Knowledge Management: Next Step to Competitive Advantage - Organizational Excellence

Program Manager, Sept-Oct, 2001 by Neal Pollock

Tacit Knowledge Transfer involves the capture, storage, distribution, and reuse of tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge has usually been written down in one way or another and, therefore, is readily available for exploitation. Tacit knowledge, however, is far more difficult to tap. Often, people have difficulty accessing their own tacit knowledge until the circumstance or some stimulus triggers the tacit knowledge. Thus, someone who learned Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) decades ago would probably be unable to answer specific questions about it. Nevertheless, such people can and do react as trained, performing CPR when the need arises.

Not all tacit knowledge is as difficult to recall. Hopefully, one doesn't need to encounter a heart attack victim to recall tacit knowledge. But neither is it easy to recall. An interviewer, for instance, may need the skill of Barbara Walters to elicit tacit knowledge on a given topic during a videotaped interview. Though perhaps lacking a Barbara Walters-type finesse, the Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center Charleston is employing the interview technique for their KM initiative.

Knowledge Bases or Banks (KB) parallel their lower-level data and information counterparts. Multimedia adds the necessary versatility to make KBs feasible and utilitarian today KBs can now include video segments, presentations, Internet hyperlinks, and many more. Today virtual libraries abound. With appropriate middleware, they can be all but invisible to the user, allowing for one-stop shopping and rendering them far more user-friendly The Integrated Business Support System (formerly Integrated Contracting System) now in development is attempting to build a virtual library for Navy procurement, including a knowledge base of processes as well as information.

Port Hueneme has used Case-Based Reasoning Tools to reduce the number of service trips required for equipment repair and maintenance. Such tools can emulate BITE, or Built-In-Test-Equipment, which is designed into a piece of equipment or a system. Primarily hardware, software, or a combination of the two, BITE is especially useful on ships. In fact, the author can personally attest to the overall reliability of Case-Based Reasoning tools due to knowledge gained from experience working with BITE on the Surface Ship Torpedo Defense program at the Naval Sea Systems Command, as well as the Advanced Signal Processor (AN/UYS-1) at the Naval Air Systems Command.

High-quality BITE enables "better, faster, cheaper" on-site maintenance and can also assist the user in creating new documents based upon the efforts of predecessors in creating the same type of document for other projects. Using a question-and-answer format, these tools assist the user in selecting the best example for each paragraph or section of the document.

A good example is the Navy International Programs Office, which developed the International Agreements Generator (IAG) to assist authors in creating first drafts of new international agreements. IAG paragraphs have now been pre-approved in OSD so that any paragraphs included in the final draft cannot be challenged -- only tailored and negotiated changes can be challenged during the review cycle at OSD.