Knowledge Management Protects Against Mission-Critical Knowledge Loss

By Robert Mayfield, PhD

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Knowledge Management Imperatives

Knowledge management imperatives are essential to support the acquisition, management, transfer, and use of organizational knowledge. The imperatives must be considered and planned for when implementing knowledge management initiatives and they must continually be nurtured to improve organizational knowledge management and to help organizations realize the desired results of knowledge management.

Three knowledge management imperatives for the electric power generation industry are a knowledge-enabled culture, information technology and blended learning, and strategic planning and measurement.

Knowledge-Enabled Culture. Some organizations in the industry have cultures that inhibit knowledge management. If employees within an organization seek knowledge that is important for the overall good of an organization, a knowledge-network culture will support their efforts.

Information Technology and Blended Learning. Knowledge management information technologies support the collection, storage, and dissemination of formal or explicit knowledge. Supportive policies increase the speed of explicit knowledge acquisition and distribution. Organizations must maintain and update information technologies, such as repositories, databases, and knowledge maps in order to provide accurate, accessible, and usable organizational knowledge. Integrated computerized management systems support knowledge transfer by providing easy access to organizational policies and procedures, best practices or lessons learned, work planning and control, and by allowing members of the organization to identify subject matter experts. The outputs from these systems must be readily available to all employees.

Training programs must include practical applications and follow-up techniques that build proper habits. A blended learning approach has to be a well-coordinated training program consisting of:

E-enabled knowledge—documents, articles, notes, and technical experts.
E-enabled distance learning—training modules, video conferences, and webcasts.
E-enabled collaboration—interactive peer-to-peer learning.
Team-based simulation—computer simulations.
Customized programs and workshops.

Strategic Planning and Measurement. Strategic knowledge management planning begins with the organizational leadership communicating the importance of using organizational knowledge to gain competitive advantage. Successfully implementing knowledge management strategies requires strong leadership and the collaboration of staff at all levels. Regularly measuring the success of your efforts will ensure that you are prepared for staff turnover. Ultimately, the success of your knowledge management efforts will be measured by the success of your organization over time.

—Dr. Robert Mayfield is plant manager at an 885-MW combined-cycled gas-fired generating station in Virginia. He is a nuclear submariner who spent 27 years in the nuclear Navy.

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