OCED Conference on Intellectual AssetBased Management

Auditing Organizational Intellectual Assets through an Interactive STOCKS Methodology

Prof. W.B. Lee
Miss Vivien Shek
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Department of Industrial & 1 Systems Engineering

Evaluating Knowledge Asset

Understand clients requirements & business Communicate purpose of audit to stakeholders Identify suitable methodology Collect measurable data & analysis Dissimulate findings and follow-up
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Evaluating Knowledge Asset

A systematic evaluation and rating of the knowledge resources include what knowledge exists, whether it has been codified, where it is being created, who owns it in the company, and how information/knowledge are shared.
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Evaluating Knowledge Asset

Visualizing the collective knowledge and relationship within an organization to locate knowledge source Developing taxonomy, and engaging a group of people in action research

What we observe is not nature itself but nature exposed to our method of questioning ( W. Heisenberg 1962)
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A Typology of Knowledge Asset

Codified

2 Proprietary knowledge-assets

3 Public knowledge

Personal knowledgeassets Uncodified 1 Undiffused

Common sense 4 Diffused

5 (Based (Max Boisot on Max 1998 Boisot 1998)

Intellectual Asset in R & D

Codified

Development Applied Research 1 Basic Research 4 Diffused

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Uncodified

Undiffused

Intellectual asset in organization units

Codified

2 The Production Department The Sales/Marketing Department

The R & D Department 1 Uncodified Undiffused

The Board

4 Diffused
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Intellectual Asset in External Transactions

Codified

2 Licensing Trading

SubContracting 1 Uncodified Undiffused

Joint Ventures

4 Diffused
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Audit methodology

Traditional audit tools depend on Questionnaire survey Face-to-face interviews A new knowledge audit methodology STOCKS (Strategic Tools to Capture Critical Knowledge and Skills) is designed & developed which can address shortcoming of traditional approach of knowledge audit
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STOCKS Overview

STOCKS Objective:

Identify critical IT tools, technologies, documents, tacit knowledge, as well as people of key business processes

STOCKS is a structured, contextual & action-oriented knowledge inquiring tool Data & information will be collected through interactive workshops & discussion Visualizes & externalizes the existing knowledge environment
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STOCKS Form Filling

STOCKS participants are provided with various forms about

Frequently use IT tools/platforms Document flow Tacit knowledge flow knowledge sources knowledge suppliers user groups knowledge customers Industrial technologies (e.g. cable joining technology)
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STOCKS Forms IT Tools/Platforms

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STOCKS Forms - Documents

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STOCKS Forms Tacit Knowledge

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STOCKS Forms Industrial Technologies

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STOCKS Workshop

Around 30 staff participates in each STOCKS workshop Participants working on the same business process are clustered into one group Participants should come from different levels who work on the same process

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The Visualization of Results and Analysis

Results are charted in a STOCKS Schema

Validation of inputs from STOCKS Forms

Department:
Ref. No.:

Process Name Process Flow (P)

P1 P2 P3 P4

Process A

P5

P6

P7

P8

P9

Relate & map the documents & tacit knowledge with the industrial technology

Industrial Technology (T) Documents (D) Tacit Knowledge (K)

T1

T2

T2

T2

T3

Controlled vocabulary & thesaurus Taxonomy (grouping of documents & tacit knowledge)
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D1

D2

D3

D4

D4

K1

K2

K3

K4

K5

 Workflow Study & STOCKS Workshop

Before the Workshop After the Workshop

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Knowledge Inventory

Generate Explicit & Tacit knowledge Inventories after identifying the knowledge assets of the selected critical processes Knowledge profile of major knowledge sources and the types of user groups to which the knowledge is transferred are determined

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Analysis
Analysis Results

Stakeholder Analysis Distribution of Knowledge in Tasks Critical Knowledge Worker Critical Industrial Technologies Mapping of knowledge with business processes and Industry technology Critical Tacit Knowledge Distribution of Explicit Knowledge - Knowledge Categorization (i.e. Critical, Focus, Abundant, Normal, Common, Working, Popular)
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Stakeholder Analysis
The small stakeholders group may result in low knowledge throughput (limited knowledge sharing). The major stakeholders groups in these three processes are within the Business Unit. It can minimize the risk of knowledge leakage.

MCS 5% FO 20%
External to JetBo 10%

R&D 40%
SHQ 15%

HR 5% ITS 5%

Totally 60% of stakeholders are outside R&D team, these groups of people come from 6 different business teams/departments. Beside R&D, FO(20%), SHQ(15%) and External to JetBo(10%) are three key stakeholders in the R&D Process 10% of stakeholders are outside JetBo. These stakeholders are mainly the suppliers of the raw materials.

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Distribution of Knowledge in Tasks

Codified

Uncodified

1 Undiffused

4 Diffused

The distribution of knowledge is initially assigned according to the ratio of identified explicit to tacit knowledge items and the number of knowledge worker involved in knowledge sharing.

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Distribution of Knowledge within the Tasks

No of Tacit Knowledge Items Task No. P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10 Total 1 1 0 3 4 0 3 4 9 5 Selfown* 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 Shared Knowledge 0 0 0 2 4 5 2 1 7 0 No. of KWorker(s)** 0 0 0 2 3 2 7 7 12 4 Total 1 2 3 2 10 6 3 7 4 6 No of Explicit Knowledge Items Common 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 0 1 Critical 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 Abundant 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Normal 0 0 0 0 3 1 2 2 3 2 Focus 0 1 2 1 3 0 0 1 1 2

* Self-own is interpreted as that knowledge has not been shared by anyone but for personal use only ** No. of knowledge worker involved in that shared knowledge except the self-own
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Distribution of Knowledge in Tasks

Codified 2 3

P8

P5 P7

P4

P1 P2
Uncodified 1 Undiffused

P6 P3
4 Diffused
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Distribution of Knowledge in Tasks

Codified 2 3

P8

P1, P2, P3 -Knowledge Black Holes - Skill transfer through collaborative work

P5 P7

P4

P1 P2
1 Undiffused

P6 P3
4 Diffused
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Uncodified

Distribution of Knowledge in Tasks

Codified 2 3

P8 P10 P6 - Knowledge Fountain - Stakeholders=16 P5 - Explicit : Tacit =16:18 - New knowledge generate from collaborative work P4 with external P7 consultants - Experiential knowledge generation P9 P1 P2
1 Undiffused

P6 P3
4 Diffused
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Uncodified

Critical Knowledge Workers

Departm ent R&D R&D R&D APF APF SHQ External to PSBG Knowledge Worker Jacky Wong TW Chan YT Lau John Lam Aaron Tam Ada Li Jason Smith No. of K Items 6 4 5 9 9 6 2 Average Score 4.82 4.50 4.30 5.00

Distribution of Knowledge Worker

6.00 Average Score of Importance 5.00 4.00 3.00 2.00 1.00 0.00 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 No. of Knowledge Items

4.17 4.38 4.67

To encourage the sharing of knowledge through linking people with people, an expertise directory is developed for critical knowledge workers. John Lam is the most critical worker in the R&D process with the highest no. and score of knowledge items identified .
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Distribution of Explicit Knowledge

Classification
Common Common Common Common Critical Critical Critical Focus Focus Focus Abundant Abundant Normal Normal

Document Name
Mold Standard Policy Paper Code of Practice Development Plan System Parameters Production Plan Mold Design Diagram Product Design Diagram Demand Forecast Market Analysis Contracts Product Specifications System Manual Operation Report

No. of Users
109 107 62 35 28 16 15 6 8 1 5 5 5 7

Average score of importance

4.86 4.67 4.92 3.23 4.89 4.63
Common Many Mid-Many Mid Mid Few Remarks: No of Users Average score of Importance Mid-High High Low Mid High

4.80 4.33 4.50 5.00 4.4 3.80 4.00 3.57

Critical Abundant Normal Focus

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Critical Tacit Knowledge

No. of Knowledge Users Average Score of Importance No. of related Critical Technologies Related

Common Knowledge

System Characteristics (Familiarity of system characteristics & identify system weakness) Molding Technology (Mold design) Average

4.95

8 6

4.50 4.22

2 0.96

With a large number of knowledge customers, the above two knowledge areas are the most valuable areas to do knowledge capturing, using a variety of KM tools, such as narrative interview. .
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Interviews and Validation

Interviews & Validations

Data Validation Comment on the use of knowledge and knowledge need for the business processes

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Conclusion
Advantages of STOCKS Approach:

The inquiry process for constructing the knowledge inventory of an organization makes data collection transparent, facilitates knowledge sharing and helps to build consensus among group members
Larger scale when compared with interviews, which only cover limited sample size of participants Reduce the number of interviews required Generate innovative opinions/ideas through interactive face-to-face discussion Encourage a better understanding of different business operation of the organization during face-to-face discussion and interaction

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OCED Conference on Intellectual Asset Based Management

W.B.Lee & Vivien Shek

WB.Lee@inet.polyu.edu.hk
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