ARTICLE : 3

WHAT ARE THE THREE THINGS WHICH I WOULD DO IF I WERE THE CHIEF KNOWLEDGE OFFICER OF AN ORGANIZATION.
This afternoon,my team mates and i were discussing on the proposal which we need to submit regarding our group course work unnoticing the fact that we were running out of time for the seminar of knowledge management. The moment we realized that,we have rushed to our class. Eventually my team members and i were late to class and as soon as we entered the class, our module leader geetha abbeysinghey started addressing to the class about the course and about the modules which we would be taking in our next semester. she was away for a while and for the first time we have seen her,she gave her message very quickly and left the class room for us to start the session called knowledge cafe...!!!

What is knowledge cafe, according to our tutors,prof.abu bakr and prof.mark, it is an event where people working on knowledge management meet and discuss the different strategies of knowledge management in a different way..!!! A couple of tables and a group of people around them,talking,discussing and debating on different topics of knowledge is called knowledge cafe.It all starts with 7 or 8 tables and people surrounding those tables,and a topic would be given to them on which they will share their knowledge for a couple of minutes and then everybody except one from each table will shift their places to different tables.This person who is sitting on the same table will share the points discussed earlier with his new friends and likewise those new people will also share their knowledge.And when this process is repeated, there is lots of knowledge shared.

1.(wikipedia,2007)"A knowledge café is a simple means for a group of people to have an open, creative conversation on a topic of mutual interest to gain a deeper collective understanding of the subject and the issues involved." From the below article I have learnt that this process is a derivative of The World Cafe, a process developed by Juanita Broan and David Isaacs and a worldwide community of practice.


SPEEDNETWORKING; Not everyone gets adjusted very soon to new environments to start the discussions, so there is some Tcalled a speed network which is widely used in knowledge cafes and also in many it industries.
According to this, the leader is with a whistle and he blows the whistle for every 2 or 3 minutes and when this happens,people who are interacting with others move, find new friends and introduce eachother and get to know about each other.And this happens for every 2 or 3 minutes as the whistle is blowed by the leader.
Its great fun enjoying this speednetwork.we have started our knowledge cafe with this speed network and guess what, it is just like a fish market,blah blah blah everywhere.


VIDEO :1(SPEED NETWORKING,2007)
After a few moments of rushy movements in the class, our tutor taught us something called a REVERSE TECHNIQUE. He gave us a situation where we are buying a cell phone and asked us to write down the different negative points which we consider while buying a cell phone.Everyygroup has written many negative points to be considered while buying a cell phone.And then we are asked to underline the most important points amongst them individually and explain the reason why we chose them and finally there was a voting held.Finally three important points which have earned a majority of voting are selected .
1.No network coverage
2.No battery back up
3.No duplication of name

So when we are buying a cell phone,the three important points which are to be kept in mind are the above three points.
I like the reverse technique a lot because, i see that there is something much important in the depths of that topic. I have applied the reverse technique to my real life and i have given it as a real life example at the end.
The above example was just to explain the concept to us.Here starts the serious game...

Applying the previous technique,we were to find all possible ways to see that there is no knowledge management happening in our organization.

In other words what are the three things i would do to ensure that there is no knowledge management happeneing in an organization if i were the chief officer of that organization.
Three different points with which each group have come up are
Group 1
1. No communication between people.
2. Not allowing people to express there ideas (Lack of creativity).
3. No documentation of procedures at all.
Group 2
1. No Communication Strategy (Intranet, Internet, Documentation).
2. No Learning and Development.
3. No identification of required knowledge.
Group3
1. No Socialization and Culture (No interaction or communication).
2. No System (No Storage and Documentation).
3. No Training and Development.
Group4
1. No Information Flow (No communication).
2. No Improvement or Performance.
3. No Systems or Tools

Apparently, first point in each group's listings is communication between employees and so now if we think in the other way, to see that, the knowledge management is happening in an organization, the first important point to be ensured is that to see that there is proper communication between employees.
A knowledge cafe is a means of bringing a group of people together to have an open, creative conversation on a topic of mutual interest to surface their collective knowledge, to share ideas and insights and to gain a deeper understanding of the subject and the issues involved
REAL LIFE EXAMPLE:
IF I WERE THE CHIEF KNOWLEDGE OFFICER OF MY ORGANIZATION,THE THREE STEPS I WOULD TAKE TO SEE THAT KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IS HAPPENING IN MY ORGANIZATION ARE:


1. COMMUNICATION
2. PROBLEM FILE
3. INNOVATIVE IDEAS

I am discussing them in detail below

1.COMMUNICATION:
Because communication plays an important role in knowledge management i will see that there is good communication between my employees. A call center has different teams taking calls and normally people of same team sit together.I will see that people of same team would not sit together and will ensure that there places change atleast thrice in a week.
By doing this,i am sure that my employees will start interacting with new friends,learn their customs and thereby destroy the walls of communication gap between them.
I will make blogs and see that my employees interact in those blogs thereby to form a network.
I would put up social forums and would give all my empl0yees the right to express their views and ideas posted on those forums.
2.PROBLEM FILE:
It is quiet common that different kinds of new problems arise everyday in a call centre.So i will introduce a problem file to my employees and ask them to record each and every problem that arises instantaneously and at the end of the day, i will pick three people from each team and ask them to discuss those problems and find remedies, thereby i will see that knowledge sharing starts amongst my employees and will record those remedies in the file
I would see that every problem that is entered into problem book along with its remedy is entered into intranet so that the next time when the same problem arises, they will be able to trouble shoot it. In this way i will see that knowledge management is happening in my organization.
3. INNOVATIVE IDEAS:
Major problem of a call center is itrition rate.number of people join call centers every month and number of people leave call centers taking away the knowledge gained and sustained. So, i will make a site called innovative ideas in the intranet and ask my employees to record their each and every problem solving techniques, and will award prizes to the best two amongst them. So, when an employee leaves my organization, i will have all his knowledge shared already in the siteIn this way i will see that. there is no loss of knowledge.
These are the three important steps i will take to see that knowledge management is happening in my organization.

.
VIDEO :2(DEFINITION OF KM BY DAVID GURTEEN,2006)

REFLECTIONS ON MY READINGS AND DISCUSSIONS:
I was discussing with kushali about this knowledge cafe, and were thinking on the subject of , is this knowledge cafe really usefull.
we were discussing on the fact that,why does one need to run a knowledge cafe, when there are somany other forms of interacting.because in this busy world,where people have limited time, knowledge cafes consume some time in just discussing!!!
But that is wrong because, it is not just normal discussion going on but it is an intellectual discussion.
people get to know eachother,can meet people of same ideas or thoughts or views and can even start a new business.
pavan said that he liked the speed networking so much because, apart from imparting and sharing knowledge, this technique helps in identifing the positive points and strenghts of individuals.
swetha was asking that, is this knowledge cafe just limited to knowledge sector, but if we think carefully, the answer is no because, these kinds of cafes can be used in any field because everything on this earth is related to knowledge some or the other way.
To me the best part was the reverse technique. It impreseed me a lot and motivated me to make more studies on knowledge.
I have already applied my knowledge on this technique and solved a real life problem.
Some of my friends are opening a coffee shop here in london, and they have been trying to do this since a year and half .because the rules are strict,after a long struggle all the legal barriers were crossed and they have started the interior design and ordering goods for their shops.
I have penned down appling the reverse technique, the points because of which the shop opening might be delayed.
The important of those points are.....
1. If the coffee maker machine is not delivered on time
2. If the display fridge is not delivered on time
3. If the alarm people do not turn up on time and fix the alarm.

This check was made just 2 weeks before the opening of shop, and i have insisted them to make sure by calling the delivery people that all the goods are going to be delivered on time.
Everything was fine except the coffee machine, because the coffee machines were not in stock, the order was cancelled and my brothers did not know about this.
So, my knowledge trick has helped them a lot in not letting the shop opening further delayed.

REFERENCING:
1. Speed networking,
Retrieved fromhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUoTG-kvi6A&feature=related
Accessed on march 2, 2008.
2.Definition of KM by David Gurteen,
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buEMIYNIYVY&feature=related
Accessed on march 2, 2008.