Knowledge Management Initiatives and Strategies at Hewlett Packard

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the knowledge management initiatives implemented by Hewlett Packard (HP). It examines various strategies, including the 'Trainers's Trading Post,' Training Library,' and the use of Lotus Notes. The report assesses the impact of these practices on product innovation, market novelties, and overall business success. It also delves into the challenges faced, such as the failure of the training review program, and the innovative methods used to encourage knowledge sharing. Furthermore, it explores specific projects undertaken by the PPO knowledge management group, highlighting the collaborative efforts and potential issues within the knowledge base. The analysis draws on various sources to provide a detailed overview of HP's knowledge management journey, including the use of technology and its impact on decision-making and knowledge sharing.

Running head: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AT HP
Knowledge Management at HP
Name of the Student:
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Table of Contents
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Answer 2:.........................................................................................................................................2
Answer 3:.........................................................................................................................................3
Answer 4:.........................................................................................................................................4
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Answer 7:.........................................................................................................................................5
Answer 8:.........................................................................................................................................5
References:......................................................................................................................................7

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Answer 1:
The knowledge management initiatives adopted by Hewlett Packard are ‘Trainers’s
Trading Post’ which was a database that gave information on training topics, Training Library’
which was an assimilation of training documents, ‘Training Review’, an evaluation of the
training resources and Corrozza, which functioned as a directory to knowledge bases within the
HP laboratories and aiming to expand this distribution of knowledge to other departments of HP
as well (www.hp.com. 2017).
Answer 2:
The impact of adopting knowledge management practices in HP’s success depends on the
empirical research on the organization. The HP has taken into consideration the key elements of
the knowledge management which can be said to be the essential part of the innovation. The
impact of practicing knowledge management has significantly increased the rate of product
innovations and market novelties. The knowledge management practices in HP have different
effects on the types of innovation they made. Considerable changes in the success story of HP
have been evident after the use of knowledge management practices in the company. The impact
of knowledge management on different types of innovation is a great success for the HP
products. After a survey, it has been found that the knowledge management practices on product
innovation and market novelties have a positive effect on the success. However, it has been
found that there is a great difference in product innovation success between firms using
knowledge management and the non-users of the practice (Epstein and Buhovac 2014).

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Answer 3:
Lotus Notes is a computer application which combines email, job scheduling, address
book, databases maintainance, web browser and allows programming. Lotus notes is used in
most big organisation as a formal communication channel to communicate through emails both
within and outside the organisation. Lotus Notes use standard computer protocols like POP3 and
SMTP. It has a client and a internet server which allows users to receive, read and respond to
emails while the administrator can use it to standardise official mail usage parameters (Ibm.com.
2017).
Lotus Notes is useful in establishing and sharing knowledge bases. It allows the users to
share and acquire knowledge inform of mails, documents and in various other forms. They can
also manipulate, display and add information to the established knowledge databases. The
software also performs tasks on demand and as per schedules set on its job scheduler. This way
Lotus Notes help in establishing and usage of knowledge database which can be used by several
users their registered mail ids.
Knowledge base is of immense importance in knowledge management system because it
allows multiple users to use the knowledge available simultaneously which ensures smooth
operation. The top managers can accede to a vast body of knowledge related to their area of
operations and make fast and accurate decisions. The knowledge bases allow the companies to
store and maintain a huge reserve of data in form of documents and in various other formats.
This helps them to maintain past data and use to find relevant information which contributes to
the smooth operations of the departments. Thus, knowledge bases help in decision making,
maintain past data and use the relevant from the data base to operate smoothly(Natek and
Zwilling 2014).

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Answer 4:
The training review programme never succeeded in taking off because the educators
disagreed to comment on the quality of the course materials. They were not ready to express
their opinion on the information because it involved third party organisations which lacked
reliability. The third reason for the failure of the training review programme was lack of reward
for the participants.
Karney could have taken a number of initiatives to attract knowledge contribution from
the educators to the knowledge base of training review programme. First, he should have made
the knowledge sharing facility of high quality to attract contribution from educators. Secondly,
Karney could have minimised the impact of third party knowledge contributing organisations to
make it more reliable to the HP staff members. Thirdly he could have started a reward system for
the knowledge contributors to attract contribution from them (Laudon and Laudon 2016).
Answer 5:
Karney used innovative methods to obtain contribution to the knowledge bases. The
first innovative method he used to attract knowledge was he allowed the prospective users liceses
to Lotus Notes free of cost. Secondly he used reward system to attract knowledge contribution
from the users. The first fifty users were rewarded 3000 airline miles free of cost and 500 air
miles to anyone who contributed to the knowledge base. This innovative reward system
encouraged users to contribute to the knowledge bases in form of articles, posting and comments
(Sein-Echaluce et al. 2013).

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Answer 6:
Karney while implementing the process of creating a knowledge base found that more
than 2000 educators who are working around HP works in small groups and it would be difficult
for them to share knowledge in a large scale. After recognizing the problem in the domain of
knowledge sharing within HP, he took Lotus Notes as the technology vehicle and established
various knowledge bases which will help the educators in sharing their knowledge. He developed
three types of knowledge bases such as the ‘training trading post’, ‘training library’ and ‘training
review’. Implementation of these knowledge bases within the organization will help the
educators in sharing various knowledge products (Hwang and Ng 2013).
Answer 7:
The knowledge management with PPO customers did not succeed because the aim to
summarize knowledge all over the PPO has high standard to be met by the providers which
cannot be met by the providers at this level and thus the system of PPO was not built by HP. As
per the theory of PPO the knowledge reporters or the editors need to obtain the knowledge
resource through interviews with different experts. The process is in continuous use but the
project or the process requires high level of knowledge resource which made it unsuccessful for
HP (Pemsel and Wiewiora 2013).
Answer 8:
The 3 projects that the PPO knowledge management group is presently working in are as
follows:
 Competitor Information for HP’s component group.

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 Web based interface to primary and secondary research information.
 International Marketing Intelligence.
The project has been implemented by the collaborative efforts of the between the PGIS
and the PPO groups. The aim of the PGIS group does not include the management of
knowledge but to facilitate in the structuring of knowledge and supply the knowledge process
to its customers through the information technology. Therefore, there is a possibility of
providing wrong knowledge information. The gathering of knowledge for the three
mentioned projects is on the PPO group and there are no other checks for the knowledge base
(Johansen 2015).
The persons working in the knowledge management group shall have the quality to share
knowledge from the tolls and data base and the technology used for sharing such knowledge.
Therefore, presence of proper technology will enhance the quality of communication and
sharing information and will help n overcome the challenges faced by the groups
(Christiansen 2016).

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References:
Christiansen, C.H., 2016. The State of Project Management.
Epstein, M.J. and Buhovac, A.R., 2014. Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing
and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.
Hwang, B.G. and Ng, W.J., 2013. Project management knowledge and skills for green
construction: Overcoming challenges. International Journal of Project Management, 31(2),
pp.272-284.
Ibm.com. 2017. IBM Notes. [online] Available at:
https://www.ibm.com/software/products/en/ibmnotes [Accessed 18 Aug. 2017].
Johansen, A., 2015. Project Uncertainty Management: A New Approach–The ‘Lost
Opportunities’ Practical uncertainty management seen from a project joint perspective.
Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2016. Management information system. Pearson Education
India.
Natek, S. and Zwilling, M., 2014. Student data mining solution–knowledge management system
related to higher education institutions. Expert systems with applications, 41(14), pp.6400-6407.
Pemsel, S. and Wiewiora, A., 2013. Project management office a knowledge broker in project-
based organisations. International Journal of Project Management, 31(1), pp.31-42.
Sein-Echaluce, M., Lerís, D., Blanco, Á.F. and García-Peñalvo, F.J., 2013, November.
Knowledge management system for applying educational innovative experiences.

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In Proceedings of the First International Conference on Technological Ecosystem for Enhancing
Multiculturality (pp. 405-410). ACM.
www.hp.com. 2017. Enterprise Printing Security - Wireless & Network Solutions | HP® India.
[online] Available at: http://www8.hp.com/in/en/solutions/business-solutions/printingsolutions/
overview.html [Accessed 18 Aug. 2017].