The fundamental aim of knowledge management is to ensure that knowledge within an organisation flows, by being shared, acquired, and exchanged, generate new knowledge (Borghoff and Pareschi, 1998). Some of the basic responsibilities of this discipline are to effectively manage content and to promote constructive, purposeful and meaningful collaboration by bringing together people, so that informed decisions are made. By so doing it contributes to the body of knowledge while at the same time people learn through this engagement. More importantly is helps in the decision making process by rendering a complete, valid and data presentation of both information and knowledge.
Explicit and Tacit Knowledge Defined
A common misnomer for some is the fact that knowledge can either be referenced as explicit or as tacit. However from the study of Knowledge Management (KM) and through the research conducted, both forms are required in the knowledge processes. So to address this common misunderstanding, one first needs to think of explicit knowledge as that which has been captured and is explicitly represented in the form of web content, or a document, retrieved from a database, or even an e-mail. "Explicit knowledge is formal knowledge that can be packaged as information. It can be found in the documents of an organization: reports, articles, manuals, patents, pictures, images, video, sound, software, etc." (Borghoff and Pareschi, 1998). Explicit knowledge is shaped by business rules and processes, its associated metadata from the working environment and management. It is typically stored in composite records in a transactional database, which could contain customer details, business intelligence about customer preferences and their behaviours. For example a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) makes broad use of explicit knowledge in providing information about customer transactions, feedback and results of customer analytics, product performance statistics and other data. Explicit knowledge is therefore more codified and can be encapsulated for storage or transmission along an electronic medium. It is well supported in an IT context.
Tacit knowledge on the other hand is typically knowledge that is not recorded or captured. People carry tacit knowledge around in their heads in the form of experience based on insight and judgment. It could even be skills gained in a certain craft or even ones creative talents that come into play. In this domain, knowledge can be expressed or articulated, but is difficult to be fully captured into a knowledge repository. Employees carry around much of an organisations tacit knowledge. From experience they know "how things are done" and why they are done this way. It is how they portray themselves unknowingly during the selling of a product or service, and other concepts or practices for example informal meetings and engagements and is thus difficult to leverage. From an enterprise perspective, some of the most valuable customer knowledge is tacit. Tacit knowledge is regarded as being personal and context specific, with the formalisation thereof as being difficult to capture or to articulate. Further that over a period of time it is knowledge gained through "trial and error" in a particular environment. Finally Tiwana concluded that it is difficult to manage, share or support within an IT context (Tiwana, 1999).
Corporate culture within Telkom
Telkom's vision is to be a "leading customer and employee centred ICT solutions service provider." The values it subscribes to are the following as per the corporate charter:
"We are proud and passionate about who we are and what we do
We act with honesty and integrity
We promote an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset
We treasure diversity
We are performance driven"
The challenge to rolling out broadband services to all areas is an ongoing one and some customers have become very unhappy when services are not supplied within their areas. The situation has become dire with some customers expressing their unhappiness by organising a march to Telkom's offices in St George's Mall in Cape Town on the 19th of October 2008. While Kayelitsha has an ADSL footprint in general, the specific area in question is not broadband enabled. However, the Company has communicated to the customers its preparedness to roll-out fixed-line services to the area in due course.
Telkom is committed to the accelerated broadband delivery as well as increasing access for the members of the broader public. The broadband price reductions over the last 18 months (average of 24% on ADSL rental prices in 2006 and an average of 18.2% on ADSL rental prices in 2007) attest to this. True to its customer centric vision, Telkom is committed to providing affordable broadband services to all areas where there is sufficient demand.
Knowledge Management Processes
"Every organisation already has an environment in which processes exist to help people create, find, make sense of, and share knowledge. KM strives to enhance that environment" (Callahan, 2002). Knowledge management should be concerned with sensible decision making. However it is observable at Telkom that at times, decision making is clouded by the lack of critical information or appreciation of knowledge that results in poor decision making. One such example that has cost the company dearly is the acquisition of Multilink's, a telecommunications company in Nigeria. In this example the tacit knowledge gained in managing a telecommunications company in the South African context, does not apply to this Nigerian telecommunications operator. Hansen, Nohria and Tierney (1999) 'identified two main approaches/strategies to implement a knowledge management initiative - namely the codification or technology-centric approach and the personalisation or process-centric approach.' The rules of engagement differ from country to country and corporate to corporate and what knowledge management experience and strategy a company has, if it is the wrong choice, it will undermine the business imperative. "By better understanding the two strategies and their strengths and weaknesses, chief executives will be able to make more surefooted decisions about knowledge management and their investments in it" (Hansen, Nohria and Tierney, 1999). In the Multilink's example, the Chief Executive Office took a personalised approach to knowledge management, without the proper analyse of the local Nigerian market. He was advised by a vendor to buy sufficient cellular phone handsets at a discounted price and that market demand would be met as the company was aggressively deploying cellular infrastructure in that country. A billion Rand latter, the Telkom Group is holding redundant stock of a discontinued cellular phone instrument that the consumer does not want as part of a subscription service. Further to this is that the technology deployed in Nigeria is different from what is being rolled out in South Africa by Telkom Mobile, so the handsets are totally useless.
Technology is an Enabler
Technology infrastructure should be seen as an enable in knowledge management activities since it supports the people involved by creating knowledge flows. Telkom endeavours to place its customers at the core of its business and therefore thrives to take cognisance of consumer sentiment from all quarters. The Company also welcomes the opportunity for closer co-operation with all role-players that could enhance its service delivery to customers. From the brief company and contextual background above, is possible that a knowledge management system should be considered holistically to address not just this particular shortcoming in a particular location, but rather nationally. While the company might have a myriad of internal information systems and technologies, it fundamentally has no feedback mechanism to the public at large, and that is explicit in nature. As a consumer, you would typically want know by when Telkom intends addressing your requirement in a particular suburb. Understandably it ties back to supply and demand and the prioritisation of delivery of service to the customer.
In essence the knowledge management system should cover the aspects of the process from application to delivery, as well as the underlying technologies that are either available or not at the exchanges. For example Telkom requires a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) to be installed at the exchange to allow telephone lines to make internet connections. Not all the exchanges allow for this integration, given the age of the infrastructure. From a strategic point of view, the cost to upgrade comes in at a significant cost but will be addressed as demand grows or as cross subsidisation of the service continues. In a transparent manner the community at large should receive information on the progress of such service installation to date. Further the system should not be a closed system, but rather make provision for information to be captured and returned as a knowledge flow to the network planning division. If for example a subscriber intends to move within a residential area or completes several applications for a particular service, since they have embarked on an entrepreneurial business venture; these factors could influence the prioritisation based on demand forecasting.
Knowledge Strategy for an Organisation
While management might see knowledge as a strategic asset that needs to be shared and ensure that measures are in place to incentivise such collaboration, the company itself might have a different view on how to exploit its knowledge assets. Even before this appraisal of knowledge, it is initially most valued and appreciated if it is seen as supportive against the backdrop of the business strategy. Tools and processes for managing knowledge need to be clearly defined since this is in context of the work environment. Knowledge codification is about making knowledge accessible and usable by converting it into a captured format that is explicit for easier transferring from system to system and from system to user through appropriate means of technology mediums. As part of organisational development, the challenge lies in getting what was once held tacitly into a readily available explicit form. However we should be cognisant of the fact that information overload is a reality and that the right information filtered against the organisations strategy might be called for by the recipients of such knowledge. A knowledge strategy for an organisation like Telkom is vital since it fosters an understanding and an appreciation. Further to this is the fact that the information possessed is important to the business as it sets it apart in the competitive landscape.
Conclusion
"The most successful knowledge management projects were those that were driven by a strong business need, and the goals of which were to add value to the company's operations or business unit's operations respectively. The knowledge management objectives and strategy need to concur with the companies/business unit's objectives and strategy and need to be aimed at creating a" sustainable reality (Greiner, M.E., Bohmann, T. & Krcmar, H. 2007).
As part of the KM development strategy, the system has to remain holistic in outlook and ensure that through appropriate feedback mechanisms, the necessary corrective actions are taken when errors are detected. Failure to do so could result in the system becoming obsolete in a relatively short period of time. Further to this the KM system could produce poor results due to bad and inaccurate decisions based on faulty knowledge principles and ideas. (Tiwana, 1999).
To come up with a corporate strategy based on the core operational activities and associated knowledge competencies, requires the organisation to approach this both systemically and holistically in order to elicit, negotiate and gain agreement within a multi-stakeholder framework. Basic strategic competencies, such as that of proactively contacting all profitable customers illustrates the point that such activities at one level can provide an advantage at another. An information session on the methodology, terminology within the company and its reporting criteria, helps with strategy ownership and implementation (Abou-Zeid, 2008).
From the research conducted it is clearly evident that Knowledge Management has the potential to help companies outperform their competitors. Further KM can assist in creating an organisation that has greater potential value and in which context the competition is no longer an issue.
