How are the Knowledge Maps created?

Knowledge maps are created by transferring tacit and explicit knowledge into graphical formats that are easy to understand and interpret by the end users, who may be managers, experts, system developers, or anybody.

Basic steps in creating K-maps:

Basic steps - creating K-maps for specific task

• The outcomes of the entire process, and their contributions to the key organisational activities
• Logical sequences of all the activities needed to achieve the goal
• Knowledge required for each activity {gives the knowledge gap}
• Human resource required to undertake each activity {shows if recruitment is needed}

What do we map?

The followings are the objects we map:

• Explicit knowledge
• subject
• purpose
• location
• format
• ownership
• use
  Careers with Horses
  If you are anything like Robert Botine Cunningham-Graham, Scottish horseman, writer, and adventurer, then you know that there is no heaven without horses. If you eat, sleep, and breathe horses, then why not parlay all your time and effort into a career in the horse industry? Can you imagine a better way to spend your days?Surveys done over the last several years show that there are 7 million horses in the United States today. And according to American Horse Council figures, the horse industry supports more than 1.4 million full-time jobs. There are a variety of careers in the horse industry, from hands-on jobs like large-animal veterinarian to jobs that support the industry, like feed and supplement distributor. There are jobs in breeding, showing, health, education, product manufacturing, research, recreation, and service industries to name just a few that come to mind. And one of these areas is most likely just right for you!So, how do you find a job in the horse industry that is right for you? Well, before you start randomly sending out resumes to every horse-related employer you know of, you need to spend some time considering the type of career you want. In many cases, you'll have to come up with a plan that will lead you to that career. As wonderful as it is that you want to be a large animal veterinary technician, no one is going to hire you without the right credentials. In other words, like most worthwhile pursuits in life, you are going to have to spend a little time and effort to reach your goals.So, are you ready? Answer these few simple questions and you'll be on your way to finding an equine career that is right for you:• What do I want out of a horse career? Do yo
  This module focuses on the basics of Knowledge Mapping, its importance, principles, and methodologies.

  Key Questions

  • What is K-map?
  • What does the K-map show, and what do we map?
  • Why is K-mapping so important?
  • What are some of the key principles, methodologies, and questions for K-mapping?
  • How do we create K-map?

  Background

  Each of the past centuries has been dominated by single technology. The eighteenth century was the time of the great mechanical systems accompanying the Industrial Revolution. The nineteenth century was the age of steam engine. After these, the key technology has been information gathering, processing and distribution. Among other developments, the installation of world wide telephone networks, the invention of radio and television, the birth and unprecedented growth of the computer industry and the launching of communication satellites are significant. Now people started to think that only information is not enough, what matters is Knowledge. So there has been seen shift from Information to Knowledge.

  A bit of information without context and interpretation is data such as numbers, symbols.

  Information is a set of data with context and interpretation. Information is the basis for knowledge.

  Knowledge is a set of data and information, to which is added expert opinion and experience, to result in a valuable asset which can be used or applied to aid decision making. Knowledge may be explicit and/or tacit, individual and/or collective.

  The term -Knowledge Mapping- seems to be relatively new, but it is not. We have been practising this in our everyday life, just what we are not doing is - we are not documenting it, and we are not doing it in a systematic way. Knowledge Mapping is all about keeping a record of information and knowledge you need such as where you can get it from, who holds it, whose expertise is it, and so on. Say, you need to find something at your home or in your room, you can find it in no time because you have almost all the information/knowledge about -what is where- and -who knows what- at your home. It is a sort of map set in your mind about your home. But, to set such a map about your organisation and organisational knowledge in your mind is almost impossible. This is where K-map becomes handy and shows details of every bit of knowledge that exists within the organisation including location, quality, and accessibility; and knowledge required to run the organisation smoothly - hence making you able to find out your required knowledge easily and efficiently.

  Below are some of the definitions:

  It's an ongoing quest within an organization (including its supply and customer chain) to help discover the location, ownership, value and use of knowledge artifacts, to learn the roles and expertise of people, to identify constraints to the flow of knowledge, and to highlight opportunities to leverage existing knowledge.

  Knowledge mapping is an important practice consisting of survey, audit, and synthesis. It aims to track the acquisition and loss of information and knowledge. It explores personal and group competencies and proficiencies. It illustrates or "maps" how knowledge flows throughout an organization. Knowledge mapping helps an organization to appreciate how the loss of staff influences intellectual capital, to assist with the selection of teams, and to match technology to knowledge needs and processes.
  - Denham Grey

  Knowledge mapping is about making knowledge that is available within an organisation transparent, and is about providing the insights into its quality.
  - Willem-Olaf Huijsen, Samuel J. Driessen, Jan W. M. Jacobs

  Knowledge mapping is a process by which organisations can identify and categorise knowledge assets within their organisation - people, processes, content, and technology. It allows an organisation to fully leverage the existing expertise resident in the organisation, as well as identify barriers and constraints to fulfilling strategic goals and objectives. It is constructing a roadmap to locate the information needed to make the best use of resourses, independent of source or form.
  -W. Vestal, APQC, 2002
  (American Productivity & Quality Center)

  Knowledge Map describes what knowledge is used in a process, and how it flows around the process. It is the basis for determining knowledge commonality, or areas where similar knowledge is used across multiple process. Fundamentally, a process knowledge map cntains information about the organisation?s knowledge. It describes who has what knowledge (tacit), where the knowledge resides (infrastructure), and how the knowledge is transferred or disseminated (social).
  -IBM Global Services

  How are the Knowledge Maps created?

  Knowledge maps are created by transferring tacit and explicit knowledge into graphical formats that are easy to understand and interpret by the end users, who may be managers, experts, system developers, or anybody.

  Basic steps in creating K-maps:

  Basic steps - creating K-maps for specific task

  • The outcomes of the entire process, and their contributions to the key organisational activities
  • Logical sequences of all the activities needed to achieve the goal
  • Knowledge required for each activity {gives the knowledge gap}
  • Human resource required to undertake each activity {shows if recruitment is needed}

  What do we map?

  The followings are the objects we map:

  • Explicit knowledge
  • subject
  • purpose
  • location
  • format
  • ownership
  • user
    Bomb! Ten Easy Steps to Blow Up Your Next Big Presentation – Guaranteed!
    Your next presentation is just around the corner. To ensure devastating impact, just follow these ten steps and watch your career catch fire.1. Avoid Excessive ResearchResearch is for geeks and bookworms. Do you really want to bore your audience with a bunch of statistics and facts that they can easily get from the library or from Google?You want to tell people your version of how things work, not someone else’s ideas that have been posted all over the Internet already.2. Be SpontaneousPreparation and rehearsals are for amateurs, or actors. By practicing your presentation you only sabotage your chances for spontaneity. Just scribble down a few notes and stuff them in your pocket in case you need them for reference. This allows you to improvise as you go, keeping your talk lively and interesting. People hate predictability.Plus, by rehearsing your presentation you run the risk of having a bunch of know-it-alls give you unwanted feedback, which may tempt you to make last-minute changes. Do you really want to start over? Remember, this is YOUR show!3. Always Start 15 Minutes LaterWhen you go to a 7:30 movie, what time does the feature presentation actually start? Around 7:45. There are usually at least 15 minutes of commercials and previews, to allow people enough time to settle in for the big show.If this strategy works for multimillion-dollar movies, it will work for you too.Besides, if you start your talk right on time you’ll only get distracted by the latecomers.4. Calm Your NervesTo avoid getting nervous prior to your presentation, have a big meal and an alcoholic beverage right before you start your talk. Both will help
    mation without context and interpretation is data such as numbers, symbols.

    Information is a set of data with context and interpretation. Information is the basis for knowledge.

    Knowledge is a set of data and information, to which is added expert opinion and experience, to result in a valuable asset which can be used or applied to aid decision making. Knowledge may be explicit and/or tacit, individual and/or collective.

    The term -Knowledge Mapping- seems to be relatively new, but it is not. We have been practising this in our everyday life, just what we are not doing is - we are not documenting it, and we are not doing it in a systematic way. Knowledge Mapping is all about keeping a record of information and knowledge you need such as where you can get it from, who holds it, whose expertise is it, and so on. Say, you need to find something at your home or in your room, you can find it in no time because you have almost all the information/knowledge about -what is where- and -who knows what- at your home. It is a sort of map set in your mind about your home. But, to set such a map about your organisation and organisational knowledge in your mind is almost impossible. This is where K-map becomes handy and shows details of every bit of knowledge that exists within the organisation including location, quality, and accessibility; and knowledge required to run the organisation smoothly - hence making you able to find out your required knowledge easily and efficiently.

    Below are some of the definitions:

    It's an ongoing quest within an organization (including its supply and customer chain) to help discover the location, ownership, value and use of knowledge artifacts, to learn the roles and expertise of people, to identify constraints to the flow of knowledge, and to highlight opportunities to leverage existing knowledge.

    Knowledge mapping is an important practice consisting of survey, audit, and synthesis. It aims to track the acquisition and loss of information and knowledge. It explores personal and group competencies and proficiencies. It illustrates or "maps" how knowledge flows throughout an organization. Knowledge mapping helps an organization to appreciate how the loss of staff influences intellectual capital, to assist with the selection of teams, and to match technology to knowledge needs and processes.
    - Denham Grey

    Knowledge mapping is about making knowledge that is available within an organisation transparent, and is about providing the insights into its quality.
    - Willem-Olaf Huijsen, Samuel J. Driessen, Jan W. M. Jacobs

    Knowledge mapping is a process by which organisations can identify and categorise knowledge assets within their organisation - people, processes, content, and technology. It allows an organisation to fully leverage the existing expertise resident in the organisation, as well as identify barriers and constraints to fulfilling strategic goals and objectives. It is constructing a roadmap to locate the information needed to make the best use of resourses, independent of source or form.
    -W. Vestal, APQC, 2002
    (American Productivity & Quality Center)

    Knowledge Map describes what knowledge is used in a process, and how it flows around the process. It is the basis for determining knowledge commonality, or areas where similar knowledge is used across multiple process. Fundamentally, a process knowledge map cntains information about the organisation?s knowledge. It describes who has what knowledge (tacit), where the knowledge resides (infrastructure), and how the knowledge is transferred or disseminated (social).
    -IBM Global Services

    How are the Knowledge Maps created?

    Knowledge maps are created by transferring tacit and explicit knowledge into graphical formats that are easy to understand and interpret by the end users, who may be managers, experts, system developers, or anybody.

    Basic steps in creating K-maps:

    Basic steps - creating K-maps for specific task

    • The outcomes of the entire process, and their contributions to the key organisational activities
    • Logical sequences of all the activities needed to achieve the goal
    • Knowledge required for each activity {gives the knowledge gap}
    • Human resource required to undertake each activity {shows if recruitment is needed}

    What do we map?

    The followings are the objects we map:

    • Explicit knowledge
    • subject
    • purpose
    • location
    • format
    • ownership
    • use
      Private Labeled Bottled Water for the Hospitality and Lodging Industry
      The Hospitality and Lodging Industry in the United States is booming with strong growth in overall revenues and average price per room. Notwithstanding external factors such as international terrorism and the rapid rise in fuel costs, most industry forecasts predict continued growth in revenue.Recent studies show however, that the industry suffers from a considerable loss in revenue and profits because of ineffective differentiation of service offerings and branding. This trend is recent because historically hotel customers have demonstrated brand loyalty.Private label drinking water has been proven to be a powerful, cost effective method of promoting quality brand images and differentiating service offerings.Opportunity LostThe Hospitality and Lodging Industry plays a major role in the U.S. economy with business travelers alone accounting for $40 to $50 billion in annual revenue. A recent study however, by a recognized research firm, concludes that up to $20 billion in additional revenue is lost because frequent travelers are not loyal to specific hotel brands.1This revenue deficit represents an opportunity lost for profitability and continued cash flow for the industry.Brand Loyalty Means Greater ProfitsMost analysts and academics agree that loyal customers constitute the basis of a successful business because of new sales cost savings, the ability to sell additional higher margin features to loyal customers and word of mouth or informal referrals to new customers.2The creation and maintenance of brand loyalty therefore is the strategic objective of many industries with no exception to the Hospitality and Lodging industry. As one study concluded “L
      knowledge in your mind is almost impossible. This is where K-map becomes handy and shows details of every bit of knowledge that exists within the organisation including location, quality, and accessibility; and knowledge required to run the organisation smoothly - hence making you able to find out your required knowledge easily and efficiently.

      Below are some of the definitions:

      It's an ongoing quest within an organization (including its supply and customer chain) to help discover the location, ownership, value and use of knowledge artifacts, to learn the roles and expertise of people, to identify constraints to the flow of knowledge, and to highlight opportunities to leverage existing knowledge.

      Knowledge mapping is an important practice consisting of survey, audit, and synthesis. It aims to track the acquisition and loss of information and knowledge. It explores personal and group competencies and proficiencies. It illustrates or "maps" how knowledge flows throughout an organization. Knowledge mapping helps an organization to appreciate how the loss of staff influences intellectual capital, to assist with the selection of teams, and to match technology to knowledge needs and processes.
      - Denham Grey

      Knowledge mapping is about making knowledge that is available within an organisation transparent, and is about providing the insights into its quality.
      - Willem-Olaf Huijsen, Samuel J. Driessen, Jan W. M. Jacobs

      Knowledge mapping is a process by which organisations can identify and categorise knowledge assets within their organisation - people, processes, content, and technology. It allows an organisation to fully leverage the existing expertise resident in the organisation, as well as identify barriers and constraints to fulfilling strategic goals and objectives. It is constructing a roadmap to locate the information needed to make the best use of resourses, independent of source or form.
      -W. Vestal, APQC, 2002
      (American Productivity & Quality Center)

      Knowledge Map describes what knowledge is used in a process, and how it flows around the process. It is the basis for determining knowledge commonality, or areas where similar knowledge is used across multiple process. Fundamentally, a process knowledge map cntains information about the organisation?s knowledge. It describes who has what knowledge (tacit), where the knowledge resides (infrastructure), and how the knowledge is transferred or disseminated (social).
      -IBM Global Services

      How are the Knowledge Maps created?

      Knowledge maps are created by transferring tacit and explicit knowledge into graphical formats that are easy to understand and interpret by the end users, who may be managers, experts, system developers, or anybody.

      Basic steps in creating K-maps:

      Basic steps - creating K-maps for specific task

      • The outcomes of the entire process, and their contributions to the key organisational activities
      • Logical sequences of all the activities needed to achieve the goal
      • Knowledge required for each activity {gives the knowledge gap}
      • Human resource required to undertake each activity {shows if recruitment is needed}

      What do we map?

      The followings are the objects we map:

      • Explicit knowledge
      • subject
      • purpose
      • location
      • format
      • ownership
      • use
        How to Handle Difficult Customer Conversations--4 Essential Keys
        Your business is rolling. Your products are getting to your customers on time. Everything is working just the way you promised it would. Your customers pay their bills on time. No complaints. The bond between you and your customers could not be stronger.Then something happens. (You knew it would, right?)Trouble can come from any direction. A delayed product shipment causes a customer to miss a deadline. A salesperson (maybe even you!) promises more than your company could deliver. A customer finds a defect in one of your products that needs replacing right away.We all know that setbacks are going to occur in business. Setbacks that strain relations between you and your customer. Setbacks that can cause anger and mistrust to build. Will this mean the end of a once profitable relationship? Not necessarily…When tensions rise between you and a customer, it may be time for a tough conversation. A time to clear the air and address the problems that are causing trouble. But how do you keep a difficult conversation from becoming a full-scale argument that permanently damages relations with your customer? Here are 4 tips to get you through the hard talks that can make or break your business.1. Communicate early and often. Many of us avoid difficult conversations, hoping that problems resolve themselves. That rarely happens. But you can keep small problems from becoming big problems by addressing them quickly. Let your customer know right away that you recognize the problem, and that you’re working to make it right. Keep them updated so they know what’s happening. Don’t keep your customer guessing about what you’re doing to make things right.2. Look a
        f teams, and to match technology to knowledge needs and processes.
        - Denham Grey

        Knowledge mapping is about making knowledge that is available within an organisation transparent, and is about providing the insights into its quality.
        - Willem-Olaf Huijsen, Samuel J. Driessen, Jan W. M. Jacobs

        Knowledge mapping is a process by which organisations can identify and categorise knowledge assets within their organisation - people, processes, content, and technology. It allows an organisation to fully leverage the existing expertise resident in the organisation, as well as identify barriers and constraints to fulfilling strategic goals and objectives. It is constructing a roadmap to locate the information needed to make the best use of resourses, independent of source or form.
        -W. Vestal, APQC, 2002
        (American Productivity & Quality Center)

        Knowledge Map describes what knowledge is used in a process, and how it flows around the process. It is the basis for determining knowledge commonality, or areas where similar knowledge is used across multiple process. Fundamentally, a process knowledge map cntains information about the organisation?s knowledge. It describes who has what knowledge (tacit), where the knowledge resides (infrastructure), and how the knowledge is transferred or disseminated (social).
        -IBM Global Services

        How are the Knowledge Maps created?

        Knowledge maps are created by transferring tacit and explicit knowledge into graphical formats that are easy to understand and interpret by the end users, who may be managers, experts, system developers, or anybody.

        Basic steps in creating K-maps:

        Basic steps - creating K-maps for specific task

        • The outcomes of the entire process, and their contributions to the key organisational activities
        • Logical sequences of all the activities needed to achieve the goal
        • Knowledge required for each activity {gives the knowledge gap}
        • Human resource required to undertake each activity {shows if recruitment is needed}

        What do we map?

        The followings are the objects we map:

        • Explicit knowledge
        • subject
        • purpose
        • location
        • format
        • ownership
        • use
          Career as an International Terrorist in a Jihad
          Many Muslim Youth see themselves as fighting the Infidels or Western World and they have the opportunity to show their manhood and join in the cause of the Jihad. Becoming a Jihadist is a rather dangerous choice and for instance in the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict in Lebanon a Hezbollah rebel had a life expectancy of 11.2 hours or 1.3 hours on the front line.Needless to say it is a short career so if you are lazy and want to retire early then it could be just the job for you. But also realize there are no government regulations like OSHA to protect you from workplace injury or death and no personal injury lawyers to get you paid if you fall down with your body parts in multiple locations?In studying this career path, well lets just say it is a dead end job with really no forward advancement for your cause or yourself and although you might be remembered as a mighty warrior for a couple of days following your demise, those who remember you may not be long for this world either. So, in conclusion of this job category and career path we give it a big two-thumbs down.A Career as an International Terrorists in a Jihad simply has no future and the pay is next to nothing, with no long-term benefits. It is a dangerous job with an extremely low success rate. In fact since no one has ever made it to retirement age dying in battle in a Jihad, it is a wonder anyone signs up for it?
          on about the organisation?s knowledge. It describes who has what knowledge (tacit), where the knowledge resides (infrastructure), and how the knowledge is transferred or disseminated (social).
          -IBM Global Services

          How are the Knowledge Maps created?

          Knowledge maps are created by transferring tacit and explicit knowledge into graphical formats that are easy to understand and interpret by the end users, who may be managers, experts, system developers, or anybody.

          Basic steps in creating K-maps:

          Basic steps - creating K-maps for specific task

          • The outcomes of the entire process, and their contributions to the key organisational activities
          • Logical sequences of all the activities needed to achieve the goal
          • Knowledge required for each activity {gives the knowledge gap}
          • Human resource required to undertake each activity {shows if recruitment is needed}

          What do we map?

          The followings are the objects we map:

          • Explicit knowledge
          • subject
          • purpose
          • location
          • format
          • ownership
          • users
          • access right
          • Tacit knowledge
          • expertise
          • skill
          • experience
          • location
          • accessibility
          • contact address
          • relationships/networks
          • Tacit organisational process knowledge
          • the people with the internal processing knowledge
          • Explicit organisational process knowledge
          • codified organisational process knowledge

          What do the knowledge maps show?

          Knowledge map shows the sources, flows, constraints, and sinks of knowledge within an organisation. It is a navigational aid to both explicit information and tacit knowledge, showing the importance and the relationships between knowledge stores and the dynamics. The following list will be more illustrative in this regard:

          • Available knowledge resources
          • Knowledge clusters and communities
          • Who uses what knowledge resources
          • The paths of knowledge exchange
          • The knowledge lifecycle
          • What we know we don?t know (knowledge gap)

          Activity: 1

          >> Can you create your personal knowledge map which shows the types and location of knowledge resources you use, the channels you use to access knowledge?

          Where does knowledge reside?

          Knowledge can be found in

          • Correspondents, internal documents
          • Library
          • Archives (past project documents, proposals)
          • Meetings
          • Best practices
          • Experience
          • Corporate memory

          Activity: 2

          >> What are the other places where you can find knowledge?

          What are the other things to be mapped?

          Benefits of K-mapping

          In many organisations there is a lack of transparency of organisation wide knowledge. Valuable knowledge is often not used because people do not know it exists, even if they know the knowledge exists, they may not know where. These issues lead to the knowledge mapping. Followings are some of the key reasons for doing the knowledge mapping:

          • to find key sources of knowledge creation
          • to encourage reuse and prevent reinvention
          • to find critical information quickly
          • to highlight islands of expertise
          • to provide an inventory and evaluation of intellectual and intangible assets
          • to improve decision making and problem solving by providing applicable information
          • to provide insights into corporate knowledge

          The map also serves as the continuously evolving organisational memory, capturing and integrating the key knowledge of an organisation. It enables employees learning through intuitive navigation and interrogation of the information in the map, and through the creation of new knowledge through the discovery of new relationships. Simply speaking, K-map gives employees not only -know what-, but also -know how-.

          Key principles of Knowledge Mapping

          • Because of their power, scope, and impact, the creation of organisational-level knowledge map requires senior management support as well as careful planning
          • Share your knowledge about identifying, finding, and tracking knowledge in all forms
          • Recognise and locate knowledge in a wide variety of forms: tacit, explicit, formal, informal, codified, personalised, internal, external, and permanent
          • Knowledge is found in processes, relationships, policies, people, documents, conversations, links and context, and even with partners
          • It should be up-to-date and accurate

          K-mapping - key questions

          Knowledge map provides an assessment of existing and required knowledge and information in the following categories:

          • What knowledge is needed for work?
          • Who needs what?
          • Who has it?
          • Where does it reside?
          • Is the knowledge tacit or explicit?
          • What issues does it address?
          • How to make sure that the K-mapping will be used in an organisation?

          Note:

          • K-maps should be easily accessible to all in the organisation
          • It should be easy to understand, update and evolve
          • It should be updated regularly
          • It should be an ongoing process since knowledge landscapes are continuously shifting and evolving

          Offline Readings:

          • K-mapping tools
          • K-mapping tool sele