American Productivity & Quality Center

Nonprofit research organization APQC has been studying and implementing knowledge management (KM) approaches for 15 years, learning from the more than 400 organizations that have participated in our Collaborative Research studies and working closely with dozens of others to implement the best practices

The American Productivity & Quality Center: APQC

Located: Houston, Texas; at The Houstonian Founded in 1975; Non-profit 501(c)(3) Staff: 85; Budget: $12 million Board of Directors40; From business, government, healthcare, education Mission: Improve productivity and quality in organizations. 500 Members

R:Educate\Powerpnt\Ja cks Slides\CoSN 2 CTO Plano June 27+28

APQC Mission
To work with people in organizations around the world to improve productivity and quality by:

discovering, researching, and understanding emerging and effective methods of improvement; broadly disseminating our findings through education, advisory, and information services; and connecting individuals with one another, and with the knowledge and tools they need to improve

We help organizations find and use best practices through...

Benchmarking
Consortium

Benchmarking Studies Customized Projects and Solutions

Training and conferences Publications Research and technical assistance Information Services/Library Networking
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Process Evolution at APQC

PIIE Metrics Six Six Sigma Sigma Education Knowledge Sharing-CoP

Knowledge Management
Transfer of Best Practices Benchmarking Quality (Baldrige Award)
R:Educate\Powerpnt\Ja cks Slides\CoSN 2 CTO Plano June 27+28

Productivity: Competitiveness

5 Ways to Improve Productivity 1.Managing Growth 2. Working Smarter 3. Winning Both Ways 4. Cutting Costs 5. Paring Down

Approach, Deployment, Results Approach: How the system addresses each of the requirements Deployment: The extent to which the approach is applied Results: Outcomes in achieving the purpose

Scope Area 1
1. Communicating the guiding principles, objectives, and expected behaviors to support knowledge creation and innovation
Understanding how leaders support the adoption of new behaviors Even if firms dont call it knowledge management, they do KM to support innovation. How? How do firms create the value proposition for KM in technical and research settings

How to address the structural and cultural barriers

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Study Scope (continued)

2. Fostering collaboration to create and share new knowledge

Understanding how to engage and encourage participation of various types and levels of people, including time-constrained experts How do KM approaches need to be different in technical settings, for geographically dispersed groups, and for sharing across silos and boundaries?

Learning how to enhance virtual as well as face-to-face collaboration

Study Scope (continued)

3.

Establishing support roles and structures

Identifying key leadership, community, and individual roles Engaging the participation of SMEs How to support integration of knowledge sharing into innovation work flows Understanding the role of KM practitioners

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Study Scope (continued)

4. Engaging and advancing the learning and training functions to support knowledge creation and innovation

Identifying the strategies to recruit and orient new employees to support knowledge creation and innovation
Understanding the use of e-learning, on-the-job training, and mentoring in knowledge creation and innovation

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Study Scope (continued)

5. Identifying indicators of success and change

Identifying measures of success for knowledge creation and innovation

Learning how to measure time saved and mistakes avoided through reuse and sharing of knowledge
Learning how to measure changes in the rate and value of innovation resulting from increased knowledge sharing and collaboration

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SECTION 7: PREPARATION FOR SITE VISITS AND NEXT STEPS

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Preparation for site visits

Project Team contacts Partner companies to work with them to set up the site visit. Project Team will prepare site visit packet to distribute at meeting. Includes site visit questions Evaluation form to be emailed or faxed back to the APQC team

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After the Site Visit

Immediately after site visit, please complete the evaluation form and e-mail or fax it back to project team APQC summarizes information in case studies (included with the final report) APQC sends summary to host for approval APQC makes edits for the final report

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Seven Lessons Learned about Knowledge Management from the American Productivity & Quality Center

Lesson 1: Secure Senior Management Support for KM by Building a Strong Business Case

When embarking on a KM strategy or initiative, most organizations face the typical business questions that any good senior executive should ask about a new initiative, such as: Why should we do this (i.e., What is the business case)? Who is going to be responsible (i.e., What roles and resources are necessary)? How will we know if it makes a difference (i.e., How do you measure the results)?

Lesson 2: Move Beyond "Knowledge for Knowledge's Sake" The goal of KM is not to share knowledge for its own sake, although that is a valuable byproduct of the process. Start with the business problems or opportunities, and identify the processes that seem to be the source of the "knowledge problem.

Lesson 3: Determine What Knowledge is Critical Organizations are typically swimming in enormous amounts of tacit and explicit knowledge, only some of which is valuable and durable enough to offer future competitive advantage and justify the costs of retention and transfer. Building large repositories and content management systems to house all possible knowledge is a fruitless endeavor.

Lesson 4: Knowledge is Sticky Without a systematic process, dedicated people, and a robust infrastructure, it will not flow. It is a mistake to adopt a KM approach (like communities of practice or an expertise location system) without first understanding the flow you are trying to enable

Lesson 5: If You Build It, They Will Not Necessarily Come Technology applications do not, in themselves, motivate people to share knowledge or to change behavior. Technology is indispensable to KM in modern organizations, but the road to effective KM is littered with abandoned "KM solutions" that were implemented too early.

Lesson 6: Focus on Breaking Down Structural Barriers to the Flow of Knowledge Between People Who Have It and Those Who Need ItNot on Changing the "Culture"

Lesson 7: Measure APQC stresses the importance of beginning with the organizational measures of success; in other words, understand the desired business outcomes and then work backward to design KM activities and measures that focus on those outcomes.

conclusion

Apqc a recognized leader in benchmarking, knowledge management, measurement, and quality programs, APQC helps organizations adapt to rapidly changing environments, build new and better ways to work, and succeed in a competitive marketplace. For more than 30 years,