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Chapter 11 Managing Knowledge 457

you’d click on a bookmarking button on a social bookmarking site and create a
tag identifying each Web document you found to link it to wind power. By click-
ing on the “tags” button at the social networking site, you’d be able to see a list
of all the tags you created and select the documents you need.
Companies need ways to keep track of and manage employee learning and
to integrate it more fully into their knowledge management and other corpo-
rate systems. A learning management system (LMS) provides tools for the
management, delivery, tracking, and assessment of various types of employee
learning and training.
Contemporary LMS support multiple modes of learning, including
CD-ROM, downloadable videos, Web-based classes, live instruction in classes
or online, and group learning in online forums and chat sessions. The LMS
consolidates mixed-media training, automates the selection and adminis-
tration of courses, assembles and delivers learning content, and measures
learning effectiveness.
CVM Solutions, LLC (CVM) uses Digitec’s Knowledge Direct learning
management system to provide training about how to manage suppliers for
clients such as Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, and Delta Airlines.
Knowledge Direct provides a portal for accessing course content online, along
with hands-free administration features such as student registration and assess-
ment tools, built-in Help and Contact Support, automatic e-mail triggers to
remind users of courses or deadlines, automatic e-mail acknowledgement of
course completions, and Web-based reporting for courses accessed. Knowledge
Direct also provides a company-branded login for each client firm and enables
CVM to create and assign a company administrator who has access to the
student reporting tool for that company.

11.3 KNOWLEDGE WORK SYSTEMS

The enterprise-wide knowledge systems we have just described provide a
wide range of capabilities that can be used by many if not all the workers and
groups in an organization. Firms also have specialized systems for knowledge
workers to help them create new knowledge and to ensure that this knowledge
is properly integrated into the business.

KNOWLEDGE WORKERS AND KNOWLEDGE WORK

Knowledge workers, which we introduced in Chapter 1, include researchers,
designers, architects, scientists, and engineers who primarily create knowl-
edge and information for the organization. Knowledge workers usually have
high levels of education and memberships in professional organizations and
are often asked to exercise independent judgment as a routine aspect of their
work. For example, knowledge workers create new products or find ways of
improving existing ones. Knowledge workers perform three key roles that
are critical to the organization and to the managers who work within the
organization:
• Keeping the organization current in knowledge as it develops in the external
world—in technology, science, social thought, and the arts
• Serving as internal consultants regarding the areas of their knowledge, the
changes taking place, and opportunities

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