This is a classic piece from 99', which gives you advice on which knowledge management stratgey is the right one for your company
The authors distinguish between two generic strategies for managing knowledge:
Codification, which relies on knowledge being codified into documents and made available primarily via databases
Personalization, which aims at facilitating person-to-person communication of knowledge
Why not do both - try to code knowledge as well as faciliate personal exchange? The authors claim, that trying to do both will lead to failure. Rather you need to choose your primary strategy and complement it with 20% of the secondary strategy. So if you choose codificiation 80% of you efforts should be aimed on implementing this strategy, while 20% should go into faciliating personal exchanges.
Important is that your knowledge strategy needs to be aligned with your competitive strategy. The Following graph shows how two different breeds of consulting firms (strategy consulting vs. IT Consulting) would typically differ in their approach based on their different competitive strategies:
Let us assume your market strategy is clear, how do you know which knowledge strategy is the right one? The authors recommend to look into three areas
Do you offer standardized vs. customized products? Standardized products = Codification, Customized products = Personalization
Do you have a mature or innovative product? Again, mature product = Codification
Do your people rely on tacit or explicit knowledge to solve problems? Explicit knowledge can be codified, tacit knowledge cannot.
Who should take care of knowledge managment? The Author suggest an integrated approach between IT, HR and leadership of the company.
My Takeaways
the creation of a strong knowledge management culture paired with strong people development is absolutely key in retaining talent. This is particular true for generation Z, which will pick and choose to stay in job as long as the learn (in order to capitalize on these learning at a later point of time)
I also believe that most companies, and in particular Tech/Ecommerce companies will have strong tendencies to codify, using wikis, etc.. and all sort of codified documentation language. To have a deliberate discussion, on the benfits of codification and the limits, e.g. complex problem soliving, new product, should be an integrated leadership discussion
Last, knowledge management and service excellence as well as sales excellence need to be tackled in a more integrated approach way. Key account manager with large customers will not succeed with codified knowledge given their personality as well as the need for customized solution. Handling customers complains at a service desk, on the other hand, will benefit from codified knowledge, which might be found in templates or previous handled incidents.
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