How to Get the Most Out of



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Insight


Can be viewed as an act of intuitively sensing the inner nature of something. Insight can also be described as a novel, clear, compelling, understanding of something occurring without direct recourse to memories of past experiences. In Gestalt psychology, insight characterizes a sudden reorganization or restructuring of the pattern or significance of events allowing one to grasp relationships relevant to the solution. In simple terms, insight is the ability to see and understand the truth about people or situations. Developing insight involves going below the surface and arriving at a well thought out explanation for a phenomenon. This involves careful observation and reflection. For example, the insight that customer demand should pull inventory, has been the guiding principle of Toyota’s Just-in-Time production system.

(See also: Knowledge, Wisdom)

Instant Messaging


An increasingly popular way of communication in many organizations. While commonly associated with informal social groups, the tool is a useful complement to synchronous communication, for example to interact with peers during a virtual seminar. Unlike e-mails, instant messaging can help in resolving issues and closing action items faster. At the same time, an instant message is less intrusive than a phone call. One can keep responding to a message at an acceptable pace, with time lags, unlike a phone which interrupts the current work.

Integration Work


A kind of knowledge work which is systematic, repeatable and depends on integration across functional boundaries. In such work, there is scope for reuse of knowledge. For example, software companies keep libraries of reusable code. Similarly, automobile companies keep reusable component designs. A term coined by Tom Davenport.

Intellectual Capital (IC)


According to Patricia Seemann, David De Long, Susan Stucky and Edward Guthrie49, intellectual capital has three elements:

  1. Human capital,

  2. Structural capital, and

  3. Social capital.

Human Capital refers to the knowledge, skills and experiences possessed by individual employees. Without human capital, no company can compete effectively in the market place.

Structural capital refers to the explicit, rule based knowledge embedded in the company’s work processes, systems, policies, training documentation or best practices repository. Structural capital also includes patents and copyrights.

Social capital refers to the ability of groups of employees to collaborate and work together. Effective networks of relationships constitute an extremely valuable, intangible asset that is often overlooked.

Seemann, De long, Stucky and Guthrie have explained the relationship between intellectual capital and knowledge management. Knowledge management is all about ensuring that intellectual capital is constantly enhanced, shared, sold or used to generate value. Knowledge management can be viewed as the deliberate design of processes, tools and structures to increase and improve the use of knowledge contained in the three kinds of intellectual capital. Many companies make the mistake of equating knowledge management with structural capital, i.e. implementing shared databases or document repositories. Effective knowledge management is all about managing, human, structural and social capital in an integrated way. According to Laurie J. Bassie and Mark E. Van Buren, managing intellectual capital involves50:

Identifying intellectual capital types, needs and requirements.

Creating new intellectual capital and uncovering existing intellectual capital.

Compiling, gathering, representing, codifying and reorganizing intellectual capital.

Disseminating, distributing and transferring intellectual capital.

Applying, incorporating, reusing, exploiting and leveraging intellectual capital.

Intellectual capital is not the same as intellectual property (IP). The latter is that part of intellectual capital that is protected by law. Intellectual property includes patents, copyrights and trademarks. Intellectual property must be unique and not too obvious. Otherwise, it would be difficult to get a patent or copyright. As Carl Davidson and Philip Voss put it so well,51 the distinction between intellectual capital and intellectual property is important. Knowledge does not have to be invented to be useful to an organization. “Originality is much less important than usefulness.”

Intelligent Routing


Responding to queries is an integral part of any business. Information technology facilitates intelligent routing of incoming queries. Filtering can be done on the basis of customer profile, customer requirements, past history and skills of the customer service agent.

Intention


A concept coined by Nonaka and Takeuchi. Intention is an important enabler of knowledge creation. There should be a clear intention on the part of the organization about what knowledge is important and the commitment of resources to developing that knowledge. Without a clear vision of where it is heading and what kind of knowledge needs to be developed, an organization will find it difficult to implement knowledge management. As Nonaka and Takeuchi put it, intention provides the most important criterion for judging the “truthfulness of knowledge”. Without intention, it would be difficult to judge the value of information or knowledge perceived and created.

Internalization


A term coined by Takeuchi and Nonaka, as part of their seci model to describe the process of converting explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge. In this stage, knowledge is applied and used in practical situations and becomes the basis for new routines. Action, practice and reflection are the building blocks of the internalization process. Internalization essentially converts externalized explicit knowledge back into an individual’s tacit knowledge.

Thus a Business School professor after reading a book may reflect on the various concepts covered in the book. He may then attempt to understand whether the examples given in the book will work in a different context. He may also examine whether the principles mentioned are universally applicable. In the process of reading the book and reflecting on its contents, knowledge gets internalized. Here, internalization is taking place not by re-experiencing other people’s experiences but by relating to those experiences.

(See also: SECI Model)


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