Alec Vuijlsteke 2004 The Added Value of Knowledge Management Alec Vuijlsteke EBSLG Continental...

Alec Vuijlsteke 2004

The Added Value of Knowledge Management

Alec Vuijlsteke

EBSLG Continental Meeting

Ljubljana 25 March 2004


These values are supported by effective KM

Values of business schools

• Professionalism• Synthesis of theory and practice• International perspective• Entrepreneurship


Definition of KM

• My definition of KM› Every process or practice of knowledge

creation, acquisition, use and share

› With the goal to improve performance and learning in an organisation


KM at VLGMS

• Tasks of the Librarian› Academic Library

› Research support• Working papers & publications• Research intranet ...

› Knowledge management• Closely related to research support• Limited to explicit knowledge, not tacit knowledge


Ms Access database for input

Online version for usersResearch Database


Principle: create once, use many times

Research Database

• Retroactive tool› For who is who

› For Academica vitae

› To trace who is working on what

› To extract research data for eg. accreditations


Create once, use many times


Research evaluation tool

What research is planned?


Research evaluation tool

What research is effective = has been realised?


Scope of KM activities

• Management of information in the School is OK, Knowledge Management is not OK

• Need for more KM-initiatives:› Supported by information management

› Responding to the needs of the organisation

› Taking into account the specificities of an academic institution!


Scope of KM activities

• Why have more KM initiatives?› Clear needs

• To share (more) knowledge• Of incentives for employees to share knowledge• Of more structured knowledge sharing instead of “ad

hoc” and “acidentally”• To prevent loss of knowledge when an employee

leaves te organisation

• The Librarian could supply added value by undertaking such initiatives


KM in academic environments

• A lot of literature exists on KM› Mostly in (multinational) company settings <->

academic educational institutions have a specific situation

• Specific situation in comparison with companies:› Less corporate culture of teamwork and mutual

trust that facilitate KM

› Intellectual autonomy and academic freedom



› “Sub-cultures” with own vocabulary

› Scepticism about each other’s methods and research

› Knowledge management is often not optimal• Often loss of knowledge• Duplication of knowledge• Well managed knowledge is not always considered

as a competitive advantage• Fear of central manipulation of data



• Knowledge is nonetheless THE business of academic institutions, in 3 domains:› Education and Learning

› Research and Training in Research

› “New” activities• technology transfer• consulting• partnerships with companies• spin-off entrepreneurship• lifelong learning and “work-based learning”


Internationalisation

Increasing market competition

Virtualisation through ICT

Teaching and LearningResearchNew activities


• 3 forces influence these 3 domains



• “ICT virtual world” facilitates KM initiatives› Electronic learning environment with online

learning material “today’s students log on rather than read the book on the train”

› Course websites and discussion fora complement traditional teaching methodes



› ICT makes more and more information sources on an equal basis available to researchers as well as students

› ICT supports virtual research teams

› Academic institutions want to inform customers and stakeholders about research via ICT

• E-newsletters• Knowledge portals = platforms that offer all sorts of

digital research objects


• Example INSEAD Knowledge portal


• Example Knowledge@Wharton


Role of the Librarian?

• Broaden traditional information management with KM initiatives

• A lot of institutions do not see how the Librarian can be linked to KM!

• But the Librarian has certain advantages: › “unsuspected party”

› Feeling with different disciplines and cultures

› Can promote the knowledge culture across the different research centres

› Can offer KM-tools to the whole community



• Conditions for successful action› Strong consciousness of the social and culture

factors that influence knowledge sharing

› Attitudes more important than tools

› Support of the management board

› Tackling of politicking

› Good co-operation with other parties: HR department, researchers, IT department,…



› Develop the communication and motivation skills to make clear the new role of the Librarian:

Someone who encourages people to share (tacit and explicit) knowledge and to learn from each other across borders



• Approach› Raising consciousness

› Needs analysis + which knowledge networks do already exist?

› Processes that generate a lot of frustration are opportunities for KM initiatives

› Go where the energy is: take KM initiatives towards groups that have to share knowledge


The future?

• For typical information management tasks the Librarian will have an increasingly “back office” function

• For new KM activities: a “front office” function is possible?


The future


The future

• Amazon becomes starting point for book searches?

Is this book available in my library?


The future?

The librarian/knowledge manager:• KM developer

› In co-operation with researchers and student administration manage digital ‘objects’ (Knowledge portals)

• KM integrator› Integrates knowledge in education and research

› Acts as “knowledge broker” between persons and information sources


• KM educator › Trains employees in information skills & how

knowledge can be organised, stored and shared

• KM researcher› Uses information science and technology for

new possibilities in KM


Thank you for your attention

Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School - LibraryReep 1 - B-9000 Gent

[email protected]

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