Assessment of KM Situation in an Organization for a Selected Area of Specialisation

Purpose and Description

The purpose of this assignment is for you to analyse and assess the KM situation in one core/predominant area of knowledge management for an organisation. In doing so you will provide a response informed by research to an individual organisations existing KM situation.

1.Select an area of specialisation from the following:

a. IT systems for KM
b. Social systems for KM
c. Knowledge Storage – IT and Social (Selected area of specialisation)
d. Knowledge Transfer – IT and Social
e. Organisation – Strategy and HR

2.Read the relevant provided literature so you have a starting/reference point. You will not understand the assignment if you don’t have a bit of a handle on the topic, so you must read first in order to understand the assignment. 

3.Select an organisation from the list below. All of these organisations have ample publicly available data and information on their operations as well as being widely known, where practical LOGICAL assumptions can be made if information is hard to come by. Other organisations may be used but must be discussed and approved by Ros.

You are a consultant engaged to analyse and assess the organisations current KM capacity. You may project the future KM needs, and offer recommendations if you wish to round your analysis. Fortunately, you went to University before becoming a consultant so you understand the advantage of conducting deep academic research and using academic convention to write your report including referencing within your document. You must thoroughly research your chosen area and then use your considerable knowledge to analyse your organisations current KM situation. After ‘drilling down’ you may focus your strategy on one KEY area of operations (i.e. a strategy/HR focus may drill down to predominately recruitment) but remember, you still need a comprehensive assessment and evaluation of the larger area.

As your focus is strategic, an existing KM system in your organisation will create no disadvantage to your project. You should include it in your analysis and assessment.

Please note that specialisation in one area does not mean that you should ignore all other areas. Excellent reports will recognise how their area, recommendations and options fit within the bigger KM picture. For example, you may be focussing on ICT systems but recognition of the right skill mixes through HR, culture needs/development, reward systems etc must also be considered. Similarly, social or HR systems are supported/impacted by IT and be identified.

Requirement:

To do well you should demonstrate 

a) the ability to analyse an organisation’s KM requirements (according to your area of choice) considering elements of core knowledge, operational knowledge and strategic knowledge.

b) a willingness to consider and break down the pros and cons of each element of your analysis according to the particular characteristics of the organisation’s needs.

c) good to superior understanding of KM practices and principles through correct use of key terminology and correct application.