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Course Overview

Requirements

Session Overview

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Course Overview
This course, now being taught for the second time, is intended to introduce you to the management of knowledge and other value-added forms of information (not data!).  We’ll learn by reading, talking, listening to others, and doing a couple of projects.  The course won’t fully qualify you to be a knowledge manager, but no other universities offer even this much in course material despite a burgeoning knowledge management field.

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Requirements
If you are interested in such trivial matters as grades, your grade will be based equally on three criteria:

• Participation in class discussions (significant participation in about three-quarters of the classes will get you an A);
• Quality of work in a group project, described below;
• An individual research paper on some aspect of information and knowledge management that interests you, also described below.

The group project is more consulting-oriented than research-oriented; it involves understanding some aspect of information and knowledge management in the context of a business or organization.  Your group should have three to five members.  Some ideas include:

• Developing an approach for managing a piece of the business school’s knowledge;
• Addressing how a local company could deal with a particular knowledge domain;
• Describing a company’s information environment and how it might be improved;
• Participating in an international virtual business simulation on the Internet.

January 21 –– Course overview; Nokia guest speaker

January 28 – The state of information management today; Lang case; Information Ecology Chapters 1-3
Lang case discussion questions:
1. How would you describe Lang’s information environment?  Is it better or worse than most companies in your opinion?
2. What factors led to Lang’s problems with information?
3. If you were given the job to manage information at Lang, with what steps would you start?

February 4 – Creating better information environments; Millipore ("A Common Language for Common Systems") case; Information Ecology chapters 4-9
Millipore case discussion questions:
1. Is common information a worthwhile objective at Millipore?  Do you think it will lead to greater flexibility?
2. Why is there such a high level of emotion about information at Millipore?
3. Will the common information and processes help or hurt Millipore if it breaks into autonomous business units?

February 11 – Information ecology in practice; Sandy Witch case;  Information Ecology Chapters 10-12
Sandy Witch discussion questions:
1. Using the information ecology model, be prepared to describe the Sandy Witch situation.
2. Which aspects of the model are most important in this company?
3.  What would you do to improve market information at TSWI?
 
February 18 – Information vs. knowledge; Hewlett-Packard case; Working Knowledge (Introduction, Chapters 1, 8)
Hewlett-Packard discussion questions:
1. Which of the different HP initiatives do you think will succeed?  Which will fail?
2. Are all of the initiatives equally valuable to HP?  Which are most strategic?
3. What can be done to improve knowledge sharing across business units at HP?

February 25 – Organizing knowledge – Working Knowledge, Chapter 4 , IBM GS web article; possible guest lecture
IBM case discussion questions:
1. What does it mean to view knowledge as an asset?  Is IBM really taking this view?
2. Is it important to segment knowledge assets into several different classes, as IBM does?

March 4 – Knowledge creation and tacit knowledge – Working Knowledge Chapter 3; Ikujiro Nonaka, "The Knowledge-Creating Company," Harvard Business Review, November-December 1991; Hedlund and Nonaka, "Models of Knowledge Management in the West and Japan," Dorothy Leonard, Chapter 1 from Wellsprings of Knowledge, "Core Capabilities"

March 11 – Knowledge capture and distribution – Andersen, KPMG ("One Giant Brain"), and Ernst &Young cases; "A Note on Knowledge Management," Harvard Business School
Discussion questions for cases:
1. Which of these firms has the best approach to knowledge management?  Which has the worst?
2. What are the primary strengths and weaknesses of each firm’s approach?
3. Choose one firm’s situation and recommend a key "next step."

March 25 – Knowledge transfer – Working Knowledge, Chapter 5; Gibson and Rogers chapter, "Technology Transfer and MCC," from R&D Collaboration on Trial; "Communities of Practice" article in Training, February 1997, "Silicon Graphics Develops Powerful Knowledge Network," Knowledge Inc., January 1997.

April 1 – Customer knowledge – American Productivity and Quality Center case, Cole and Wayland chapter, "Customer Knowledge" from Customer Connections.
APQC case discussion questions:
1. How good a job is APQC doing at managing its customer knowledge?
2. Why has the organization had difficulty getting broader use of iMIS?  How should this problem be addressed?
3. What lessons from the Cole and Wayland chapter could be applied to the APQC?

April 8 – Support and international knowledge; measuring knowledge – Davenport & Klahr, "Managing Customer Support Knowledge," Klahr et al, "Developing and Deploying Knowledge on a Global Scale;" Karl Sveiby, The New Organizational Wealth, Chapters 1 and 13.

April 15 – Knowledge technologies - Working Knowledge Chapter 7, Gartner readings on Web (to be assigned); possible guest lecture.

April 22 – Expertise systems and learning from experience – Microsoft case (on Web), Army CALL case; Teltech case
Case discussion questions:
1. How difficult do you think it will be to operate the Microsoft knowledge competencies system over time?
2. Compare and contrast the Teltech expert network and the Microsoft knowledge competencies approach.  Which do you prefer?
3. Would the Army’s CALL approach work in other organizations?  Why or why not?

April 29 – Project presentations

May 6 – Project presentations

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January 21                                  jan21.ppt

Knowledge Management             kmintro.ppt
Introduction Presentation

Who Manages Knowledge           i&kmwhom.ppt

Flies in the Knowledge                 i&kmknow.ppt
Ointment
 
 

Group Presentations -
The discussion web is operational.  Please feel free to enter your comments.  If you have any problems with the site, either this one or the discussion web, please contact Jessica immediately.  Depending on how your browser is configured, you may have to download some of the ppt presentations to your local drive and delete them when you are finished.

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Group Members	Presentation (* = website)
Baird, Elibiary, Lutts, Miller, Puckett, Scotto	Knowledge Management Practices at the University of Texas Graduate School of Business
Engrav, Lucas, Reinhorn, Taylor	Triage Systems and Knowledge Management*
Drehner & Karicod	Oxford Health Plans (paper)  Oxford Health Plans (presentation)
Ballengee, Brown, Crisp, Hinshaw, Manternach	Knowledge Management at the Arlen Innovation Council
Patterson, Roach, Willerson, Valentini	Knowledge Management in the Real Estate Industry
Dean, Head, Taylor, Zanger	Integrated Project Systems
Cavasin, Gormley, Hornfischer, Jesser, Pico	Using Knowledge Management to Match Course Supply with Course Demand at UT*
Belcher, McAdams, Starrs, Stuart	Austin Diagnostic Clinic*
Burtle, Fulps, Ling, Plummer, Roberts	Knowledge Management at Texas Business Weekly*
Ewing, Lamis	Incentives and Rewards
Lara, Rose, Whiteside	GirlGames
George, Grefe, Keyt	Case Based Reasoning*

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