Course Content
Session One: Course Overview
You will spend the first part getting to know participants and discussing what will take place during the workshop. Students will also have an opportunity to identify their personal learning objectives.
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Session Two: Definitions
Then, participants will learn the definition of knowledge, as well as the differences between tacit and explicit knowledge. The meaning and history of knowledge management will also be covered.
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Session Three: The Business Case for Knowledge Management
In this session, participants will learn how knowledge management can reduce costs and grow sales. They will also learn how to build a business case for knowledge management. You will also examine the impact that knowledge management can have on business strategy and profit.
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Session Four: The Knowledge Management Mix
Next, participants will learn about three components vital to knowledge management: people, technology, and process. In this session, you will examine the relationship between these three essential knowledge management components.
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Session Five: The Knowledge Management Framework
The knowledge management framework is comprised of four interdependent elements: needs analysis, resource identification, process analysis, and knowledge handling. In this session, participants will learn about the steps to building their knowledge management framework: needs analysis; resource identification; process analysis, identification, and construction; and accumulating, sharing, and storing knowledge. In this session, you will investigate what the four elements of the knowledge management framework are and how they work together.
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Session Six: ITandD’s Conundrum
A pre-assignment is designed to get you thinking about the topic, and to give you some indication of what is coming. In this example, the case study and the carefully crafted questions were intended to have you reflect on the vital role of knowledge within an organization. In this session, you will reflect on the answers you provided in the pre-assignment.
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Session Seven: Knowledge Management Models
Knowing the theory behind the practice can increase your knowledge and inform what you do. Having a foundational awareness helps you to understand the theory’s evolution and history in the business world and better enable you to see how this system will fit into your organization. In this session, you will investigate four different knowledge management models.
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Session Eight: The Knowledge Management Toolkit
Cross-functional Teams, mentoring, organizational culture, and IT solutions are all techniques that you can use employ when implementing a knowledge management program in your organization. In this session, you will explore each of these techniques in depth. As you review the information, think about ways that you could use each technique in your workplace.
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Session Nine: Implementing Knowledge Management Initiatives
You see an organizational need for knowledge management. You understand what a knowledge management system is. You have the tools and information you need. Now it’s time to take action: it’s time to begin building the program. In this session, you will identify and investigate the necessary components for implementing a knowledge management program.
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Recommended Reading List
If you are looking for further information on this topic, we have included a recommended reading list below. Bergeron, Bryan. Essentials of Knowledge Management. John Wiley & Sons, 2003. Dixon, Nancy M. Common Knowledge: How Companies Thrive by Sharing What They Know. Harvard Business School Press, 2000. O'Dell, Carla, and Cindy Huebert. The New Edge in Knowledge: How Knowledge Management Is Changing the Way We Do Business. New John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Pasher, Edna, and Tuvya Ronen. The Complete Guide to Knowledge Management: A Strategic Plan to Leverage Your Company's Intellectual Capital. John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Rumizen, Dr. Melissie Clemmons. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Knowledge Management. Alpha Books, 2002.
Knowledge Management
About Lesson

Case Study

Andrea is working with a team to implement a knowledge management approach within her organization. They’ve got buy-in from the CEO and employees; now they just need to figure out what would work best for their organization. Andrea has been put in charge of deciding which IT solutions would fit her company’s needs.

Andrea’s company is relatively small, with about 150 employees. However, the business is expanding and the company has just opened a small office overseas. With this expansion, there has been a natural amount of upheaval. However, there have also been a high amount of complaints from staff. They feel that the tools they are using to share knowledge are no longer sufficient to support the shift in the organizational structure.

Andrea looks at the knowledge sharing tools they currently have. Right now, they have a basic company intranet that is used mostly for e-mail. Andrea wonders what else this intranet might be able to accomplish. They also have a basic document storage database but it is not systematized or monitored and people have no standard to adhere to when inputting information. Actually, Andrea has overheard employees saying they stay away from this database because they find it useless.

Andrea then thinks about what she wants from an IT solution(s). She wants a place for customers to be able to view products and services that would give more information than the company website. She also wants employees to be able to collaborate on documents, especially with the opening of the overseas office. She knows that although there are only 150 employees within the company right now, this number will soon rise. This means that people need to have networking tools and a way to tell them who else is in the organization. Your job is to help Andrea get on the right track with her IT solutions.