Key Design Principles for a Knowledge Management Strategy
Based on the previous discussions, it is possible to extract a set of principles that should inform the design and implementation of a knowledge management strategy. These can be summarized as follows:
1. Start with Strategy
Be clear what the objectives of a knowledge management strategy are, in order to ensure that knowledge management does not come to be seen as an end in itself. Document these carefully, so that they can be used to assess every aspect of the design of evolving systems and tools. In an educational context, it seems reasonable to expect that these objectives must, in broad terms, be to advance and improve student learning. IF knowledge management investments cannot be linked to this overall objective, it would seem to be difficult to justify them in an educational organization.
2. Involve users in the design of the knowledge management strategy and systems
This paper has stressed throughout the centrality of people to knowledge management. The most successful strategies and systems will harness the people who are expected to drive the system from the outset, building from an existing organizational context and from an understanding of patterns of use of information already present within an institution.
3. Clearly distinguish knowledge management strategies from technology implementation and information systems management
It is critical to keep remembering that technology is not the driver of knowledge management. Technology should be an enabler, facilitating the establishment of solutions to real problems. Once technology becomes a problem that needs its own solutions, it stops being useful to its users.
4. Ensure that the broader organizational environment supports and rewards creation and sharing of knowledge
There is little point in attempting to layer a knowledge management strategy on top of an organization that is structurally unsupportive of knowledge creation and sharing. Thus, establishing an effective knowledge management strategy will require thorough review of all organizational polices and practices in an effort to ensure that people are encouraged to become true knowledge workers. These policies and practice should encourage a spirit of enquiry and curiosity, while rewarding information-sharing and collaboration. They should also work actively to break down internal boundaries within an organization, in order to make it easier for people to work in teams, so that they are able to develop their own knowledge further through innovation and interaction with others. This process of organizational change will require strong institutional leadership if it is to work successfully.
5. Approach knowledge management as an iterative process
Knowledge management is not a once-off investment, in which a system is created and then left to run by itself. It will thus be critical to ensure that support for knowledge management strategies is long-term, and that it assumes an ongoing need for iterative improvements. Again, this will require strong institutional leadership if the strategies and systems of knowledge management are to become truly embedded into the operations of the organization.
6. Measure the impact of knowledge management
As noted in point one above, managing knowledge is not an end in itself, but rather should be informed by clear objectives. To close the loop, it is critical to integrate into knowledge management strategies and system some processes of measuring the impact these investments. This may be difficult to do, as it may be difficult to quantify the benefits that knowledge management brings, but reflective review of the effect that knowledge management is having remains an important element of ensuring that its evolving design and implementation has the greatest impact possible.
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