Question

Question 1

1.1 The responsibility for the management of information resources is advancing at a blinding pace. By use of some examples, list and explain the EIGHT (8) major management challenges in digital firms.

1.2 How can firms obtain value from their investments in Knowledge Management Systems? Discuss the SIX (6) management issues and challenges raised by Knowledge Systems?

Answer 1

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Question 1:

Answer:

1. Managing cash flow
Cash is king for any type of digital firms, but it plays a particularly important role in the rapid-growth enterprise. The assumption that a rapidly growing business has adequate cash is misguided, since these firms must constantly reinvest in their businesses to fuel their rapid climb . It is therefore more likely that these businesses operate while during a perpetual cash crunch.
Planning to become bigger is the guiding principle of a rapid-growth digital firms. This approach requires that managers remain flexible, something that successively requires a sensible view of the life cycle of data technology. For example, managers might need to think about leasing equipment to scale back the firm’s cash requirements. Evergreen clauses are often included contracts to stipulate when the supplier will replace outdated equipment with the newest technology. This minimizes the resources which will be needed to take care of equipment and ensures that appropriate information technologies will always be available. Careful analysis at now won't only make future purchasing decisions easier but also can cause partnerships which will produce other benefits within the sort of important supplier contacts or access to innovations.
2. Employee buy-in and fostering an open work environment
An open environment denotes obtaining employee input on decisions, which is very important to securing employee support. Nowhere is that this perhaps more important than within the introduction of data technology in cash-strapped organizations, when disparities in technology may result in employee discontent and management grief.
It is essential to develop a framework for the technology that the digital firm will use. The framework should take under consideration the character of the work that individuals are expected to try to to and assign appropriate technology configurations which will enable employees to satisfy their business goals. This framework should also maintain technology within a specific work group at comparable levels, thus reducing intra-departmental disparities while making inter-departmental disparities more manageable. It should be marked, that an open environment doesn't imply complete or uniform information disclosure. While employees should have access to the information needed to perform their work, they do not have to be able to access all data within the firm. Certain synergies are possible when information is shared throughout the organization and there are numerous information technologies available to support this communication. However, the access that employees have to company data is a decision that should be, but is not often, scrutinized by senior executives.
3.Choosing partners and strategic alliances
Choosing alliance partners highlights two major concerns in the context of digital firms. First, identifying IT requirements will provide the firm its first symptoms that it needs a technology partner. Second, facilitating alliance agreements often requires implementing integrated information systems.
Partnering with technology providers, instead of providing all technology services in-house, is usually a comparatively low-risk approach for the rapid-growth enterprise. However, partnerships can include long-term strategic alliances with technology vendors, system integrators and/or outsourcers, as well as short-term contracts with consultants. A recurring issue for managers is to work out how these choices will affect the organization. Taking a narrow view of IT, purely as a source of short-term cost savings and efficiencies, tends to flaw this decision-making process. A manager can expect that strategic alliances supported such advantages are going to be equally short-lived.
4. Finding the right employees
Employee recruitment is especially difficult for rapid-growth firms, which tend to wish employees who are in high demand. IT can certainly help identify qualified people, because the ability to match specific task requirements to individual skills from a worldwide pool of potential employees may be a key factor in the success of on-line recruiting. Unfortunately, identifying the persons with the specified skills isn't enough. Prospective employees may not be willing to move from their current locations, and there is a risk that the people recruited on-line will not fit the organization’s culture. However, IT are often wont to further screen qualified applicants with video-conference-enabled interviews and on-line personality tests. As well, the ability to telecommute can encourage skilled but reluctant individuals to join a company. Virtual working arrangements and telecommuting can provide relief for shortages in job skills while effectively reducing the digital firms’ exposure to long-term agreements for skills that may only be needed on a limited basis.
5. Departure of employees with critical knowledge or proprietary information
Digital firms can have their employees sign non-disclosure agreements and other legal documents. However, a well organized IT-based approach to the present problem is to partition and effectively seal the knowledge that exists within the firm. With this approach, sensitive information is compartmentalized electronically in order that only those individuals that need certain information have access thereto . As pointed out earlier, an open environment does not mean or necessitate that everyone should have access to all the information in the firm. To this end, security measures should be in situ to regulate who can access the knowledge , and access itself should be logged and monitored. Most network operating systems, like Windows 2000, have the capability to restrict access to particular information; however, restricting access must be planned and implemented.
6. The internet and e-commerce
The privacy of data collected on-line and the requirements for digital firms system integration are two areas which the rapid-growth firm must be particularly aware of when dealing with internet and e-commerce initiatives.
Internet initiatives for several rapid-growth firms provide the chance to gather customer data on a large-scale basis. The rules governing the collection and use of this data by organizations have often been set solely by company directives. But recent initiatives, just like the appointment of a Privacy Commissioner of Canada, are likely to further constrain firm activities. For management, these new regulations will require that the organization demonstrate due diligence when obtaining consent to use personal data on customers and employees. This consent will be required if the data is repurposed.
7. A CEO who can communicate a vision
The ability of a CEO to attach with employees during a fast-paced, rapid- growth environment is usually limited. However, the efficient use of IT can full fill the gap between senior management and employees. Although some could also be doubtful about technology’s ability to speak a vision, IT can help by increasing the frequency of contact, improving the clarity of the message, opening multi-way communication channels, and strengthening the vision in a timely manner at key organizational learning points. Without the technology, senior managers often haven't any way of contacting all employees directly. The employment of corporate videos and publications on intranets can enable employees to retrieve and capture the company culture on demand. Intranets are often wont to disseminate messages from the CEO and other company executives, introduce new personnel, showcase outstanding employees, circulate company news and success stories, support cross-functional teamwork, create important new feedback channels, and facilitate organizational learning. Digitally documenting the company culture are often extremely helpful for brand spanking new employees, who have missed many of the critical events within the company’s history.
8. Developing management skills in executives
Information technology can facilitate executive training and therefore the development of management skills.
The first role involves designing and delivering technology-supported training within the sort of self-paced interactive CD-ROMs, videos, Web-based courses and video-conference seminars. A educational program for executives are often created based upon the longer term requirements of the corporate , so executives get the prerequisite training just before, or as soon as, they have it. This just-in-time approach permits them to use new skills immediately. The training program can be adjusted as needed and aligned with the changing requirements of the organization. The rapid climb enterprise’s stages-of-growth model are often wont to guide the educational program . Regular executive training serves to strengthen the learning organization model by making continuing education the norm at all levels of the company.
Question 2
Answer:

The firms can obtain values by investing in the knowledge management system by managing the way new knowledge is brought to bear on the digital firms' practices, for value is added only through practice – not through talk. Though there are relationships between knowledge and practice, and therefore the purpose of knowledge management is to push more value from the firm's knowledge. Everything should be handled differently, though management must integrate all into the business model. Different epistemologies are illustrated and discussed at a managerial level, the formal and academic philosophizing is overlooked .
Management issues and challenges raised by Knowledge Systems:
1. Getting and Keeping People Motivated
It can prove challenging to urge everyone on an equivalent frequency when it involves storing and sharing data. People are usually pretty comfortable with how they are used to doing things, making the adaptation stage a hurdle of its own. Getting your team motivated to share their work and concepts during a shared space is imperative to the success of your community and productivity. An easy thanks to get people on an equivalent page from the get-go is to embody a culture of learning, improving, sharing, and alter .
2. Keeping up with Ever-Changing Technology
Releases and updates are continuing to urge more and more frequent when it involves the technology we are using. Although there are constant changes nowadays with the technologies we utilize, it does instill a way of urgency within us to stay up. Just remember this, changes and updates to technology are a pain at first, but they usually open doors for new opportunities and can do more things for us in return.
3. Measuring Knowledge Contribution
Knowledge isn't something which will be easily quantified and is way more complex because it's derived out of human relationships and knowledge . When it involves knowledge contribution, the main target should get on the shared purpose instead of results or efforts.
4. Security
It is key (in most technical efforts) the provide the right level of security for your data, and it’s no different for knowledge management. Use permissions and levels of security to form sure that various information is shared within the correct channels and with the proper people.
5. Keeping Shared Information up so far and Accurate
Moderation of your content is challenging, there’s no denying it. Valuable data generated by your users may have routine updating and verification. Keep your information up-to-date by fixing validation reminders for your moderators or for the first posters.
6. Interpreting Data Effectively
Information derived by one group may have to be mapped or standardized so as to be meaningful to somebody else within the organization.