Assessment for Knowledge Management Readiness Lovinta Happy Atrinawati1, Kridanto Surendro2

School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics

Institut Teknologi Bandung

Jl. Ganesha No. 10 Bandung 40132 1lovinta@gmail.com

2endro@stei.if.itb.ac.id

Abstract— Some of knowledge management implementation

projects result in failure. It happened because it is done only

based on the theory and not considering the specific aspects of

the organization. It is necessary to do assessment to find out,

whether the organization is ready to implement knowledge

management. Assessment carried out on a few factors that

determine success in implementing knowledge management.

From the assessment, we can obtain the organization’s readiness

level.

Keywords— knowledge management, knowledge management assessment, readiness.

I. INTRODUCTION

Knowledge management is the systematic approaches to

help information and knowledge flow to the right people at the

right time in the right format at the right cost so they can act

more efficiently and effectively to create value. Knowledge

management is how to manage and use organization’s

knowledge to create value and generate a sustainable

competitive advantage.

However, implementing knowledge management in an

organization is not easy. There are several things that must be

considered and prepared before implementing knowledge

management, such as implementation has to be done in stages

and is supported by top management.

Some of knowledge management implementation projects

result in failure. It happened because it is done only based on

the theory and not considering the specific aspects of the

organization. According to research institutions in the UK

(British Telecommunications PLC), the failure rate of the

project management knowledge is 70%. The knowledge

management implementation risk can be reduced if

organization is ready to implement knowledge management. It

is necessary to do assessment to find out, whether the

organization is ready to implement knowledge management.

Assessment carried out on a few factors that determine

success in implementing knowledge management. From the

assessment, we can obtain the organization’s readiness level.

II. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

(KMCSF)

KMCSF is factors or activities needed to support and

knowledge management implementation. Understanding and

defining these success factors is difficult endeavour due to the

dynamic nature of knowledge. However, identifying the

knowledge management critical success factors id crucial to

understanding how the system should be designed and

implemented.

A. KMCSF by David Skyrme

According to David Skyrme, there are 10 KMCSF.

1. Leadership

Knowledge leadership means having a very clear vision

of the knowledge contribution to the business, articulating

and communicating it well. Leadership is required at all

levels. It is also needed in the management of other

aspects, such as personnel, resources, technology, and so

forth, associated with knowledge management.

2. Culture/Structure

Culture stands out as the key factor that determines

success or otherwise with knowledge management. “how

can you get people to share knowledge” is a common

problem. A culture of sharing can be engendered by

creating the right attitudes and behaviours. The

organization can change the style of meetings to

encourage dialogue not monologue. You can formally

recognize and reward good knowledge practice. Such

changes also have to be supported with the senior

managers. Senior managers have the responsibilities in

motivating and becoming a role model to the employees. 3. Processes

Knowledge constantly created in the organization, both

tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Organization is

required to manage the processes and practices that will

facilitate knowledge transfer. This process is necessary

because knowledge continuously created in the

organization and must be managed systematically and

effectively in order to provide benefits for the

organization.

4. Explicit Knowledge

The explicit knowledge quality determines the success of

knowledge management implementation. Explicit

knowledge must be managed and reviewed regularly to

maintain the accuracy and relevancy.

5. Tacit knowledge

Tacit knowledge is difficult to manage, because the

knowledge is in the human head. There are two general

approaches to manage tacit knowledge:

5.a. Converting some of it into a more explicit form,

through elicitation and articulation

5.b. Creating mechanisms such that informal knowledge

exchange can occur when needed. Hence one of the

management tasks is that of motivating and

managing knowledge workers, so that they are

innovative and readily share their knowledge.

Since it is time consuming to turn tacit knowledge into

an explicit form, this is generally reserved for those items

of knowledge held by a few experts but which is widely

needed. A more common approach is to provide ‘pointers

to people’ in the form of an expertise database.

6. Knowledge Hubs and Centers

Knowledge hubs and centers act as a focal point for

collection, structuring, and disseminating knowledge.

Knowledge centers are a mix of physical and virtual,

central and dispersed. The physical environment provides

a location to read hard-copy material and can also act as a

knowledge sharing area. A centralized approach offers

pooling of expertise and helps minimize duplication. On

the other hand, a network of local knowledge hubs can

provide convenient points of access for users not located

near a central point. The meaning is in addition to

providing a virtual knowledge. Knowledge center

provides initialization of the physical information

(document / hard copy). Knowledge center also became

the center of information on knowledge, although

knowledge is physically spread across the organization.

7. Measures

Knowledge is intangible, and does not follow the simple

rules of financial accounting. Nevertheless, “what you

measure you can manage”. The last few years has

therefore seen the development of several new

measurement systems directly focused on intellectual

capital including, such as The Skandia Navigator and the

Intangible Assets Monitor developed by Karl Erik Sveiby.

The starting point of each of these systems is the

identification of the different components that constitute

intellectual capital, such as human capital, structural

capital and customer capital.

8. Exploitation/Market Leverage

Although many knowledge initiatives are focused on

achieving organizational benefits (e.g. reducing

duplication, improving processes) significant additional

benefits can be achieved by seeking ways of exploiting

knowledge externally. This can be in the form of

improved products and services or knowledge-based

products and services in their own right.

Another aspect of market leverage is the use of

knowledge messages in internal and external

communications. This demonstrates the organization’s

seriousness about its knowledge agenda to existing and

potential customers. Marketing led campaigns also draw

attention internally, and provide a spur for the

organization to live up to its external image

9. People/Skills

People / soft skills is the organization’s soft

infrastructure. The human resources function has a key

role to play in addressing this, for example through

reward policies, where a growing number of organization

are introducing knowledge creation and sharing as part of

an individual’s annual appraisal. They should also be

involved in mapping the organization’s capabilities and

facilitating the development of expertise directories.

The discipline of knowledge management is also

resulting in a number of new knowledge intensive roles -

individuals and team responsible for managing and

carrying out some core knowledge processes, such as

synthesizing, classifying and editing. These roles need to

be explicitly recognized and positions formalized.

10. Technology Infrastructure

Information and communications technologies can

significantly enhance knowledge activities. Paramount is

the overall information and communications network, that

provides connectivity of people to information and other

people. Collaboration software, such as that of document

management systems, groupware, the intranet and now

knowledge management suites are the most commonly

found components of such an infrastructure. The MIS

department plays a key role here.

B. KMCSF by Jennex and Olfman

Jennex and Olfman summarized and synthesized the

literature on knowledge management critical success factors

(KMCSF) into an ordered set of twelve KMCSFs. These

factors were ordered based on the number of studies

identifying the critical success factor. The following critical

success factors were identified from 17 studies which consider

over 200 KM projects:

1. A knowledge strategy that identifies users, sources,

processes, storage strategy, knowledge, and links to

knowledge for the KMS.

2. Motivation and commitment of users including

incentives and training.

3. Integrated technical infrastructures including networks,

databases/repositories, computers, software, and KMS

experts.

4. An organizational culture and structure that supports

learning as well as the sharing and use of knowledge.

5. A common enterprise wide knowledge structure that is

clearly articulated and easily understood.

6. Senior management support including allocation of

resources, leadership, and providing training

7. Learning organization 8. A clear goal and purpose for the knowledge

management system

9. Measures are established to assess the impacts of the

knowledge management system and the use of knowledge

as well as verifying that the right knowledge is being

captured.

10. The search, retrieval, and visualization functions of the

KMS support easy knowledge use.

11. Business processes are designed that incorporate

knowledge capture and use (business process fusion).

12. Security/protection of knowledge.

TABLE I

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Jennex & Olfman (A) David Skyrme (B)

A.1. Knowledge Strategy

A.2. Motivation and

Commitment A.3. Integrated Technical

Infrastructure

A.4. Organizational Culture And

Structure

A.5. Enterprise Wide Knowledge

Structure

A.6. Senior Management Support

A.7. Learning Organization

A.8. Clear Goal And Purpose

A.9. Measures

A.10. Easy Knowledge Use

A.11. Business Process Fusion A.12. Security And Protection

B.1. Leadership

B.2. Culture /Structure

B.3. Processes B.4. Explicit Knowledge

B.5. Tacit Knowledge

B.6. Knowledge Hubs And

Centres

B.7. Measures

B.8. Exploitation/Market

Leverage

B.9. People /Skills

B.10. Technology

Infrastructure

David Skyrme and Jennex & Olfman give different

knowledge management critical success factors, but the whole

meaning of KMCSF is the same. Based on the definition

given above, each David Skyrme’s KMCSF can be mapped to

Jennex & Olfman’s KMCSF.

1. Leadership (B.1) is a factor that focuses on vision and

purpose of knowledge management at the organization.

This factor includes senior management support (A.6)

and clear goals and purposes (A.8).

2. Culture/Structure (B.2) is a factor that focuses on cultural

knowledge, the knowledge process, and organizational

structure. This factor includes motivation and

commitment (A.2), organizational culture and structure

(A.4), and the learning organization (A.7).

3. Process (B.3) is a factor that focuses on the processes of

knowledge in the organization. This factor included in the

business process fusion (A.11) factor.

4. Explicit Knowledge (B.4) is a factor that focuses on the

management of explicit knowledge. This factor included

in the enterprise wide knowledge structure (A.5).

5. Tacit Knowledge (B.5) is a factor that focuses on the

management of explicit knowledge. This factor included

in the enterprise wide knowledge structure (A.5) factor.

6. Knowledge hubs and centers (B.6) is a factor that focuses

on the overall management of knowledge: the knowledge

centers, knowledge structure, user identification and the

source of knowledge. This factor includes enterprise wide

knowledge structure (A.5), knowledge strategy (A.1), and

easy knowledge use (A.10).

7. Exploitation and market leverage (B.7) is a factor that

focuses on the utilization and exploitation of the

knowledge, and shows how it is to an external party. This

factor included in the business process fusion (A.11)

factor.

8. Measure (B.8) is the factor that focuses on the assessment

of the knowledge. Jennex and Olfman also mention this

factor (A.9).

9. People/Skill (B.9) is the factor that focuses on improving

the quality of human resources of the company. This

factor includes motivation and commitment (A.2) and

senior management support (A.6).

10. Technology (B.10) is the factor that focuses on

technology which will be used in the knowledge

management. This factor includes easy knowledge use

(A.10), integrated technical infrastructure (A.3), and

security and protection (A.12).

The mapping can be represented in the tables below.

TABLE III

KMCSF MAPPING

B.1 B.2 B.3 B.4 B.5 B.6 B.7 B.8 B.9 B.10

A.1 X X

A.2 X X

A.3 X

A.4 X

A.5 X X X X

A.6 X X

A.7 X

A.8 X

A.9 X

A.10 X

A.11 X X

A.12 X

TABLE IIIII

KMCSF MAPPING

A B

Organizational Culture And Structure (A.4)

Culture /Structure (B.2) Learning Organization (A.7)

Motivation And Commitment

(A.2)

People /Skills (B.9)

Senior Management Support

(A.6)

Leadership (B.1) Clear Goal And Purpose

(A.8)

Knowledge Strategy (A.1)

Knowledge Hubs And

Enterprise Wide Knowledge

Structure (A.5)

Centers (B.6)

Explicit Knowledge (B.4)

Tacit Knowledge (B.5)

Processes (B.3)

Business Process Fusion (A.11) Exploitation /Market

Leverage (B.8)

Easy Knowledge Use (A.10)

Technology Infrastructure

(B.10)

Integrated Technical

Infrastructure (A.3)

Security And Protection

(A.12)

Measures (A.9) Measures (B.7)

III. PRIORITIZING KMCSF

Prioritizing KMCSF can be done by using the analytic

hierarchy process. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is

an advanced technique that supports decision makers in

structuring complex decisions, quantifying intangible factors,

and evaluating choices in multi objective decision situations.

It is a comprehensive and rational decision-making framework

that provides a powerful methodology for determining relative

worth among a set of elements. AHP were developed by Dr.

Thomas Saaty and have been applied in a wide variety of

decision situations in organizations worldwide.

The hierarchy of the KMCSF can be seen in the picture

below.

Fig. 1 The KMCSF hierarchy

The pairwise comparisons are done to all of the KMCSF

by using the fundamental scale proposed by Saaty. This scale

is a relative measurement scale of 1 to 9. For more details can

be seen in the table below.

TABLE IVV

THE FUNDAMENTAL SCALE FOR PAIRWISE COMPARISON

Intensity of

Importance

Definition Explanation

1 Equal

Importance

Two Elements contribute equally to

the objective

3 Moderate

Importance

Experience and judgment slightly

favor one element over another

5 Strong Importance

Experience and judgment strongly favor one element to another

7 Very

Strong

Importance

One element is favored very

strongly over another, its

dominance is demonstrated in practice

9 Extreme

Importance

The evidence favoring one element

over another is of the highest

possible order of affirmation

2,4,6,8 Can be used to express

intermediate values.

After doing the pairwise comparisons, the result can be

represented in a matrix, usually named as comparison matrix.

The comparison matrix computed into the normalized matrix,

and then calculation is done to get the eigenvector for each

KMCSF. The eigenvector represent the priority and the

proportion or degree of importance of the KMCSF. The

priority and proportion of the KMCSF can be seen in the table

below.

TABLE V

THE PRIORITY AND WEIGH OF KMCSF

KMCSF Priority Eigenvector/Proportion

Leadership 1 0.2120

Knowledge

Hubs and

Center

1 0.2120

People/Skills 2 0.1355

Culture/

Structure

2 0.1355

Technology

Infrastructure

3 0.0865

Explicit

Knowledge

4 0.0535

Tacit

Knowledge

4 0.0535

Processes 4 0.0535

Measures 5 0.0342

Exploitation/

Market

Leverage

5 0.0239

Total 1.00

IV. THE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT READINESS LEVEL

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a

process improvement approach that provides organizations

with the essential elements of effective processes. It can be

used to guide process improvement across a project, a

division, or an entire organization. CMMI helps integrate

traditionally separate organizational functions, set process

improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality

processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising

current processes.

Knowledge management readiness level adapted from the

CMMI level, as follows

0. Incomplete

An incomplete process is a process that either is not

performed or partially performed. One or more of the

specific goals of the process area are not satisfied and no

generic goals exist for this level since there is no reason

to institutionalize a partially performed process.

1. Performed

A capability level 1 process is characterized as a

performed process. A performed process is a process that

satisfies the specific goals of the process area. It supports

and enables the work needed to provide services. To

reach this level, there are some characteristics that must

be met by the organization.

a. Identify all the organization processes

b. Defining specific goals for each process based on the

organization’s vision

c. The process is executed completely , with the input

and the expected output

2. Managed

A capability level 2 process is characterized as a managed

process. A managed process is a performed (capability

level 1) process that has the basic infrastructure in place

to support the process. It is planned and executed in

accordance with policy; employs skilled people who have

adequate resources to produce controlled outputs;

involves relevant stakeholders; is monitored, controlled,

and reviewed; and is evaluated for adherence to its

process description. To reach this level, there are some

characteristics that must be met by the organization.

a. Organization is on level 1, which is "performed"

b. There are rules, procedure, or Standard Operating

Procedure (SOP) for each process.

c. Each process is executed in accordance with the

rules, procedure, or Standard Operating Procedure

(SOP).

d. Facilitate the process of each organization with

adequate infrastructure and resources.

3. Defined

A capability level 3 process is characterized as a defined

process. A defined process is a managed (capability level

2) process that is tailored from the organization’s set of

standard processes according to the organization’s

tailoring guidelines and contributes work products,

measures, and other process improvement information to

the organizational process assets. To reach this level,

there are some characteristics that must be met by the

organization.

a. Organization is on level 2, which is "managed"

b. Regulation, procedure, or standard operating

procedure that is tailored from the organization’s set

of standard processes

c. The process is clearly defined. The goals, input

criteria, activities, roles, measurement, verification

steps, output, and criteria are stated.

d. Organization manages and controls the resources

used by each process.

4. Quantitatively Managed

A capability level 4 process is characterized as a

quantitatively managed process. A quantitatively

managed process is a defined (capability level 3) process

that is controlled using statistical and other quantitative

techniques. Quantitative objectives for quality and

process performance are established and used as criteria

in managing the process. Quality and process

performance is understood in statistical terms and is

managed throughout the life of the process. To reach this

level, there are some characteristics that must be met by

the organization.

a. Organizations are on level 3, which is "defined"

b. The process is controlled using the statistical or

quantitative technique.

c. There is a mechanism to measure / assess the quality

and performance of the existing process.

5. Optimizing

A capability level 5 process is characterized as an

optimizing process. An optimizing process is a

quantitatively managed (capability level 4) process that is

improved based on an understanding of the common

causes of variation inherent in the process. The focus of

an optimizing process is on continually improving the

range of process performance through both incremental

and innovative improvements. To reach this level, there

are some characteristics that must be met by the

organization.

a. Organizations are on level 4, which is "quantitatively

managed".

b. Enhance and improve the process quality based on

the general understanding of the variations causes in

the process.

c. Optimization process focuses on continuous

improvement in the process performance, through the

innovative and incremental improvements.

The organization is ready to implement knowledge

management if the organization has a minimum value of 2 for

the organization readiness level, because organization starts to

manage the process of formally at level 2.

V. USING THE ASSESSMENT

The questionnaire used as the instrument to assess the

knowledge management readiness level. The questionnaire

will include several statements related to the KMCSF.

Statements will be based on 10 KMCSF. There are 4 to 10

statements for each KMCSF. The questionnaire will be

distributed to people in the organization. Each person will

give a value to each statement from 0 to 5, with the following

criteria.

0. Not true or do not know

1. True

2. True, and there are rules, documentation, or Standard

Operating Procedure (SOP)

3. True, and there is a control and evaluation for the

statement.

4. True, and there is a measurement or assessment for the

statement

5. True, and there is an optimization and improvement for

the statement.

There are two things that can be taken from the questionnaire.

1. KMCSF readiness level

This level is obtained from the average value of the

KMCSF, with the following calculation.

KMCSF Level = sum of the value given for the KMCSF/

(number of people * number of statement)

Results from calculations can be associated with the

knowledge management readiness level on chapter IV.

The next steps to improve the quality of each KMCSF

can be formulated based on the readiness level.

2. The organization readiness level

This level is obtained from the average value of all

KMCSF readiness level with the following calculation

Organization level = Sum of (KMCSF proportion*

KMCSF readiness level)

Results from calculations can be associated with the

knowledge management readiness level on chapter IV.

From the organization readiness level can be observed

how ready the organization to implement the knowledge

management.

VI. CONCLUSIONS

The success of the knowledge management depends on the

organization readiness to implement it. The assessment needs

to be done for the organization to find out that the

organization is ready to implement knowledge management or

not. The assessment is done to all KMCSF using the

questionnaire. From the questionnaire result can be observed

the organization readiness level and KMCSF readiness level.

Then, the result is mapped on knowledge management

readiness level so that the definition of requirements will

become easier and the failure risk can be reduced.

REFERENCES

[1] APQC KM & Innovation 2007 - Knowledge management: Strategies and Tactics for Business Results. Available:

http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/elsua/apqc-km-innovation-2007-knowledge-

management-strategies-and-tactics-for-business-results-part-deux-16286

[2] Capability Maturity Model Integration. Available:

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/pub/documents/02.reports/pdf/02tr012.pdf

[3] Galin, Daniel. (2004) Software Quality Assurance From Theory to

Implementation. Prentice-Hall, Canada. [4] Skyrme, David. Knowledge Management Assessment. Available:

http://www.skyrme.com/tools/know10.htm

[5] Drucker, Peter. (1998). Management Challenges for the 21st century.

HarperCollins Publishers. New York, USA.

[6] Mustafa, Hasan. (2000). Teknik Sampling. Available:

[7] http://home.unpar.ac.id/~hasan/SAMPLING.doc

[8] Huang, J.H, Communication of the Association for Information System.

(2004). An E-Readiness Assessment Framework and Two Field Studies.

[9] Jennex, Murray E., Stefan Smolnik, dan David Croasdell. Towards Defining Knowledge Management System. Available: http://

ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/4076361/4076362/04076769.pdf

[10] Alavi, M., Cook, Lucy., Leidner, Dorothy E. (2001). Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management System:

Conseptual Foundations and Research Issues. MIS Quarterly Vol. 25

No. 1. [11] Tiwana, Amrit. (2002) Knowledge Management Toolkit, The Practical

Techniques For Building A Knowledge Management System. Prentice

Hall, Canada

[12] Akhavan, Peyman, Mostafa Jafari, and Mohammad Fathian. Exploring

Failure-Factors Of Implementing Knowledge Management Systems In

Organizations. Available: http://www.tlainc.com/articl85.htm.

[13] Saaty, Thomas L. (2005). The Analytic Hierarchy and Analytic

Network Processes For The Measurement of Intangible Criteria and

For Decision-Making.