Managing Performance and Knowledge Through Virtual Communities

This assignment focuses on the application of technology management in various domains. It involves analyzing five key journal articles that discuss the use of virtual communities for improving interprofessional collaboration (McLoughlin & Reeves, 2017), performance measurement and evaluation systems (Merchant & Van der Stede, 2017), knowledge management systems (Rundi, 2016; Santoro & Dezi, 2017), performance measurement in tourism firms (Sainaghi et al., 2017), and the challenges of health care performance measurement (Shahian & Pronovost, 2016). Additionally, it covers topics such as social network analysis (Scott, 2017) and global ranking of knowledge management journals (Serenko & Bontis, 2017). The assignment aims to evaluate the students' understanding of these concepts and their ability to apply them critically.

Strategic Knowledge
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
Main body........................................................................................................................................1
Knowledge management........................................................................................................1
Performance measurement.....................................................................................................4
Intellectual capital and social network...................................................................................6
Communities of practice.........................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION AND RESULTS....................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Strategic knowledge management is the process by which organisation develop, execute
and maintain the knowledge management system with in the business in an appropriate manner.
It helps the venture to pay proper attention over the five aspects of the organisation such as
people, planning, processes, performance and products (Serenko and Bontis, 2017). All the
employees need to have proper knowledge about the overall strategies of the firm. There are
several aspects of strategic knowledge management such as human resource management,
knowledge management, performance measurement, communities of practices and intellectual
capital and social network etc. Strategic knowledge management is applied to different aspects
such as learning and development. Knowledge sustainability, different issues and research.
Knowledge workers are the employees of the organisation who have evolved towards the work
in order to serve between quality of products and services to their target market. These workers
use their intelligence, brand and power to take decision and fulfil their roles and responsibilities
in the organisation. They used to do mental work as compare to physical work in order to
manufacture value for the organisation. The report is going to include four different aspects of
strategic knowledge management that are knowledge management, communities of practice,
performance measurement and intellectual capital and social network (Landy and Cleveland,
2017).
Main body
Knowledge management
According to view of Callahan and Roberts, (2017) Knowledge management is the
process y which the organisation provide the right knowledge to the right person so that he or
she can apply it to different aspects or decision of their field in order to perform all the roles and
responsibilities in effective manner. It is the way by which organisation ensure that they can
acquire proper knowledge in order to learn the different function of venture. In the contradicting
view of Robinson and Sensoy, (2016) Knowledge management is the co-ordination exploration
of organisation knowledge resource In order to create competitive advantage and benefits in the
market place. Knowledge management is generally applicable to the organisation strategies and
tactics. It involves the management of knowledge that is useful for some purpose and which
creates value for the organization. It helps the venture to select the best tool for the people,
knowledge, structures, teams, culture, etc. with employees can able to enhance their learning for
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the different aspects of the business. Knowledge is awareness, consciousness or familiarity
gained by experience or learning.
According to the view of Zheng and Sotelo, (2016) knowledge is the way by which
individual access to theoretical and practical understanding related to the particular or various
subjects. It is activities conducted by the person in order to have interpreted information,
understanding that can helps him or her to combine different information, data, practice, learning
etc. knowledge tends to express possession of experienced know-how as well as possession of
factual information or where to get it. A new application is being implemented in the
organisation related to the knowledge management that is data mining. Data mining is the
process by which individual collect, analyse, group and store data so that he or she can able to
access it easily when so ever he or she wants. It is an effective strategies by which relevant and
in-relevant data is being separated and the individual pick those informations which is relevant
for him or her. In the contradicting view of Landy and Cleveland, (2017) knowledge is being
categorised in two ways that are implicit and explicit. When it is being discussed about the
implicit knowledge, that is the knowledge which is being applied to the practical aspects. When
the individual is acquiring implicit knowledge, then he or she is gaining practical experience and
skills. Information or knowledge that is not set out in tangible form but could be made explicit.
Implicit knowledge is not knowing about how to do the work but is implementing the knowledge
to the different practical aspects of life. When it comes to the explicit knowledge then it is
theoretical understanding of a subject. It can be said that it is very formal and systematic gaining
of knowledge and experience of different aspects of the organisation such as planning,
organisation, decision making etc.
According to the view of Levanti and Klein, (2016) it can be said that knowledge plays
very significant role in the different aspect of organisation. There are key four function of
venture that is planning, organising, directing and controlling. When it comes to planning at that
time, manager need to take decision. If he or she is having appropriate and relevant knowledge
about the subject, then decision can be taken in proper manner. When it comes to organising, at
that time manager need to allot responsibilities and resources to the employees, if he or she is
having proper knowledge about the human force and inventory, then it can be allotted properly.
Other than that directing is the key role of manager where he or she need to motivate and guide
employees to fulfil their roles and responsibilities in order to attain organisation and personal
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objective. If the manager I having implicit knowledge regarding leadership, then he or she can
able to manage that task. When it comes to controlling, the standard and actual performance
need to be compared properly so that deviation can be drawn out and it can be corrected on the
spot. If the manager have proper knowledge then he or she can able to compare the performance
and try to improve it. In the contradicting view of Senderov and Penev, (2016) knowledge
management is very important for all the employees who are working in the organisation. There
are several new strategies that are being developed and implemented in the venture. When new
strategies are being developed, at that time manager need to have proper knowledge so that he or
she can implement innovativeness and reduce the risk of uncertainty. When the employees are
implanting new strategies in the business environment, they need to have proper knowledge such
as how to execute the strategies, who will be target market, what will be the resources, how to
use the different resources, how to reduce barriers etc. Other than that there are several internal
and external factors which influence the organisation to implement change in the venture. Such
as when the competitors is adopting new technology, so the venture also need to adopt it in order
to gain competitive advantage. Thus, organisation and their employees need to have proper
knowledge of the organisation so that they can make use of the technology in appropriate
manner. Other than that knowledge management helps the organisation to have proper market
insights. Venture knows that how they can collect information about the public with the help of
different digital technology and social media platforms. Other than that it is very important for
the venture to have competitive advantage, knowledge management helps the firm to collect all
the information about the competitors such as different products served by them, pricing and
promotional strategies etc. With the help of knowledge management and information
organisation can collect internal and external information about the venture, with the help of
PESTLE and SWOT analysis. Ultimately this will help the venture to gain competitive
advantage over the rivals and make effective decision.
According the view of Wang and Wang, (2016) knowledge sharing is another important
part of knowledge management. It is the way by which venture or their employees share their
knowledge so that all the individual can able to work in effective and efficient manner in order to
fulfil their roles and responsibilities. Knowledge sharing is the process of communicating the
right knowledge to the right person at the right time so that right decision can be made. In the
contradicting view of Lardo and Russo, (2017) there are several ways by which venture can
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share their implicit and explicit knowledge to the workers such as Articulation, Awareness,
Access, Guidance, Completeness.
Performance measurement
According the view of Santoro and Dezi, (2017) Performance measurement is the
process of assembling, examining and/or reporting information of the performance of an
individual, group, organization, system or component. It is the way of implementing the
different strategies by which venture can able to analyse the performance of every individual of
the venture whether he or she is working individually or in the group. It can involve studying
processes/strategies within organizations, or studying engineering processes/parameters or
phenomena, to see whether output are in line with what was intended or should have been
achieved. This concept is not one rather it has been given a proper term in the current time. In
pastime performance measurement is being liked with the controlling. Where actual performance
is being compared with the standard one so that supervisor can able to know that how much
employees are efficient and productive. In the contradicting view of Liebowitz and Frank, (2016)
Balance score card is the effective way in order to analyse the performance of individuals in the
organisation. It is very renown and applicable way, which helps the venture to find that which
employee is more productive and which is not? Balance score card is the translator which helps
the organization to translate the mission and strategy into a comprehensive set of performance
measures that serve the framework for a strategic measurement and management system.
According the view of Rundi, (2016) there are several elements that are being analysed
by the organisation when they are measuring the performance of individual in the organisation.
The elements may includes their knowledge, experience, skills, performance, leadership etc.
When it comes to the employee performance, their skills and productivity is primary measured.
There are several skills that are being needed by the employees. Such as communication, team
player, Confidence, Multi-tasking, Leadership, Respect, Problem Solving, Positive Attitude,
Flexibility, Self-Improvement. These are the skills that should be needed by the employees, and
being analysed by the organisation. On the basis of these skills, venture can able to find that
what attributes employees have and what type of roles and responsibilities will be given to him
or her. Other than that the most important factor that is being measured by the venture is
productivity of the employee. There are some standard that being decided by the supervisor
which is related to the production. When the employee is able to achieve their standard then the
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performance is high and if not then the performance is below the standard. In the contradicting
view of Lardo and Russo, (2017) the other aspect at which performance is being measured is
decision making. Employer delegates some roles and responsibilities to the worker which is
related to the current business activities. When the worker is able to take the decision in effective
manner, the performance is at high level and if not then he or she is below the standard level of
performance. With that change is one of the effective factor at which performance is being
analysed. There are several internal and external factors which leads to change in the
organisation. If the employee is ready to accept change or take initiative to adopt the change,
then he or she has high level of performance and if not then he or she has low level of
performance.
According to the view of Serenko and Bontis, (2017) An example id being taken to find
that what is performance measurement, it is related to the British Cycling team. In the year 2002,
the team was had almost no record of success, but in year 2008 British cycling team recorded
phenomenal progress. Beijing Olympics, his squad won seven out of ten gold medals available
in track cycling. In the last year they have achieved several medals at the London Olympics. It
has been analysed that their performance measurement helps the managers of the organisation to
find that whether an organisation’s business
results meet strategic goals. In the contradicting view of Brown and Peck, (2016) there are
several reasons at which organisation is measuring the performance of employees that are
understood the attribute of some aspects, to keep the records that how employees works, to
reduce the complexity in the work, be able to develop the skills and knowledge in the employees
etc.
According to the view of Rundi, (2016) balance score card is the effective way by which
organisation to measure the performance of employees. It is the effective tool which is strategic
planning and management system which state that what organisation is trying to accomplish,
Align the day-to-day work that everyone is doing with strategy, give priority to the different
task, projects, services and products. Finally, they measure the progress of every individual
related to the strategic target. In the contradicting view of Kitto, and Gallinger, (2017)
performance measurement is the process which includes several stages. Each stage helps the
supervisor to analyse the performance of every individual in the organisation. The process start
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with identifying the different objectives, for each objective supervisor finds the Critical success
factors.
Intellectual capital and social network
According to the view of Gonzalo, and Wolpaw, (2017) intellectual capital is the
different knowledge and experience that can be gained from the money-making or other useful
purpose. It is the sum total of the intangible assets. It has been categorised into three ways, that
are human capital, structural capital and relational capital. It has been analysed that human are
the most significant assets of the organisation. If the employees are doing their task and activities
in appropriate manner, then they can be very good assets of the venture and if they are doing so
then they can become the liabilities of the firm. Assets are the human resource of the venture. It
is the sum total of knowledge, skills, competencies, ideas, energies, motivation, etc. that is
occupant in the minds of the employees of the firm. This capital helps the venture to create
quality products and services for the customers. Human resources are one of the resources or
capital who can attract or retain large number of customers. In the contradicting view of
Callahan and Roberts, (2017) structural capital includes different elements of the organisation
that resist in the venture till it is alive. It includes documents, systems, processes, databases,
publications, manuals, organization structure, etc. it is very much different from the human
resources. As it can be shared and created again and again but human resources can not be
shared. However, possession of it can be lawfully secured by way of patents and trade secret or
copyright laws. Other than that relational capital is the value of venture's relationship between
the people and business stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, shareholders, partners. It is
the most important capital for the organisation, this is because stakeholders are the one by which
venture can create revenue.
According to the view of Robinson and Sensoy, (2016) There are three basic aspects that
are included in the intellectual capital that are sociological, economic and accounting.
Sociological is way the employees communicate with the different stakeholders in order to
maintain relationship. Economic is way by which organisation can make effective use of their
human resources so that they can able to produce quality products and services. Accounting is
the aspect which is totally dependent on the knowledge based so that activities can be fulfilled
by the staff. In the contradicting view of Zheng and Sotelo, (2016) Identifying Intellectual
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Capital is done on the base of four aspects that are social, human, structural and customer. From
these four, three have been discussed above, when it comes to the customers capital, employees
need to maintain good relational with the customers. There are four ways by which intellectual
capital is measures that are employees qualification, training, skills and experience.
Communities of practice
According to the view of Landy and Cleveland, (2017) communities of practice is a
group which is being formed by the people of organisation which is being engaged in the
procedure of collective learning. The key reason for this learning is to survive in the market
place between the competitors. These people form group because they want to communicate a
passion and concern for some aspects so that they can have effective learning that how they can
interact with the different stakeholders at continuous basis. In the contradicting view of Levanti
and Klein, (2016) it is the domain where people club together in order to create and maintain
connection with in the group. Other than that it is the community where different people are
engage in different group discussion activities. They also help others and communicate different
information with each other. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other;
they care about their standing with each other. They also maintain some practices where they all
have some interest in their activities. They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences,
stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems.
According to the view of Senderov and Penev, (2016) It can be said that there are several
aspects that are included in community of practices, that are domain, learning networks, learning
organisation. Community of people is the domain where people interact and create network with
each other. With the help of network they try to maintain good relationship with each and learn
the different aspects of life. In the contradicting view of Wang and Wang, (2016) there are
several challenges that are involved in the communities of people that ate sharing of knowledge.
Sometime the information which is being communicated created negative impact over the
receiver. It can miss-lead the individual and have negative learning.
CONCLUSION AND RESULTS
It can be concluded from the project report that strategic knowledge management is very
important for the organisation, specially for the top level management. There are four key
aspects that are included in the strategic knowledge management, with that they are closely
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linked with each other. When it is being discussed about the knowledge management, every
employee should have proper knowledge with that performance measurement is linked wit it.
When the venture is evaluating the performance of employee they can able to identify that what
knowledge employees have and what they need to be given. With that ther are several aspect that
are included in intellectual capital where all three capital are directly linked with the human
resources and their knowledge.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Brown, M. and Peck, C., 2016. Communities of practice as mediators of institutional change. In
HERDSA 2016 Research and Development in Higher Education: The Shape of Higher
Education (pp. 33-41). Higher Education Research and Development Society of
Australasia Inc.
Callahan, C. D. and Roberts, T. S., 2017. Performance Measurement and Operations
Improvement Using Lean Six Sigma. In Practical Psychology in Medical Rehabilitation
(pp. 569-573). Springer International Publishing.
Gonzalo, J. D. and Wolpaw, D. R., 2017. A Constructive Reframing of Student Roles and
Systems Learning in Medical Education Using a Communities of Practice Lens. Academic
Medicine.
Kitto, S. C. and Gallinger, S., 2017. What’s in a name? Tensions between formal and informal
communities of practice among regional subspecialty cancer surgeons. Advances in Health
Sciences Education. pp.1-19.
Landy, F., Zedeck, S. and Cleveland, J. eds., 2017. Performance measurement and theory.
Taylor & Francis.
Lardo, A. and Russo, G., 2017. Social media networks as drivers for intellectual capital
disclosure: Evidence from professional football clubs. Journal of Intellectual Capital.
18(1). pp.63-80.
Levanti, G. and Klein, L., 2016. Introduction to the JOTSC Special Issue on Leveraging
Organizational Change and Knowledge Management to Address Environmental
Complexity.
Liebowitz, J. and Frank, M. eds., 2016. Knowledge management and e-learning. CRC press.
Liu, C. H., 2017. The relationships among intellectual capital, social capital, and performance-
The moderating role of business ties and environmental uncertainty. Tourism Management.
61. pp.553-561.
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Mauro, M. H. and de Magalhães, F. L. F., 2017, May. Contribution of Learning Management
System (LMS) to the Corporate Knowledge Management. In 14th CONTECSI-
International Conference on Information Systems and Technology Management.
McLoughlin, C. and Reeves, S., 2017. The use of virtual communities of practice to improve
interprofessional collaboration and education: findings from an integrated review. Journal
of Interprofessional Care.
Merchant, K. and Van der Stede, W., 2017. Management Control Systems 4th Edition:
Performance Measurement, Evaluation and Incentives. Pearson Higher Ed.
Robinson, D. T. and Sensoy, B. A., 2016. Cyclicality, performance measurement, and cash flow
liquidity in private equity. Journal of Financial Economics. 122(3). pp.521-543.
Rundi, A., 2016. Knowledge Management System. The Innovation Tools Handbook, Volume 1:
Organizational and Operational Tools, Methods, and Techniques that Every Innovator
Must Know. pp.207.
Sainaghi, R., Phillips, P. and Zavarrone, E., 2017. Performance measurement in tourism firms: A
content analytical meta-approach. Tourism Management. 59. pp.36-56.
Santoro, G. and Dezi, L., 2017. The Internet of Things: Building a knowledge management
system for open innovation and knowledge management capacity. Technological
Forecasting and Social Change.
Scott, J., 2017. Social network analysis. Sage.
Senderov, V. and Penev, L., 2016, September. The Open Biodiversity Knowledge Management
System: A Semantic Suite Running on top of the Biodiversity Knowledge Graph. In
TDWG 2016 ANNUAL CONFERENCE.
Serenko, A. and Bontis, N., 2017. Global ranking of knowledge management and intellectual
capital academic journals: 2017 update. Journal of Knowledge Management. 21(3). pp.63-
80.
Shahian, D. M. and Pronovost, P.J., 2016. Rating the raters: the inconsistent quality of health
care performance measurement. Annals of surgery. 264(1). pp.36-38.
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Wang, Y. M. and Wang, Y. C., 2016. Determinants of firms' knowledge management system
implementation: An empirical study. Computers in Human Behavior. 64. pp.829-842.
Zheng, L. and Sotelo, K.I.G., 2016. Pointing out the gap between academic research and
supporting software tools in the domain of the performance measurement management of
engineering projects. IFAC-PapersOnLine. 49(12). pp.1561-1566.
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