Knowledge Management

- Exam 'Part B' example (Notes in red)

Case study: The Sunbeam Owners Spares Club (In the actual exam, the case study is different but of a similar length) Sunbeam are the world's third oldest car company, which produced a number of rather advanced streamlined cars during the course of its production run, which is now ended. Because spare parts and manuals are hard to find for these cars, a group of amateur enthusiasts has formed the 'Sunbeam Owners Spares Club' to pool their resources. They have hired a shed to hold all the spare parts and charged a joiner's fee for new members to defray costs. Members can get photocopies of technical documents, or buy spare parts such as bearings and seals from the Club when they are needed.

A serious problem they face is that the organisers of the Club are getting older, and want to take a less active role in running the Club, while the newer members (despite their enthusiasm) are not as knowledgeable about what model of what car needed what part. In addition, the mechanics who have worked on the cars are all retiring, so the Club organisers are very keen on making videos of them doing standard overhauls of the motors, gearbox, steering, brakes and suspension with a view to making the knowledge more widely available.

They have a large number of photographs, and they also have schematics that have come originally from the manufacturer. All the information about these is kept on a spreadsheet, which is maintained by the founders of the Club in rotation on their different computers. They have often had a problem working out which one is the latest version, and this has caused problems with lost parts etc in the past.

The Sunbeam Owners Spares Club want to make an inventory system that ties together the car parts, the documentation and the videos (which are not yet made). They also want to make the entire resulting system searchable from the Internet, and link up with other groups who are interested in the Sunbeam marque around the world.

Questions: Use the case study to give examples of where each of the following tools, techniques and practices could be used to improve the knowledge management capability of the Sunbeam Owners Spares Club.

In each case, explain:

• Where and how the tool or technique would be used in the organisation.
• The specific benefits the tool or technique could accomplish for the organisation.
• What the difficulties and challenges associated with it could be.

Answer any  of the following: (in the actual exam, there are 7 listed to choose from not 10)

1. Elicitation of tacit knowledge using interviewing

2. Best practices

3. Organisational knowledge taxonomy

4. Expert system

5. Knowledge repository

6. Social media

7. Lessons learned

8. Communities of practice

9. Knowledge continuity plan

10. Knowledge audit

To clarify what is expected: You would choose a particular tool/technique, then answer the 3 bullet points about it. Then choose another tool/technique and answer the 3 bullet points about that one. Do this for 5 of the tools/techniques.

For example, you might choose Best practices, expert system, social media, lessons learned, knowledge audit. Your answer would look like this:

1. BEST PRACTICE

• Where and how BEST PRACTICES would be used in the organisation.
• The specific benefits BEST PRACTICES could accomplish for the organisation.
• What the difficulties and challenges associated with BEST PRACTICES could be.

2. EXPERT SYSTEM

• Where and how an EXPERT SYSTEM would be used in the organisation.
• The specific benefits an EXPERT SYSTEM could accomplish for the organisation.
• What the difficulties and challenges associated with an EXPERT SYSTEM could be.

3. SOCIAL MEDIA

• Where and how SOCIAL MEDIA would be used in the organisation.
• The specific benefits SOCIAL MEDIA could accomplish for the organisation.
• What the difficulties and challenges associated with SOCIAL MEDIA could be.

4. LESSONS LEARNED

• Where and how LESSONS LEARNED would be used in the organisation.
• The specific benefits LESSONS LEARNED could accomplish for the organisation.
• What the difficulties and challenges associated with LESSONS LEARNED could be.

5. KNOWLEDGE AUDIT

• Where and how a KNOWLEDGE AUDIT would be used in the organisation.
• The specific benefits a KNOWLEDGE AUDIT could accomplish for the organisation.
• What the difficulties and challenges associated with a KNOWLEDGE AUDIT could be.

• 'Where and how" - what area of would the organisation the tool or technique be used in, and how would it be put in place? (what would it involve to do this)
• 'Benefits' - how would the organisation be better as a result of using this tool/technique? What improvements might it expect?

'Difficulties and challenges' - what problems might there be in introducing this particular tool/technique into the organisation? (These could be technical in nature or social.)