Knowledge Management: Frames, Developers, and Group Decisions

This assignment solution delves into key aspects of knowledge management, beginning with knowledge codification using frames to represent a horse, a student, and an airline pilot. It then evaluates two approaches to knowledge developer selection, arguing for the importance of communication and analytical skills. The solution also explores group decision-making techniques, including brainstorming, the nominal group technique, and consensus decision-making, to identify employee reward strategies. Finally, it analyzes the factors contributing to the failure of a knowledge management project at a global company, employing inductive analysis to identify technological, content, and project management issues. References are provided to support the analysis.

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Knowledge Management
Name
Institution

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Task 1: Knowledge Codification
Q1
A
Instance of
Horse Frame
Thoroughbred Frame
Is an: animal
Is a: 18 hand
Jump: yes
Families: Thoroughbred
Facet
Location:
Chatsworth Park
Mini: instance frame
It is a: Thoroughbred
Boards in a: stall
Facet
Location:
Stable

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B.
Instance of
C.
Instance of
Student Frame
Family: Student
Families: student
Student Frame
She is a: young human
She is an: undergraduate
The student is a: horsewoman
Mini: instance Frame
Name: Brenda
Height: medium
Specialization: liberal arts
Year: Fourth
Lives in: Cubicle
Facet
Location: dormitory
Facet
Location: Melbourne
Airline Frame
Family: Pilot
Pilot Frame
Is a: human
Is a: captain
Is: certified
Facet
Location: Perth
Mini: instance frame
He is a: pilot
Name: Fred
Age: 30
Lives in: city
Facet
Location: Western Australia

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Task 2
Based on my understanding of knowledge management, I consider the second approach
as the most successful of the two. In the development of a knowledge-based system,
communication, as well as analytical skills, are the key necessities required for a person to work
with this kind of technology. With such kind of technology, though it is not unlikely, often, it is
hard for any type of algorithm to come into play. Besides, an individual that possesses both
communication and analytical skills has an increased capacity to learn how to write rules. Such a
person is also able to learn how they can test knowledge base when the need arises, similar to
what a person with programming skills would do.
Task 3
Q3
A. Brainstorming
There are various techniques that an organization can use to reward its staff rather than
increasing their pay. Use of the following methods can improve the employees’ perception and
improve their personal growth. They include giving the staff flexible working hours. Use of this
technique of allowing employees to determine their working hours helps improve their work-life
balance [1]. The other method is giving staff decision-making powers. This type of rewarding
allows some autonomy in the workplace, and the staff feel that their opinion counts in the daily
operations of the firm. Other reward systems include promoting well-performing employees,
allowing them to work from home (telecommuting), including organizing an annual awards
ceremony.

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B. Nominal Group
Nominal Group Technique consists of five phases. The first phase involves defining the
issue. Considering the case scenario, the issue is to determine the most appropriate solution to
the staff personal-worth perception issue. The second phase is the silent phase that involved
dividing the participants into a group of six using a flip chart and a pen [3]. At this phase, the
participants are issued with a pink sticky note and writes down a solution to the problem without
engaging in a discussion. In the third phase, each member stuck a pinky sticky on the flip chart
detailing the solution [2]. The suggested solutions were discussed in phase four, and similar ideas
were grouped. Voting was then done in phase five to choose the most-suitable solution. Based on
the brainstorming activity, the best solution as voted by the participants was offering promotions
to top-performing employees.
C. Consensus
There are seven stages involved in consensus decision-making. In the first stage, the
problem being solved is introduced. In this case, the problem relates to solving the staff personal-
worth perception issue. The stage sets the basis of discussion. In the second phase, all the
participants’ needs, concerns, as well as feelings are shared. The third stage entails broadly
exploring and collecting ideas from the participants on the best solution to the problem [4]. A
proposal is formed at the fourth stage, where suitable solutions are discussed and written down.
At the fifth phase, the proposal is amended, ensuring that the participants understand the
proposal. At this stage, some of the suggested solutions are eliminated as they replicate
themselves. The final decision is that the problem could best be solved by recognizing employee
performance by promoting them. The second last phase of testing for the agreement made sure

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that all participants considered this the best solution. The last phase involves implementing the
proposed solution.
Q.4 Implementation of Knowledge Management
To determine the factors that are behind the failure of the KM project at the Global
Company, inductive analysis is used. Knowledge management is a cycle that consists of four
three main stages that include initiation (advocate and learn, develop a strategy), implementation
(design, and launch KM initiative, expand and support initiatives), and institutionalization.
Analyzing the Global Company’s case study, the failure of the KM project is attributed to three
main factors [5]. The factors comprise of technology, content, and project management.
Technological factors include tools, technology, and infrastructure. At the global company, the
technological factor that led to KM’s failure was the IT maintenance cost which was too high.
The content category is the factor that led to the failure of the KM project. Analyzing the
global company, developing content was poorly done by different KM users, making it hard to
capture the cross-functional content. Under this category, there is also structure. The structure of
the KM project was not done following the correct format and did not take into account all the
tasks. The other category is the project management factor that consists of the KM’s
management initiative [6]. Under the project management factor, the project cost at the global
company led to the failure of the KM project. The entire project cost was very compared to what
was originally expected. Nonetheless, there is also the factor of involving external consultants,
which also contributed to the failure of the KM project at the global firm. Due to the involvement
of many external consultants deviated the KM project from its true course. Nonetheless, the
overreliance on the IT systems is also attributed to the failure of the KM project.

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References
[1]R. Prouska, A. Psychogios and Y. Rexhepi, "Rewarding employees in turbulent
economies for improved organisational performance", Personnel Review, vol. 45, no. 6, pp.
1259-1280, 2016. Available: 10.1108/pr-02-2015-0024.
[2]S. McMillan et al., "Using the Nominal Group Technique: how to analyse across
multiple groups", Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 92-
108, 2014. Available: 10.1007/s10742-014-0121-1.
[3]S. Wallace et al., "Which outcomes are most important to people with aphasia and
their families? an international nominal group technique study framed within the
ICF", Disability and Rehabilitation, vol. 39, no. 14, pp. 1364-1379, 2016. Available:
10.1080/09638288.2016.1194899.
[4]I. Palomares, L. Martinez and F. Herrera, "A Consensus Model to Detect and Manage
Noncooperative Behaviors in Large-Scale Group Decision Making", IEEE Transactions on
Fuzzy Systems, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 516-530, 2014. Available: 10.1109/tfuzz.2013.2262769.
[5]D. Hislop, R. Bosua and R. Helms, Knowledge management in organizations. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2018.
[6]T. Kim, J. Lee, J. Chun and I. Benbasat, "Understanding the effect of knowledge
management strategies on knowledge management performance: A contingency
perspective", Information & Management, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 398-416, 2014. Available:
10.1016/j.im.2014.03.001.