knowledge Management Report NTPC,Noida

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PROJECT REPORT

ON

“CREATION OF CONDUCIVE

ENVIRONMENT FOR KNOWLEDGE

MANAGEMENT”

A STUDY AT NTPC Ltd.

Submitted By:

Bineeta Anand

PGDBM(06-08)

JULY 02 2007

Centre For Management Development

Modinagar

Uttar Pradesh



TABLE OF CONTENT

PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

1. Acknowledgement

2. Executive Summary

3. NTPC Profile

4. Why this topic was chosen

5. Introduction to knowledge management

6. Objective of Study

7. Research Methodology

8. Sample Questionnaire

9. Hypothesis

10. Variables that have been studied

11. Sample procedure

12. Method of Data Analysis

13. Results and Analysis

14. Limitations

15. Conclusions

16. Suggestions and Recommendations

17. Bibliography

5



ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The project title “Creation of Conducive Environment for Knowledge Management” has

been conducted by me during 01.05.2007 and 29.05.2007 at NTPC Ltd. I have completed

this project, based on the Primary research, under the guidance of Mr M Pratihast .

I owe enormous intellectual debt towards my guides Mr M Pratihast, who have

augmented my knowledge in the field of Knowledge Management. They have helped me

learn about the process and giving me valuable insight into the field of Knowledge

Management.

I am obliged to all the employees of the HR department for their cooperation during the

Internship. My increased spectrum of knowledge in this field is the result of their

constant supervision and direction perspectives.

I would like to thank all the respondents without whose cooperation my project would not

have been possible.

Last but not the least, I feel indebted to all those persons and organizations who have

provided helped directly or indirectly in successful completion of this study.

Date:- 29.06.2007

BINEETA ANAND

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report presents the facts discovered by studying the environment and culture of

NTPC Ltd to enable knowledge sharing. The study aims at understanding the attitude

towards creation of an environment conducive for knowledge management.

Knowledge management initiative involves efficient change management. The change

takes place at three levels

a) strategic

b) structural

c) attitude of employees and organization

The project deals with the intricacies involved at the people and process level before

major investment is made at the technology aspect. KMS being a major investment for an

organization needs to be followed by a groundwork done at the basic level of people so

that the hesitation and fear to share information amongst employees can be removed.

Our ignorance exceeds our knowledge where issues of motivation and commitment of knowledge workers are concerned in context of knowledge Management System(KMS)

implementation. Knowledge management becomes basic to one’s work in light of the

massive knowledge bases available in this era where information multiplies so rapidly.

Within this environment, decision making is a highly prized skill for clarifying the

options within a knowledge base. “We have to get away from this idea that there is a right

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answer to find. Knowledge is bout understanding our choices and the consequences of

those choices, then making a decision not about what is right, but about what we can live

without.”

Motivation and commitment of knowledge workers, employees, professionals and

mangers are being increasingly realized as critical success factors for the implementation

of enterprise knowledge management system. After talks within organizations with KM

initiative it was observed that unsuccessful KM projects had “struggled to get

organization members to contribute success factor for virtually all knowledge

management projects.”

NTPC Ltd is the largest thermal power generating company of India. Its core business is

engineering, construction and operation of power generating plants and also providing

consultancy to power utilities in India and abroad.The project involved three stages:

The first stages consist of the choice of the project topic and its limits. Browsing through

the intranet of NTPC, talking to employees and then finalizing the study area from

amongst the various issues which were a concern for NTPC.

The second stage consisted of a survey across all hierarchical levels of the organization

on a random basis. The total sample size was hundred in which all levels of employees

were attempted to be covered. The data collected was analysed by using descriptive

statistical tools for getting in depth view of the findings.

The third stage was the analysis section in which I used statistical tools like MS EXCEL

and SPSS. The data after being fed was analysed by various statistical tools like:

• Frequencies

• Correlation

After the data was analysed a careful study of the results has been done to arrive

at suggestions and recommendations which help in improving the wrok environment of

NTPC Ltd. Which would facilitate in creating a conducive environment for knowledge

management.

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NTPC PROFILE

VISION

A world class integrated power major, powering India’s growth, with increasing global

presence"

MISSION

"Develop and provide reliable power, related products and services at competitive prices,

integrating multiple energy sources with innovative and eco – friendly technologies and

contribute to society"

NTPC Limited is the largest thermal power generating company of India. A public sector

company, it was incorporated in the year 1975 to accelerate power development in the

country as a wholly owned company of the Government of India. At present, Government

of India holds 89.5% of the total equity shares of the company and the balance 10.5% is

held by FIIs, Domestic Banks, Public and Within a span of 31 years, NTPC has emerged

as a truly national power company, with power generating facilities in all the major

regions of the country.

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NTPC’s core business is engineering, construction and operation of power generating

plants. It also provides consultancy in the area of power plant constructions and power

generation to companies in India and abroad. As on date the installed capacity of NTPC is

27,904 MW through its 15 coal based (22,895 MW), 7 gas based (3,955 MW) and 4 Joint

Venture Projects (1,054 MW). NTPC acquired 50% equity of the SAIL Power Supply

Corporation Ltd. (SPSCL). This JV company operates the captive power plants of

Durgapur (120 MW), Rourkela (120 MW) and Bhilai (74 MW). NTPC also has 28.33%

stake in Ratnagiri Gas & Power Private Limited (RGPPL) a joint venture company

between NTPC, GAIL, Indian Financial Institutions and Maharashtra SEB Holding Co.

Ltd. The present capacity of RGPPL is 740 MW.

NTPC’s share on 31 Mar 2007 in the total installed capacity of the country was 20.18%

and it contributed 28.50% of the total power generation of the country during 2006-2007.

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NTPC has set new benchmarks for the power industry both in the area of power plant

construction and operations . It is providing power at the cheapest average tariff in the

country. With its experience and expertise in the power sector, NTPC is extending

consultancy services to various organisations in the power business.

NTPC is committed to the environment , generating power at minimal environmental cost

and preserving the ecology in the vicinity of the plants. NTPC has undertaken massive

afforestation in the vicinity of its plants. Plantations have increased forest area and

reduced barren land. The massive afforestation by NTPC in and around its Ramagundam

Power station (2600 MW) have contributed reducing the temperature in the areas by

about 3°c. NTPC has also taken proactive steps for ash utilisation . In 1991, it set up Ash

Utilisation Division to manage efficient use of the ash produced at its coal stations. This

quality of ash produced is ideal for use in cement, concrete, cellular concrete, building

material.

A "Centre for Power Efficiency and Environment Protection (CENPEEP)" has been

established in NTPC with the assistance of United States Agency for International

Development. (USAID). Cenpeep is an efficiency oriented, eco-friendly and eco-

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nurturing initiative - a symbol of NTPC's concern towards environmental protection and

continued commitment to sustainable power development in India.

As a responsible corporate citizen, NTPC is making constant efforts to improve the socio-

economic status of the people affected by the its projects. Through it's Rehabilitation andResettlement programmes, the company endeavors to improve the overall socio-

economic status of Project Affected Persons.

NTPC was among the first Public Sector Enterprises to enter into a Memorandum of

Understanding (MOU) with the Government in 1987-88. NTPC has been Placed under

the 'Excellent category' (the best category) every year since the MOU system became

operative.

Recognising its excellent performance and vast potential, Government of the India has

identified NTPC as one of the jewels of Public Sector ‘Navratnas’- a potential global

giant. Inspired by its glorious past and vibrant present, NTPC is well on its way to realise

it’s vision of being “A world class integrated power major, powering India’s growth, with

increasing global presence”.

Over the last three decades, NTPC has spearheaded development of thermal power generation in the Indian power sector. In this process, it has built a strong portfolio of

coal and gas/liquid fuel based generation capacities. The company has made initial forays

in the area of hydropower development and plans to have a significant share of hydro

power in its future generation portfolio. Although NTPC is also offering technical

services, both in domestic and international markets, through its Consultancy Wing, the

generation business would continue to be the single largest revenue generator for NTPC.

The Indian power sector is witnessing several changes in the business and regulatoryenvironment. The legal and policy framework has changed substantially with the

enactment of the Electricity Act 2003. In the foreseeable future, India faces formidable

challenges in meeting its energy needs. Recently, a draft integrated energy policy has

been issued, which addresses all aspects including energy security, access, availability,

affordability, pricing, efficiency and environment. To meet the twin objectives of

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ensuring availability of electricity to consumers at competitive rates, as well as attract

large private investments in the sector, a new Tariff policy has also been issued. The

power sector thus offers a mixed bag of challenges and opportunities to players and

NTPC would continue to review its business strategy and portfolio in light of these

changes.

Growth of the Generation Business

Developing and operating world-class power stations is NTPC’s core competence. Its

scale of operation, financial strength and large experience serve to provide an advantage

over competitors. To meet the objective of making available reliable and quality power at

competitive prices, NTPC would continue to speedily implement projects and introduce

state-of-art technologies.

Total capacity portfolio

India’s generation capacity can be expected to grow from the current levels of about 120

GW to about 225-250 GW by 2017. NTPC currently accounts for about 20% of the

country’s installed capacity and almost 60% of the total installed capacity in the Central

sector in the country. Going forward, in its target to remain the largest generating utility

of India, NTPC would endeavour to maintain or improve its share of India’s generating

capacity. Towards this end, NTPC would target to build an overall capacity portfolio of

over 66,000 MW by 2017.

Fuel / Energy mix for capacity addition

Currently, coal has a dominant share in the power generation capacities in India. This is

also reflected in the high share of coal-based capacities in NTPC’s current portfolio. With

high uncertainties involved in Domestic gas/ LNG, both in terms of availability and

prices, NTPC would continue to set up large pit-head coal based projects, including few

integrated coal cum power projects. To reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, there is a

need to push for renewable sources of power in the sector. NTPC would avail of

opportunities to add hydropower to its portfolio subject to competitive tariffs. A first step

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in this direction has already been taken with the investment in Koldam Hydro Power

Project. NTPC would continue to closely monitor developments on nuclear front also and

be open to setting up around 2000 MW of Nuclear power generation capacity, possibly

through a Joint Venture. As a leader in power generation, NTPC would also consider

other energy sources such as biomass, cogeneration, fuel cells, etc for future development

thereby reducing the dependence on thermal fuels.

While a decision on the fuel/energy mix for NTPC in the future would be largely

governed by their relative tariff-competitiveness, the fuel mix in 2017 may be different

from the existing portfolio, though not very significantly.

Diversification along the Value Chain NTPC has achieved the distinction of being the largest thermal generating company in

India. In the past, this focus was adequate as the industry was highly regulated with

limited diversification opportunities. Over last few years, the country has been facing

acute shortages, both in coal and gas, severely affecting optimum utilisation of its power

stations and these shortages are likely to continue in future as well. This is in spite of the

fact that India is one of the largest producers of coal in the World. To safeguard its

competitive advantage in power generation business, NTPC has moved ahead in

diversifying its portfolio to emerge as an integrated power major, with presence across

entire energy value chain. In fact, to symbolise this change, NTPC has taken on a new

identity and a new name “NTPC Limited”. NTPC has recently diversified into coal

mining business primarily to secure its fuel requirements and support its aggressive

capacity addition program. In addition, NTPC is also giving thrust on diversification in

the areas of power trading and distribution. Diversification would also allow NTPC to

offer new growth opportunities to its employees while leveraging their skills to capitalise

on new opportunities in the sector.

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Establishing a Global Presence

To become a truly global company serving global markets, it is essential for NTPC to

establish its brand equity in overseas markets. NTPC would continue to focus on offering

Engineering & Project Management Services, Operations & Maintenance services, andRenovation & Modernization services in the international market.

Establishing a successful services brand would be a precursor to taking higher investment

decisions in different markets. Going forward, NTPC would continue to evaluate various

options for strengthening its presence in global markets including setting up power

generation capacity, acquisition of gas blocks etc.

Circa 2017: NTPC’s corporate profile

By the year 2017, NTPC would have successfully diversified its generation mix,

diversified across the power value chain and entered overseas markets. As a result NTPC

would have altered its profile significantly. Elements of the revised profile that NTPC

would seek to achieve are:

• Amongst top five market capitalisation in the Indian market

•

An Indian MNC with presence in many countries

• Diversified utility with multiple businesses

• Setting benchmarks in project construction and plant availability & efficiency

• Preferred employer

• Have a strong research and technology base

• Loyal customer base in both bulk and retail supply

• A leading corporate citizen with a keen focus on executing its social responsibility

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CORE VALUES

• Business Ethics

• Customer Focus

• Organizational & professional Pride

• Mutual Respect and Trust

• Innovation and Speed

• Total Quality for Excellence

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SERVICES OFFERED

The Consultancy Wing of NTPC, with an ISO 9001:2000 accreditation, undertakes all the

Consultancy and turnkey project contracts for Domestic and International clients in the

different phases of Power plants viz. construction supervision, Project management,

FQA, Inspection services, O&M, RLA/R&M of various power utilities. With the string of

achievements behind it, NTPC has emerged as the acknowledged leader in engineering,

construction, O&M, RLA/R&M and management of power projects.

NTPC is registered as a consultant with several leading international development and

financial institutions such as The World Bank, The Asian Development Bank, the African

Development Bank, and UNDP.

NTPC's vast pool of technically qualified and managerial manpower is well supported by

excellent infrastructure and knowledge management facilities to deliver the client time

bound, qualitative and cost effective solution meeting the global standards.

At NTPC, we offer consultancy services related to infrastructure sector business such as:

• Fossil fuel based thermal power plants

• Combined cycle power plants

• Cogeneration plants

• Water supply and treatment

• Environment engineering and management

An entire gamut of services is offered in the areas mentioned above. These are :

• Owner's Engineer Services

• Lender's Engineer Services

• Environment Engineering and Management

• Procurement Services

• Project Management

• Quality Assurance and Inspection Services

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• Materials Management

• Construction Management, Erection and Commissioning

• Financial Systems and Modeling

•

Operation and Maintenance• Restoration, Efficiency Improvement and Renovation and Modernization

• HRD and Training

• Research and Development

• Information Technology

• Management Consultancy

NTPC as Consultant

As a result of the phenomenal success achieved by NTPC in executing its own power

projects, many utilities from India and abroad started approaching NTPC to gain from the

rich experience gained by NTPC. With this in view NTPC formally established its

Consultancy Wing in 1989.

Since then NTPC Consultancy has secured 405 Nos. orders from Domestic &

International Clients.Some of the important aspects regarding our capabilities and experience, which place

NTPC in a unique and superior position amongst the fraternity of International

Consultants, are presented below:

International Cell

The International Cell offers a wide range of consulting services from concept-till-

commissioning of power ES

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HUMAN RESOURCE

Powering India's Growth : Through people

NTPC believes in achieving organizational excellence through Human Resources and

follows " People First " approach to leverage the potential of its 23,500 employees to

fulfill its business plans. Human Resources Function has formulated an integrated HR

strategy which rests on four building blocks of HR viz. Competence building,

Commitment building, Culture building and Systems building. All HR initiatives are

undertaken within this broad framework to actualize the HR Vision of "enabling the

employees to be a family of committed world class professionals making NTPC a

learning organization.

To induct talent and groom them into a dedicated cadre of power professionals

"Executive Trainee" Scheme was introduced in the year 1977 for recruitment in the

disciplines of Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Control & Instrumentation and now

encompasses Computer Science, Chemistry, HR and Finance disciplines also. Besides a

comprehensive one year training comprising theoretical inputs as well as on-the-job

training, the new recruits are also attached with senior executives under a systematic andformal 'Mentoring System' of the company to integrate them into the Culture of the

company.

As part of post employment training and development opportunities, a systematic

Training plan has been formulated for ensuring minimum seven man days training per

employee per year and includes level-wise planned intervention designed to groom

people for assuming positions of higher responsibility, as well as specific need-based

interventions based on scientific Training Needs Analysis. NTPC has set up 15 projecttraining centres, 2 simulator training centres and an apex institute namely ' Power

Management Institute ' (PMI ). While the project training centres (Employee

Development Centres) have specialized in imparting technical skills and knowledge, PMI

places emphasis on management development. Besides opportunities for long education

are also provided through tie ups with reputed Institutions like IIT, Delhi, (M.Tech in

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Power Generation Technology), MDI, Gurgaon (Executive MBA programme), BITS,

Pilani (B.Tech) etc.

In order to realize the HR Vision of making NTPC a learning Organization by providing

opportunities to continually learn new capabilities a number of initiatives have beentaken. NTPC Open Competition for Executive Talent ( NOCET ) is organized every year

in which teams of executives compete annually through oral and written presentation on a

topical theme. Similarly " Professional Circles " have been formed department-wise

where Executives of the department meet every fortnight to share their knowledge and

experiences and discuss topical issues. In order to tap the latent talent among non

executives and make use of their potential for creativity and innovation, Quality Circles

have been set up in various units/offices in NTPC. Besides a management journal called

"Horizon " is published quarterly to enable employees to share their ideas and

experiences across the organization.

Demonstrating its high concern for people, NTPC has developed strong employee

welfare, health & well-being and social security systems leading to high level of

commitment. NTPC offers best quality-of-life through beautiful townships with all

amenities such as educational, medical and recreational opportunities for employees and

their family members. The motivation to perform and excel is further enhanced through a

comprehensive NTPC Rewards and Recognition system.

In order to institutionalize a strong Culture based on Values a number of initiatives are

taken to actualize the Vision and Core Values (BCOMIT) across the company. A culture

of celebrating achievements and a strong focus on performance are a way of life in

NTPC.

NTPC has institutionalized "Development Centers" in the company to systematically

diagnose the current and potential competency requirements of the employees with the

objective of enhancing their development in a planned manner. These Centers give a

good insight to the employees about their strengths and weaknesses, the gaps in their

competencies which they can bridge through suitable support from company. Due to

innovative people management practices there is a high level of pride and commitment

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amongst employees as reflected in the various external surveys including “Great Places to

Work for in India” in which NTPC was rated third Great Place to work for in the country

in 2005.

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SWOT ANALYSIS OF NTPC

KEY STRENGTHS

• Largest market share in the domestic power generation and a broad customer

portfolio across the country.

• Excellent track record of performance in project implementation and plant

operations.

• Diversified thermal generation portfolio-multiple sizes and fuel types.

•

Highly skilled and experienced Human Resources exposed to state-of –the- arttechnologies in project execution and power generation.

• Navratna status

• High brand equity among stakeholders

• Strong balance sheet-ability to raise low cost debt.

•

Engineering skills in project configuration and package design.

• Turnaround ability for old plants-demonstrated in the take-over plants at

Talchar, Tanda and Unchachar.

• High credit rating indicating the high confidence of leaders

• Established systems and procedures to institutionalize excellence in business

operations- received ISO accreditation in several functions/areas.

• In-house training facility PMI,CENPEEP,R&D etc that assists in development

of the sector.

• Thrust on reducing social cost of capacity growth-strong execution of

Resettlement & Rehabiliation plans.

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KEY WEAKNESS

• Low risk-diversification of business portfolio: Consists primarily of

generation of generation assets.

• Functional orientation hampering cross-functional perspective in decision

making.

• Long and multi layered procurement process leading to long lead times and

process delays.

• Fragmented IT architecture

• Gaps in HR systems such as performance management, rewards and

incentives and career development.

• Inadequate development of a strong knowledge management system that

could assist in improving efficency and effectiveness in all aspects of the

business.

• Hierarchy for decision making that affects responsiveness.

• Role ambiguity and dilution within different levels of the organization

KEY OPPORTUNITIES

• Expand generation capacities by putting up thermal and hydro capacities,

maintaining the position of a dominant generating utility in the Indian power

sector.

• Broad base fuel mix by considering imported coal, gas, domestic coal, nuclear

power etc with a view to mitigate fuel risks and maintain long run

competitiveness.

• Lead the development and commercial deployment of non-conventional

energy sources especially in the distributed generation mode.

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• Improve collections by trading, direct sale to bulk customers and the active

role in allocation in new plants.

• Execute increased number of power plants that classify for Mega Power

Projects status, thereby reducing the cost of the projects and power and power

generated.

• Forward integration into the distribution business in India.

KEY THREATS

• Entrance of private players in the Indian Power Sector.

• Low availability of fuel mix in India and high import prices might affect the

cost of electricity generation.

• The existence of PSU culture affecting the organizational efficiency in

comparison of the Private work culture.

• Lack of commitment to be aware of the ever changing needs of the

clients/customers.

NTPC’S CULTURE

Core values are both intensely and widely shared

Climate of high behavioral control

Low employee turnover

High agreement among the employees, for what NTPC stands for.

All these point to the fact that strong cohesiveness, loyalty and organizationcommitment exist in NTPC lowering he attrition Rate.

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WHY I CHOSE THIS TOPIC?

“Creation of Conducive Environment For Knowledge Management”

I feel that the importance of knowledge management has grown manifold nowadays.Knowledge component of business activities is treated as an explicit concern of

business and plays a key role in strategy, policy and practice at all levels of the

organization’s intellectual assets- both explicit[recorded] and tacit[personal know-

how] can yield positive business results.

Three things driving the need for knowledge Management:

• The down turn in the economy – organization need to do more with less in

maintaining and creating competitive advantage.

• Reducing ‘wastage’ caused through duplication of effort, repeating mistakes

and failing to leverage successes. During downsizing, delayering, outsourcing

and joint ventures much of the organization’s knowledge base will depart

taking with them the experience and skills needed to action the espoused

strategies.

• The need to share, collaborate and learn with customers, employees, partners

and suppliers particularly leveraging business to employee portals.

In the context of supporting business objectives, knowledge management is no longer

seen as a fad but rather a business imperative- a survival technique as a minimum.

Moreover knowledge is the key differentiator between competing companies today.

That knowledge can be very difficult to create, maintain, refresh and measure. So for

NTPC implementation of a knowledge management system becomes imperative tofulfill its vision 2017 of being a global player.

Implementing a KMS incurs money cost and time cost. Many companies are

following the practice of knowledge management from IBM to Patni Computers and

all face difficulties in sustaining a KMS.

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CHAPTER 2

OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE OF

THE PROJECT

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OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

Knowledge management invovlves any systematic activity related to the capture and

sharing of knowledge by organisation.

Knowledge is an asset and Knowledge management is a cluster of all asset.it is a single

platform where Knowledge is shared , updated,refreshed and grown.for any organisation

it becomes imperative to increase the circulation of Knowledge and information amongst

the employees and to provide an organisational enviornment which helps in developing

the right attitude and mutual trust among the employees.

Knowledge sharing would be the first concern for NTPC and would be critical to the

success of any Knowledge management strategies. Effective Knowledge sharing

practises enable reuse and regeneration of Knowledge at individual and organisational

level

• The study determines if the employee feel there is need for Knowledge management

in NTPC.

• The objective of the study is to ascertain the organisational awareness which is the

foundation of KM.

• The need is to see the effectiveness of Knowledge transfer activities carried by

NTPC.

• The project aims at evaluating the enviornment for Knowledge management in the

organisation and to prepare a model which enables NTPC to create a supportive

enviornment for Knowledge sharing.

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CHAPTER 3

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

"Knowledge management is a relatively new and developing area which has introduced a

methodology for the planned capture and re-use of organisational knowledge. ... Our

analyses have concentrated on how [AI] techniques can enable a more efficient access,

sharing and usage of accumulated knowledge as a means of enabling different functions

within the organisation to perform their tasks more effectively."

What is "knowledge management”?

The term ‘Knowledge Management’ has been borrowed from the corporate world,

whichhas used it as a strategy to seek as well as capture the knowledge residing in

people’s headsand consciousness to help the business remain on the progressive path

standing in a keencompetitive environment. The main target of application of KM in

profit-seekingorgnizations is to gain competitive advantage and to increase turnover to

make a profit byenhancing and improving operations systems.It is defined that KM is

‘about putting information and people’s competence to worktogether’. KM refers to

‘transfer of knowledge into capabilities for effective action.”The systematic process of

finding, selecting, organizing, distilling and presentinginformation in a way that improves

an employee’s comprehension in a specific area ofinterest. KM helps an organization to

gain insight and understanding from its ownexperience that helps to focus theorganization. Specific KM activities help focus theorganization on acquiring, storing and

utilizing knowledge from such things as problemssolving dynamic learning, strategic

planning and decision-making. It also protectsintellectual assets from decay, adds to firm

intelligence and provides increased flexibility.

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Significance of Knowledge Management

The strategically perspective, today’s practice in KM still has a few demerits. The reasons

for this are manifold. Firstly the existing knowledge is captured and capitalized only to a

low degree because knowledge is messy in character. Secondly, time factor- many

employees are willing to document and use existing knowledge but pressure of work in

enterprise should be allowed to participate in management but not in real practice. As a

result, the uncultured knowledge can’t be utilized for KM purposes.

Knowledge is the business asset of any progressive organizations that get ahead. The

implementation of KM helps the information flow in the organization and in

implementing organization-learning practices. KM is not just managing or organizing

books or journals, searching the Internet for users or arranging for the circulation of

materials. Each of these can be an isolated part of KM.

KM is enhancing the use of organizational knowledge through information management

and organizational learning. The purpose is to deliver direct value to the business. The

knowledge is embedded in the processes and experiences, skills, wisdom and capabilities

of people. KM rests on two foundations, i.e., utilizing the organised information and

application of people’s competencies, skills, talents, thoughts, ideas, imaginations, etc.,

KM aims to draw out the tacit knowledge people have, what they carry around with them,what they observe and learn from experience, rather than what is usually explicitly stated.

Managing knowledge goes much further than capturing data and manipulating it to obtain

information. The aim of KM is for business to become more competitive through

thecapacities of their people.

31



Process of Knowledge Management

KM is a conscious strategy of getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right

time and helping people to share and put information into action in ways that strive toimprove organizational performance. KM is used in Library and Information Centre’s

(LIC) for communicating knowledge between levels of management and who are directly

involved to work processes as well as in service sectors.

Though KM is viewed as a ‘process is about acquisition, creation packaging and

applications or reuse of knowledge’, it is also said to ‘consist of identification acquisition,

developing, sharing and distributing, using and preservation of knowledge’. KM process

includes all the terms and terminology described below:

Tacit Knowledge - includes the individual employee’s expertise, memories, values and

beliefs, viewpoints and values.

Explicit knowledge - is the process of communication from one place to another in a

systematic way through documents and is more formal and codified.

Corporate memory - is the connection of know-how of an organization. This know-howrelates to problems –solving, project experiences, and human resources management.

Intellectual assets/knowledge assets/capital : similar terms, which comprises knowledge

assets regarding products, technologies, and market that a business owns.

Information economics - a study of the clear value of information to an organization.

Data mining - the exploration and analysis of automatic and semiautomatic means of

large quantities of data in order to discover meaningful patterns and rules.

Knowledge representation - the process of describing and presenting usable way of

knowledge known by a person.

32



Knowledge mapping - finding existing knowledge in an organization and creating a

detailed picture of skills. Maps can be simple directories of names to search online

databases of human expertise, research materials and pre-recorded information.

Concept mapping - the visual summary of ideas or topics and these ideas or topics are

related to each other.

Knowledge engineer - a person responsible of acquiring knowledge and developing data

and rules for expert systems.

Steps in Knowledge Management

1. Knowledge capture : A systematic procedure for organizing, structuring knowledge to

make it accessible and usable to people.

2. Knowledge organization : An organization that values and uses its own knowledge in

reflective ways that lead to profound shifts in directions, values, beliefs and operatingassumptions.

3. Knowledge preservation: Once the knowledge is collected, and codified it has to be

stored in a suitable form in the organization’s knowledge base. The knowledge can be

stored in forms such as individual employees, and by computer knowledge base. The

advantage with the computer is its unlimited memory and instant access. Intranets and

the knowledge bases are the tools, which store the organizational knowledge.

33



MODULES OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

A KM system is based on eight vital modules, which are as follows:

• INFORMATION : The most important bezel acts as an instant access to update and

customize information

• EXPERTISE : Connects in real-time experts in an organizations to members who

earn assistance and even the tacit knowledge can made explicit

• COLLABORATION: Plays an important role to facilitate on-line brain storming

sessions and preserves information

• TEAM: Ensures efficient and systematic management among share skills

• LEARNING: Abridges skill gap with the help of on-line sessions

• INTELLIGENCE: Deals mainly with the explicit knowledge among shares skills

• KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER : Relates to (a) Machine-readable data files (b)various

on-line databases and CD-Rom information resides in the shape of optical disks,

juke boxes or magnetic tape autoloaders and (d) Computerized networked systems

• KNOWLEDGE MAPPING: Identifies the body of knowledge within the

organizations, which is primarily concerned with mute knowledge base and makes a

repository of all skills and expertise in the organization.

34



Why we need knowledge management now

Why do we need to manage knowledge? Ann Macintosh of the Artificial Intelligence

Applications Institute (University of Edinburgh) has written a "Position Paper on

Knowledge Asset Management" that identifies some of the specific business factors,

including:

Marketplaces are increasingly competitive and the rate of innovation is rising.

Reductions in staffing create a need to replace informal knowledge with formal methods.

Competitive pressures reduce the size of the work force that holds valuable business

knowledge.

The amount of time available to experience and acquire knowledge has diminished.

Early retirements and increasing mobility of the work force lead to loss of knowledge. ]

There is a need to manage increasing complexity as small operating companies are trans-

national sourcing operations.

Changes in strategic direction may result in the loss of knowledge in a specific area.

To these paraphrases of Ms. Macintosh’s observations we would add:

Most of our work is information based.

Organizations compete on the basis of knowledge.

Products and services are increasingly complex, endowing them with a significantinformation component.

The need for life-long learning is an inescapable reality.

In brief, knowledge and information have become the medium in which business

problems occur. As a result, managing knowledge represents the primary opportunity for

achieving substantial savings, significant improvements in human performance, and

competitive advantage.

It’s not just a Fortune 500 business problem. Small companies need formal approaches to

knowledge management even more, because they don’t have the market leverage, inertia,

and resources that big companies do. They have to be much more flexible, more

responsive, and more "right" (make better decisions) — because even small mistakes can

be fatal to them.

35



Roadblocks to adoption of knowledge management solutions

There have been many roadblocks to adoption of formal knowledge management

activities. In general, managing knowledge has been perceived as an unmanageable kind

of problem — an implicitly human, individual activity — that was intractable with

traditional management methods and technology.

We tend to treat the activities of knowledge work as necessary, but ill-defined, costs of

human resources, and we treat the explicit manifestations of knowledge work as forms of

publishing — as byproducts of "real" work.

As a result, the metrics associated with knowledge resources — and our ability to manage

those resources in meaningful ways — have not become part of business infrastructure.

But it isn’t necessary to throw up one’s hands in despair. We do know a lot about how

people learn. We know more and more about how organizations develop and use

knowledge. The body of literature about managing intellectual capital is growing. We

have new insights and solutions from a variety of domains and disciplines that can be

applied to making knowledge work manageable and measurable. And computer

technology — itself a cause of the problem — can provide new tools to make it all work.

We don’t need another "paradigm shift" (Please!), but we do have to accept that the

nature of business itself has changed, in at least two important ways:

Knowledge work is fundamentally different in character from physical labor.

The knowledge worker is almost completely immersed in a computing environment. This

new reality dramatically alters the methods by which we must manage, learn, represent

knowledge, interact, solve problems, and act.

You can’t solve the problems of Information Age business or gain a competitive

advantage simply by throwing more information and people at the problems. And you

can’t solve knowledge-based problems with approaches borrowed from the product-

oriented, print-based economy. Those solutions are reactive and inappropriate.

Applying technology blindly to knowledge-related business problems is a mistake, too,

36



but the computerized business environment provides opportunities and new methods for

representing "knowledge" and leveraging its value. It’s not an issue of finding the right

computer interface — although that would help, too. We simply have not defined in a

rigorous, clear, widely accepted way the fundamental characteristics of "knowledge" in

the computing environment. (See "Cooperative development of a classification of

knowledge management functions.")

.

Knowledge Management Approaches

The term "knowledge management" is now in widespread use, having appeared in the

titles of many new books about knowledge management as a business strategy, as well as

in articles in many business publications, including The Wall Street Journal. There are, of

course, many ways to slice up the multi-faceted world of knowledge management.

However, it’s often useful to categorize them.

There is a broad range of thought on Knowledge Management with no unanimous

definition. The approaches vary by author and school. Knowledge Management may be

viewed from each of the following perspectives:

•

Techno-centric : A focus on technology, ideally those that enhance knowledgesharing/growth.

• Organisational : How does the organisation need to be designed to facilitate

knowledge processes? Which organizations work best with what processes?

• Ecological : Seeing the interaction of people, identity, knowledge and

environmental factors as a complex adaptive system.

In addition, as the discipline is maturing, there is an increasing presence of academic

debates within epistemology emerging in both the theory and practice of knowledge

management. British and Australian standards bodies both have produced documents that

attempt to bound and scope the field, but these have received limited acceptance or

awareness.

37

http://wiki/Epistemology

http://wiki/United_Kingdom

http://wiki/Australia

http://wiki/Epistemology

http://wiki/United_Kingdom

http://wiki/Australia



Why is KM Important to Government?

A recent Government Accounting Office (GAO) report indicated that a substantial portion

of the federal workforce will become eligible to retire or will retire over the next five to

ten years. Workforce and knowledge planning are critical to ensure that agencies have

sufficient and appropriate staff to account for these retirements. In addition, high staff

turnover, lack of adequate training, and a tendency toward preserving the status quo can

further impact and impede opportunities for knowledge retention and growth. Oftentimes,

when people leave an organization, they take a wealth of knowledge about their jobs with

them. Knowledge Management seeks to secure the learning experiences, as well as the

work products, of the individuals who comprise an organization.

The Benefits of Knowledge Management

Whether to minimize loss and risk, improve organizational efficiency, or embrace

innovation, Knowledge Management efforts and initiatives add great value to an

organization. Knowledge Management:

• Facilitates better, more informed decisions

• Contributes to the intellectual capital of an organization

• Encourages the free flow of ideas which leads to insight and innovation

• Eliminates redundant processes, streamlines operations, and enhances employee

retention rates

•

Improves customer service and efficiency

• Can lead to greater productivity.

Knowledge Management does not have a beginning and an end. It is ongoing, organic,

and ever-evolving.

38



Understanding Knowledge Management

The challenge of Knowledge Management is to determine what information within an

organization qualifies as "valuable." All information is not knowledge, and all knowledge

is not valuable. The key is to find the worthwhile knowledge within a vast sea of information.

• KM is about people. It is directly linked to what people know, and how what

they know can support business and organizational objectives. It draws on human

competency, intuition, ideas, and motivations. It is not a technology-based

concept. Although technology can support a KM effort, it shouldn’t begin there.

• KM is orderly and goal-directed. It is inextricably tied to the strategic

objectives of the organization. It uses only the information that is the most

meaningful, practical, and purposeful.

• KM is ever-changing. There is no such thing as an immutable law in KM.

Knowledge is constantly tested, updated, revised, and sometimes even

"obsoleted" when it is no longer practicable. It is a fluid, ongoing process.

• KM is value-added. It draws upon pooled expertise, relationships, and alliances.

Organizations can further the two-way exchange of ideas by bringing in experts

from the field to advise or educate managers on recent trends and developments.

Forums, councils, and boards can be instrumental in creating common ground and

organizational cohesiveness.

• KM is visionary. This vision is expressed in strategic business terms rather than

technical terms, and in a manner that generates enthusiasm, buy-in, and motivates

managers to work together toward reaching common goals.

• KM is complementary. It can be integrated with other organizational learning

initiatives such as Total Quality Management (TQM). It is important for

knowledge managers to show interim successes along with progress made on

more protracted efforts such as multiyear systems developments infrastructure, or

enterprise architecture projects.

39



CHAPTER 4

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

40



My research methodology establishes a framework of evaluation and re evaluation of

primary and secondary research. The technique and concepts used during primary

research in order to arrive at findings; which are also dealt with and lead to a logical

deduction towards the analysis and results.

RESEARCH DESIGN

I first conducted an intensive secondary research to understand the full impact and

implications of KM’s , reviewed the organizational environments of various companies

and identified certain issues which needed to be dealt with and assessed in order to make

KM initiative a success. This stage helped me to restrict and select only the important

questions and issues which inhabit the success of KMS and dampen the motivation of

employees to share knowledge readily. The following sets of questions were then

proposed to be studied under descriptive research which finally helped me in the

formation of hypothesis and testing the validity of the objective.

PRIMARY DATA RESEARCH

New data gathered to help solve the problem at hand. Primary data is basically collected

by getting the questionnaire filled by the respondents.

SECONARY DATA RESEARCH

Secondary data is the information that already exist somewhere , having been collected

for another purpose . sources include trade publications and subscription services, data

that has already been collected and published for another research project that has been

refereed for the project.

41



QUESTIONNAIRE

ORGANISATIONAL AWARENESS

SA A NA / ND D SD1 2 3 4 5

A) NTPC has implemented PEOPLE SOFT-Human Resource Management System.

B) NTPC is planning to implement ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning) in theimmediate future.

C) NTPC has a knowledge Management portalon it's Intranet.

D) NTPC envisions being a GLOBAL PLAYER by 2017.

E) NTPC plans to diversify into the POWER DISTRIBUTION segment.

ORGANISATIONAL COMMUNICATION

A) Employees are informed through intranet/emails /circulars about any meetings or important events.

B) Management informs us before anyOrganisational change happens.(Joint Ventures,Merger etc).

C) Employees are encouraged to implement

innovative ideas in daily office work.

D) Employees have a healthy interaction amongthemselves.

E) HOD's know all their Junior's by their names.

42



F) When approached,employees help eachother readily.

SA A NA / ND D SD

1 2 3 4 5KNOWLEDGE AWARENESS

A) At times I find that in two or more Departmentsduplication of activity takes place.

B) Sometimes I feel msitakes are made asvaluable information is not available at theright time.

KNOWLEDGE SHARINGCULTURE AT NTPC

A) I feel awkward in approaching others for help.

B) My colleagues cross-check informationreceived from others.

C) I feel priviledged in sharing information,tomy colleagues in other departments/units.

D) Sharing of data improves trust andco-operation with colleagues.

E) I feel sharing of critical information with othersreduces my importance.

IN-HOUSE KNOWLDEGE

A) Search my mailbox.

B) Networking-Contact people I know and ask them.

C) Search my paper documents.

D) Refer to the material available in the library.

43



E) Search the NTPC's Intranet.

F) Search on the Internet.

SA A NA / ND D SD1 2 3 4 5

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER EFFECTIVNESS

A) Training for employees.

B) Induction Program for new Joinees.

C) Mentoring system.

D) Quality Circles/Professional Circles

E) Casual talks with Colleagues.

F) Reading HORIZON and other NTPC Journals.

G) Attending Seminars,Conferences and knowldegeForums organised by NTPC.

H) Browsing Through Intranet.

LEVEL E1-E4 E5-E7 E-7A-E9 Others

DEPARTMENT

Index: SA: Strongly AgreeA: AgreeNA / ND: Niether Agree / Nor Disagree

D: DisagreeSD: Strongly Disagree

44



HYPOTHESIS

The research has basically one main hypothesis which is further divided into measurable

units . six main variables were studied and the employees from different departments

were asked to fill the questionnaire to test the hypothesis .

The main hypothesis is

NTPC HAS AN ENVIORNMENT CONDUCIVE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT.

The other major concerns related to the main hypothesis are :

• Employees feel the need for knowledge management.• NTPC has a culture to help in knowledge sharing (employee attitude)

• NTPC has a good organizational communication.

• Employees feel the knowledge transfer activities conducted in NTPC are effective.

NTPC HAS AN ENVIORNMENT CONDUCIVE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Employee attitude towards organisation knowledge Employee

attitudetowards organisation knowledge

45

Employeeattitude towardsorganisationknowledge

Organisationalenviornment



VARIABLES THAT HAVE BEEN STUDIED

ORGANISTATIONAL EMPLOYEES ATTITTUDE

ENVIRONMENT TOWARDS ORGANISATIONAL

KNOWLEDGE

Organisational Awareness

• People-soft HRMS

• ERP-Implementation

• KM portal-Intranet

• NTPC Vision 2017

• NTPC Diversification

Knowledge Awareness

• Information to client (internal &

external)

• Activity Duplication

• Unavailablity of valueable informatio n

Organisational Communication

• Communication-important Events

• Communication- Organisational

changes

• Implementation of innovation

• Leadership

• Approachability

Knowledge management

• Akwardness-information sharing

• Cross-Checking information received

• Priviledge-information sharing

• Trust

• Importance

In-house knowledge

• Mails

• Paper Documents

• Networking

• Library

• Intranet

• Internet

Knowledge Transfer Effectiveness

• Training

• Induction

• Mentoring

• Quality/Professional Cicles

• Casual talks

• Reading NTPC journals

• Seminars/Conferences

• Intranet

46



SAMPLING PROCEDURE

As the employee strength is large and so both the cost and time associated with obtaining

information from the employees is high. The sample list shall contain the reponses from

the various departments of NTPC which are accessible to summer trainees of Engineering

Office Complex, noida. With such a large sample list and no grouping of information, it

is essential to undertake NON-PROBABILITY SAMPLING. I did not use

PROBABILTY SAMPLING because; in this all he population members have a known

probability of being in the sample. In my case because of NTPC’s huge population of

employee’s that may not be possible. It will have to develop a frame in probabilitysampling case and it might further complicate the analysis. For non-probability sampling

I don’t need to design a frame. Moreover in my opinion it would facilitate the research, as

the responses obtained through this sample will more accurate and honest. As the

employees of the organization have busy work schedule so its difficult to obtain

responses from each member of the population, hence Non-probability sampling is

done.

SAMPLE SIZE : 100 Employees of NTPC Ltd.

SAMPLING UNIT: Employees of NTPC from all the levels till Clerks and non grade

employees.

METHOD: Questionnaire for employees. Personal interviews of employees earlier

working for knowledge management initiative.

AREA COVERED: EOC-Sector-24, Noida.

SOURCE: Based on primary as well as secondary source of data. I have covered

47



employees of all levels, gender and locations of NTPC.

48



METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS

Based on the type of data collected and the target segment with the appropriate statistical

methods, inference should be made. The response set of one variable is compared with

another set of variable to ensure a detailed analysis of data.

One should be able to recognize what type of data is appropriate for each statistics and

one should be able to recognize the level of measurement for the scales that you are

analyzing. Spearman Correlation that is appropriate for ordinal level measures.

Mean Score is important to know the degree to which respondents have shown an

inclination towards a pattern.

Frequency distribution tables and Graphs also are help very helpful for data analysis.

49



CHAPTER 5

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

50



Correlations

1 -.305*

.03150 50-.305* 1.031

50 50

Pearson CorrelationSig. (2-tailed)NPearson CorrelationSig. (2-tailed)N

organisationalawareness

knowledgeawareness


knowledgeawareness

Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).*.

Correlations

1 .048.740

50 50.048 1.740

50 50



knowledgesharingculture



Correlations

1 .410**.003

50 50.410** 1.003

50 50

Pearson CorrelationSig. (2-tailed)NPearson CorrelationSig. (2-tailed)

N


knowledgetransfereffectiveness


knowledgetransfereffec

tiveness

Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).**.

51



Correlations

1 -.236

.09950 50

-.236 1.099

50 50

Pearson Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)NPearson CorrelationSig. (2-tailed)N

organisationalcommu

nication

knowledgeawareness

organisationalcommunication

knowledgeawareness

Correlations

1 .012.935

50 50.012 1.935

50 50






Correlations

1 .642**.000

50 50.642** 1.000

50 50



knowledgetransf ereffectiveness



tiveness


52



Correlations

1 -.176.221

50 50-.176 1.221

50 50


inhouseknowledge

knowledgeawareness

inhouseknowledge

knowledgeawareness

Correlations

1 .222.121

50 50.222 1.121

50 50


inhouseknowledge


inhouseknowledge


Correlations

1 .638**.000

50 50.638** 1.000

50 50


inhouseknowledge

knowledgetransfer effectiveness

inhouseknowledge


tiveness


53



FINAL SNAPSHOT-CORRELATION

VARIABLE KNOWLEDGEAWARENESS

KNOWLEDGESHARING

CULTURE

KNOWLEDGETRANSFER

EFFECTIVENESS

ORGANISATIONALAWARENESS .305 .048 .410

ORGANISATIONALCOMMUNICATION - .236 . 012 .642

IN-HOUSE

KNOWLEDGE .176 . 222 .638

• There is a positive correlation between the ORGANISATIONAL

ENVIRONMENT and EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE TOWARDS

ORGANISATIONAL KNOWLEDGE. Though the relationship might not be very

strong in some cases still a positive association’s discovery can help NTPC to set

up a favorable environment for knowledge sharing.

• The results show that if the knowledge component of KM environment has to be

improved then a direct impact can be made taking positive initiative in terms of

organizational componenet and vice versa.

• We have got a very weak relationship between organizational communication and

knowledge awareness. This can be justified because the duplication of activities

and the unavailability of information at the right time have no visible or hiddenlink with the type of resource/means used to find information. On the other hand

knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer will be affected by the means used to

find information.

54



• Correlation is said to be significant at a particular level in a bivariate analysis. In

some correlations this was missing. The implication is that the two concerned

variables in a bivariate correlation have a linear relation but sometimes due to

some extraneous variables the relationship pattern does not remain linear.

• The strongest correlation is of 64.2% between organizational communication and

knowledge transfer effectiveness. So by improving organizational communication

would help healthier and effective transfer of knowledge.

55



FREQUENCIES ON THE BASIS

OF REPONSE BY THE

RESPONDENTS

56



4.002.001.00

VAR00002

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00002

NTPC IS PLANNING TO IMPLEMENT ERP IN IMMEDIATE FUTURE

58



4.003.002.001.00

VAR00003

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00003

NTPC HAS A KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PORTAL ON IT’S INTRANET.

59



3.002.001.00

VAR00004

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00004

NTPC ENVISIONS BEING A GLOBAL PLAYER 2017

60



3.002.001.00

VAR00005

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00005

NTPC PLANS TO DIVERSIFY INTO THE POWER DISTRIBUTIONSEGMENT

61



4.003.002.001.00

VAR00006

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00006

EMPLOYEES ARE INFORMED THROUGHINTRANET/EMAILS/CIRCULARS ABOUT ANY MEETINGS OR

IMPORTANT EVENTS

62



4.003.002.001.00

VAR00007

40

30

20

10

0

P

e r c e n

t

VAR00007

MANAGEMENT INFORMS US BEFORE ANY ORGANISATIONAL CHANGEHAPPENS

63



5.004.003.002.001.00

VAR00008

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00008

EMPLOEES ARE ENCOURGED TO IMPLEMENT INNOVATIVE IDEAS INDAILY OFFICE WORK

64



4.003.002.001.00

VAR00009

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00009

EMPLOYEES HAVE A HEALTHY INTERACTION WITH EACH OTHER

65



4.003.002.001.00

VAR00010

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00010

SENIOR EMPLOYEES KNOW ALL THEIR DEPARTMENT’S JUNIORS BYTHEIR NAMES

66



3.002.001.00

VAR00011

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00011

WHEN APPROACHED, EMPLOYEES HELP EACH OTHER READILY

67



5.004.003.002.001.00

VAR00012

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00012

WHEN I GET A QUERY FROM AN INTERNAL CLIENT I CAN TELL WHEREEXACTLY CLIENT CAN GET THE INFORMATION

68



5.004.003.002.001.00

VAR00013

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00013

AT TIMES I FIND THAT IN TWO OR MORE DEPARTMENTSDUPLICATION OF ACTIVITY TAKES PLACE

69



5.004.003.002.001.00

VAR00014

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00014

SOMETIMES I FEEL MISTAKES WERE MADE AS VALUABLEINFORMATION WAS’NT AVAILABLE AT THE RIGHT TIME

70



5.004.003.002.00

VAR00015

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00015

I FEEL AWKWARD IN APPROACHING OTHERS FOR HELP

71



3.002.001.00

VAR00016

80

60

40

20

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00016

MY COLLEAGUES CROSS CHECK INFORMATION RECEIVED FROMOTHERS

72



3.002.001.00

VAR00017

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00017

I FEEL PRIVILEGED IN SHARING INFORMATION, NEEDED BY MYCOLLEAGUES IN OTHER DEPARTMENT/UNITS

73



5.004.003.002.00

VAR00018

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00018

MORE INTERACTION WITH MY COLLEAGUES WILL IMPROVE TRUST AND CO-OPERATION WHILE SHARING INFORMATION/DATA

74



4.003.002.001.00

VAR00019

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00019

MY COLLEAGUES FEEL SHARING CRITICAL KNOWLEDGE WITHOTHERS WILL REDUCE THEIR IMPORTANCE

75



4.003.002.001.00

VAR00020

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00020

SERACH MY MAIL BOX

76



3.002.001.00

VAR00021

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00021

NETWORKING- CONTACT PEOPLE I KNOW AND ASK THEM

77



4.003.002.001.00

VAR00022

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00022

SEARCH MY PAPER DOCUMENTS

78



4.003.002.001.00

VAR00023

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00023

REFER TO THE MATERIAL AVAILABLE IN THE LIBRARY

79



4.003.002.001.00

VAR00024

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

VAR00024

SEARCH THE NTPC’S INTRANET

80



4.003.002.001.00

VAR00025

50

40

30

20

10

0

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SEARCH ON THE INTERNET

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INDUCTION PROGRAM FOR NEW JOINEES

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4.003.002.001.00

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MENTORING SYSTEM

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5.004.003.002.001.00

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QUALITY CIRCLES/PROFESSIONAL CIRCLES

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4.003.002.001.00

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CASUAL TALKS WITH COLLEAGUES

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READING HORIZON AND OTHER NTPC JOURNALS

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LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The questionnaire could not be administered to the entire population because of

the limitations on the part of the organization.

Sample size of 100 to represent the entire manpower strength is not a very

significant sample of the entire population.

Study was mainly conducted by means of convenient sampling so a representative

sample of the organization could not be obtained.

Managers were hesitant and reluctant to reveal the entire information and by no

means relied that the material supplied by them will not be missed.

The ignorance on the part of the managers regarding some vital informationrequired for the project.

Getting responses from the respondents was very difficult as they adamantly

refused to fill the questionnaires.

Some respondents misinterpreted the questions, omitted essential items, and gave

answers casually , which could not be tabulated. It was practically impossible to

return such incomplete and unsatisfactory questionnaires to the respondents for

correction.

Despite taking sufficient care that the views of one person was only obtained

uninfluenced by the discussions of others ; and questions rested on the person's

knowledge still a source of bias at the want of spontaneous responses.

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CHAPTER 6

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

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CONCLUSION

NTPC has an environment that is conducive for knowledge sharing. Through the

analysis of the responses the employees have a sense of job security. The groundwork to

be done by the organization is basically related to the people aspect.

In the individual interviews the employees exhibited a sense of fear and they

felt that sharing of knowledge and know-how or helping colleagues is not

acknowledged in the organization. Though NTPC has a very low attrition rate

but a lot of employees were of the perception that sharing a critical informationwould hamper their chances of progress/promotion, as all would be at par with

same knowledge gained form others.

The organizational environment influences the employee attitude towards

organizational knowledge. The degree of correlation between the variables is

significant. There is need of Knowledge Management in NTPC Ltd. By

improving the organizational environment there can be a positive change made in

the knowledge aspect of the organization. By augmenting the organizational

awareness and organizational communication the knowledge awareness ,

knowledge sharing culture and knowledge transfer efficiency can also see an

upward trend.

To change the culture and the attitude of employees is a difficult task. The aim of

NTPC or any organization implementing a KM strategy is to design a

methodology that is in sync with the MISSION , VISION, VALUES andCULTURE of the organization. People resist change and any coercion done by

the organization can ruin the work balance of the employees.

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Many of the employees were aware about the organization but on one critical

parameter of knowledge management portal majority of them were confused. Due

to poor communication and lack of commitment and motivation on the part

of employees and management the organizational awareness suffered. NTPC

is not working on KMS but majority of the employees agreed from strong to mild

that KM initiative is being taken up by NTPC. On its intranet there is no KM

portal. Employees are not educated enough to understand the concept of KM and

its concept.

The employees had little understanding about the issues, which have been left

unaddressed by the management – KM INITIATIVE, ERP IMPLEMENATION.

The knowledge transfer activities which are more on paper and less in reality-Mentoring System, seminars and conferences and reading the Horizon seemed to

be having low recall for the employees.

Out of 30 employees interviewed who had the clarity of concepts and were a part

of the KM initiative of NTPC two years back said that:

The challenge is people, not technology.

Vision of KM: The right information to the right people at the right time

Reality: Technology isn't there yet, and most companies are not ready.

The ideal knowledge management environment: Everyone has tools for gathering,

organizing, Refining and disseminating information. All information in a company is

available to everyone Who needs it. Employees creatively contribute to the common pool

of knowledge.

Today's reality: Technology at second stage, but Behavior stuck at first stage.

The employees are not in a habit of browsing through the organization's intranet.

The reason being that the intranet is not updated on a timely basis and the

networking of people seems stronger and faster.

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on this ground. The HRMS-People Soft has reduced the duplication of

information and data redundancy to a minimal level.

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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMNET AS AN UNCONSCIOUS

COMPETENCE.

The aim of NTPC can be to manage knowledge by effective people management. As

we can't manage knowledge, we can manage the environment, in which knowledge

can be created, discovered, captured, shared, distilled, validated, transferred, adopted,

adapted and applied.

NTPC would have to create

Right Conditions: common reliable infrastructure

Right Means: common model, tools and processesRight Actions: where people instinctively seek, share, and use knowledge

Right Leadership: where learning is rewarded and contribution acknowledged.

The ideal outcome is that people manage knowledge as a part of their daily business

without thinking of it as an extra task, and that leadership of the company and the

company processes reinforce this.

For attaining the UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE the following suggestions can be

beneficial for NTPC to attain a surety of succeeding in the KM INITIATIVE.

NTPC can lay stress on having a strong leadership that communicates and

asks for collaboration from its employees. Like any high priority project, KM is

best implemented with determined champions and top management commitment.

NTPC would have to design the environment in a manner that organizational

culture is open to all the levels. By encouraging best-practice sharing, NTPC

would aim at grasping the knowledge within the employees and innovate the

organization's processes. This way NTPC would successfully use the employee

input and knowledge that might produce a strategic advantage.

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NTPC can introduce KM only when it's ready for the change. At present NTPC

needs to condition it's People-Process-Technology. This is a task without which

NTPC's environment will not be apt for Knowledge Management and the

initiative can be loss of time and funds. Spurred by the paradigm shift in our

economy many corporations pursue KM without evaluating whether they are

organizationally ready. NTPC being a PSU has been working on the lines of

classical management principles and cannot be successful in adopting KM

without major changes in culture, management attitudes, and

communication skills.

At NTPC KM would be a success only if the co-ordination between Human

Resource and Technology takes place. The two departments should work jointlyat introducing KM as a part of the organizational processes.

KM is not a technological brainchild. KM is a technology emanating from the

knowledge of human brains captured by humans. The people element is KM can

be dealt in a manner that although Intranets, Knowledge-based tools, data

warehouses, and other computer-based software are a part of the way NTPC

would look at the future but technology is only an enabler of KM. The

Knowledge that NTPC would make available must be organized and

disseminated to human decision makers to be of any use.

NTPC would have to make changes in its Compensation System. To

encourage the employees to offer their help NTPC may have a system of

rewarding people who exhibit the right behaviors. Recognition is the most

powerful motivation, receiving acknowledgement that the contributions of the

employees makes a difference. NTPC can use more innovative ways like of

having "MOST HELPING EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH" with regular

Notice Board entries to it. Also such initiatives of helping colleagues can be made

a part of the annual appraisal. Instead of Knowledge- hoarding knowledge

dissemination and imparting can be made part of appraisal criteria.

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NTPC would have to build atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding

amongst the employees. An employee would share things better with people they

know and trust. NTPC needs to develop new ways of developing mutual trust and

knowledge sharing reciprocity. Instead of sharing knowledge via web, or without

meeting face -to- face, NTPC would be advised to make a system in place that a

rapport in the process of sharing know-how. The key is to know the attitude and

the temperament of knowledge Giver and Knowledge Receiver, which would be

impossible until the PROCESS OF SHARING KNOWLEDGE IS MADE MORE

INTERACTIVE.

NTPC can encourage people to give and receive challenges. Challengingassumptions or someone's firmly held beliefs take some effort, as does receiving

such a challenge. The environment would have to facilitate INTERNAL –

COMPETITION to create better knowledge-base. For NTPC it becomes

imperative to start identifying the INTERNAL KNOWLEDGE SOURCES

and actively urge the employees to help in NEW KNOWLEDGE

CREATION. If NTPC keeps on going with the traditional BOSS-ORDER-

SUBORDINATE system then it would not be able to sustain the pressure of

KNOWLEDGE GENERATION. Teams can be divided into competing groups

that develop different approaches to the same project/task and then discuss the

advantages & disadvantages of the proposals. It gives project from a variety of

perspectives which result in the best strategies.

KM initiative would have to be in-sync with the strategic level intents of

NTPC. The leadership would have to adjust the KM strategy with THE VISION,

OBJECTIVES OF THE JOINT VENTURES, MARKET CAPTURE GOALS

AND DESIRED CUSTOMER SATISFACTION to be achieved NTPC in the

future time period.

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For setting conducive environment for KM, the concept of organization and its

structure might have to undergo a slight change. NTPC may be suggested to

have more permeable organizational boundaries and to collaborate with all units

Joint Ventures to capture all possible knowledge.

Employees should be encouraged to exchange knowledge through various

activities like JOB ROTATION, BENCHMARKING, SCENARIO AND

SIMULATION TECHNIQUES.

NTPC can implement REDUNDANCY APPROACH. Redundancy can be

important as it encourages frequent dialogue and communication. This creates a

"COMMON COGNITIVE GROUND" among employees and facilities thetransfer of tacit knowledge. For NTPC Redundancy can be a Chaos to Concept

approach. In this the employees of NTPC share overlapping information; they can

sense what others are struggling to articulate. Redundancy also spreads new

explicit knowledge through organization so employees can internalize it.

The MENTORING SYSTEM is a good and efficient way of sharing tacit

knowledge. "We can know more than we can tell". Giving more emphasis on

mentoring activities a lot can be learned from tacit knowledge of a MENTOR.

NTPC may also identify MENTORS from the corporate world and encourage

sharing of Knowledge between Mentors-Men tees. Stress if laid upon building

knowledge through relationships in the mentoring system would help in better

trust building too.

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KM can make a difference in processes of NTPC of getting business results from

business objectives. The key would be to introduce learning at every opportunity.

Reusing knowledge is faster than recreating knowledge.

Captured Knowledge: For NTPC the best way to store know-how is to build

a knowledge-asset which would have withdrawal from a "knowledge bank" at

the start of an activity and depositing new knowledge at the end.

Learn before doing: NTPC would encourage employees to find out what

knowledge is out there before performing any piece of work.

CAPTUREDKNOWLEDGE

LEARNDURING

LEARNBEFORE

LEARNAFTER

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Learn during the activity: It would be a real benefit to the organization if

done routinely. An individual can learn from oneself (experience) and learn

from others (tacit and explicit knowledge).

Learn after doing: It is an important component and would create an

environment that inspires the team/individual at NTPC to perform the next

task better.

Implementing this model would encourage knowledge sharing, as employees would

come together to face the challenges and interact in manner which would increase

trust and understanding as the main aim is not to finish the task but the aim is to

collaborate in a way to complete the task in the best possible manner.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS:

• HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW ON KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND

LEARNING ORGANISATION

• KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT-PETER DRUKER

• KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT- A RESOURCE BOOK by THOTHATRI

RAMAN

• INTRODUCTION TO KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: TODD R GROFF &

THOMAS P JONE

ARTICLES:• NTPC journals-HORIZON

• Articles on view of knowledge of Taguchi

WEBSITES:• www.brint.com

• www.citehr.com

• www.wikipedia.com

• www.kmworld.com

http://www.brint.com/

http://www.citehr.com/

http://www.wikipedia.com/

http://www.kmworld.com/

http://www.brint.com/

http://www.citehr.com/

http://www.wikipedia.com/

http://www.kmworld.com/

knowledge Management Report NTPC,Noida

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