Knowledge Management Systems

Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH Ronald Maier

Knowledge Management Systems Information and Communication Technologies for Knowledge Management

Second Edition with 103 Figures and 91 Tables

'Springer Professor Dr. Ronald Maier Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg School of Business and Economics Department of Management Information Systems 06099 Halle/Saale, Germany maier@ wiwi. uni-halle.de

ISBN 978-3-662-12163-4 ISBN 978-3-540-24779-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-24779-1

Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data available in the internet at http.J!dnb.ddb.de This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH. Violations are liable for prosecution under the German Copyright Law. springeronline.com © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004 Originally published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York in 2004 The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: Erich Kirchner, Heidelberg SPIN 10972380 42/3130-5 4 3 2 1 0- Printed on acid-free paper Preface for the Second Edition

Many skeptics thought that knowledge management (KM) was yet another passing management fad and that knowledge management systems (KMS) were a pile of complex, if not complicated, unintegrated, user-unfriendly technologies far from being ready-to-use. However, the underlying goal of substantially increasing pro• ductivity of knowledge workers has paved the ground for an enduring effort that does not shy away from the uneasy questions that arise when it comes to showing the impact of KM initiatives on the financial results of an organization. Thus, more and more organizations have implemented KM and KMS in the last couple of years. At the same time, the number of books, articles and conferences on knowl• edge management has soared showing the tremendous interest of practitioners and scholars alike. The last two years have been an interesting period in my life. After completing the habilitation at the University of Regensburg, I moved to the Martin-Luther• University of Halle-Wittenberg. My research assistants and Ph.D. students Thomas Hadrich and Rene Peinl and I have developed a ten hours per week specialization in knowledge management for the MIS program that builds on a four hours per week course on information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastruc• tures. Teaching the subject is a demanding, yet rewarding endeavor. The bits and pieces of concepts, approaches, theories, methods and tools that the book amal• gamates had to be turned into learning objects. The result is a demanding series of courses requiring that the students bring together their knowledge about strategy, organizational design, business and economics as well as information and commu• nication technologies. Strategically relevant bundles of organizational, functional and ICT elements can be called KM instruments. As a consequence, part B of the book was substantially extended and rearranged. Due to the fact that knowledge management matures, the call for an integration with more traditional management techniques has increased. Although this is diffi• cult for a long-lasting effort that requires a cultural change and years to harvest its benefits, business process management techniques have been combined with KM VI Preface for the Second Edition approaches in the field of knowledge process reengineering. The (re-)design of knowledge-intensive business processes and knowledge processes that was shortly described in the first edition has been substantially extended in this edition. This has been a joint effort with Ulrich Remus from the University ofErlangen-Nurem• berg. Also, advances in ICT have provided new possibilities for supporting KM initi• atives, especially in the realm of personal knowledge management. The advances have been organized in an amalgamated architecture for a centralistic KMS and contrasted with an architecture of a distributed or peer-to-peer KMS. Peer-to-peer KMS are a recent, still emerging phenomenon in KM. A number of ideas on the potentials of peer-to-peer KMS are presented in Infotop, a joint project with Johannes Sametinger from the Johannes-Kepler-University Linz. What still stays the same is that I hope that the book will help you, the readers, to understand the complex matter, that you will enjoy the ideas presented here and that you will be motivated to develop them further. Any comments are most wel• come to [email protected]! Many people have influenced my thoughts on knowledge management (sys• tems) during the last two years for which I want to thank them all. My special thanks go to Florian Bayer, Thomas Hiidrich and Rene Peinl, Martin-Luther-Uni• versity Halle-Wittenberg for the many fruitful discussions and for proofreading the manuscript, to Nadine Amende, Tilo Flother and Alexander Sandow, Martin• Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg for drawing some of the new figures and to Klaus Bredl, University of Regensburg, Ulrich Remus, University of Erlangen• Nuremberg, and Johannes Sametinger, Johannes-Kepler-University Linz, for free knowledge sharing on knowledge management and beyond.

Halle I Saale, October 2003 Preface for the First Edition

The term knowledge management systems (KMS) seems to be a misnomer at first glance. On the one hand, knowledge in many definitions as used in the discipline management information systems is either bound to people or extracted from an t~xpert and made available in specially designed systems, so-called knowledge• based systems. On the other hand, management is a term that denotes the software• supported handling, e.g., storing, administering, updating and retrieving of (busi• ness) objects when used in connection with information and communication tech• nology (ICT). Examples are data base management systems or document management systems. However, strictly speaking, knowledge management sys• tems neither contain knowledge nor do they manage it. Even though the definition itself is subject to many misinterpretations, espe• cially from researchers and practitioners who are not enthusiastic about the use of information systems in general, the term has been able to draw the attention of researchers from multiple disciplines and practitioners with diverse backgrounds alike. The term KMS has been a strong metaphor or vision for the development of a new breed ofiCT systems. In this view, knowledge management systems create a corporate ICT environment, a contextualized base, an infrastructure that takes into account the complex nature of knowledge and thus supports the handling of knowl• edge in organizations. In order to achieve this, a number of heterogeneous ICT have to be integrated, improved, recombined and repackaged. Examples are AI technologies, business intelligence technologies, communication systems, content and document management systems, group support systems, Intranet technologies, learning environments, search engines, visualization technologies and workflow management systems. Given the complexity of these "predecessors" or "ingredi• ents", it seems obvious that the development of knowledge management systems is a complex undertaking. Within this field, the book amalgamates a considerable number of theories, approaches, methods and tools. The results are presented in the light of strategic issues, the organizational design, particularly roles, collectives, tasks and pro- VIII Preface for the First Edition cesses, the contents of KMS, technologies and systems as well as the economics of the application of KMS. I hope that the book will help you, the readers, to under• stand the complex matter, that you will enjoy the ideas presented here and that you will be motivated to develop them further. Any comments and discussion are most welcome: [email protected]! The book presents the results of a four-year research project. During this period I researched and taught at the University ofRegensburg, Germany and the Univer• sity of Georgia, Athens (GA, USA). I felt that it helped substantially in this effort to participate in two different (research) cultures during that period. MIS research in German-speaking countries differs from its Anglo-American counterpart in some distinctive ways. In this research I tried to combine the rigorous, cumulative, primarily quantitative Anglo-American MIS tradition with the more holistic, proto• type-oriented, often qualitative MIS tradition in the German-speaking countries. The research underlying this book has involved many colleagues. First of all, I would like to thank my two academic teachers, Franz Lehner, Chair of MIS at the University of Regensburg and Richard T. Watson, Chair for Internet Strategy at the Terry College ofBusiness, University of Georgia (UGA, Athens, GA, USA). Franz created the freedom and the environment at the University of Regensburg neces• sary for this work, inspired me with his way of thinking about organizational mem• ory and supported this work in many ways. Rick not only helped me to understand the Anglo-American way of research and teaching, intensively discussed my ideas, the methods and procedures I used and served as a referee on my habilitation the• sis. He also created the opportunity for me to fully participate in the MIS depart• ment at the Terry College of Business as a Visiting Professor which gave me the chance to work with the excellent scholars that taught there in 1998/1999. I would like to especially thank Bob Bostrom, Chair of Business at UGA, Alan R. Dennis, now Chair of Internet Systems at Kelley School of Business, Indiana University (Bloomington, IN, USA), Dale Goodhue, Professor of MIS at UGA, Antonie Starn, now Professor of Information Systems at the College of Business, University of Missouri-Columbia and Hugh Watson, Chair of Business Administration at UGA for their kind support. I also thank Johannes Sametinger, Professor of MIS at the University of Linz, Austria, for proofreading the manuscript. My special thanks go to the members of the knowledge management team at the MIS department of the University of Regensburg. Many ideas were created in the countless debates, discussions and workshops that we organized! I would like to especially thank Oliver Klosa, Ulrich Remus and Wolfgang Rockelein for their support and companionship. Our strong commitment to free knowledge sharing paid offi Furthermore, I would like to thank the members of the MIS group who motivated me in difficult times and sometimes just smiled at my frantic sessions in front of the computer: Volker Berg, Stefan Berger, Klaus Bred1, Ulrich Nikolaus, Holger Nosekabel and Klaus Schafer. Last, but not least, my parents, Helga and Kurt Maier, and my girlfriend, Alexandra Reisinger, always stood by my side when the barriers seemed infinitely high. Many thanks to you all! Regensburg, February 2002 Contents

Preface for the Second Edition ...... V

Preface for the First Edition ...... VII

PART A Introduction ...... 1 1 Motivation . • • • . • • • • • • • . • • . . . • . • . • . • • • • . • . . . • ...... 1 2 Goals ..•...••..•••..••..•..•••.•••..•.•••.•••.•...• 8 3 Procedure, Methods and Overview ..•••..•...... 10

PARTS Concepts and Theories ...... 17 4 Foundation of Knowledge Management Systems . . • . . • • • . 19 4.1 Knowledge management ...... 19 4.1.1 From organizational learning to knowledge management ...... 20 4.1.2 From management of data to management of knowledge ...... 37 4.1.3 From traditional work to knowledge work 44 4.1.4 Definition ...... 49 4.1.5 Critique to knowledge management ...... 55 4.2 Knowledge ...... 57 4.2.1 History and related concepts ...... 57 4.2.2 Types and classes of knowledge ...... 63 4.2.3 Consequences for knowledge management (systems) ...... 67 X Contents

4.2.4 Definition ...... 73 4.3 Knowledge management systems ...... 79 4.3.1 Overview and related concepts ...... 79 4.3.2 Definition ...... 82 4.4 Resume ...... 85 5 Strategy ...... 87 5.1 Strategy and knowledge management ...... 87 5.1.1 From market-based view to knowledge-based view ...... 88 5.1.2 Knowledge (management) strategy ...... 98 5.1.3 Process-oriented knowledge management strategy ...... 102 5.2 Goals and strategies ...... 108 5.2.1 Strategic goals ...... 108 5.2.2 Strategic options ...... 114 5.2.3 Generic knowledge management strategies 123 5.3 Success factors and barriers ...... 126 5.4 Resume ...... 130 6 Organization ...... 133 6.1 Structural organization ...... 138 6.1.1 Separate knowledge management unit ...... 140 6.1.2 Knowledge management roles ...... 142 6.1.3 Groups, teams and communities ...... 157 6.2 Process organization ...... 175 6.2.1 Knowledge management tasks ...... 175 6.2.2 Knowledge management processes ...... 179 6.2.3 Example: Process-oriented KM ...... 184 6.3 Organizational culture ...... 189 6.3.1 Definition ...... 189 6.3.2 Willingness to share knowledge ...... 190 6.4 Other interventions ...... 197 6.5 Modeling ...... 199 6.5.1 Process modeling ...... 201 6.5.2 Activity modeling ...... 210 6.5.3 Knowledge modeling ...... 214 6.5.4 Person modeling ...... 220 6.6 Resume ...... 228 7 Contents and Systems ...... 231 7.1 Technological roots ...... 231 7.2 Contents ...... 239 7.2.1 Types of contents ...... 240 7 .2.2 Size and media used ...... 244 7.2.3 Structuring of contents ...... 246 7.2.4 Quality of contents ...... 247 Contents XI

7.3 Centralized architecture ...... 250 7.3 .1 Integrating architectures for centralized KMS 250 7.3.2 Infrastructure and integration services ...... 260 7.3.3 Discovery services ...... 261 7.3.4 Publication services ...... 264 7.3.5 Collaboration services ...... 266 7.3 .6 Learning services ...... 270 7.3.7 Personalization services ...... 271 7.3.8 Access services ...... 273 7.3.9 Example: OpenText Livelink ...... 274 7.4 Distributed architecture ...... 278 7.4.1 Peer-to-peer metaphor ...... 278 7.4.2 Peer-to-peer knowledge management systems 280 7.4.3 Example: Infotop ...... 286 7.5 Classification ...... 298 7.5.1 Related work ...... 299 7.5.2 Classes ...... 306 7.6 Resume 310 8 Economics ...... 316 8.1 Expenses and funding ...... 318 8.1.1 Expenses for knowledge management ...... 318 8.1.2 Expenses for knowledge management staff . . . 320 8.1.3 Funding ...... 320 8.2 Benefits of knowledge management initiatives 320 8.2.1 Intellectual capital approach ...... 321 8.2.2 Measuring knowledge transformations 322 8.3 Information systems success ...... 323 8.3.1 A multi-faceted construct ...... 324 8.3.2 The DeLone/McLean model ...... 326 8.3.3 Critique and extensions ...... 328 8.4 Success of knowledge management systems ...... 331 8.4.1 System quality ...... 334 8.4.2 Information, communication and knowledge quality ...... 335 8.4.3 Knowledge-specific services ...... 337 8.4.4 System use ...... 338 8.4.5 User satisfaction ...... 340 8.4.6 Impact on individuals ...... 342 8.4.7 Impact on collectives of people ...... 344 8.4.8 Impact on the organization ...... 347 8.5 Resume ...... 349 9 Summary and Critical Reflection ...... 355 XII Contents

PARTC State ofPractice ...... 359 10 Related Empirical Studies . • • . • . . • . • . . . • . . . • ...... 361 10.1 Surveys ...... 361 10.1.1 APQC ...... 361 10.1.2 ILOI ...... 362 10.1.3 Delphi-Group ...... 362 10.1.4 Ernst & Young ...... 363 10.1.5 Journal ofKnowledge Management ...... 364 10.1.6 Fraunhofer Institute Stuttgart ...... 365 10.1. 7 KPMG United Kingdom ...... 365 10.1.8 Fraunhofer Berlin ...... 366 10.1.9 Journal Personalwirtschaft ...... 367 10.1.10Fachhochschule Cologne ...... 367 10.1.11 KPMG Germany ...... 368 10.2 Case studies ...... 369 10.3 Resume ...... 370 11 Research Design ...... • ...... • . . • . . • . . . . . 372 11.1 Goals and research model ...... 372 11.2 Methods, procedure and sample ...... 375 11.3 Hypotheses ...... 377 11.4 Respondents and response rate ...... 383 11.5 Resume ...... 387 12 Strategy and Environment . • . • • • . . . • • . . . • • . . . . • . . . . . 390 12.1 Organizational and business environment ...... 390 12.1.1 Size of organizations ...... 390 12.1.2 Organizational structure ...... 392 12.1.3 Resume ...... 393 12.2 Strategy ...... 393 12.2.1 Targeted goals ...... 394 12.2.2 Achieved goals ...... 397 12.2.3 Documentation and evaluation ...... 399 12.2.4 Resume ...... 402 13 Organization ...... • . . • • • . . . . . • . . . . . • . . . . • • . 404 13 .1 Organizational design ...... 404 13 .1.1 Scope ...... 404 13.1.2 Structural organization ...... 414 13.1.3 Knowledge management tasks and roles 420 13.1.4 Resume ...... 429 13 .2 Organizational culture ...... 433 13.2.1 Willingness to share knowledge ...... 434 13.2.2 Turnover in employees ...... 442 13.2.3 Resume ...... " ...... 444 Contents XIII

14 Contents and Systems •••.••••.••.••..••..••.•••.••• 446 14.1 Platforms and systems ...... 446 14.1.1 Groupware platforms ...... 447 14.1.2 Knowledge management systems ...... 448 14.1.3 Resume ...... 452 14.2 Contents ...... 454 14.2.1 Types of contents ...... 454 14.2.2 Size and media used ...... 462 14.2.3 Structuring of contents ...... 466 14.2.4 Resume ...... 469 14.3 Functions ...... 470 14.3 .1 Integrative functions ...... 472 14.3.2 Interactive functions ...... 475 14.3.3 Bridging functions ...... 477 14.3.4 Extension and intensity ofKMS use ...... 480 14.3.5 Resume ...... 484 15 Economics •..•..•...... ••••....••.•.•....•...... 486 15.1 Funding ...... 486 15.1.1 Expenses ...... 486 15.1.2 Type of funding ...... 489 15.1.3 Resume ...... 490 15.2 Benefits ...... 490 15.2.1 Support ofbusiness goals ...... 490 15.2.2 Success factors and barriers ...... 494 15.2.3 Usage ofKMS and services ...... 497 15.2.4 Correlations with goals ...... 497 15.2.5 Resume ...... 501 16 Summary and Critical Reflection • . . . • . . . • . • • • . . • . • . . • 503

PARTD Conclusion and Outlook ...... 513 17 Scenarios ..•••.•...••..•....•...... •...... •...• 514 17.1 Know ledge management starter ...... 521 17.2 Centralized "market and hierarchy" ...... 525 17.3 Decentralized "network and community" ...... 530 17.4 Personal "idea and individual" ...... 535 18 Outlook 543 XIV Contents

List ofFigures 551

List of Tables 555

Bibliography and On-line Resources 559 19 Literature ...... 559 20 On-line Resources ...... 620 21 Knowledge Management Tools and Systems ...... 622

Index ...... 629