Master 2020/2021

Knowledge Management

Type: Elective course

Area of studies: Business Informatics

Delivered by: Department of Business Informatics

Where: Graduate School of Business

When: 1 year, 3, 4 module

Mode of studies: offline

Master’s programme: Big Data Systems

Language: English

ECTS credits: 5

Contact hours: 40

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The goal of knowledge management (KM) is to provide an organization the competitive advantage through intellectual assets. The global trends of scientific and technological progress and digitalization influence on increasing the complexity of the intellectual assets, growing the requirements for the conditions and tools for working with them, emerging the number of new intellectual creative tasks in each industry. It remains unchanged that the content of intellectual activity is knowledge, and the actors are people (specialists). The course covers various aspects of KM (organizational, information technology), reveals the variety of methods and tools for deal with knowledge, provides the formation of competencies for building process based on knowledge as an important economic resource. There are interactive lectures with breaks for practical and discussion activities during the course. Skills and competencies in KM are obtained through the case study and assignments based on international companies’ experience. The purpose of the course is to provide an understanding of the importance of KM for all organizations in the knowledge economy and to equip students with methods, tools, and techniques for KM implementation and integration in organizations. The objectives of the course are:

Learning Objectives

• to reveal the content of knowledge management in the organization, the main approaches of KM and the practice of KM implementation in the economy;
• to describe the process which starts with the creation, mining or capture of knowledge and finishes knowledge transformation into innovation; to highlight the importance of KM process to the development of digital economy;
• to define the areas and ways to implement the KM methods and tools in the activities of modern organizations taking in account the digitalization opportunities for the economy and society development;
• to show the requirements of international standards for KM system and the best practice of KM in business;
• to demonstrate a variety of forms and methods: the application of KM in the organization, the impact of KM on the policy and culture of the organization, overcoming the barriers of KM; to study KM experience of leading companies.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Understanding the potential of KM for organizational and personal effectiveness.
• Possession of the basic KM methods of creation, extraction, storage, dissemination of knowledge in solving organizational problems.
• Carrying out the selection and application of IT to support KM process (collaboration, digital technology).
• Justification of the choice of the KM approach appropriate to the task, the architecture of the organization and the availability of data and knowledge.
• The ability to build the organizational policy for KM in accordance with the purpose and objectives of the organization.

Course Contents

• Knowledge economy
  1.1 Intellectual assets Intellectual potential. Human and knowledge resources. Types of intangible resources in world economy. The modern international division into suppliers and consumers of intellectual resources. 1.2 Digitalization of Knowledge From information Society to Data Economy. Smart society concept. Digital trends in economy and social development. Crisis of digitalization. Data source for knowledge creation. 1.3 Knowledge driven innovations Transition to a Global Knowledge Economy. Knowledge for innovation creation. Open innovations. Knowledge foster innovation efficiency. Global ISO Standards Developments for the knowledge economy.
• Organization creating knowledge
  2.1 Knowledge management in organization suitability Importance of KM in organization. Benefits of KM for Society, Organization, Team and Individual. KM concepts and approaches. A Knowledge-Driven Organization synthesizes knowledge by creating synergy between people, processes, projects, technology, communication, environment, operations, etc. to produce sustainable outputs and meet stakeholder expectations. 2.2 ISO 30401 Knowledge Management Standard Requirements of standard for KM System. The standard of KM in connections with the Business Excellence Models and Frameworks, ISO 9001 Quality Management and Knowledge, ISO 55000 Asset Management and Intangible Assets series, ISO 56002 Innovation Management Standard, ISO TC 260 HR Standards.
• KM methodology
  3.1 Methodology The Nonaka’s SECI model of KM in organization (Internalization, Socialization, Externalization and Combination). Context in KM. Knowledge Ecosystem. 3.2 KM tools and methods Methods of creating knowledge (ideas capture, peer assist, after action review, knowledge café etc.). Methods of gathering and storage knowledge (mapping, Communities of Practice and etc.). Methods of sharing knowledge. IT support for KM (knowledge portal, social network services, wiki and etc.). 3.3 KM environment Knowledge-sharing culture. KM competencies. Motivation and inspiration to knowledge creation and sharing.
• KM System
  4.1 KM strategy Types of KM strategies. KM leader. Stakeholders of KM. KM project. The objectives of KM in organizational strategy. Organization policy on KM. Enables retention and adaptation of knowledge within organizations, i.e., transforms them into Learning Organizations 4.2 KM System The elements of KM system. Tools, methods, and ITs for KM system building. 4.3 KM Implementation Social and IT barriers for KM. Organizational boundaries for KM efficiency. Risks in the KM. The action plan of KM implementation in team and organization.

Assessment Elements

• Home assignments
  Homework consists of four cases on the following topics: Knowledge economy, Knowledge management in organization for the sustainable development, Knowledge management methodology, Knowledge management system.
• Control works
  There are two control works during the course. Each control work consists of 10 assignments with multi choice answer and one brief case.
• Classwork (attendance and the class activities participation)
• Exam

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (4 module)
  0.2 * Classwork (attendance and the class activities participation) + 0.2 * Control works + 0.3 * Exam + 0.3 * Home assignments

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Olivier Serrat. (2017). Knowledge Solutions: Tools, Methods, and Approaches to Drive Organizational Performance. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0983-9

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Carstens, D. S., & Richardson, G. L. (2019). Project Management Tools and Techniques : A Practical Guide, Second Edition: Vol. Second Edition. CRC Press.
• Kimiz Dalkir. (2011). Knowledge Management in Theory and Practice. The MIT Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.b.mtp.titles.0262015080
• Milton, N. J., & Lambe, P. (2020). The Knowledge Manager’s Handbook : A Step-by-Step Guide to Embedding Effective Knowledge Management in Your Organization: Vol. Second edition. Kogan Page.