well as provides essential service for huge consumers. It is
guided by key principles that are passion for invention, long term thinking, customer obsession
despite of competitor focus and commitment for operational excellence (Amazon, 2021). It
strives for becoming most customer centric entity, best employer and safest place for work.
Certain things which are pioneered by Amazon includes 1-Click shopping, Prime, Career
Choice, Amazon Echo, Fulfilment by Amazon, Customer reviews, Kindle, Fire TV, The Climate
Pledge, Kindle Direct Publishing, personalised recommendations, Amazon Studios and hence
forth.
Amazon in the coronavirus pandemic remains one of few establishments to benefit, with
surging online sales. In the situation, supply chain of the company was hit hard that resulted on
delays of delivery and notices of product out of stock. The entity effortlessly connects zillions of
people with gigabyte of information of product. All this is possible with usage of advanced
knowledge management techniques. Since beginning, the establishment determined that
experience of customer was key for success. Information and knowledge management system
that are used by the company to accomplish goals in personalised together with intuitive manner
helped in adding more values to experience.
Introduction of key knowledge management theory or theories
Knowledge management theory is said to a set of idea which entails range of practices to
generate addition to apply knowledge at workplace. In the era of early 1990s, knowledge
emerged as formal scientific discipline that are supported by scholars in practitioners and
academia in corporate environment along with scholars (Gaviria-Marin, Merigo and Popa, 2018).
Key knowledge management theory that is applicable in Amazon for adding significant values
for customers in coronavirus pandemic is Techno centric theory. The theory emphasises on
elements of technological factors and process to design technology enablers for assisting
facilitation of flow of knowledge as well as information storage.
When Techno Centric Theory is applied at Amazon, regardless to which practice of theory is
deployed, managing knowledge entails effects or impacts of process, people as well as
technology on sharing of knowledge. With this, company is able to address ecological issues
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such as impacts of coronavirus pandemic through its decision making and problem solving
efficiency. It further allows control on human resources on external environment factors and
assist in correcting practices to manage business (Sousa and Rocha, 2019).
Importance to understand effective creation, storing, sharing, application and integration of
information is essential prerequisite for good knowledge management development
practices
The practices that are used in the process of developing knowledge management so that an
organisation can achieve its targets by making the best use of information is defined as
knowledge management development practices (Barley, Treem and Kuhn, 2018). There are
several development practices of knowledge management that helps Amazon in enhancing its
business performance. For development of good knowledge management, there are some
essential prerequisites such as effective creation, storing, sharing, application and integrations of
information. The importance of these prerequisites in context to Amazon is described as follows:
Effective creation: Creation of knowledge means combination, conversion and transfer of
different types of information in a continuous manner. With the help of advanced technologies,
Amazon uses knowledge creation as well as knowledge up to the optimum level within the
business. When the information is created, the administrators and the management of the
company share this knowledge to their human resources in a proper time to achieve success of
the organisation in an effective manner (Penn and Pennix, 2017). The creation of knowledge is
important to gain the competitive advantage over the competitors in the market. It also helps the
company in maintaining its sustainable performance. Another importance of effective creation of
knowledge is that it helps in developing the new capabilities within the organisation. It also
facilitates in improving the internal aspects of the company and is considered as a major asset of
innovative organisation.
Storing: The concept of knowledge storing consists of both the soft as well as hard style
retention and recording of knowledge of both organisation and individual in such a way so as to
be well recovered. Within Amazon, the effective storing of knowledge saves organisational
resources as well as time and helps in improving the performance of the organisation as a whole.
The storing of knowledge helps the managers of the company in making informed business
decisions. It also helps in enhancing the level of sharing explicit knowledge as well as enables
the business in better project management. The process of storing of knowledge provides
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assistance to administration of the company in empowering a quicker rate of innovation that
helps the business in getting better productivity. This will improve the performance of the
organisation and helps in creating a positive brand value of the organisation.
Sharing: Knowledge sharing is the process in which implicit or declared knowledge is
interacted to other individuals within the organisation. In context to Amazon, sharing of
knowledge is important because it helps the administration of the company in connecting with
other personnel. It also facilitates the company in making its performance better along with
becoming a strong brand value (Jiang, Wang and Wu, 2018). The sharing of knowledge provides
assistance to manages of the company in saving the money on training. Another importance of
sharing of knowledge is that it assists in expanding the level of productivity and social
interaction along with building the trust among the human resources of the company. The
process of knowledge sharing is essential in knowledge management because it provides
assistance to active workforce of the company in passing everything they know to others in the
organisation. It also helps manpower of the respective company in getting recognition and a
sense of purpose that helps them in achieving organisational goals effectively.
Application of information: Knowledge application is done when the available
information or knowledge is used in the process of decision making and performing the functions
within the organisation through prescribed routines as well as directions. In context to Amazon,
the employees of the company that are having skills are equipped for identifying, analysing and
evaluating the knowledge facilitate them in making their own connections. Information
application is important in knowledge management because it helps in understanding and
improving the processes of business so that human resources within the company can save
money as well as time. Another importance of application of information is that it provides
assistance to supervisors of the company in maintaining sustainable growth by gaining the
competitive advantages. Information application is important in knowledge management of the
respective company because it helps in overall growth of the business along with productivity of
employees. Information system is essential within the company because it helps the
administration of the company in making better business decisions (Aguirre and Rodriguez,
2017). Another importance of information system is that it facilitates Amazon in the process of
providing the required information which helps in fast formulation of decisions within the
business. Amazon is using Management Information System (MIS) that helps the respective
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company in delivering the necessary information to the different departments within the
organisation. Input, processing and output are three different activities within information system
that generates the information that is required by the company. The input of MIS accumulates the
raw data from within the business and processed it by converting this raw information into a
meaningful form. The output of MIS transfers the processed data to those employees of the
company who need it for a particular activity of the business.
Integration of information: In this process, the information is merged from different
sources with distinct concepts and contexts. Within Amazon, the process of integration of
information is important because it facilitates in extending the competency level of the business
along with enabling flexible and full access to information. Information integration provides
assistance administration of the respective company in making smart business decisions. The
integration of information in knowledge management provides flexibility to the workforce of the
organisation in using the information in various internal systems (Zhang, Weng and Zhu, 2018).
This helps in improving the knowledge management of the company by providing relevant and
appropriate information. The integration of information helps in obtaining a lower probability of
detection of errors and also provides a greater reliability by making use of information from
distinct sources.
Evaluation of identified scenario within the company. Relevant alternative academic theories that
must be identified and evaluated for checking effectiveness of knowledge and information
management culture in the company in context of creating knowledge asset as well as
maintaining effective customer relationship management
Organisation culture is defined as the process of accumulation of values, practices and
expectations that instruct and guide the activities of all members of the team within an
organisation. There are several theories that have helped in developing the culture in the
organisation. From given scenario, it is evaluated that during the pandemic situation of COVID-
19, the growth of Amazon was not going down soon because the company had prepared its back-
to-back shopping rush such as Prime day in October and the holidays after that. Even the
respective company crossed the business operations of other companies of America at the
threshold. However, in context to Amazon, there are some theories that are concerned with
customer relationship management to check the effectiveness of knowledge and information
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management culture within the organisation. The description of these theories is given as
follows:
Functionalist theory of culture: This theory views the distinct categories of culture by
performing various functions. According to this theory, functionalists view customers as a
system in which all the divisions of the culture work together to satisfy the different needs of the
customers. In context to Amazon, the administration of the company views different parts of the
culture within the company. All the parts of the culture perform their functions altogether to
fulfil the needs and requirements of the customers (Greene, Hoffmann and Stark, 2019). If the
company performs its functions according to this theory, then it will help in promoting the
stability and sustainability of the business. This theory helps the company in accumulating the
information of their potential customers regarding their perceptions and preferences. This will
facilitates the company in expanding the level of market-share as well as profitability within the
respective company.
Conflict theory: This theory concentrates on the competition that exist between groups or
teams of the customers over limited resources. Conflicts theory states that the crime is caused
because of the clash of values that occurred when distinct customers or social groups have
different thoughts or ideas of acceptable behaviour. There are several types of conflicts that may
arise within the workplace and some of them are interpersonal conflicts, role conflicts, maturity
conflicts, intergroup conflicts, ideological conflicts and many more. In context to Amazon, when
managers of the company work on this theory, then they would concentrate on the source of
criminal norms as well as attitudes. The different customers of the company learn distinct norms
of conduct and those conduct norms of some customers may get clashed with conventional
middle-class rules. This theory would provide assistance to managers of the company in
identifying the reason behind the arisen of conflicts. With the help of this theory, the managers of
the company also learn how to face those conflicts when they happen.
Symbolic interactionism theory: This is micro-level theory which concentrates on the
relationships among personnel within a society or customer. Symbolic interactionism theory is
concerned with the personal interaction between the customers in the market. In context to
Amazon, the point of symbolic interactionism responds the approach of social constructionist in
which the structure of the business is viewed as constructed through the activities of the
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individuals that are coordinated by buying patterns as well as expectations of the customers
(Morley and Cashell, 2017).
Discussion of organisational knowledge management challenges along with offering
recommendations for strengthening knowledge management practices form the perspective
of knowledge acquisition-retention-transfer
Knowledge management is a multidisciplinary approach for attaining objectives of a
company through making optimum usage of available knowledge. It is conscious process to
define, structure, retain addition to share knowledge addition to experience of personnel at a
company. Managing internal knowledge at organisation in effective manner is a challenge which
an organisation experiences. Amazon is a popular giant in e-commerce who have recorded huge
sales and profits in coronavirus pandemic. It spent billions on coronavirus based investment
including safety gear for employees and internal testing initiative. While there was navigated
widespread unemployment as well as economic turmoil, the company kept hiring. It also
connected zillions of people effectively with gigabytes of information of its offerings through
using advanced knowledge management techniques (Faraj, Pachidi and Sayegh, 2018). In
essence, there are some potential knowledge management challenges faced by Amazon are as
discussed:
Accessing information from common workflows: Proximity of knowledge to common
workflows is one of potential knowledge management challenge that is experienced by Amazon.
The team invest huge time and efforts in coronavirus pandemic to capture together with codify
internal knowledge, however, it that documentation is perceived to be located far from place
wherein support seekers are carrying out practices, they lack using it to potentiality. In the
pandemic situation, the company faced accessing knowledge from common workflows addition
to managing it full potentials. It is because support seekers of the company actually looking for
approaches to access knowledge and manage information.
Technology overskill: In the pandemic situation, updates are becoming all too frequent.
A little over decade, new models in computer system or mobile phone are released on continuous
basis (Plewnia and Guenther, 2018). In context to Amazon, operating systems for managing
knowledge was a challenge. For human resource of the company, technology overskill to
manage knowledge was a challenge as personnel require to focus on core job duties while
improving their skill so to manage customer relationships. Moreover, learning about a new
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program to manage sales and stock created a challenge for managers to carry out operations to
meet demand.
Lack of employee motivation: In coronavirus pandemic, organisational personnel felt
overwhelmed with all systems together with processes that that they were forced to use for
getting work done. In context to Amazon, use of knowledge management techniques made
employee feel that they are expected to learn new systems and working continually. When it
happened, managers faced challenge of lack of employee motivation. Moreover, employees of
the entity also wonder that it might be another execution which is here present and gone
tomorrow. Situation of unemployment and huge pressure to meet demand, record transactions
and so on. The entity brought around 175000 new warehouses along with delivery employees for
meeting customer orders. As an outcome, existing employees of the company were not as
motivated to us knowledge. Perhaps, more of workforce were already comfortable with own
personal systems to find knowledge. It was very difficult for professionals of the organisation to
change habits and share knowledge.
Keeping systems secure: Successful knowledge management system improves learning
along with innovation in the business. In Amazon, it was a challenge for managers to keep the
systems secure in coronavirus pandemic. Professionals and managers of the organisation do not
want that critical knowledge gets leak to competitors or some nefarious hackers. The flood of
online orders and managing the information of each customer was complex task for Amazon.
Identification of knowledge gaps: Locating knowledge gaps within intrinsic knowledge
management is complex task which is faced by a company (Itani, Agnihotri and Dingus, 2017).
In the pandemic situation, knowledge gap identification is completely manually at recurring
interval through keeping proper track of common questions along with tracking frequency.
Amazon managers faced the knowledge management challenge in coronavirus pandemic as the
entity hired around 36400 people that brought its head count to approximate 876800. In this,
identifying knowledge gap among new and existing people to manage knowledge was added in
its complexities.
Lack of Management of community engagement: Amazon is among forward thinking
business which have internal platform to share knowledge, however, it does not mean that the
entity solves is issues by itself. In coronavirus pandemic, managers of Amazon faced a challenge
of lack of management of community engagement. It is because the company was having lack of
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time to focus on such aspect rather it was focused to fulfil customer needs and managing delivery
stock out situation.
Facilitation collaboration among teams: Amazon being a large company have a huge
physical place from distinct organisational departments that collaborate for carrying out
operations. However, with enhancement of number of workforce and huge regulations from
government in coronavirus pandemic, Amazon managers faced knowledge management
challenge of facilitating collaboration for members of team, regardless of job location.
Perspective of Knowledge acquisition-retention-transfer is said to a process to collect
knowledge from various number of sources, transferring the new information from short term to
long term memory and disseminating ideas from one to another (Rauschnabel, He and Ro, 2018).
From the perspective of Knowledge acquisition-retention-transfer, some of recommendations to
managers of Amazon for strengthening its knowledge management practices are as follows:
Centralizing knowledge content: To managers of Amazon, it is recommended to
centralise knowledge content that is acquired, retained and transfer from various number of
sources. With this, the company will be able to acquire, retain, develop and transfer good
knowledge base as well as centralise a place for store responses and create individual documents
with common responses in the manner that they do not to type from scratch. When knowledge or
information are consolidated in shared document, it is key for managers to consolidate the
content along with do away with disparate sources.
Tracking metrics for gauging success: To managers of Amazon, it is suggested to track
metrics to gauge success (Ghobakhloo and Fathi, 2019). While there are huge number of metrics
available for tracking for management of knowledge, as per perspective of Knowledge
acquisition-retention-transfer, success rate is one of metric that could help in managing
knowledge effectively. The metric reflects ways in which contacts could be prevented due to
knowledge base. Managers are required to multiple the number of cost per contact to quantify
amount of monetary resources saved through possessing updated knowledge base.
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TASK 2
Covered in Poster Presentation
CONCLUSION
From the report, it is concluded that knowledge and information management skill is an
ability among managers to collect, organise, store addition to share information assets of an
enterprise. In a company, knowledge management emphasises on attainment of organisational
goals including competitive benefits, improvement in performance, sharing lessons learned,
continuous improvement and innovation. At same time, information management is considered
as a guiding principle which permits information to be available to right people at right time. It
serves purpose of designing, developing, managing addition to using information with
innovation as well as supporting decision making to create values for stakeholders. Accessing
information from common workflows, technology overskill, identifying knowledge gaps,
facilitation collaboration among teams and lack of management of community engagement are
some potential knowledge management challenges. To strengthen their knowledge management
practices, key recommendations to company as per knowledge acquisition-retention-transfer
perspectives are tracking metrics to gauge success and centralising knowledge content.
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Amazon. 2021. [Online]. Available through: < https://www.amazon.com/>
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(Liebowitz and Beckman, 2020) (Gaviria-Marin, Merigo and Popa, 2018) (Sousa and Rocha,
2019) (Barley, Treem and Kuhn, 2018) (Penn and Pennix, 2017) (Jiang, Wang and Wu, 2018)
(Aguirre and Rodriguez, 2017) (Zhang, Weng and Zhu, 2018) (Greene, Hoffmann and Stark,
2019) (Morley and Cashell, 2017) (Faraj, Pachidi and Sayegh, 2018) (Plewnia and Guenther,
2018) (Itani, Agnihotri and Dingus, 2017) (Rauschnabel, He and Ro, 2018) (Ghobakhloo and
Fathi, 2019)
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