Difference between revisions of "KM audits"
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=== Summary === | === Summary === | ||
| − | + | A conversation on KM audits related matters, including templates / questionnaires / do's and don'ts | |
==== Detailed Description ==== | ==== Detailed Description ==== | ||
| + | Check before you embark on using templates and questionnaires for KM audits! | ||
| + | |||
| + | Any audit instrument is only as good as the purpose it serves, so first you will need to scope out the purpose of your audit - in particular to get a sense of the organisational goals and needs that KM and your knowledge resource base should be serving. | ||
| + | |||
| + | How do those goals and needs break down in terms of knowledge needs? Here some examples of drivers: | ||
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| + | * '''in a fast-moving environment''' where coordination and situation awareness are critical capabilities, your audit will focus on how well your information and communication flows keep people aligned and on the same page. | ||
| + | * '''in a very regulated environment''' focus on record keeping and documentation of compliance-related activities. | ||
| + | * '''If expanding rapidly and taking on lots of new people''' your audit might focus on how well you are accelerating the learning curves of new staff. | ||
| + | * '''If lots of very experienced staff holding specialist tacit knowledge''' you might be interested in examining your risk of knowledge loss, the presence or absence of knowledge transfer and/or processes. | ||
| − | '' | + | '''Areas of investigation and methods''' |
| + | Once you have determined your drivers for the audit, you will then need to decide the areas to investigate and the best methods to investigate them. Interview questionnaires are the last items you should be looking at, mainly because they tend to give you personal, subjective inputs, and you will have a great deal of difficulty in resolving contradictory views and controlling for bias. If you are auditing any kind of large, complex organisation, you want to have some relatively hard data about the phenomena you are interested in (e.g. speed to performance of new staff, compliance/non compliance incidences, observation, knowledge flows, knowledge maps of critical tacit knowledge areas, what processes are already in place and documented, what kind of governance is in place, etc). Next is collective self-representations - i.e. workshop based sensemaking of the situation you are investigating. Collective self-representations control for individual bias rather all, if facilitated effectively. I believe interviews should come last, as a means for checking or validating or getting additional insight on the main areas your other investigations uncover. | ||
| + | With thanks to Patrick Lambe +65 62210383 | ||
| + | website: www.straitsknowledge.com | ||
| + | weblog: www.greenchameleon.com | ||
| + | twitter: @plambesg | ||
| + | Knowledge mapping made easy: www.aithinsoftware.com | ||
==== Examples in Application ==== | ==== Examples in Application ==== | ||
Revision as of 09:38, 15 August 2018
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Contents
Original Message
{{{message}}}
Contributors
All replies in full are available in the discussion page. Contributions received with thanks from:
Related Discussions
Summary
A conversation on KM audits related matters, including templates / questionnaires / do's and don'ts
Detailed Description
Check before you embark on using templates and questionnaires for KM audits!
Any audit instrument is only as good as the purpose it serves, so first you will need to scope out the purpose of your audit - in particular to get a sense of the organisational goals and needs that KM and your knowledge resource base should be serving.
How do those goals and needs break down in terms of knowledge needs? Here some examples of drivers:
- in a fast-moving environment where coordination and situation awareness are critical capabilities, your audit will focus on how well your information and communication flows keep people aligned and on the same page.
* in a very regulated environment focus on record keeping and documentation of compliance-related activities. * If expanding rapidly and taking on lots of new people your audit might focus on how well you are accelerating the learning curves of new staff.
- If lots of very experienced staff holding specialist tacit knowledge you might be interested in examining your risk of knowledge loss, the presence or absence of knowledge transfer and/or processes.
Areas of investigation and methods Once you have determined your drivers for the audit, you will then need to decide the areas to investigate and the best methods to investigate them. Interview questionnaires are the last items you should be looking at, mainly because they tend to give you personal, subjective inputs, and you will have a great deal of difficulty in resolving contradictory views and controlling for bias. If you are auditing any kind of large, complex organisation, you want to have some relatively hard data about the phenomena you are interested in (e.g. speed to performance of new staff, compliance/non compliance incidences, observation, knowledge flows, knowledge maps of critical tacit knowledge areas, what processes are already in place and documented, what kind of governance is in place, etc). Next is collective self-representations - i.e. workshop based sensemaking of the situation you are investigating. Collective self-representations control for individual bias rather all, if facilitated effectively. I believe interviews should come last, as a means for checking or validating or getting additional insight on the main areas your other investigations uncover.
With thanks to Patrick Lambe +65 62210383 website: www.straitsknowledge.com weblog: www.greenchameleon.com twitter: @plambesg Knowledge mapping made easy: www.aithinsoftware.com
Examples in Application
One or a few practical examples and references that illustrate the topic or show how it is done in practice
Recommended Resources
Links to publications, websites, contacts and general resources shared in the e-discussion
