Knowledge Management

This document discusses the concept of knowledge management and its strategies. It explores the techniques used to convert tacit to explicit knowledge and the issues associated with having too much tacit knowledge within an organization. The document also discusses the approach undertaken by TATA to encourage the conversion of tacit to explicit knowledge and the knowledge management strategy adopted by the company. It further examines the involvement of management in KM initiatives and the impact and use of technology in KM initiatives at TATA. The document also considers the specific use of intranet in KM initiatives, the benefits of organizational learning, and the organizational learning initiatives established by TATA. Additionally, it defines SECI and its application to TATA and its subsidiary companies. The document evaluates the culture at TATA, its strengths and weaknesses, and the role of culture within organizations to facilitate KM. It also discusses the major steps involved in developing a KM strategy and the role of information systems in KM. Finally, it examines the impact of information systems on business activities, the role of intranets and extranets in business, and the role of information systems in converting tacit to explicit knowledge.

Running head: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Knowledge Management
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Knowledge Management questions
1. Techniques used to convert tacit to explicit knowledge
- The technique used for converting tacit to explicit knowledge is externalization
(Battistutti and Bork 2017).
2. Define tacit and explicit knowledge, outlining the issues associated with
a. having too much tacit knowledge within an organization
- Tacit knowledge is the knowledge that includes expertise that is in the heads of the
people within an organization (Chuang, Jackson and Jiang 2016). It is carried as an
individual memory. On the other hand, explicit is the visible knowledge present in the
form of reports, literatures, letters and memos. It can be transformed into methods,
systems, objects etc. One of the main issue of having too much tacit knowledge within
an organization is that when the employees leave the organization, the overall memory
of organization suffers as a setback which gradually result in decreased efficiency and
performance.
3. Discuss the approach undertaken by TATA to encourage the conversion of tacit to
explicit knowledge
- The technique used by Tata group to convert tacit to explicit knowledge is by
capturing the experts’ tacit knowledge which resides within him in the form of the
know-how and the insights.
4. Knowledge Management strategy adopted
- Tata group has implemented the Balance score card all over its businesses (Hansen and
Schaltegger 2016). It is designed in a manner in which it is aligned with the main
business objectives of tata group. Also, the knowledge in TCL is differentiated into 3
levels- basic needs, enabling needs and Strategic needs.
5. Involvement of management in KM initiatives

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- The managers are TATA subscribe to many sources of information and belong to
different communities. They also read many different publications and looks for what
might be useful for the others in the organization. Also, they ensure steady stream of
high quality people getting inducted to fuel the growth plans. For example, they have
implemented initiatives like titli, intended for the crosspollination of the experiences,
ideas and the learnings from one other’s successes and failures. They have also
implemented the Know More Booklets that addresses specific area of its functioning
where in the best practice and the learnings have stimulated improvements (Syaifudin
2017).
6. Impact and use of technology in KM initiatives at TATA and the role of IT in Tata for
KM
- Tata Chemicals is providing safe, affordable drinking water to huge number of people
by introducing nanotechnology based water purifier that is both innovative and low-
cost. Also, The Company’s Centre for Agri-Solutions and Technology gives advice on
the farming solutions as well as on the crop nutrition practices.
7. Consider specific use of intranet in KM initiatives especially as they are a multinational -
global business
- A) For the creation and sharing of knowledge Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata
Chemicals is using various tools provided to the people with the help of Intranet.
- B) Tata has implemented a KM initiative called vibes which is an electronic portal and
this can only be accessed by the use of Intranet.
8. Discuss the benefits of organizational learning as part of knowledge management
initiatives within a business.
- There are several benefits of organizational learning as part of knowledge management
initiatives within a business and they are- decreased employee turnover within an

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organization, efficiency gains, increased profit and productivity, developing leaders at
all the levels, improved ability for the employees to adapt and embrace change and
creating a culture of inquiry and knowledge sharing.
9. Analyze the organizational learning initiatives established by TATA and the benefits this
brought to their operations.
- Tata is focused on continuous realization of requirement for building knowledge base
of the company. Some of the Key learning initiatives at TATA are Titli, Know More
Booklets, Senior Leader Talks and K Connect (North and Kumta 2018).
10. Define SECI and its application of SECI to Tata and its subsidiary companies
- SECI is one of the models of knowledge creation. Here, the main focus is on the
conversion of tacit and explicit knowledge into the knowledge required for fulfilling
the requirements of organizations like Tata Group. It was a model developed by
Ikujiro Nonaka and later revised by Hirotaka Takeuchi
- The main components of this model are socialization, externalization, combination and
internalization (Nonaka and Toyama 2015). Consideration of the SECI model helps
the audience to understand the dynamics of knowledge creation within the workplace.
Renewables are the primary source for Tata in terms of attaining the annual revenue of
Rs 26.79 Billion for the financial year 2017-18. Meetings are an example of
socialization, where tacit knowledge is transferred from the internal environment to the
external ones. Sending drafts about the projects and plans to the higher officials reflect
the externalization of the tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge. Usage of computers
and systems for conducting 3D prototyping for the initiatives is the combination of
explicit knowledge (Nonaka and Toyama 2015). Knowledge transfer between the

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employees is the internalization of explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge by the
personnel of Tata Group. The same dynamics applies for the subsidiaries.
11. Briefly define the term “organizational culture”
- Organizational culture can be referred to as the underlying assumptions, beliefs, ways
for interaction and beliefs that aid to the social and psychological environment of a
company.
12. Evaluate the culture at TATA and what are its strengths and weaknesses.
- Tata strongly believe that its people is its greatest asset. It seeks for nurturing a culture
of innovation, respect, employee care, diversity and total quality management. It gives
equal opportunities to all the employees it hires. Also, it has a knowledge sharing
culture within its organization. The main strength of Tata is that it promotes innovation
and creativity among its employees for enhancing the personal and organizational
values and for developing competitive advantage (Jyoti and Dev 2015). Also, it has a
dynamic culture for vigorous antagonism and growth. However, its weakness include
that it has very poor network coverage.
13. Role of culture within organizations to facilitate KM
- A constructive culture is productively related to the types of outcomes of the
individuals within an organization such as the role clarity, the organizational fit, the
communication quality, their job satisfaction and the creativity and all this promote the
success of KM.
14. What are the major steps involved in developing a knowledge management (KM)
strategy? Provide a detailed strategy describing all the stages as well as the key terms you
mention. What sorts of information is needed in order to recommend a KM strategy to an
organization?
- The major steps involved in developing a knowledge management (KM) strategy are:

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a) Motivation- It is necessary to give incentives and rewards to the targeted users for
encouraging the desired behaviors.
b) Networking- Encouraging direct contact within people.
c) Supplying – A supply of knowledge is very important for reusing. It includes
collection of files and documents, work products and capturing of the information.
d) Analyzing- Analyzing the captured knowledge is very important.
e) Codifying- After the collected knowledge is analyzed, it can be codified for
producing standard methodologies, repeatable processes and reusable material.
f) Disseminating- The potential users shall be made aware of the availability of the
captured knowledge.
g) Demanding- searching for people and content, retrieving information, asking
questions, and then submitting the queries.
h) Acting- Payoff for the process of motivating, networking, supplying, analyzing,
codifying, disseminating, and demanding knowledge is results through action.
i) Inventing- creation of new products and services, thinking of new ideas to try out,
and development of innovative methods and processes could help in transforming
an organization.
j) Augmenting- Cognitive computing could simulate the human thinking processes,
addressing the complicated situations that are characterized by both ambiguity and
uncertainty.
15. Concepts such as quality circles, COPS, Yellow Pages and their definition, role in KM
and application to Tata
- Quality circles refer to the groups of employees who meet in regular basis for considering
different ways for resolving the problems and for improving the production in their

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company. Moreover, CoP is one of the tools used in the process of knowledge
management for supporting and stimulating learning in the company through enhancing
knowledge exchange and organizational learning (Masa’deh, Obeidat and Tarhini 2016).
Lastly, the Yellow Page are the key factors in the process of driving calls to the phone.
They are used for converting the potential clients faster than any other form of internet
marketing.
Information System questions
16. Anthony’s triangle – differentiation between data, information, knowledge etc. and its
application to business in terms of value to the business.
- In terms of value to the business, data refers to the concepts that is fixed in a medium
if a form that is appropriate for interpretation, processing and communication by the
human beings and automated systems. Information on the other hand is a message that
is used by the sender for representing one or more concept within the process of
communication that is intended towards increasing the knowledge in the recipients.
Furthermore, knowledge is about knowing. It is the “familiarity gained by experience;
person's range of information; a theoretical or practical understanding of; the sum of
what is known.”
17. Operational, tactical, Strategic decision making and role of different information systems.
- Operational, tactical, Strategic decision making are the parts of Anthony’s triangle of
organizational model. The operational decision making are at the center of business in
every industries, right from determining the proper amount of credit for lending, to the
calculation of customer loyalty discount, to requesting for the internal authorization.
Strategic decision making on the other hand is the process of charting the course on the
basis of long-term goals and vision. Moreover, tactical decision making is related to
the implementation process of strategic decisions.

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18. Specifics on CRM and ERP systems and their benefits to businesses today
- CRM and ERP systems have lot of benefits to count. Some of them are-
a) Reduction of the duplication of data
b) Centralization of the contacts and accounts
c) Stronger forecasting and visibility
d) Collaboration of cross departments.
e) Easier ordering and quoting
f) Correction of the inventory and quoting.
19. Impact that Information systems have on business activities in terms of operations
- Information systems influence the business activities of an organization in terms of
operations to a great extent. It led to interactivity, quick access, reduction of costs and
significant flexibility. However, there are several Issues associated with information
systems like security, hacking, errors and failures and all these have a great impact on
business operations of an organization.
20. Impact of intranets, extranets on business
- Intranets helps in improving the internal communication within the organization (Sadia
et al. 2016). It helps in encouraging the knowledge sharing process and simplified the
employee onboarding. With the same, it also reinforced the brand and its values and
helps in boosting the rewards and recognitions. Moreover, it connects the company
over all the time zones and locations. On the other hand, extranets helps in ensuring
effective communication and collaboration with the customers, stakeholders and
clients through a secure network. This in turn helps in improving the business
relationships.
21. Role of information systems to convert tacit to explicit knowledge – this could include an
intranet but also aspects such as video conferencing – skype, blogs, forums etc

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- Information systems aid to the process of knowledge management significantly. It
supports the process of knowledge management such as the acquisition process, the
application and utilization process as well as the sharing and conversion process. In the
conversion of the tacit knowledge to explicit one, Information systems works as
knowledge repository. It store the rules, work flows, policies, research reports,
solutions and the result of the discussion by the academicians in the workshops.
22. Information systems are seen as a way in which to aid the implementation of knowledge
management in organizations. An intranet is seen as a solution to help with collaboration
within an organization. Discuss what an intranet is and how it can help an organization with
knowledge management.
- Intranet is basically a small scale version of internet that operate with same
functionality as that of internet but exists solely within the organization. It makes use
of network technologies like the Internet Protocol or Transmission Control Protocol
and allows for the creation of the internal networks with common internet applications.
Intranet is a very effective tool used in the process of knowledge management. It
encourages the integration of multimedia communication and at the same time, can act
as a great platform for publishing and groupware applications. Moreover, it enhances
the productivity, collaboration and socialization of the firm and influence
organizational culture.
23. Discuss some of the issues associated with intranets and the impact this can have to the
organization.
- Intranets are potential for the security risks which can put a company at risk.
Therefore, it is very important to establish firewall and gateways. With the same,
sometime it can be very time consuming and costly as well. Also, routine maintenance
of the intranet is essential to keep it functional and organized.

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24. Define “business information system” and examples.
- The business information systems are the sets of inter connected processes that use IT
infrastructure in the business enterprise for generating and disseminating the desired
information. Some of the examples include the systems of transaction processing, the
decision support systems, the learning management systems, the knowledge
management systems and the office information systems.

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References:
Battistutti, O.C. and Bork, D., 2017. Tacit to explicit knowledge conversion. Cognitive
processing, 18(4), pp.461-477.
Chuang, C.H., Jackson, S.E. and Jiang, Y., 2016. Can knowledge-intensive teamwork be
managed? Examining the roles of HRM systems, leadership, and tacit knowledge. Journal of
management, 42(2), pp.524-554.
Hansen, E.G. and Schaltegger, S., 2016. The sustainability balanced scorecard: A systematic
review of architectures. Journal of Business Ethics, 133(2), pp.193-221.
Jyoti, J. and Dev, M., 2015. The impact of transformational leadership on employee
creativity: the role of learning orientation. Journal of Asia Business Studies, 9(1), pp.78-98.
Masa'deh, R.E., Obeidat, B.Y. and Tarhini, A., 2016. A Jordanian empirical study of the
associations among transformational leadership, transactional leadership, knowledge sharing,
job performance, and firm performance: A structural equation modelling approach. Journal
of Management Development, 35(5), pp.681-705.
Nonaka, I. and Toyama, R., 2015. The Knowledge-creating theory revisited: knowledge
creation as a synthesizing process. In The essentials of knowledge management (pp. 95-110).
Palgrave Macmillan, London.
North, K. and Kumta, G., 2018. Strategies for managing knowledge. In Knowledge
Management (pp. 157-199). Springer, Cham.
Sadia, A., Salleh, B.M., Kadir, Z.A. and Sanif, S., 2016. The relationship between
organizational communication and employees productivity with new dimensions of effective
communication flow. Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies, 2(2),
pp.93-100.
Syaifudin, M., 2017. Improving Students Speaking Skill by Implementing Blended Learning
(Online Learning and Classroom). JurnalInforma, 3(2), pp.30-34.

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Tata.com 2019. Leadership with trust. Available at: http://www.tata.com/ [Accessed on 8th
Jan 2019]