Report on Knowledge Management in Information Consulting Sector

This report investigates the critical role of knowledge management within information consulting companies, focusing on how these firms address business challenges. It begins by highlighting the significance of knowledge management in providing effective consultancy services to business clients facing various issues. The research employs CATWOE and root cause analysis (RCA) to identify and analyze problems, with the 5 Whys technique utilized to determine the underlying causes. The report explores the importance of explicit and tacit knowledge, knowledge sharing, and the application of different transformation models. Through a literature review, the report integrates perspectives from various authors on knowledge management strategies, tools, and the implementation of learning organizations. The methodology involves semi-structured interviews with senior managers, analyzed through thematic analysis. The report concludes with insights into how knowledge management can enhance the competitiveness and innovation capabilities of information consulting firms, providing a comprehensive overview of its impact on their operations and client services.

Running Head: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT 1
Knowledge Management

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT 2
Abstract
In the present research, the importance of the knowledge management in the information
consulting companies has been highlighted. The information consulting companies are those,
which provide consultancy services to the customers. Most of the customers are business
enterprises, which are facing some kind of business issue. These information consulting
companies are facing issues related to the efficient use of knowledge for addressing the business
issues of the organization. The research has explored the importance of knowledge management
for the business organizations. The interview method has been used for collecting the primary
information. It has been identified that the knowledge management is important in the
information consulting companies.
Knowledge Management
Introduction
The present report is targeted at the
information consulting companies, which
offer enterprise resource planning services
to the organization. These companies offer
resource management services to the
customers, as the customer face several
issues related to the enterprise management,
business, situations, and problems. Different
customers faces different issues related to
the information consulting; therefore, it is
important to identify an effective method to
address the requirements of the organization
(Tsai, Chang & Chen, 2006). The present
problem is identified with CATWOE
analysis and RCA method. The CATWOE
analysis is a simple method, which can
stimulate thinking to identify the solutions to
different problems. It analyzes the
interaction between the system and the
processes. It stands for Client, Actors,
World view, owners, and environment.
Clients: The clients of the current system are
the stakeholders, who are affected by the
system. In the present, it includes the
customers, information service provider
organization, and the employee in the
information service provider organization.
Actors: The actors in the present situation
include the people, who implement the
changes. It includes the employee and
management of the service-provider
organization.
Transformation: The Company requires a
knowledge management system, which can
be used for storing the information in the
system.
World view: The world view refers is the
process in which, a justification is provided
for the overall system. A knowledge
management system will ease the process
for the entire organization, the employees
can easily find the solution to the problems.
They will not have to conduct through
research for each and every problem.
However, it will increase the convenience
for each of the problem.
Owner: The owner of the present problem is
information intensive organization.

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Environmental Constraints: It includes the
constraints, under which the system works,
it includes the ethical limits, financial
constraints, and the project scope. There are
several issues, such as financial issues, and
resource limitations, which can impact on
the implementation of the system (Belton &
Stewart, 2002).
The root cause analysis is used to identify
the underlying causes in a particular
problem. The 5 Whys technique is used to
explore the cause and effect relationship in a
particular problem.
1. Why: the employees take lot of time
in offering solutions to the clients
2. Why: The employees have to
thoroughly research for each and
every problem
3. Why: Individual research takes tome
4. Why: There is no system to store
previous information
5. Why: The management has not
developed an individual system for
managing the knowledge in the
organization (Castaneda-Mendez,
2012).
Research Questions
The research question of the proposed study
is, “the importance of knowledge
management in information consulting
companies?”
Literature Review
Kwong (2016) has discussed that the present
is the era of information technology, in
which the information is considered as an
important asset to increase the competitive
advantage of the organizations. Due to the
confrontation of this challenge, the
companies are seeking new ways to increase
their competitive advantage. In the past,
different departments of an organization
work in an isolated manner, without
coordinating with each other. In the past, the
computer systems were not that advanced;
therefore, they cannot be linked and
developed into an integrated structure.
Recently, knowledge management systems
have been developed which can be
effectively used to address the market
demand, reduce delivery time, and results in
effective use of the organization resources.
In the views of Dalkir & Beaulieu (2017),
the knowledge management system
implementation includes planning,
communication, and system establishment.
The EROP system implementation initiates
with the planning, communication, system
implementation, and the system diagnosis. It
has strong knowledge management
implications for the organization. There are
three levels of knowledge, the first level is
that of data, the second level is information,
which includes the sender, receiver and the
information. The information includes the
value, judgment, vision, intuition, and other
values.
According to Grover & Froese (2016), the
knowledge which exists in an organization
can be divided in two categories. It includes
explicit and tacit nature of information. The
explicit knowledge is present in more
objective or concrete form. This knowledge
can be expressed by specific language, and it
can easily propagate to other parts of the
organization. The tacit knowledge is present
within the personnel of the organization. It
includes the information, which is developed
by the personal emotions and experience of
the people. It is subjective and unique
information and cannot be solidified in the
organization. It is a shapeless form of

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knowledge, and cannot be shared easily,
with other parts of knowledge. There are
different transformation models, such as,
unification, externalization, combination,
and internalization, which can provide
suggestion for the knowledge management.
The unification is the process, in which the
information is converted by sharing the
experience of every individual of the
organization. People exchange information
with each other, which can be used to
establish a mutual agreement. The
externalization is the process, in which
explicit information is developed through
implication, analogy, assumption, and
models. By effective and systematic
management, explicit information is
combined to form a methodical system of
information sharing.
In the perspective of Power, Sharda, &
Burstein (2015), the explicit information can
be converted into tacit knowledge. The
experience is internalized into the tacit
knowledge by these processes. The
knowledge management is the systematic
approach to utilize the information so that
the innovation, responsiveness, productivity,
and capability of the organization. The
knowledge management is used to transfer
the information, experience, and operational
procedure to develop the competitive
advantage of the organization. The tools of
the knowledge management can be used to
convert the tacit knowledge of the
organization into explicit knowledge.
However, it requires intensive coordination
process. The knowledge management is the
process in which the innovation,
responsiveness, productivity, and capability
of the organization is developed.
In the views of Donate & de Pablo (2015),
the purpose of the knowledge management
is to create an integrated environment in
which there is easy information exchange,
and the knowledge is created for each
employee. Two different strategies can be
used in the knowledge management of the
organization. The systematic strategy is the
approach in which the knowledge is
specifically classified and encoded. The
encoded knowledge is stored in the
database. This information can easily be
accessed by every member in the
organization. Another one is personalized
strategy in which every employee of the
organization has developed a personal
strategy for the management of the
knowledge in the organization. In this
strategy, sharing and the exchange of the
information is conducted through
interpersonal contact. An organization can
also use performance evaluation methods to
assure that there is adequate provision for
information sharing and flow in the
organization. It can be critiqued that by
proper matching with information
technology, the companies can save the
knowledge, present at the organization. It
will assist the retrieval of the information
from other people in the organization. It is a
systematic strategy for the knowledge
management.
According to Gold, Malhotra, & Segars
(2001) establishing learning-type
organizations can reform the system, and it
can also change the information technology
infrastructure, so that a unique structure can
be created in the organization. A knowledge
sharing infrastructure can also be created in
the organization. The knowledge sharing can
be divided into individual and groups.
Teamwork is also an essential component of
the knowledge sharing, which can be further
divided into high and low interaction. The
knowledge management can provide

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different models, namely, innovation,
competency, responsiveness, and
productivity. The personal competency
begins with the personal knowledge. With
the help of knowledge sharing, the
organization’s productivity can be enhanced.
According to Gibbert, Leibold, & Probst
(2002), the combination of the personal
competency and the teamwork can enhance
the interaction between the users. The
teamwork and personal competency can
enhance the overall knowledge of the
organization. The sharing of innovation with
groups can enhance the probability of
innovation. The organization can also
receive advanced knowledge, which can
enhance the responsiveness capabilities of
the organization.
In the views of Du Plessis (2007), the
objective of knowledge management is to
utilize the knowledge, and enhance the
knowledge sharing so that the overall
competiveness and the innovation
capabilities of the organization. The learning
organizations are those organizations, in
which every employee makes continuous
efforts for the learning and development.
The knowledge development and the
learning organizations are interlinked terms.
The process in the knowledge management
must be focused on the human resources,
training and development and information
technology of the organization. The human
resource planning refers to the holistic
development of the employees working in
the organization. The personal training of
the employees refers to the classification,
accumulation, sharing, and propagation of
the information so that knowledge
management can be achieved. Several
organizations are focused on developing as
learning type of organizations; however, it
requires radical change in the culture of the
organization.
In the perception of Esper, Ellinger, Stank,
Flint & Moon (2010), the organization is
willing to develop and share knowledge
continuously, it can transform the valuable
intelligence into information which can
provide continuous competitive edge to the
organization. There are several factors of the
foundation of the learning organizations,
which includes knowledge, experience and
other data, which can transform the
organization. With knowledge management,
information can be classified, stored, shared,
and recycled.
According to Taylor & Joudrey (2017), the
knowledge management can be very
beneficial to the consulting companies. The
consultants provide several services, such as
managing, analyzing, diagnosis, and giving
advices to the business management. The
business consultancy services can also be
provided if there is proficiency in a specific
skill. It is important that the consulting firm
has the professional knowledge for
providing services or the firm has the ability
to pursue investigation and analysis of the
organization status. It should be capable of
proposing corrective actions and suggestions
to the organization, and have
recommendations to improve the
productivity of the organization.
In the views of Taylor & Joudrey (2017),
knowledge organization must possess the
professional knowledge and the capability.
They should also possess the intent and the
ambition to enhance their professional
knowledge. The management consultant
enterprises should possess the knowledge
and the capability, so that the overall
capability of the organization can be

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enhanced. It can be critiqued, that the
consultants should possess significant
amount of knowledge for developing the
professional services.
Method
The interview method is chosen for the
present research. It is a qualitative research
method, in which, the people the
information collected, is qualitative in
nature. The sample size of the research is 3,
which means that the interview will be
collected from three people. A semi-
structured interview will be conducted with
the research participants. The research
participants will be senior managers in the
consulting companies. It means that the
interview questions will not be formed
beforehand; however, the direction of the
research study will be fixed previously. The
qualitative type of information defines the
category, in which the information cannot be
analyzed through the statistical methods. It
is also a primary method of data collection.
It means that the data collected cannot be
analyzed through statistical methods.
Therefore, the thematic analysis method will
be used for analyzing the data. In this
method, different themes are developed and
data is analyzed under each theme. The data
collected from the respondents is analyzed
for the similarity and the data with similar
themes are kept under theme.
Data Analysis
The knowledge management can
offer core competency and increased
efficiency to the people. In the present
section, the thematic analysis method is used
for the analysis if the research subject.
Importance of Consulting Companies for
business Solutions
The consulting services are provided to the
customers to provide knowledge, and
solutions to the issues of the customers. The
task assigned to the organization is to source
the knowledge and experience of the
consulting companies. The consultant
performs his service, use the related
knowledge, and the experience to address
the issues of their organization. The
consultants analyze the problem; accumulate
all the relevant information pertaining to the
problem. Therefore, the consultant
companies put emphasis on the necessity of
the knowledge that a consultant must have.
Types of services provided by the Consultant
Companies
Most of the respondents have cited
that there is a specific service set, which a
consultant must provide. The consultants
must have specific professional knowledge;
have the ability to identify the issues in the
professional and the functional dimension.
The consultants should be provided with
adequate information regarding the solutions
to the problems.
Other than that, there are two different
aspects, namely, professional dimension and
the functional dimension of the organization.
The professional dimension refers to the
scope of services related to the broadness,
familiarity, and the specialty of the
employee regarding a specific skill. In the
above definition, broadness refers to the
range of services provided to the customers.
The familiarity refers to the certain
functional diagnosis services (Galliers, &
Leidner, 2014). Other than that, the specialty
indicates that the competence of the
organization for a specific enterprise. The

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functional dimension refers to all the
services provided by the management
consultant companies.
The above views can also be supported by
the literature, which states that the focus of
the management consulting is to offer value-
added elements to the customers. The
management consulting companies should
provide the solutions to the customer’s
requirements. The services provided to the
customers include the collection of the
information, converting the information and
applying it to create valuable information,
which can be used for solving the problem
of the organization (Okike & Mbero, 2015).
It can be critiqued that the purpose of the
knowledge management is to provide
efficient services to the customers by
creating valuable intelligence for the
organization.
As per the views of Dalkir & Beaulieu
(2017), the organizations use all the
available information, and use it to provide
the customers with suggestions. The creation
of valuable information can be achieved by
the knowledge management.
Importance of Knowledge Management for
the Consultancy Service Providers
Companies
Interview findings state that the knowledge
management is a significant aspect of the
knowledge management companies. The
consulting business enterprises should
provide the customer’s with the experiences,
knowledge, and the solution so that the
problems of the customers can be addressed.
The customers identify a problem within his
organization, and the consulting companies
address it. However, solving the issues
requires adequate source of knowledge and
providing the customers with adequate
experience. The respondents have cited that
when the consultants are offering his
services, he can use the accumulated
knowledge and experience through the
accumulation of the knowledge.
Another respondent has stated that the
consulting companies play a significant role
in offering services to the customers.
Therefore, it is important that the
professional service providers must collect
and compile all the relevant information
required for providing professional services.
However, it is important that the information
necessary for the organization must be
synthesized, so that the valuable information
can be extracted from the bulk amount of
information.
In the same essence, Alavi & Leidner (2001)
has discussed that the substantial and the
beneficial information can be extracted
through the review and the refinement
process. The most valuable services can be
provided to the customers, only when
important information is compiled in the
organization. It is one of the most important
factors for the knowledge-intensive
organizations. The service provider
companies actually provide knowledge for
addressing the problems in the business
enterprises. Therefore, they are the
knowledge-intensive enterprises and require
efficient use of knowledge management for
dealing with the organization.
As per the views of the respondents, the
success of the knowledge intensive
enterprises is dependent upon the knowledge
management, business operations and the
efficient use of digital mediums. Today is
the information age, and the knowledge is
going to replace the machine, equipment,
raw material, and labor. It is an intangible

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property, and the knowledge management
can replace the enterprise resource planning.
Knowledge Management in Information
Consulting Companies
With the advent of service-based and
information consulting companies, a
knowledge economy has developed in which
knowledge will be the key factor in the
economy. In the information consultancy
companies, the knowledge and the
experience is shared with the customers.
There are several sources of information for
the knowledge management companies. The
information is not only collected from the
outside sources; however, it can also be
collected through the interactions of the
organization’s members. One of the
respondents has discussed that the
information can be propagated and
accumulated through wisdom. This wisdom
can be constructed by the use of the
professional knowledge. It is the foundation
of the information consulting companies. In
the views of Wang, Noe & Wang (2014),
knowledge and the wisdom are essential in
developing the competitiveness of the
enterprises.
Conclusion
The knowledge management is essential in
information consulting companies. These
organizations provide consultancy services
to the customers. Most of the customers are
business enterprises, which are facing some
kind of business issues. These information
consulting companies are facing issues
related to the efficient use of knowledge for
addressing the business issues of the
organization. The research has discussed the
importance of knowledge management for
the business organizations. The past
knowledge is important for the
organizations, as the different businesses
face the same business issues. The interview
method has been used to collect the
information related to the importance of
knowledge management in information
consulting firms. It has been identified that
the knowledge management is important in
increasing the efficiency and the
productivity.

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