Appropriately-selected knowledge management initiatives can help companies in many ways. They can help people access the information they need, support a learning organization culture, and even assist in facilitating change. This paper addresses how an expertise locator system can assist a company during a period of significant organizational change and create the foundation for future knowledge sharing and innovation.
To provide better perspective, we’ll take a look at the use of an expertise locator with a particular company in mind. The company for which this initiative is recommended has recently been acquired and is about to incorporate another recently-acquired company within their operating platform. There has been significant change and unrest for both organizations, and efforts need to be made as soon as possible to get them talking and sharing with one another to help them operate as one. With all these organizational changes, there are also a lot of questions about who to call for what (and in many cases who even still works for the company as significant layoffs are occurring). It is the desire of upper management to return the company to its previous levels of productivity, plus prepare them for future collaboration and further operational improvements. Since awareness and expertise management are core functions in achieving integration, collaboration, and innovation (Maybury, D'Amore, & House, 2002, p. 201), the recommendation is for this company to implement an expertise locator system as an introductory knowledge management initiative. From a timing perspective, updates will need to be made to the corporate directory and this could be an excellent opportunity to capitalize upon to concurrently capture the employees’ area(s) of expertise.
Many other companies have experienced operational benefits from implementing an expertise locator and management system. Some relevant benefits include being able to:
1. “Help people in large, often widely geographically dispersed organizations find out who has subject matter expertise or who knows how and where to get at important know-how.” (Smith & McKeen, 2006, p. 44)
2. “Cultivate a culture of collaboration” (Maybury, D'Amore, & House, 2000, p. 12)
3. “Enable users to create expert profiles and submit questions to be answered by the pros…[and thus] tap into expertise and tacit knowledge.” (Kaplan-Leiserson, 2003, p. 19)
4. Ease the formation of cross-functional teams by facilitating “quick identification of potential skill matches for teams based on employees' backgrounds” (Becerra-Fernandez, 2001, p. 34)
Implementing an expertise locator system will enable this company to experience similar benefits; it will help solve the immediate need for employees to know who they can contact and also begin to build a foundation for sharing knowledge. Thus it will help them through this period of organizational change, return them to their previous levels of productivity, and prepare them for future collaboration and further operational improvements.
References
Becerra-Fernandez, I. (2001). Locating expertise at NASA. Knowledge Management Review, 4(4), 34-37.
Kaplan-Leiserson, E. (2003). Do you know. Training and Development, 57(5), 18-19.
Maybury, M., D'Amore, R., & House, D. (2000). Automating the finding of experts. Research Technology Management, 43(6), 12-15.
Maybury, M., D'Amore, R., & House, D. (2002). Awareness of organizational expertise. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 14(2), 199-217.
Smith, H. & McKeen, J. (2006). Development in practice XXII: Expertise location and management: Hope or hype? Communications of AIS, 18, 44-54.
- Robin
Copyright Robin Donnan 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Performance Associates, Inc.
