Manage an Information or Knowledge Management System

Question: Describe about the Manage an Information or Knowledge Management System. Answer: Aims and Objectives The NGC witnessed success in various regions of its operations in recent few years. NGC provides a wide range of education opportunities, which are flexible in nature for both local as well as international students. It provides an assortment of college curriculums to students and ensures superior academic along with social achievements with excellence of staff and students. This knowledge management plan aims to develop a framework that would help the NGC to enable staff to remain seamlessly connected with information when it requires and uses the same to enrich academic excellence. The objective behind this measure is to develop a holistic approach with respect to the approach of management of information created and/or used by staff and students of the NGC. Purpose and Outcomes The purpose behind developing knowledge management approach in the NGC is to leverage the knowledge assets, enrich the learning and teaching approach, and improvise administration. The following outcomes are expected to be attained through knowledge management: Able to enrich the recognition and attractiveness of the NGC in the periphery of its operations Enrich the organizational revenue with enrolment of new students Develop quality and superior decisions Create better opportunity of collaborating and coordinating knowledge along with information Source: (Dhamdhere, 2015) Knowledge management in the context of curriculum development based on industry interfacing as well as electives facilitates developing quality educational programs and thereby leveraging suitable practices. The approach allows to deliver better counseling to the students and to select course suitable as regards to their field of interest which would enrich service quality and satisfaction among the students (Amy, 2005). Knowledge Creation In the current developing society, to ensure sustained effective performance, updating of management of knowledge is inevitable in the educational sector. Implementation of knowledge management approach in the context of the NGC is likely to facilitate better access of affordable educational solution, along with raising knowledge, different curriculum integration, better administration, and HR utilization, sharing of knowledge, flexibility and collaboration among other benefits. In the knowledge management plan of NGC, following aspects of knowledge will be considered: Area of research process in the courses based on industry expectations Developing of curriculum Alumni services to enrich the knowledge of followers Student services related to placement Administration services as well as assistance to have access of information to staff and students Strategic planning for adopting changes Source: (Ramanigopal, 2012) Knowledge Harnessing and Sharing Including research development aspect in knowledge management, will likely to enhance staff and students responsiveness as well as competitiveness in the research field. The approach allows improving time management and better understanding of industry specific understanding. Following this approach of knowledge management, students can be able to demonstrate their key learning form the educational protocol and provide interdisciplinary opportunities to inline their abilities as per the industry standards (Tremblay, Lalancette Roseveare, 2012). NGC curriculum developed in accordance with industry interface allows to provide stakeholder with effective administration services in the field of teaching as well as learning with advancement of technology and business environment. The knowledge can be effectively shared only through designing and building up interdisciplinary approaches which are beyond the limited departmental boundaries (Ramanigopal, 2012). Alumni services approach of the knowledge management dimension could be another effective approach, as it allows gathering of past students in the colleges wherein they can reflect their success stories and link the development services provided by the NGC to follower students (Ramanigopal, 2012). Student services of placement allow facilitating knowledge sharing in the form of counseling to the stakeholders and support career placement in proper direction (Ramanigopal, 2012). Administration services can be an integral approach in the knowledge management perspective in NGC, which can be implemented through enriching library management that can give access of wider information to the stakeholders of educational domain. The access of library facilities allows stakeholders to review of academic and non-academic resources on their fields of interest and facilitate in enriching learning efforts. In addition, strategic planning for adopting change measures will facilitate sharing of knowl edge of related internal and/or external information with respect to lowering the redundant efforts (Mathew, 2010). Staff Learning and Develop Needs and Plans In educational domain, explicit knowledge is reflected to be tangible knowledge whereas tacit knowledge is termed to be intangible knowledge. Academic knowledge is elaborated in formal language, printed form and uses predetermined syllabus or formats to spread knowledge. On the other hand, intangible knowledge is reflected to base on personal experiences and sharing of knowledge through altruistic mode along with networking. Tangible knowledge propagates through motivating stakeholders to attain specific goals. Intangible knowledge is promoted through following leadership and visionary approach (Smith, 2001). To induce knowledge management into the real practice, assessment of abilities of staff will play an important role. Certain employees inculcate superior abilities to accept changes whereas others may resist changes mainly because of their inabilities. In this regard, Training Need Assessment (TNA) will be conducted to raise the competencies of staff in the area where they are lagging. The NGC employees training needs will be ascertained through adopting the following measures: Evaluate the current skills of staff Point out the skills required in staff in creating the planned knowledge management practice Identification of knowledge and/or skill gaps in the staff Recognize the skills that can assist the staff to initiate knowledge management practices Planning for training practices that can assist the staff to bridge identified knowledge gaps Source: (Barbazette, 2005) The staff with the less knowledge regarding procedures of adopting knowledge management practice will undergo training sessions including lectures, which will allow sharing of similar information amid staff. After acquiring a brief understanding of the concerned practices, workshops will be conducted to raise their level of understanding and confidence of staff. To conduct training, experts will be hired with superior understanding of measures that NGC are expected to implement. Along with formal approach of training, staff will also be provided autonomy of clarifying their confusions with the experts, supervisors and/or other staff in informal manner. The training program will also include computer-based technologies to raise the understanding of staff regarding knowledge management practices and their applications (Sampson et al., 2014). Correspondingly, with respect to the knowledge needs, staff must increase their level of competencies with the passage of time along with ascertai ning advancement in terms of technological know-how (Huddlestone Pike, 2016). Thus, evaluation of training needs will be conducted for the staff after 6 months to ensure that they are able to remain competitive enough to suffice stakeholders knowledge requirement. To oversee the entire process, Knowledge Management Advisory Group will be created who will remain responsible for assessing and arranging training needs of staff. Resources in Knowledge Management Various resources will be required for inducing the knowledge management practice in NGC including physical, HR and financial assets. HR resources will include the staff of NGC and will be the key resources in the knowledge management practice in which the organization will involve. They are guided to adopt the knowledge management practice and develop superior platform for stakeholders to gain knowledge from the organisations service. The physical resources include arrangement of all the resources including wide ranges of books, journals, theses and study materials to develop the library facility, wherein the staff members of the organisation and the students are able to acquire knowledge beyond the classroom environment. Apparently, other key resources in knowledge management involve the arrangement of financial resources that assist to enrich the organisational knowledge services. The cost will require for conducting Research and Development (RD) to evaluate the mechanisms and str ategic actions for increasing the prospect of knowledge sharing. The cost will involve developing alumni services and placement cell and reforming the administrative services, which will allow to provide better platform of interaction to the stakeholders to enrich knowledge sharing (Dhamdhere, 2015; Thitithananon Klaewthanong, 2007). The paper-based and electronic media will be the key resource media that will be required in promoting knowledge sharing among the staff members and students. Paper-based resource media will be used to provide relevant information to the staff during their training for developing knowledge management practice. The electronic media will be adopted mainly to develop the online educational curriculum of NGC and the alumni services to enrich knowledge sharing platform for all the involved stakeholders. By using electronic media platform, students will be able to locate the major sources to enrich their knowledge and develop knowledge sharing platform across the organisational boundaries (National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools, 2011). External Stakeholders in Knowledge Management The technical constituencies that are likely to face in adaptation of knowledge management practice include alteration in the educational curriculum, which require its rescheduling. The staff members and the students may also face difficulty in adaptation of electronic platform of knowledge sharing. Another possible issue that will arise is the security related concerns in the system. Moreover, there is uncertainty about the effectiveness of KMS regarding that improper bandwidth and IT literacy among staff, which create difficulty and once the system put into practice, it will be difficult to alter, as it involve high cost (Herrmann, 2011). The technical specialists include the experts called for developing knowledge management practice and the administrative staff of the organization. Perceived Constraints and Contingency Measures In the process of implementation of knowledge management practice into the organization, the concerns regarding organizational culture and managerial unease are expected to rise. The change management is likely to be the major concern in system implementation, as their will be high possibility that staff will resist volunteer knowledge. Lack of knowledge among the staff regarding the system is likely to obstruct its implementation. The managerial difficulty regarding delegation of responsibilities to appropriate and qualified staff will be another problem in system implementation. To deal with these difficult conditions, staff and other involve stakeholders will be motivated by suggesting them with the benefits in adaption of system into practice (Alavi Leidner, 1999). Dealing with Implementation Issues The possible issues that the organization might face in implementation of knowledge management practice would be the improper team, coordination issues among knowledge management team and staff and low familiarity. To evade such challenging issues, inducement of leadership environment will be put into action, which would allow employees to guide regarding benefits of the system. The cultural framework will also be reformulated with due emphasis on involvement, transparency and developing shared vision among the participants. Additionally, training measures will also be worked as necessary measure focus on enriching skills, which will contribute in effective implementation of knowledge management practice (Arntzen Ndlela, 2009). System Integration Monitoring In the process of implementing knowledge management practice in NGC, system integration is the mechanism to integrate all subsystems together. The data and information in the system will be aligned with developing databases and network systems in a secured manner. The expertise personal and the project team members will be liable for coordinating and monitoring the process of implementation of knowledge management. The project members monitor system integration with the use of coding process along with a detail classification of progress and errors (Dhamdhere, 2015). Knowledge Management System Evaluation Monitoring and evaluating the system will be duly accepted as a vital aspect of knowledge management and its implementation. It helps to ensure that the system implementation process steadily moves in accordance with the plan. The progress of the system in enriching knowledge will be the key attribute to be monitored during the system implementation. The success will be measured by evaluating whether the activities conducted is in accordance to the planned schedule. The expert using paper-based media will codify the progress of activities involved in system implementation. If the activities identified to be conducting in accordance to the scheduled way, it will be inferred that the system is implemented in accordance with the schedule (Akhavan, Atashgah Adalti, 2010). Pre-testing of the KMS will be conducted to evaluate whether system facilitates to integrate and spread knowledge to the stakeholders. Performance Measures The performance measures will tend to evaluate the effectiveness and measure the critical success factors that will involve in determining the progress. In performance measure of the system, information regarding the schedule and progress of different activities involved in the system implementation will be documented. The performance measure will be conducted in both qualitative and quantitative terms, the members involved in system implementation will be surveyed regarding the process and the assessment will be conducted about the impact of the activity (Faisst Resatsch, 2004). The KPIs in the system implementation will include coordination among the members of the project team, time, cost involvement, communication and significance in knowledge sharing. System Effectiveness: Analysis and Reporting System effectiveness can be determined by ascertaining whether the activities are functioning in a coordinated as well as integrated manner and the resources are in accordance with the planning process of the project. It will also be evaluated that whether experts and knowledge users can develop relationship in the system. The reporting will be done based on the following criteria: Source: (Akhavan, Hosnavi Adalati, 2010) System Outcomes The business level goal and objective behind implementation of KMS will provide opportunity for sharing knowledge and related information with different stakeholders. The strategic plan of NGC focuses on developing KMS within the organisation and operational goal will be to provide broad and extensive enterprise knowledge to the stakeholders. System contribution to meet these business, operational and strategic plans will be determined by reviewing the system effectiveness in facilitating knowledge sharing and evaluate whether staff and students can use the system appropriately (Akhavan, Hosnavi Adalati, 2010). Recommendations Recommendations are advisory measures that need to be considered in designing, implementing and developing successful KMS. Following recommendations are made concerning KMS implementation in NGC: Having proper administrative and senior management support Proper resource allocation required in KMS Training users to use KMS Develop security of the system Implementing and developing KMS satisfaction metrics for the stakeholders Source: (Akhavan, Hosnavi Adalati, 2010) The uncertain problems arise would be resolved by building the approach of working in a coordinated manner reporting the problem situation when it arises. Besides, the recommended measures would be submitted to higher authorities based on formal e-mail conversation. References Akhavan, P, Atashgah, R H Adalti, M S 2010, Essential issues in knowledge management system implementation: Lessons from Iranian IT based companies, Management International Conference, pp. 24-27. Alavi, M Leidner, D 1999, Knowledge management systems: Issues, challenges, and benefits, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, vol. 1, pp. 2-37. 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