Week 14 & Week 15: Knowledge Strategy and Organizational Effectiveness

In order for an organization to expand their knowledge and increase the amount of information which is at their disposal they must have a knowledge strategy. From the notes a knowledge strategy is built around a firm's intellectual resources and capabilities. They must figure out what knowledge is strategic and why it is strategic. To figure what knowledge they need the organization must undergo some introspection and figure out what they know about themselves, especially what they know how to do well, and then they must look outward and figure out what they know of the competition. Once the organization has an outline of their current knowledge situation a potential knowledge strategy could be developed.

Organizations want a knowledge strategy because it will guide how they go about information seeking. They do not want to bark up the wrong tree. Technology can be a great help to organizations which are trying to develop a knowledge strategy because technology provides excellent means to filter and organize information. For instance, if a small farming company wanted to expand their business from foods to biofuel they could easily find all kinds of resources online which would help them do this. Not only could they find it but with the correct knowledge management tools they could wield the knowledge to do what they wanted. This could be doing something as simple as emailing potential clients to buying new equipment which would help create the biofuel.

A knowledge strategy can be seen as a precursor to organizational effectiveness. If the organization has a well thought out knowledge strategy then it is likely the organization has a good chance of success at whatever they are trying to accomplish. A company's effectiveness can be measured by looking at the company's stated goals are comparing those goals to what the company actually accomplishes. Also some comparison could go on between companies in a similar field. For example, automakers are constantly ranking themselves against each other. In the article just linked a representative from General Motors had this to say about its Silverado sales beating those of rival Ford's F-series, "We have the best truck. In this business, the best product and the best brand wins." He feels really good about his organization's effectiveness in comparison to a rival.

Part of the reason the Silverado overtook the F-series in sales this past February was because the Silverado had just undergone a redesign. Ford on the other hand has not planned out a redesign of the F-series for a few years. GM took advantage of this knowledge and developed a strategy which resulted in their new truck coming out before Ford's thereby grabbing up valuable market share. That is a great example of an organization implementing a knowledge strategy and it working out because the original strategy was well thought out and took into account all those things which were discussed at the beginning of this entry: know what the organization does well, know what your competitors are doing, figure out what you need to do to be the best.