Managing Information and Knowledge Management Systems at KCA

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the knowledge management (KM) system at Kimberly-Clark Australia (KCA). It begins by exploring the key forms of knowledge creation and sharing within KCA, including manufacturing, marketing, sales, and corporate knowledge. The report then delves into KCA's benchmarking processes, highlighting their impact on organizational culture and efficiency. The importance of continuous knowledge creation and sharing is emphasized, along with a discussion of KCA's syndicate team approach and its benefits. The report also evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the KM system. Part B focuses on a KM plan, including an executive summary, aims and objectives, and the need for KM. It outlines the processes of knowledge creation, harnessing, and sharing, along with employee learning and development needs. Resources, constraints, and evaluation methods for the KM system are also discussed. The report concludes with an overview of the concept of KM, relevant legislation, benefits, barriers, and the Australian Standard for Knowledge Management.

Manage an Information or Knowledge
Management System
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
ASSIGNMENT 1............................................................................................................................3
PART A...........................................................................................................................................3
Q1 Key forms of knowledge that creates and share by KCA.....................................................3
Q2 Bench-making process of KCA.............................................................................................4
Q3 Importance of constantly creating and sharing knowledge in KCA.....................................5
Q4 KCA's syndicate team approach and its benefits..................................................................5
Q5 Strength and weakness of the system....................................................................................6
PART B...........................................................................................................................................6
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................7
Aims and Objectives...................................................................................................................7
Need for knowledge Management..............................................................................................7
Knowledge creation....................................................................................................................7
Knowledge harnessing and sharing.............................................................................................7
Knowledge Management process...............................................................................................7
Employees learning, development needs and plan.....................................................................8
Resources of KM.........................................................................................................................8
Constraints and contingency measures.......................................................................................8
Evaluation...................................................................................................................................8
ASSIGNMENT 2............................................................................................................................9
Q1 Concept of KM......................................................................................................................9
Q2 List of legislation, codes of practice and national standard related to KM...........................9
Q3 key benefits of KM................................................................................................................9
Q4 Barriers to knowledge sharing...............................................................................................9
Q5 Australian Standard for Knowledge....................................................................................10
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
In the modern era, it is essential to take help of latest technologies and upgrade
knowledge regarding them. It will assist in gaining competitive advantage and surviving in the
crucial corporate market significantly. Knowledge management (KM) is the interactive process
that consists of six major elements create, capture, storage, tag and circulation of information
(Vinodh, Balagi and Patil, 2016). Present report is divided into two parts; in the first section, key
forms of knowledge system in KCA will be discussed. Strength and weakness of the process
will be described in this assignment. In the second part of study, concept of knowledge
management and its key benefits will be discussed.
ASSIGNMENT 1
PART A
Q1 Key forms of knowledge that creates and share by KCA
Kimberly- Clark Australia (KCA) is the leading brand that manufactures and sells
family, health, personal care products. Currently, cited firm is facing high competition which has
forced entity to improve and upgrade its technologies in the business operations (Ismail and
Ahmad, 2015). To survive in the market, key forms of knowledge that created and shared by
KCA are as following: Manufacturing knowledge: KCA creates knowledge regarding patent, licenses,
technologies, innovative products which help the organization to operate business
smoothly. Innovative process of manufacturing can help the cited firm in gaining
competitive advantage. Marketing knowledge: KCA creates information about its top competitors, their
strategies, consumers and their preferences so that it can formulate its own strategies for
being in the competition. These information supports in increasing demand of the
products of the organization (Dagenais and et.al, 2016). Sales knowledge: KCA creates and shares information about customer relationship
management (CRM), current market position, customers need and preferences so that
sales persons can communicate with the consumers effectively and can enhance sales of
the organization.
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 Corporate knowledge: In this session, KCA shares the detail about the financial
performance of the organization, HR, management information so that they can identify
drawbacks of current process and further can formulate strategies to improve
performance of the organization (Coffey, 2015).
To operate business effectively, KCA is creating knowledge about the imports, R & D
activities so that it can develop innovative products for satisfying the consumers. Another key
form of knowledge that KCA creates is information about the local market, competitors,
consumer preferences, their needs which assists to give shape to its business. With the help of R
& D, resource detail, KCA can minimize the issues such as wastage, land care, sustainability etc.
Knowledge sharing is essential for the growth of KCA. It implements internal and
external sharing of information. Internal sharing of data about consumer preferences assist sales
persons to build strong relationship with the users. It is beneficial in increasing the number of
sales of the products of cited firm. External sharing can help in enhancing demand of the health
care products of KCA. Cited firm is sharing information of cross divisions that supports higher
authorities to take necessary actions such as training etc. so that it can enhance knowledge of
workers and further it will help in improving performance of the organization (Ahmad and et.al,
2016).
Q2 Bench-making process of KCA
Bench-marking is the process that increases production efficiency and raise brand name
of the organization. KCA sets its performance benchmark against its 180 corresponding plants
across the world. Bench marking process of KCA involves:
 It has access to a consolidated data base in which KCA collects detail about equipments
and compare it with other plants. Common presentation process is implemented by KCA
in which KCC main office pay focus on standardization and reporting mechanism for
each KCA plant.
 Common performance management is another process of benchmarking in the cited firm.
It set its standards on the bases of wastage, speed etc. and accordingly it measures the
efficiency.
 Each plant of KCA regularly enters its performance data and at the end of each month
office compare performances with other plants (Dhuieb and et.al, 2015).
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Benchmarking helps to change the cultural of the KCA, as operation manager of the
cited firm has noticed in the initial program that there are lot of possibility of improvement. The
aim of the organization is to improve process, increase transparency and utilize the shop floor
production process effectively. Benchmarking has forced the management to spend amount and
time in gaining knowledge about all areas. Due to this, communication has been increased in the
workplace. Apart from this, managers are taking feedback from the customers so that they can
build relationship with them. It has made culture of the organization friendly and now people
feel satisfy in the workplace and put their best efforts for accomplishing goal of the entity
(Veena and et.al, 2016).
Q3 Importance of constantly creating and sharing knowledge in KCA
Constantly sharing and creating knowledge is important for KCA as it helps in building
enduring relationship with the staff members. Sharing knowledge supports the sales persons in
knowing about the trends and current market requirements. This supports them in
communicating effectively with the consumers. Further, KCA provides health and personal care
products to consumers, with the help of knowledge sharing and creating cited firm can get
innovative ideas which can help in improving its efficiency (Roschangar, Sheldon and
Senanayake, 2015). Wastage can be minimized with the help of this sharing. It assists in
improving practices of the company and good practices supports firm to remain in the leading
position in the corporate market. Knowledge sharing is also important for KCA in improving
manufacturing process of the plants. In addition to this, it aids to increase communication flow
in the workplace which reduces the conflicts to a great extent.
Q4 KCA's syndicate team approach and its benefits
Syndicate team approach of KCA is effective in which cited firm comprises of workers
from different divisions and across Australia. The syndicate team approach program assists the
organization in sharing information (Jordan and Russel, 2014). This team focuses on problems
and identifies the practical solutions.
Benefits:
 If helps to utilize the training benefits (which are given to team members) immediately in
the real workplace.
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 Participate approach is the major benefit of syndicate team approach which helps to
enhance coordination among employees.
 Provides immediate solutions of the work based problems (Bertoni, Bertoni and
Isaksson, 2016).
Q5 Strength and weakness of the system
Strength and weakness of KM are describes as following:
Strength:
 Multiple practice and process is effective in improving efficiency and helps to increase
demand of the products of KCA.
 Its main strength is that it is useful for the sales growth and it supports sales persons in
knowing perception of consumers by this way they will be able to serve them better.
With the help of KM, KCA will be able to break its monthly sales records (WHAT ARE
THE BENEFITS OF KM ?, 2005).
 It is cost saving tool and can enhance efficiency of the production process.
 It enhances satisfaction of workers thus, job turnover get reduced in KCA to a great
extent.
Weakness:
 KCA has to depend upon the knowledge contributors.
 Due to lack of understanding, it can create confusion in KCA between employees and
managers.
 Information sharing can create big problem of data leakage.
 If firm fails to handle information well then it can be great loss of time, money for the
KCA
PART B
Knowledge management Plan
Executive summary
The present report has discussed about knowledge management plan. It has analyzed that
how KCM can be beneficial in reducing the work based problems (Kimberly-Clark Australia,
2017). Study has covered the process of knowledge creation, harnessing and sharing and its
process have been illustrated in this report.
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Aims and Objectives
The main aim of developing knowledge in KCA is to gain the competitive advantage and
to create unique image of the organization in front of consumers.
Need for knowledge Management
It helps entities in developing mechanism of storing the effective information which can
be useful in the future for the development of the firm.
Knowledge creation
Its a systematic process of converting useful data into meaningful information for the
welfare of the corporations. In the absence of KM companies can not accomplish its objective
easily so for achieving the goal of the KCA it is very essential.
Knowledge harnessing and sharing
KM is the continuous process in which data is collected from internal and external
environment. Harnessing and sharing both are interlinked parts. Knowledge can be used by
developing a system of storing and by implementing this into real practical workplace
environment of KCA (Kimberly-Clark Australia, 2017).
Knowledge Management process
Knowledge can be created by following ways:
 Discovering related data by internal and external environment through research and
observations.
 Once management team of KCA get the information then it is essential to check its
applicability and benefits to the organization.
 In the next phase managers of cited firm has to share this information with employees,
customers, suppliers and rest other stakeholders (Jordan and Russel, 2014).
 In the last phase managers of KCA have to reuse this information so that problems can
be abolish, in case if still issues are taking place then they can take effective decisions to
resolve issues of the workplace.
Employees learning, development needs and plan
To accomplish the goal of the KCA it is very important for the top management to
identify the learning and development needs of its staff members. Higher authorities are required
to evaluate the performance of its each employees and analyses the gap between required and
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current performance as per the business needs. By this way managers will be able to formulate
the mechanism which can help in fulfilling this gap. Once management of KCA find the gap
then they can formulate comprehensive plan such as training or development programs which
can help to enhance knowledge and efficiency of the workers (Dhuieb and et.al, 2015).
Resources of KM
Some important resources of KM are as following:
 Story telling
 Mentoring
 Upgraded Training
 Cross-division project team
Constraints and contingency measures
In the highly competitive environment organizations have to update the knowledge
immediately so that it can perform better and can match with the current environment. But
constraints may take place any time thus, to manage this, managers can implement extensive
research activities. This would help in forecasting the future issues so KCA will be able to make
plan to reduce critical situations (Ismail and Ahmad, 2015). Apart from this implementation of
innovative solutions, use of upgraded technologies can help to sustain in such crucial
competitive environment.
Evaluation
Organizations can evaluate the KM by comparing the effectiveness of current system
against company's main objectives. Apart from this by looking upon the improvement in
performance of workers its effectiveness can be evaluated. By examine outcome of each activity
such as HR, sales etc. against standards or benchmark can help in evaluating the actual
effectiveness of knowledge management system (Coffey, 2015).
ASSIGNMENT 2
Q1 Concept of KM
Knowledge management is the systematic process that supports to address the risks of
the firms and find out the solutions for minimizing such issues of the organizations. It works for
creating, sharing, customizing the data in such manner so that it can be useful for the entities.
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Q2 List of legislation, codes of practice and national standard related to KM
There are number of legislation and code of practices those are related with the KM and
influence it.
 Privacy Act 1988, Privacy regulation 2013
 Freedom of information Act 1982
 Archives Act 1983
 public service regulation 1999
 Fair work act 2009
 Evidence Act 1995
 Electric transactions act 1999 and 2000
Relevant standards to KM are as following:
 ISO 15489 Record management
 As / NZS ISO 16175 principal and functions
 Record keeping standards of Australian government (AGRkMS)
Q3 key benefits of KM
Three key benefits of knowledge Management are as following:
 It helps to take effective, speedy decisions in the organizations.
 It is beneficial in reducing work based repeated mistakes.
 Enhances communication process of entities (Ismail and Ahmad, 2015).
Q4 Barriers to knowledge sharing
Five barriers of knowledge sharing are as following:
 Time is the major barrier, due to this managers of KCA feel unable to share information
effectively with employees.
 Lack of awareness is another obstacle, most of the people are not aware with the
importance of this information, by this way sharing can not done effectively.
 Lack of coordination and communication is major barrier due to this sharing can not be
done properly (Ahmad and et.al, 2016).
 Fear of loosing position is one of the main obstacle that minimize the scope of sharing
the knowledge.
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 Fear of facing loss or harm to business image is major barrier and due to this information
sharing scope get minimized.
Q5 Australian Standard for Knowledge
Key Australian standards is AS5037-2005. Features of this standards are as following:
 It describes indicator's list so that information can reused effectively and organization
can maintain standards.
 It gives guidelines for bench-making (Ahmad and et.al, 2016).
 It defines the concept of efficiency.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that knowledge management is an important
part of organizations, it helps to accomplish the objective of the firms. With the help of KM
company's can forecast the problems can make strategies to minimize such risks. It assists in
increasing the performance of the firms and raising standards of the products.
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REFERENCES
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method for early system design. Journal of Systems Science and Systems Engineering.
pp.1-32.
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Educational, Informational, and Communication Technology.Systemics, Cybernetics and
Informatics. 13(6). pp.122-128.
Dagenais, C. and et.al., 2016. Using concept mapping to identify conditions that foster
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environment with the concept of digital factory assistant. International Journal of Product
Lifecycle Management. 8(4). pp.330-347.
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knowledge management in mobile apps for collective decision making. In Agents, Multi-
Agent Systems and Robotics (ISAMSR), 2015 International Symposium on (pp. 6-11).
IEEE.
Jordan, A. and Russel, D., 2014. Embedding the concept of ecosystem services? The utilisation
of ecological knowledge in different policy venues.Environment and Planning C:
Government and Policy. 32(2). pp.192-207.
Roschangar, F., Sheldon, R. A. and Senanayake, C. H., 2015. Overcoming barriers to green
chemistry in the pharmaceutical industry–the Green Aspiration Level™ concept. Green
Chemistry. 17(2). pp.752-768.
Veena, G. and et.al., 2016. A Concept-Based Model for Query Management in Service Desks.
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Vinodh, S., Balagi, T. S. and Patil, A., 2016. A hybrid MCDM approach for agile concept
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Online
Kimberly-Clark Australia, 2017. [Online] Available through:
<http://192.168.1.18/projectfiles/internal_cust_document/KimberlyClarkAustraliaCaseStu
dy_1484728415.pdf>. [Accessed on 19th January 2017].
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF KM ?, 2005. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.kikm.org/KM_Benefits.htm>. [Accessed on 19th January 2017].
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