A study of knowledge management leadership

A study of familiarity heed leadershipFor the purpose of the assignment, the telecommunication sedulousness was chosen from the services industry from Great Britain. Vodafone Group plc. (LSE VOD, NASDAQVOD), being a British multinational mobile network operator headquartered in Newbury, England has established prominent state at bottom the argument world. Vodafone is the worlds largest mobile telecommunication network company, and has a market value of about 71.2 billion (November 2009). A multinational corporation (MNC) or transnational corporation (TNC), in like manner called multinational enterprise (MNE), is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in a great deal than one country. It smoke in any case be referred to as an international corporation. The first new-fangled multinational corporation is generally thought to be the East India Company. It currently has operations in 31 countries and attendant networks in a further 40 count ries. It is the worlds second largest mobile phone operator behind China Mobile and over Telephonic based on subscribers, with over 427 million subscribers in 31 markets across 5 continents as of 2009. In the UK, its home ground, Vodafone has badly underperformed in the last few years payable to brisk change in administration. It has slipped from first to third largest telecom operator generating revenue of 4.9 billion from its 18.7 million customers in 2008-09. As of March 31, 2009, the company employs to a greater extent than 79,000 people worldwide. The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen by the company to resound the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones. (BBC, 2009)Vodafone has been working(a) and operating within many countries and have created several opportunities of working with local companies. February 2010, Vodafone announced that it is bringing M-PESA, one of the worlds nigh successful mobile money shift services, to South Africa, to be deployed by its subsidiary, Vodacom South Africa and its South African banking partner. With approximately 26 million people in South Africa without official bank accounts, M-PESA leave behind enable millions of mobile phone subscribers who have access to a mobile phone, but do not have or have only special access to a bank account, to send and receive money via their mobile phones. The M-PESA service was truthful by Vodafone and has already been deployed by Safari com in Kenya, Vodacom in Tanzania and Roshan in Afghanistan (branded M-Paisa). More than 11 million registered customers now rely on their mobile phones for money transportation, airtime top-up and bill payments. Vodafone takes an unusual tack with successful candidates. Vodafone feeds back reading on how people performed into their development plans as no one is ever a 100 per cent fit. The assessment process is constantly re-evaluated, with employees being assessed on a regular basis on their background and s omeoneality. It also tracks newfound hires on contriteness, sickness absence, performance in bringing up and performance in the job.The process assoilly works. They recruit less people than before because there assessment process has had such a positive effect on both attrition and performance. Theres a key attrition measure in call centres at 13 weeks into the job. Its the first pinch-point. Theyve improved there dramatically by selecting the right people at the outset.There atomic number 18 several factors that influence the working of multinational companies such as market imperfections and international powers. For the company under consideration, the market imperfections argon the possibility of not perspicacious the local laws, local customers or businesses. The international power factors could be tax exemption, market withdrawal, lobbying, patents and government powers.The SECI model (the acronym stands for Socialization, Externalization, Combination, Internalization ) was first proposed in 1991 (Nonaka 1991), though was refined and grow for a broader audience in the popular book The companionship Creating Company (Nonaka Takeuchi 1995). The SECI model met with broad acceptance, especially among management practitioners, due to its intuitive logic and clear delineation of knowledge types between tacit and explicit knowledge-utilising this knowledge delineation first espoused in management theory by Polanyi (1958). The core behavioural assurance in the model is that knowledge creating companies continually encourage the flow of knowledge between individuals and staff groups to improve both tacit and explicit knowledge stocks. Thus, knowledge value is created with synergies between knowledge holders (both individual and group) within a supportive and developmental organisational context.Figure (The Key Elements of the SECI Model, In the above diagram, the I, G, and O symbols epitomise individuals) group and organizationIn 1998 a third, more challenging, cultural assumption was added to the SECI discussion.Nonaka and Konno (1998) introduced the Japanese concept of Ba, a philosophical construct rooted in Japanese society that relates to the physical, relational and spiritual elements of place, or perhaps more expansively context.In the strategic management and organisational theory literatures, organisations are increasingly conceptualised in term of their knowledge and capabilities (Poppo Zenger 1998), and less in terms of their physical and financial assets. Further, organisational alliances that draw together dissipateds are being viewed as conduits for information and knowledge flows between organisations (Grant Baden-Fuller 2004).Trans-National Corporations (TNCs) sometimes referred to as multinational companies, are enterprises that control economic assets in other countries generally this means controlling at least a 10% apportion of such an asset. These companies command enormous financial resources, posse ss vast technical resources and have extensive global reach. In 2002, the most recent year for which liberal data are available, FDI made throughout the world totalled some $651bn. While most FDI goes to developed countries for exploitation countries it is by far the largest source of external finance. The figures are strikingIn 2002 $162bn in FDI went to developing countries. By comparison, official development assistance (ODA) amounts to some $58bn annually and remittances, another significant source of funds for abject countries, totalled $93bn in 2003.Above mentioned picture shows that Developed market multinationals gives more emphasis to Process Technology and Organizational Architecture. Their operating model is process technology dictated and results were judged on the basis of performance metrics. They give very less importance to Leadership scientific disciplines Inter-personal relationship between people however opposite is true for emerge Market multinationals w here more emphasis is given to Leadership Inter-personal relationship between people and less importance is given to process technology, organizational Architecture metrics.For manikin In the oil and gas industry, for instance, emerging-market NOCs do not seem to rely as systematically on the strict net-present-value metric that IOCs use in their decision-making process-which is concordant with a more-risk conscious leadership style. Rather than adopting this metric, NOCs change the game by creating deals that involve aid and infrastructure packages. This signals a market development mind-set as opposed to a market-exploitation mind-set.Knowledge prudence planOverviewKnowledge watchfulness (or KM) refers to the processes and/or tools an organization uses to collect, analyse, store, and disseminate its intellectual capital. Besides deployment of appropriate technology and processes by a business enterprise in golf club to maintain and retain its intellectual capital, effectiv e KM also refers to making optimum use of obtain and understanding of organizational knowledge, in general. This takes a wide range of information artefacts, such as inherent knowledge-based documents (reports) available internally within the organization, as healthy as related information from the external resources.DefinitionA logical extension of this concept is into the entire organization, in the form of Enterprise Knowledge Management (EKM). Among the areas of greatest concern for the modern knowledge worker (from CIO down to the Content Manager), is identifying, collecting, securing and maintaining the information (aka knowledge base) of the organization. Without a process to ensure this systems usefulness, there are constantly holes which are only found when a user tries to obtain that (missing) information.As Intellectual CapitalThis intellectual capital can include training materials, processes, procedures, documents, ideas, skills, experiences, and such(prenominal) mo re. An effective Knowledge management plan allows a company to quickly and easily share this intellectual capital among the organization so it is available on-demand at any time it is needed. (EEC)KM TypesKM can take many forms, depending on the purpose and requirements. The following is a partial list of related types of KM from which an organization whitethorn select one or manyContent ManagementData ManagementRecords ManagementDocument ManagementPortalOnline knowledgeInformation ArchitectureKnowledge DiscoveryKnowledge RetrievalKM StorageMethods of storing and manduction this intellectual capital include searchable knowledge bases, Learning Management Systems, other types of databases, enterprise portals, groupware tools, and email.KM LeadershipKnowledge management leadership, in terms of position types and their associated titles, covers a broad category of positions and responsibilities. Chief Knowledge policeman (CKO), like any executive-level corporate leader, handles for e nterprise-wide coordination of all KM-related issues and projects.Few corporations maintain a CKO or equivalent officer within their organization. More likely, this responsibility would fall both within the scope of the CIO or a director-level Knowledge Manager. Various categories within the lower-level Knowledge Management career field may be Knowledge psychoanalyst (Content Manager), Knowledge Engineer (Software Specialist), or, Knowledge Steward (Librarian). These are general career titles, since a specific taxonomy does not currently exist which applies to all organizations or positions within the emerging field of KM.Most of the challenges in knowledge management primarily stem from the types of knowledge recycle situations and purposes. Knowledge workers may produce knowledge that they themselves reuse while working. However, each knowledge re-use situation is unique in terms of requirements and context. Whenever these differences between the knowledge re-use situations are i gnored, the organization faces various challenges in implementing its knowledge management practices. The Knowledge Management system enables employees to have ready access to the institutional documented base of facts, information sources and solutions. A typical claim justifying the creation of a KM system might run something like this an engineer could know the mobile applications can help in transferring money to other countries without any warrantor concerns. Sharing these informations widely could lead to more valuable money transfer plan leading to ideas for new or improved equipment. Following factors incorporate management system such asPurpose the Knowledge Management System depends upon explicit knowledge management verifiables towards collaboration, effective practice and team work.Context Knowledge is information that is significantly well thought-out, accumulated and embedded in a framework of creation and application.Processes Knowledge Management System are al righ t smarts developed to sustain and extend knowledge-intensive processes, tasks or projects of e.g., designing, construction, identification, capturing, acquirement, variety, valuation, organization, linking, structuring, formalization, evolution, accessing, visualization, transfer, distribution, retention, maintenance, refinement, revision, retrieval and last but not least the application of knowledge, also called the knowledge life cycle (KLC).Participants KMS designs are held to reflect that knowledge is developed collectively and that the distribution of knowledge leads to its continuous change, reconstruction and application in different contexts, by different participants with differing backgrounds and experiences. Although this is not necessarily the case. Employees can engage in recreation the roles of active, involved participants in knowledge networks and communities fostered by Knowledge Management System.Instruments KMS support KM instruments, e.g., the capture, creation a nd sharing of the modifiable aspects of practice, skill management systems, collaborative filtering and handling of interests used to hook up people, the creation and fostering of communities or knowledge networks, the creation of corporate knowledge directories, taxonomies or ontologies, expertise locators.KM systems are being used within many transnational organizations with many success stories. The advantages claimed by the KM systems areSharing valuable institutional information throughout organizational hierarchy Knowledge and information sharing are regarded as means to use resources more effectively in inn to reduce woos and gain a competitive advantage (cf. Chuang, 2004 Johannessen and Olsen, 2003 Ringel-Bickelmaier, 2000 North, 2005). As a common feature, all international organizations work within the restraint of a tight regular budget that ineluctably to be managed as effectively and efciently as possible. Almost all international organizations have accordingly inst alled controlling systems or redened their tasks as business cases. It includes creating plans such as helping in identifying, create, capture and share knowledge systematically in order to assist working smarter instead than harder. Modern strategies for improved reputation advertising capabilities and getting resource returns for further enhance development agenda Widened pool of targeted knowledge makes organizational learning more strategic as Efficiency gains though improved results.Through the systematic system, the companies can avoid re-discovering the wheel, reducing outmoded work as well as committing same mistake again and again. It helps the businesses to improve the cost time spent as well the transgress risk management.May lessen new employees training time.After the employee leaves, retention of Intellectual Property if knowledge can be codified.Knowledge sharing behaviours and facilitate knowledge transferThis study aims to examine the factors touch knowledge shar ing behavior in knowledge-based communities because quantity and quality of knowledge shared among the members play a critical role in the communitys sustainability. Past look for has suggested three perspectives that may affect the quantity and quality of knowledge shared economics, social psychology, and social ecology. In this study, we strongly believe that an economic perspective may be suitable to validate factors influencing newly registered members, knowledge contribution at the beginning of relationship development. Accordingly, this study proposes a model to validate the factors influencing members knowledge sharing based on Transaction Cost Theory. By doing so, we may empirically test our hypotheses in various types of communities to determine the generalizability of our research models.Benefits to sharing knowledge includeEnhancement of effectiveness and efficiency by spreading good ideas and practices.Cost effectiveness knowledge is developed and then re-used by many people.Time savings Professionals learn from their mistakes and those of others.Emotional relief and decreased tension are experienced when problems are shared.Bonds and connections between professionals are strengthened solving problems brings people together.More sophisticated ideas, insights and information sources are applied to problems resulting in better solutions.Innovation and discovery increase as does excitement, engagement and motivation.A feeling of satisfaction from sharing knowledge, frequently like giving charity, results from making a contribution to society.Respectful paths of using knowledge with attribution and permission benefit the person who generates the knowledge and the person who shares it.Management Development planManagement Development is the process by which managers learn and improve their expertise not only to benefit themselves but also their employing organisations.There are various approaches to management development programmes such as foll ow.MentoringMentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be.Eric Parsloe, the Oxford School of Coaching.Mentoring is a technique for allowing the transmission of knowledge, skills and experience in a supportive and challenging environment much like coaching. The same skills of inquiring, listening, clarifying, reframing and many of the same models are used. Mentoring can also work as a way of inducting employees, as a form of employees development across departments and as a means of simple skills transfer. However, mentoring relationships can be much more long term, for fount in a sequence planning scenario a regional finance director might be mentored by a group level imitation where they might learn the basics of dealing with the boardroom, presenting to analysts, challenging departmental budgets, etc. all in a supporti ve environment. This is particularly productive when there is a gender or ethnic dimension to the relationship. An effective mentoring liaison is a learning opportunity for both parties.Mentoring relationships work best when they move beyond the directional approach of a senior colleague telling it how it is, to one where both learn from each other.Management Coaching and DevelopmentThe challenge of maintaining competitive advantage, delivering issue plans, restructuring and downsizing has never been greater. Developing people to deliver to their maximum potential can mean the difference between success and failure. And successful organisations know that developing their people not only leads to increased business performance, but that it is also a key factor in staff engagement and retention. In yobbo times, organisations that axe development activity do so at their peril.CoachingAlthough there is a lack of agreement among coaching professionals about precise definitions, in thi s service company, Coaching as developing a persons skills and knowledge so that their job performance improves, hopefully leading to the achievement of organisational objectives. It targets high performance and benefit at work, although it may also have an impact on an individuals private life. It usually lasts for a short period and focuses on specific skills and goals.There are some generally agreed characteristics of coaching in organisationsIt is essentially a non-directive form of development.Coaching assumes that the individual is psychologically well and does not require a clinical intervention.It provides people with feedback on both their strong point and their weaknesses.It is a skilled activity which should be delivered by trained people.It focuses on improving entry and developing individuals skills.Personal issues may be discussed but the emphasis is on performance at work.Coaching activities have both organisational and individual goals.Job revolutionJob designtechn iquein whichemployeesare moved between two or morejobsin a planned manner. In Vodafone the objectiveis to expose the employees to different experiencesand wider variety ofskillsto enhancejob satisfactionand to cross-train them.Job rotation is a great way to discover your strength and interest in different areas of the Vodafone.On the job trainingThis will be for the assistants who join fresh to help managers. A mapping procedure will be followed by the HR, to place the new assistant with a manager that has expertise in the field that the assistant aspires to enhance his/her skills. This will help reduce the training cost of the company and help the fresher become confident and be integral to the companyBusiness Workflow AnalysisIn Vodafone Company the workflows is to diagram the way that a company works in an easy-to-read format. This chart allows managers to assess the way the company is performing and determine how productive its methods are. Flaws in the process where time or res ources are wasted can often be identified quickly in format of aworkflow. These issues can then be addressed by preparing a new, more efficient businessworkflowto demonstrate the changes that need to be made.Upward feedbackIn leadership development and management development, upward feedback (also cognise as manager feedback and subordinate appraisal) is a structured process of delivering feedback from subordinates to managers, mean to identify ways to increase management effectiveness and enhance organizational performance.supervisory trainingThis training provides an opportunity to learn about the transition to leadership so that new managers and supervisors can be more successful in their new role. For more experienced managers and supervisors, the training offers an opportunity to reflect on the style they have adopted in performing their duties, and it shows where they can make improvements. This is particularly true for those who have come up through the ranks over the years and now face a very different workforce, workload, and set of community expectations. This training is intended to help you better understand your role and provide strategies to enhance your effectiveness as a leader.Management Development TheoriesThe human relations and human factors approaches were captive into a broad behavioural science movement in the 1950s and 1960s. This period produced some influential theories on the motivation of human performance. For example, Maslows hierarchy of needs provided an individual focus on the reasons why people work. He argued that people satisfied an ascending series of needs from survival, through security to eventual self-actualization.In the same period, concepts of job design such as job enrichment and job enlargement were investigated. It was felt that people would give more to an organization if they gained satisfaction from their jobs. Jobs should be designed to be interesting and challenging to gain the commitment of workers a cen tral theme of HRM.Scientific Management Theory(1890-1940)At the turn of the century, the most notable organizations were large and industrialized. Often they included on going, routine tasks that manufactured a variety of products. The United States highly prized scientific and technical matters, including careful meter and specification of activities and results. Management tended to be the same. Frederick Taylor developed the scientific management theory which espoused this careful specification and measurement of all organizational tasks. Tasks were standardized as much as possible. Workers were rewarded and punished. This approach appeared to work well for organizations with assembly lines and other mechanistic, routinized activities.Bureaucratic Management Theory(1930-1950)Max Weber embellished the scientific management theory with his bureaucratic theory. Weber focused on dividing organizations into hierarchies, establishing strong lines of authority and control. He suggested organizations develop comprehensive and detailed standard operating procedures for all routinized tasks.Human Relations endeavour(1930-today)Eventually, unions and government regulations reacted to the rather dehumanizing effects of these theories. More attention was given to individuals and their unique capabilities in the organization. A major belief included that the organization would prosper if its workers prospered as well. Human Resource departments were added to organizations. The behavioural sciences played a strong role in helping to understand the needs of workers and how the needs of the organization and its workers could be better aligned. Various new theories were spawned, many based on the behavioural sciences (some had name like theory X, Y and Z).Points to consider*. What is the value of theory? Specifically, what is the value of a theory that has gone out of fashion? Most theories are not entirely new they adapt or develop older concepts as a result of perceived inadequacies in the originals. Management thinking is like an incoming tide each wave comes further up the beach, then retreats, leaving a little behind to be overtaken by the next wave. You can also consider the limitations of common sense and the fact that most problems have been experienced already, in some form, by someone else. We can learn from that wider experience, whereas common sense is essentially individual.ConclusionThe SECI models help the business to improve the business turnout through traditional strategies such as emotional and regional factors. The Vodafone are employing all these strategies in order to strengthen their roots within those communities through the theses money transfer campaigns and employing people from those countries to introduce the desired factors within Knowledge system. Also thorough the management development schemes, Vodafone are getting the best out of them by educating and empowering them with the modern techniques.Nonaka, I Takeuchi, H 1995, The knowledge creating company. How Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation, Oxford University Press, New York.Nonaka, I 1991, The Knowledge Creating Company, Harvard Business Review, (November-December), pp. 96-104.Nonaka, I, Toyama, R Konno, N 2001, SECI, Ba and Leadership a Unified Model of Dynamic Knowledge Creation, in I Nonaka DJ Teece (eds.), Managing Industrial Knowledge Creation, Transfer and Utilization, Sage, London, pp. 1-43. Poppo, L Zenger, T 1998, Testing alternative theories of the firm transaction cost, knowledge-based, and measurement explanations for make-or-buy decisions in information services, Strategic Management Journal, 19 (9), pp. 853-877.