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July 1999
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT:
A Philosophy for Change in Government?
Information can be seen as closely related and complementary stages along the same road, as such both perform essential roles in the decision-making process.
...by selecting and analysing data, information can be produced; by selecting and combining information, knowledge can be generated; from this decisions can be made and action taken.
- KM: Lynchpin of Change
by Sylvia P. Webb. ASLIB, London, UK
For instance, if you are standing in Union Station in Toronto wanting to go to Ottawa, you may consult a timetable (data) to look up the departure of the next train (information). Then you may look at your watch to see what time it is (more information) and subtract this from the departure time so that you know how long you have to wait (knowledge). Along with knowledge of the other options open to you, you can then decide what there is time for: enough only to board the train … or to buy a newspaper first?…or to make a call to the office?…or to buy a coffee and read the newspaper? (decision and action).
Thus, we see from this a processing hierarchy:
DATA to INFORMATION to KNOWLEDGE to DECISION to ACTION
But what is KM all about and why is it relevant to people in the public sector, and particularly at the local government level?
Knowledge management as a philosophy has recently evolved. The private sector has been using the precepts to fairly good effect. In the burgeoning knowledge economy, companies have deployed the precepts of knowledge management to develop new products and services. This has resulted in new areas of profit and growth in market share for many companies. In addition, there is now a lot of software on the market that enables companies to manage their vast information holdings and utilize their human resources within their organizations. The private sector understand the value of knowledge as it is the APPLICATION of knowledge that assists organizations in not only the development of their products and being effective in the marketplace but in running an effective organization. Large multinationals are turning to KM principles as many of them realize that they, like big governments, have become cumbersome and bureaucratic. Within their own organizations there are vast pools of knowledge going untapped.
As business is driven by the demands of the market place, they have been able to merge business practices with technologies that facilitate this discipline.
Thus, there are many success stories of how companies are profiting and expanding through the application of these precepts. Many of the large consulting companies around the world now have sections of their firms that specialize specifically in knowledge management. But there is not as clear a vision in the public sector as to how this growing discipline can be applied to their activities.
The World Bank organization has a six person Knowledge management secretariat whose sole responsibility has been to reorganize the Bank using KM principles but to also apply them internally. They have 500 full time knowledge management workers within their organization and another 300 part time. Their President has stated that "the application of knowledge management not only within our organization but to all the countries we deal with (especially developing countries) is more important than the lending of money." This is the application of the old Chinese proverb which says:
"If you give a starving man a fish to eat you will feed him for that day. If you teach a man how to fish you will feed him for life." Thus, education and the imparting of knowledge is crucial for the solving of many economic and social dilemmas.
Most governments currently operate on administrative systems developed in the nineteenth century. It is a system of governance that worked well for most of this century. However, with the continuing evolution of our information and communications technologies, government is facing profound change. The electronic world is challenging and changing how we look at government and governance.
We are now witnessing the emergence of new forms of governance forced upon us by the changes brought by the electronic world and the concomitant changes in society itself. Different precepts for governance are becoming essential if governments are to operate effectively in this new culture.
Adaptability is a key component of this change. In our new environments we need to draw upon:
- our information resources;
- the intellectual capital of individuals;
- the multitude of resources available to government, and
- the input of citizens who now have the capacity to play an interactive role in the process of government.
The key to addressing this change lies within knowledge management. This is a discipline that has been well articulated for the private sector but for government there is still uncertainty as to what it means to strategic applications and the development and administration of programs both within individual organizations and across government.
The challenge for the public sector is developing and exploring meanings of knowledge management with specific emphasis on how this is applicable to government and the workplace. Governments need to evolve specific solutions for the application of knowledge management precepts.
Those in the public sector who are now thinking about this emerging discipline realize there is a clear need to determine applications to strategies, programs and administration of government departments. The first step is going to have to be the drawing of one of their most important resources - the intellectual capital of people who work in the public service. There are probably many employees who understand the nature of our new information and communication technologies. They could be put to effective use in this managing the change governments are now facing. Also, there are now software tools that could be used to bring together much of the vast information holdings of government. This could be a means to offer more government information to the public in many different forms – especially through the use of web sites.
Citizen input and participation into the public sector process is another vast resource that could be drawn upon to better improve services and programs. Governments are moving more and more towards the electronic delivery of integrated services across the country. Citizen input is going to become crucial to the success of this program. It is going to be important to develop ways for citizens to respond and interact with government. The government is, at present, the single, largest repository of government information. In the knowledge economy it is not going to be enough to solely connect Canadians to the Internet (though it is a major start making us the most connected in the world) but also facilitating the development and usage of information. This can be accomplished by finding innovative and creative ways of sharing and providing information. This would then allow individuals to take full advantage of the knowledge economy. In essence, governments are going to have to partner with citizens.
This is a major challenge as in the past governments have tended to have had a hands off relationship with the citizenry. In the wired world electronic governance is a two way activity – that is, interactive. Governance as we knew it is gradually shifting and this is changing our government institutions. Knowledge management principles can be the key to managing this transition and effectively adapting to the changes occurring in our society.
In summary, following are some basic principles that many people involved in knowledge management, appear to apply:
- recognizing and building on in-house individual expertise.
- formalizing to varying degrees the harnessing of knowledge through the use of appropriate systems
- passing on knowledge
- developing it from an individual asset into a corporate one
- encouraging the growth of an open corporate culture in which knowledge is viewed as being central to organisational development and to the efficiency of methods of business operation.
The challenge for public sector organization in the ever evolving knowledge economy is to be able to effectively respond not just to economic developments but, more importantly, to the sweeping social and cultural shifts that will come with it. Knowledge management could be one of the applicable tools to use in the coming transformation,
Thomas B. Riley
President, Riley Information Services Inc.
July, 1999
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