BUS5005: Knowledge Management, HRM, and ICT in British Airways

This report analyzes knowledge management within British Airways, focusing on the different types of knowledge (explicit, tacit, and implicit) and the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the company's daily operations. It critically discusses how managers can effectively transform data and information into knowledge using new technologies, highlighting the distinctions between data, information, and knowledge creation processes. Furthermore, the report examines the importance of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices and their contribution to knowledge management, including training, team-building, conflict resolution, and strategic management. Finally, it identifies the most appropriate organizational culture category, based on Cameron and Quinn's framework, that facilitates knowledge management within British Airways, emphasizing the features of this culture that support knowledge sharing and utilization to improve the effectiveness of the working environment and increase competitiveness.

MANAGING KNOWLEDGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Question 1 Discuss the different types of knowledge and the role of ICT in the everyday life
of the company. Critically discuss how a manager can effectively transform data and
information into effective knowledge with the use of new technologies. For a complete
answer, you should explain the differences between data, information and knowledge creation
processes.....................................................................................................................................1
Question2 Importance of HRM practices and their contribution to Knowledge Management:. 4
Question 3 Considering the most appropriate category of the culture for the company that is
defined by the Cameron and Quinn (2006). Along with analysing the features of the chosen
organizational culture that facilitates the knowledge management in the company:..................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
This report will illustrate the concept of knowledge management in order to increase the
effectiveness of the working in the British Airways. Along with this, the report will also describe
the HRM practices of the company that leads to the knowledge management. Lastly, the report
will highlight the most appropriate culture category of Cameron and Quinn that facilitates the
knowledge management.
MAIN BODY
Question 1 Discuss the different types of knowledge and the role of ICT in the everyday life of
the company. Critically discuss how a manager can effectively transform data and
information into effective knowledge with the use of new technologies. For a complete
answer, you should explain the differences between data, information and knowledge
creation processes.
Different type of knowledge
Knowledge management define as the effective process that enhance the approach of
catching, distributing the knowledge. It is the method which is related to developing or sharing
the information of the organisation. It also define as the multidisciplinary approach which
enables the organisation to achieve its objective by utilising the knowledge.
Explicit knowledge: Explicit knowledge define as the basic arrangement of the knowledge
process, it can be easily understood and written down, also easily articulated and communicated.
This knowledge process also termed as expressive knowledge, hence implementing this process
will enable the effective transmission of the knowledge, so that organisation will easily interact
with their customer as well as efficiently deploy the planning and strategies for the business
within the work place environment (Bolisani and Bratianu, 2018).
Tacit knowledge: It is the knowledge that is accumulated from the personal experiences, an
ability or skills which the individual possess through their circumstances. Such type of
knowledge is difficult to describe. It is also known as the tribal knowledge. As for the business
tacit knowledge can be understood as implicit knowledge which is mainly specific or differ for
every organisation. Employee do jobs to jobs in different companies and their implicit
knowledge also changed on the basis of uniqueness of the businesses. British airways can
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proceed to use this knowledge in order to enhance the competitiveness in their business, also to
increase the sales productivity.
Implicit knowledge: Implicit process of knowledge is the practical approach of the explicit
knowledge, it is developed from the incidental activities. As for the organisational purpose,
implicit knowledge is tough to manage due to its undocumented form. For the British airways
organisation every employee has their different aspect in order to carry out their work, it might
differ from the official standard operating procedures SOPs of the organisation but still works.
Role of ICT in everyday life for the organisation
ICT stands for information communication technology define as the ability that possess
by the one to converse with others by using different technologies. This method have changed
the way of communication, ICT improves the business functionality and enables the
organization to rapidly give response to the customer to fulfil their requirements. With this
company will be able to effectively converse with their clients, suppliers. As ICT is very
important as there is no sense if there is inferior information which gives the low productive
output (Fernandes, 2018). Therefore, ICT is connected to the daily life for an example reading
of the information from the news paper. As ICT involves all digital tools that are used to guide
the businesses to effectively use the knowledge. It helps to facilitate the online transaction,
services by the company. British Airways can also proceed to implement this process in their
work place as it will help them to carry out their work effectively and in a fewer time. From this
organisation will able to replace the Email with physical time so it will save their time.
Discussion over the manager to transform the data and information in the effective
knowledge while using technologies
Data is present in context than it becomes the information after this it can be applicable
to give the answer to the questions or to support the decision-making. When this information
combines with the manager knowledge, as their experiences or expertise then it comes out as a
effective decision (Gopinath, 2019). Therefore, it is important for the manager of the company
to have relevant knowledge so it will improve the efficiency of the information. Manager can
proceed to use the information system technology in order to transfer the data into the
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knowledge. As information system IS is used to collect the data and also compute the data in
order to support the organisational operations.
As the task of the manager required the fast decision in order to proceed with the
ongoing project, This IS technology will help them to provide efficient data so that decisions can
be made. Organisation always stores the wide range of data which involves the customer
records, sales, market research records and other information. It will use in order to develop the
future strategies, so that it will give the right direction to achieve the desire goals and objectives.
For the decision-making, manager can also begin to conduct the activities or meetings, that
allows everyone to take part and give their opinions over the topic. It is the effective process
which led to make effectual decision for the company (Bootz, Durance and Monti, 2019).
Therefore, MIS management information system technology helps to develop the coordination,
and to manage the information within the organisation. This technology enables the manager to
improve their decision-making skills, as this system will provide the better, reliable and
verifiable information in a timely manner.
Artificial intelligence technology can also be used in the organization, as it is capable of
improving the business relation with the customer, also enable to give the real time problem
solving services to the customer. AI will allow the manager to manage the time and focus on
implementing the several strategies to improve the work place environment. As AI technology is
able to obtain the patterns and give the rapid data driven approach which led to carry out the
decision in a timely manner. Through this technology managers will be able to make decision on
the quantitative data. Therefore, British Airways organisation also proceed to implement this
information system technology, as it will help them to develop their decision on the identical
information (Garrick and Chan, 2017).
Difference between the data, information and knowledge development process
Data Define as the single unit which involves the raw materials which do not mainly
possess the specific meaning. It simply define as the figures, facts, as every piece of the data
facts does not consists of its own specific meaning. This can be found in a unorganized form, but
it generally comes before the information. Its meaning can only seen when it is connected or
linked with some context. It is also stated that data can be easily interpreted.
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Information comes after the data, it is found in a structured form so that further actions
can be taken out. It helps in enabling the data context also useful to make the decision.
Information usually follows the ideas and references formats, it can be represented in a form of
ideas and thoughts. Therefore the major difference between the data and information is that
when data is processed or interpreted then it gives the information which can be used for various
purpose.
Knowledge development process define as the process which is used to complete the
strategic and operational work, in such it gives the sense of knowledge or the comprehensive
understanding to the decision maker, so that they can easily deal with the complex environment
(Zaim, Muhammed and Tarim, 2019). Thus knowledge can be understood as a collected
information, it has the capability to deduced the conclusion by using the fragments of the
information together. Knowledge concludes the consciousness. Therefore, the major difference
can be seen between the data, information and knowledge are- that data is raw and unorganized,
when it is associated with the context it forms the information. When this information have been
strategically used then it becomes the knowledge.
Outcome: Data is independent and incomprehensible, while knowledge is structures and
comprehensive, and knowledge is understanding.
Therefore British airways company can proceed to use their data which is market
research or other research so that useful information can come out. It will be beneficial in order
to develop the knowledge and understanding so that effectual decisions can come out. It will be
good for increasing the revenues of the organisation (Gonzalez and Martins,2017).
Question2 Importance of HRM practices and their contribution to Knowledge Management:
Not depending on the size of the organization, the HR(Human Resource) department is a
crucial component of any business. As the name suggests, the HR department deals with the
human capital of any business establishment. People are the most important resource of any
organization. Effective management of people, would guarantee the success the organization.
The HR department is responsible to increase employee productivity and deal with any issues
within the workforce (Tian and et.al., 2018). They are tasked with responsibilities such as hiring
and firing employees, employee benefits, labour laws and any other laws that is to have an
implication on the workforce.
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Human Resource Management(HRM) is defined as effectively managing the people in an
organization. Effective HRM can ensure that the performance of the employees is up-to the
mark and in-line with the company goals. HRM practices can play a productive role within
British Airways in the following ways:
Training the workforce: HR managers organize training and development programmes to help
the employees grow within the organization. This also makes for a satisfied and productive
workforce.
Team-building exercises: The HR department conducts events, celebrations and several
activities to kinder a spirit of cooperation between employees. They try and create a comfortable
and informal atmosphere in the workplace, to enhance creativity and productivity of the
employees (Hameed and et.al., 2020). These activities also play a crucial role in strengthening
employee-employee and employer-employee relationships.
Resolution of conflicts: HR managers try and manage issues between employees, that may arise
from time-to-time, with an unbiased attitude. They encourage open communication and building
good work relationships.
Managing strategy: Effective strategy management to ensure that the company is en-route to its
goals, is the responsibility of the HR managers. They assess the employees and make predictions
on future business demands. That's how they contribute to the corporate decision-making
process.
Reducing costs: They negotiate with the employees(existing and potential) on behalf of the
company and decide on the salary and other benefits the employee would be getting.
Businesses today deal with a vast array of information. 'Knowledge Management(KM)'
is that process, through which an organization manages its data. KM is not just organizing files
into drawers and cabinets, but it is that process through which an organization links its past,
present and future, through information. KM of the Past mean preserving the entire history of
the organization, usually in digitized format. This is the legacy for an organization like the
British Airways. KM of the Present would take place in the form of an account of its day-to-day
activities. KM of the Future can be done by laying the path to the future by compiling
information to make effective and achievable plans.
Knowledge management and HRM are inextricably linked, for KM focuses on human
development and organizational learning. 'Organizational learning' is the process of creation
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and dissemination of knowledge within an organization to improve the overall performance of
the organization. Knowledge is an intellectual thing and no data can be converted to information
and no information can be translated to knowledge, without human brain. A person who is
engaged in creation, storage and sharing of knowledge is known as a 'Knowledge worker'. The
knowledge worker's knowledge is useful for the organization as it helps plan and achieve the
objectives of the organization. Knowledge workers can't work effectively without proper HRM
practices.
Human Resource Management can develop effective Knowledge Management within
British airways in numerous ways. One, they can help the company fix the goal of KM. Two,
they can create proper environment where the process of creation of knowledge and its use
afterwards is smooth (Manzoor and et.al., 2019). That is, the HR department of the British
Airways should try to function as a knowledge facilitator. Three, they can help employees in
building their skills and careers, by training and development, and educating them about their
responsibilities within the company. Four, the HR department can promote creativity and
innovation skills within the workforce. Five, they can try to find low-tech solutions in
knowledge management as much as possible, without compromising with the need of high-tech
knowledge management tools in certain areas.
'Knowledge Hoarding' happens when individuals choose to keep a valuable piece of
information to themselves, instead of sharing it with the team. The practice of knowledge
hoarding is detrimental to the growth of the company. It begets a feeling of distrust within a
team. This is actually a common practice and it hampers collaboration within a group.
Therefore, British Airways should strive to avoid it at all costs.
Various initiatives can be taken to improve knowledge sharing within British Airways.
Some of them are listed below:
Creating a knowledge sharing space: Employees should be encouraged to work together and
have an open discourse on ideas and the project in-hand. Brainstorming on ideas in real-time,
can give birth to better and more productive ideas. Real-time collaboration can happen in
meeting rooms or on videoconferencing apps like Zoom or chat platforms like Microsoft Teams.
If real-time collaboration can't happen, team members can resort to options like recording a
video of themselves, presenting their ideas and share it with their colleagues.
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Team building exercises: The HR department can organize team building exercises to break the
ice. Once that initial hesitation is gone, each member would be able to speak freely. A sense of
safety would naturally follow. Followed by a free flow of knowledge.
Training and development: Recruits tend to feel nervous initially. They would be hesitant to
share their ideas with the group. This feeling may last months. That's a loss for the company.
This could be avoided by assigning a mentor to each new hire. The mentor can cultivate an
attitude of open discussion and knowledge sharing. Assigning a team member, who is at the
same level as the new recruit, to help become comfortable in the new workplace, is another way
to promote knowledge sharing by recruits. This is known as Job Shadowing.
Rewarding good practices: Knowledge sharing culture can be promoted by incentivizing good
knowledge sharing practices. Such as, bonuses or smaller, tangible prizes can be given to those
exhibiting brilliant collaboration skills (Gope, Elia and Passiante, 2018). Giving a shout-out via
an email or post to an employee who has shared something valuable, is another way.
Performance Reviews: British Airways can make knowledge sharing an expected part of job.
Clear and measurable indicators could be set to measure and rate their knowledge sharing
abilities. In some cases, effective knowledge sharing could be made a reason for promotion.
People follow what the leader does: Team leaders and Departmental leaders of British Airways
should set an example for their employees to follow, by frequent write-ups and video updates for
their employees.
Customize knowledge sharing tools: Even when the employees want to share information, they
might be caught in the quagmire of documents. Customizing the knowledge sharing tools
according to the needs of the employees, could be a useful exercise, and would allow employees
to quickly search for content, ask relevant questions, store their documents and videos, at a
location that is both safe, and easy to access by their colleagues. Certain templates can also be
developed to store certain type of knowledge.
Building a knowledge library: With the right tools, all the shared knowledge could be stored in
one place, providing it an overall look of a knowledge library.
With effective knowledge sharing practices in place, British Airways is on a path to success.
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Question 3 Considering the most appropriate category of the culture for the company that is
defined by the Cameron and Quinn (2006). Along with analysing the features of the
chosen organizational culture that facilitates the knowledge management in the company:
The organizational culture determines the proper way of behaviour within the company.
This concept has been considered as one of the most important concept in the company in order
to implement the effective environment. It ensures the productive working scenario and along
with this, it also ensures the growth of the company. The organisational model that has been
given by the Cameron and Quinn suggest the effective ways under which the company can
create the effective environment in the organization (Moonen, 2017). And this further ensures
the effective communication skills between the employees. In order to understand this concept
here is the description of the categories of the culture that has been given by the Cameron and
Quinn. After describing the categories, it will be analysed that which category is suitable for
British Airways in order to facilitate the concept of knowledge management.
Organisational culture categories given by Cameron and Quinn:
The modal that has been given by the Cameron and Quinn described as the competing
values frameworks. The modal is mainly parted in four parts and describing the different
categories of the organizational culture. The culture modal has been parted in four parts and the
vertical axis determines whether the company is stable or flexible and on the other hand, the
horizontal axis determines that the venture is inward or outward looking. It has been found from
the various studies that this culture modal has been considered as one of the effective modal in
order to adopt the organizational culture in the company. The four blocks contain the Clan,
Adhocracy, Hierarchy and Market.
Clan culture focuses on the internal values of the organization that the external
values. This culture initiates the organization in order to focus on the internal connection of the
organization. Adhocracy culture has been described as the outward looking culture. This culture
enables the company to handle the risk by making a keen study on the external factors (Pereira
and et.al., 2021). The hierarchy culture refers to that culture under which the company looks
upon the internal sources and makes sure that the business operations are going in the smooth
manner. The last one that is market culture, this has been considered as the effective culture
from all the given four categories. This culture is the combination of outward looking and
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making internal focus. This culture states that the organization must focus on the market
conditions and in accordance with them the internal sources has to be make strong.
This category of the culture is the best and appropriate category for the British Airways.
The company is one of the biggest company in the airlines field along with capturing the large
number of consumer share. The services that has been provided by the company has been proven
as highly effective services. Adopting the market culture as the organizational culture ensures
the various benefits to the company. As this enables them to have the knowledge regarding the
needs and expectations of the customers and on the basis of that the company implements the
policies in order to meet up the expectations of the customers. Here are the major points that will
proof that the market culture is the most suitable culture for the British Airways:
Determining the major reason for adopting the market culture:
Maximise the profit- The marketing culture will enable the British Airways to make a keen
observation on the market and analyse the needs and demand of their customers. This leads to
result in gaining the favour of the customers towards the company. As a result, the company will
get the higher effectiveness in their goodwill.
Driven and ambitious employees- In the market culture, the employees are always pushed
towards being more effective. The employees in the organization are guided towards becoming
better and productive. This is the important element of the market culture that it collectively
focuses on the internal and external sources of the business (Aziz, Sumantoro and Maria, 2019).
By enhancing the internal source the assurance of the effective services has been provided to the
customers. This culture results in enabling the British Airways in increasing the productivity of
their employees.
Competitive atmosphere- When the employees are guided towards performing in productive
manner then, it creates the competitive environment in the organization. And this influences to
all the employees in performing their task in effective manner. This culture enables the British
Airways in order to create the effective working environment in the company. This further
creates the spirit among the employees in terms of contributing more. As a result, the over-all
working of the company will become effective.
Customer satisfaction- This is one of the important element for every business organization.
The customers are the important element of the business and therefore, their satisfaction plays
the important role. The market culture is concerned with the analysation of the market and this
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helps in understanding the needs and demands of the consumer and according to this the actions
has to be taken (Madhani, 2018). The British Airways is one of the biggest organization in the
UK. Adopting market culture will result in providing the benefits to the organization as it
enables them to have the better knowledge regarding the needs and wants of the customers.
The above mention points are efficient enough in proving that the market culture is the
appropriate culture for the British Airways.
Adopting the Marketing culture facilitates the knowledge management in the company:
Market culture plays a one more important role and that is this facilitates the knowledge
management in the company. The knowledge management is the proper process of creating,
utilizing, maintaining and sharing the information and knowledge of the organization in order to
perform in effective manner. Here are the major points that are efficient enough in proving that
adopting the marketing culture results in increasing the knowledge management in the company:
Capturing expertise- This is one of the important element of the knowledge management. It
includes approaching the stakeholders and experts in order to take guidance from them for the
business. And the market culture enables the organization in making keen analysation over the
business environment and it further helps in attracting the different stakeholder and experts who
are highly skilled (Morgan and Vorhies, 2018). Thus, British Airways can increase the
effectiveness in the process of knowledge management by adopting the market culture. This will
enable them to approach highly skilled experts that facilitates the knowledge in the company.
Strategies- The knowledge management is concerned with making the numerous strategies in
order to increase the effectiveness of organization. And these strategies results in achieving the
main goal of the company. And the market culture involves the deep analysation of the business
and on the basis of that, the strategies has been prepared in the company. And these strategies
leads to increase the market share of the company (Abubakar and et.al., 2019). Thus, Adopting
this culture will enable the British Airways in making effective strategies and also contributes
towards the knowledge management of the company. As analysing involves the gaining of
knowledge.
Learning social media- Currently, the business organizations are moving towards the better
understanding of the social media in order to gain the favour of the consumers and this also
helps in gaining the knowledge regarding the needs and wants of the consumers (Webb, 2017).
This knowledge has been used in the process of the knowledge management. The better
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