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Knowledge Management Strategy 321

Box 9.3
A vignette: How do we know they need KM?

More often than not, KM practitioners fi nd themselves facing an organization that is
convinced they need KM but cannot say why. In one large business unit, the stakeholders
repeatedly insisted that knowledge sharing was blocked and no one knew whom to turn
to for expert advice. They were convinced that “ KM issues ” were preventing them from
carrying out one of the major mandates that was to assess the environmental health of a
particularly sensitive area. Upon conducting an audit, the results quickly aggregated into
one very strong theme: that of information management. Most respondents felt that they
were great at sharing knowledge but they just could not get their hands on the data and
information they needed. Some data sets were found to be over fi fty years old but still
critically needed to do trend analyses — and these old data sets were on a medium that no
one had a reader for. One was eventually tracked down in an archive and the data was
transferred to more modern media for preservation. A second data set was sitting in card-
board boxes because the scientist in charge of the project had retired. Actually, the boxes
were originally in the scientist ’ s basement and his family contacted the company when
he passed away, asking if they would like the boxes. The only drawback: the encryption
key needed to decode the data was nowhere to be found. A Library and Information Studies
intern had developed the key as a classifi cation and fi nding aid fi fteen years previously,
and no one had thought to make a backup of the key.
The knowledge audit results showed that problems existed at the information access,
preservation, and retrieval level. Much like the old adage that one should “ learn to walk
before running a marathon, ” this particular organization did not have a good sense of
where the immediate needs lay. KM was relegated to a more long-term strategy recom-
mendation and the action plan addressed more pressing information management
concerns, which will in turn be needed to provide a solid infrastructure for knowledge
management.

intrinsically intertwined in the corporate knowledge culture, which is in turn deter-
mined and maintained by the corporate knowledge people. This is why a knowledge
audit must be people-focused.
Stakeholder interviews can help identify key knowledge needs to yield a knowledge
map ( Robertson 2004 ). Sample questions will typically include:
• What is your job role and major responsibilities?
• How long have you been working for the organization?
• Who do you communicate with most frequently on work matters?
• Do you have policies or guidelines for your work? If so, how do you access these?