Wanted: Improved Communication - University of Southern California's Center for Effective Organizations and Korn/Ferry International publish report on knowledge management research - Strategies for the Knowledge Economy: From Rhetoric to Reality - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Internal Auditor, Oct, 2000 by L. Miller

Information Exchange Critically Low

A RECENT KORNIFERRY International survey found that at least 70 percent of 5,000 knowledge workers and business leaders in global, technology-savvy firms are "reinventing the wheel daily at their jobs." In conjunction with the University of Southern California's Center for Effective Organizations, executive search firm Korn/Ferry conducted the survey to help define knowledge management challenges and identify the methods global firms use to generate, retain, and leverage knowledge successfully.

According to the study report, Strategies for the Knowledge Economy: From Rhetoric to Reality. 90 percent of respondents said that lessons learned by others in their organizations aren't shared. And an overall lack of communication isn't the only problem, explains Windle B. Priem, president and CEO of Korn/Ferry. Among business leaders and workers, there appears to be a general misunderstanding on how to communicate. For example, executives who adopt a one-size-fits-all knowledge strategy fall victim to the key pitfall in managing a knowledge organization. "Some knowledge is easily captured and stored, while other knowledge is tacit and evolves rapidly," says Priem. "Trying to fit the many different types of knowledge into a single system for sharing information can lead to frustration and wasted effort."

Creativity is another potential casualty of the communication-impaired corporation. Alan G. Robinson, a management professor at the University of Massachusetts School of Management, claims that approximately 75 percent of corporate innovations originate from frontline workers who deal daily with the company's products and services, rather than from top management. He suggests that management learn to listen carefully to staff members' suggestions, as well as to their complaints in which may lie the seeds of positive ideas. Robinson also recommends providing timely feedback to ideas and monitoring feedback to ensure that ideas aren't rejected simply because they may threaten someone in management.

Strategies also lists suggestions for company leaders who want to help create an organization that shares and benefits from knowledge to gain competitive advantage, including:

* Insist that knowledge sharing and communication be an integral part of the job of frontline workers and their leaders, rather than delegating knowledge management to an individual or a separate organization, such as the IT department.

* Establish and communicate the organization's new operational vision.

* Define and share the skills and knowledge that the organization will require to achieve its goals.

Strategies indicates that leading by example is one of the most powerful ways a leader can encourage knowledge-sharing. "To manage knowledge, leaders need to design the organization and its processes to foster accessing, creating, growing, applying, leveraging, and protecting knowledge for competitive advantage," Priem says. "Organizational knowledge is the essence of a company, and its purposeful management is a key executive responsibility."