The Nuisance of Role of IT in KM

With the enhancement of information technology (IT) it has become easier to accomplish the basic processes of knowledge management that is to gain knowledge, to store it and then to disseminate it. However there is this ongoing debate about what role does IT actually play in knowledge management? For certain researchers like Davenport and Prusak (1998), IT acts as a tool that can enhance the knowledge sharing process. On the similar lines Senge(1998) says that knowledge sharing would be faster and an individual will have access to more information but will it do any good? Senge argues very truly that this quick access or amount of knowledge will not make any difference if the person concerned does not have enough skills and thoughts to use it properly and correctly. The KM theorists do recognize the importance of IT in KM but at the same time the want to convey a cautious note that giving too much importance to IT in KM may lead to the implementation either being a disaster or will exist but not facilitate KM as it should.


In this competitive market the ultimate challenge for KM is to maximize innovation through knowledge creation says Caravalho and Ferreira(2001). They also reinforce the note that IT plays a facilitating role in KM. However it can be seen that the group of people saying that IT is just for support of KM and safeguard against its too much indulgence are correct. This information driven KM will make knowledge into static and inert information and neglecting the tacit knowledge all together argues Borghoff and Pareschi (1997). They are very true when expressing these views. It is completely agreeable that KM wants to capture both explicit and tacit knowledge and if IT plays the main role it would just be calcifying the explicit knowledge. This will lead to databases full of information or rather that has captured organizational memory over the years but would lack the intelligence to innovate new products or services out of it (Borghoff and Pareschi , 1997).
Linking this to the famous SECI model by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) it is seen that their spiral aimed at continuous conversion of explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge and visa versa in the externalization process. However this process may not take place if IT is given too much importance.

There is another interesting group of people who have categorized the use of IT according to the by of industry they belong too. Kankanhalli et. al, 2009 have divided up the organizations in 2X2 matrix where they might be a service based or product based industry and has high verses low volatile concept. It is an extremely useful division as it helps to understand which IT approach the organization should adapt. They say the in a product based company there is more scope and need of KM as there is a need of continuous and fast innovation compared to service based industries. For example a company like Sony needs to innovate products very quickly to gain its footing in the market but for a bank like Natwest the need is to provide a better customer service to their customers.

Their other dimension is that of volatility where by high they mean continuous up gradation of information or knowledge and low where it’s not very frequent. High volatile organization can be one like NASA where the life of a particular knowledge is very short and there is a need to change it continuously and so they have got COP’s that are specially dedicated to facilitate this change. On the other hand are are low volatile companies like Middlesex university where the span of knowledge and the need to update it is not high.

When analyzed it is seen that this classification is very accurate and it has made an attempt to join the gap as to what role IT plays in the organizations. It not only discusses codification and personalization of KM but also reviews what type of tool or which technology can be used. Developing intranet websites has become almost like a norm in KM but there is also need to contact the experts.

Reflecting back

It is quite evident that the role of IT in an organization is very tactful. Instead of arguing as to how important the role of IT is ( major or minor), it would be better to understand why IT is needed in KM. Its role play is a secondary matter. As far as the organizations are concerned IT is a platform to find people who have the correct knowledge at right time. For example, say that the google’s server crashed; at such a time it will be more important to locate the engineers who can fix this problem using the intranet, or other COP rather then scrolling down and looking up huge amount of information or knowledge to tackle this problem. Another point of view for the organizations is also that they need to innovate continuously in order to sustain competition so it is quite obvious that the investment in IT is needed and cannot be avoided. However there is a middle way to apply IT in KM and that is to accept the fact that deploying IT does not mean KM. And also be conscious that even IT has its limitations and it alone cannot gain what KM can gain when humans are involved. KM is not about technology alone it also has dimensions like strategy, human involvement and organizational culture which are of equal importance.

References:

Borghoff U.M., Pareschi R (1997), “Information Technology for Knowledge Management”, Journal of Universal Computer Science, vol. 3, no. 8 (1997), 835-842

Carvalho, Rodrigo Baroni de & Ferreira, Marta Araújo Tavares (2001) "Using information technology to support knowledge conversion processes" Information Research, 7(1) [Available at http://InformationR.net/ir/7-1/paper118.html] , Accessed on:[29/03/2009]

Davenport, T. and Prusak, L. (1998) Working Knowledge: how organizations manage what they know. Boston: HBS Press.

Kankanhalli, A, Tanudidjaja, F. , Sutanto, J. and Tan, B.(2009)” Role of Information Technology inSuccessful Knowledge Management Initiatives”, Forthcoming: Communications of the ACM, Available at: http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~atreyi/papers/IT-KM.pdf , Accessed on[30/03/2009].

Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H.(1995) The Knowledge-Creating Company. New York: Oxford Press