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Running head: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT 0
Knowledge management
Corey Couto
Union Institute & University
Professor Bishop
03/11/2017
Knowledge is a critical business resource that should not be overlooked but used to promote effective management. The implementation of KM strategies aid businesses develops knowledge through mentorship that increases the rate of learning while mitigating the risks associated with repeating mistakes. Knowledge retention is another facet of KM strategies since they serve to safeguard the knowledge asset of a business in the event of retirement, leaves or movement from the organization. The APGC program helps organizations implement instrumental practices that inspired by leadership to promote the massive provision of knowledge and insights. Knowledge is critical for law enforcement agencies which need to continually access information and use it as intelligence. The success of a KM makes mandatory some specific core strategies which act as a roadmap.
KM need to have a solid foundation within the organization that is pegged on specific program objectives. To develop a successful KM program, a focused clear strategy is critical to ensure the organization is steered towards the right direction. Continual measuring and adjustments of the KM strategy are important to guarantee the KM approaches adopted provide maximum value for the organization. Ensuring the buy-in of the leaders is important since they can support or frustrate the efforts of the KM strategy through policy formation and strategic planning (O'Dell & Hubert, 2011). It is also mandatory to document the entire KM strategy as a mode of ensuring the alignment between different KM efforts. Creating a concise and popular roadmap ensures all internal business partners are in agreement about the key goals of the program which will inspire conclusive program support that promotes credibility.
The LEA is currently plagued with attrition issues with the department anticipating massive retirement of between 100-200 officers and the chief by September. This has potential to cause great staffing problems in case HR does not effectively handle recruitment to replace the exiting workforce. Over the past 2-3 years, the department has seen a total of 500 officers and chiefs retiring from the force. A call to action strategy details how the organization will focus its resources on addressing the business problem to secure a distinct value proposition that supports knowledge retention. Employee attrition is an inevitable cost of business that should be used by management to identify and solve inherent organizational problems. It often serves as a symptom of business problems as opposed to identifying as a problem itself (Rubenstein-Montano et al., 2001). Attrition can either be positive or negative which will affect both low and high performers. In the case of positive attrition, low-performing employees voluntarily decide to leave employment or get fired which has a positive impact on performance. Negative attrition occurs when high-performing employees that actively drive up revenue feel demoralized and frustrated to the point where they decide to leave employment. This can be reflected as early retirements or premature contract termination which leaves the organization in dire need of additional staff. Negative attrition is a sign of serious problems within the organization and should be addressed to ensure the retention of critical knowledge through training and mentorship.
The LEA currently depicts symptoms of organizational issues based on the negative attrition issue evident from the massive retirement of approximately 200 officers by September. Considering the past trend, it seems a lot of insightful knowledge is being lost to the organization. Identifying the root cause of the problem is critical as a step towards implementing appropriate KM strategies and developing a good business case. There is a strong link between employee training, motivation, and performance. Job training is an important step that empowers new recruits with the necessary knowledge required to ensure they successfully carry out their duties. Poor training reduces employee motivation since it directly impacts how effectively they can work. Following the consistent massive retirement trend over the years, HR has been forced to quickly recruit new officers and offer compressed training programs to ensure they get to handling office matters as soon as possible (Vera & Crossan, 2003). This has further amplified employee dissatisfaction which actively contributes to early retirement.
Investing in employees is important to guaranteeing good performance. There is a strong correlation between leadership positions and employee attrition. With the retirement of the chief, the satisfaction level of the officers in the department tends to fall leading to the high attrition. A workplace that provides advancement and growth opportunities inspires loyalty among employees and reduce the level of attrition. A common sign of negative attrition is associated with limiting the advancement of ambitious officers who wish to move up the corporate ladder. When an employee feels like the organization does not complement their personal career goals, the organization faces the danger of loosely highly talented employees while retaining poor performance employees. Inaccurate job profiles also serve to frustrate employees and harbor feelings of resentment towards the organization. Their continuous dis-gratification will invoke them to make a decision to leave the organization at the first opportunity. HR needs to develop conclusive job descriptions that clearly depict the expected working environment complete with the duties, responsibilities and authority capacity (Rubenstein-Montano et al., 2001).
Formalizing the KM business case will ensure it resonates with the leadership which will steer support and possible funding of the program. It will further support the measurement of business results over time which will validate the entire program to top management. Focusing attention on the value proposition will emphasize the importance of critical knowledge in the organization (O'Dell & Hubert, 2011). The LEAs serve to benefit by retaining the organizational knowledge through reduction of cases of employee attrition. Understanding the knowledge within the specific LEA is important how to handle the issue of retirement. The training of officers is often meant to impart necessary business knowledge that will ensure their smooth transition into the normal operations of the organization. New recruits need a lot of mentoring and guidance which will eventually determine their suitability in the organization and how effectively they will be able to conduct their tasks.
Understanding the knowledge needs of the organization will inspire the implementation of the best-possible business practices. The involvement of the functional managers from different business units will ensure a cohesive structural support for the entire program. The KM strategy should leverage the information gathered during internal research that stems from the grassroots. Employees on the ground, who interact with the organizational work system on a daily basis, have a keen interest to identify knowledge needs of the organization. Based on the information collected, HR can identify the knowledge gap within the structure to implement strategic KM goals (Gold & Arvind Malhotra, 2001).
Knowledge mapping provides an essential toolkit for the organization to identify risky aspects of knowledge retention. Creating a knowledge map will reveal constraining bottlenecks within the system that reduce the flow of knowledge and act as weak links between the business units (O'Dell & Hubert, 2011). This articulation of how information moves within the LEAs can inspire the exploitation of opportunities within the system through adjustments and improvements to ensure critical knowledge and intelligence reach the intended person in due time and in the intended format. The refining of the knowledge system within the organization can greatly improve employee performance and increase operational efficiency while dealing with the issues of motivation, satisfaction, and empowerment that often lead to employee attrition.
The KM strategic objective is to reduce the cases of employee attrition to secure the maturity of the KM program through different phases. As a strategy to handling the poor training programs implemented by the HR department, management can lobby for extended time duration between training and independent job performance. This will ensure that employees have more time to learn before they are expected to perform tasks autonomously. Enriching the operating environment for the benefit of the employees can also be achieved through maintenance of a higher ratio of supervisors and employees which provide a structural support system to offer guidance and direction during job performance. This strategy will foster the transmission of critical knowledge to the employees which will prevent the repetition of mistakes and foster superior performance (Rubenstein-Montano et al., 2001).
In an effort to improve the level of employee retention it is clear that the organization needs to invest in leadership tenure to ensure the organization is able to maintain its current workforce. Taking the initiative to invest and nurture leadership has an ultimate reflection in the bottom-line. Officers often feel a connection to the chief and they establish a relationship through daily operations and activities by maintaining a cohesive work dynamic. Inspiring upward mobility in the workplace can work positively to inspire employees to stay longer in the department. This will work as a motivation strategy which through continual performance appraisal where management can identify high-performing employees and appreciate their efforts towards the organization's profitability. Handling the problem of inaccurate job profiles is critical as a strategy to prevent attrition as it ensures job descriptions live up to the expectation of the workforce (O'Dell & Hubert, 2011). This will ensure recruitment attracts a wide pool of a qualified workforce to solve the staffing problem within the organization. Developing a decisive hiring profile will reduce the chances of discouraging individuals from leaving the organization. It may include information about the advancement opportunities available for the position and job flexibility available.
Involvement and participation is an important aspect of the KM strategy since internal co-ordination of activities and operations are essential to the success of the program. Guaranteeing the buy-in of the top management will secure the program in terms of resources that will be furnished on time. By developing a desirable business case with a concise value proposition, the entire workforce will be inspired to move towards meeting the objectives of the program. Knowledge capture and transfer can best be harnessed through training, mentorship, and apprenticeship to reduce the effects of negative attrition. By increasing the time-gap between training and autonomous performance, recruits can have more time to learn and gather critical information from the trainees. This will increase job satisfaction and increase loyalty which reduces employee attrition (O'Dell & Hubert, 2011).
The KM program will involve some internal research to assess the degree of knowledge needs within the organization. The implementation of the KM program will include different progressive stages from inception right through to maturity. Being a long-term and continuous program, it is critical to identify a sustainable and consistent source of funding. The LEA needs to reorganize its expenditure patterns to ensure it can accommodate the additional expenses associated with the implementation of the KM strategy. This is why it is critical to assert the cooperation of top management since they have the authority to redirect organizational funds for the benefit of meeting the set business objectives. Investing in the employees will directly improve the bottom-line and should be carefully addressed during decision-making (Rubenstein-Montano et al., 2001). Funding can, therefore, be sourced from existing business resources and through proper financial management can be adequate to finance the program. Sponsorship can be used as a last resort since it will require external financing. Stakeholders in the LEA can serve as sponsors for the program although they need to be convinced of the importance of the KM strategies as a tool to improving efficiency and reducing the negative effects of attrition.
The selection and design of KM approaches provide the necessary tools and design principles that will govern the incorporation of the program into the workflow of the employees. Knowledge maps act as the best tool for determining the knowledge needs of the organization which can be used to fix the evident organizational knowledge gaps (Gold & Arvind Malhotra, 2001). Overcoming knowledge loss is important within the LEAs since it promotes the retention of the right kind of knowledge. Workplace mentorship is often described as the glue that inspires employees to stick with the organization since it provides opportunities for career growth and advancement.
Successful communities of practice include networks of individuals who continually interact through information sharing. LEAs act in different units which must work together to guarantee the success of the program. Using the communities of practice and a KM approach will ensure the fulfillment of set objectives through existing business networks. It may be challenging to implement a suitable team dynamics structure for the different classes of individuals. The success of the CoPs, however, depends on the effective implementation of the emerging trends in KM approaches which will increase communication and foster relationships (O'Dell & Hubert, 2011). Measurement determines program success and should be continuous to evaluate the progress through the different stages. They can also use the value path measurement method to evaluate the effects of the KM activities of business outcome can measure program participation and effectiveness. The key performance indicators (KPIs) include the measurement of the impact of the KM program in relation to engagement and satisfaction that will ultimately result in a reduced level of attrition. The value for KM tools and approaches must be measured and presented to stakeholders as a means of justifying the credibility of the entire program (APQC, 2017). The implementation of the program can slowly revolutionize the perception of the workforce through communication, interaction, and coordination to develop a system that nurtures talents and provides opportunities for advancements in law enforcement.
References
APQC,. (2017). Knowledge Management Fortune 500 Companies Trust | APQC. Apqc.org. Retrieved 11 March 2017, from https://www.apqc.org/knowledge-management
Gold, A. H., & Arvind Malhotra, A. H. S. (2001). Knowledge management: An organizational capabilities perspective. Journal of management information systems, 18(1), 185-214.
O'Dell, C., & Hubert, C. (2011). The new edge in knowledge: How knowledge management is changing the way we do business. John Wiley & Sons.
Rubenstein-Montano, B., Liebowitz, J., Buchwalter, J., McCaw, D., Newman, B., Rebeck, K., & Team, T. K. M. M. (2001). A systems thinking framework for knowledge management. Decision support systems, 31(1), 5-16.
Vera, D., & Crossan, M. (2003). Organizational learning and knowledge management: Toward an integrative framework.
