2. Structures That Support Learning Structuring Actions The structuring actions are levers that are available to a person, a team, or an organization to encourage the development of formal processes that capture, store, and disseminate valuable learning from successes and failures. Specific structuring levers that are key for Knowledge Management initiatives and contribute to organizational learning are: Slides by Payman Shafiee

3. Structures That Support Learning Structuring Actions Organizational structure Norms (policies, procedures) Roles Technology Leadership Education/training/development Rewards and recognition Slides by Payman Shafiee

4. Structures That Support Learning Structuring Actions A knowledge manager, a team, or an organization can choose from these structuring levers those that fit the project, work unit, and organizational context. The challenge is to integrate the appropriate levers in a specific culture for a unique Knowledge Management initiative. Slides by Payman Shafiee

5. Structures That Support Learning Implementation  the question becomes, What levers can I pull or deploy to get the largest return for my organization? Slides by Payman Shafiee

6. Structures That Support Learning Organizational Structure How a company is organized, especially if it is consciously a knowledge-based company, directly influences the strategy and tactics for knowledge sharing. A hierarchical, siloed organization is less likely to share knowledge across people, teams, and the entire organization than a highly matrixed organization where crossfunctional work in teams is a way of life. Slides by Payman Shafiee Organization Silos are when individual people, departments, or companies, conduct business in a vacuum without taking into consideration the impact their actions have on the entire organization. For instance an accounts payable department always pays on time within the conditions of the purchase order but accounts receivable don't collect cash to support the amount of money going out. Both departments work along merrily without any communication and both feel they are meeting their responsibilities however cash is drained and the corporation continues to borrow money at a high interest rate to support paying vendors and general expenses.

7. Structures That Support Learning Organizational Structure Example: British Petroleum, which reorganized itself into a federation of self- standing businesses to achieve performance results. To prevent losing know-how across businesses in the process of becoming a federation, BP responded by creating peer groups as a formal structure for senior managers to share performance goals and resource allocations. Peer groups consist of the leaders of separate business units that face similar challenges (e.g., the peer group of offshore oil fields or the peer group of chemical refinery business units). Peer groups encourage networking, cooperation, and communication across the business units. This structural change contributed to the organization’s desire and ability to share knowledge. In addition to the peer groups, BP encourages and supports networks of people and communities of practice that share professional interests. Slides by Payman Shafiee

8. Structures That Support Learning Organizational Structure As companies move away from functional organizations, where people are colocated, they put specialist professionals, e.g., engineers and process experts, into disparate businesses to work on cross-functional teams. Especially in global organizations, these practitioners may be dispersed around the world and probably do not know each other. (Lave and Wenger, 1991) Slides by Payman Shafiee Definition for community of practice: “a group of professionals within a corporation who are informally bound to one another through their exposure to a common class of problems and common pursuit of solutions. Members within the community of practice freely exchange knowledge that creates an even greater resource base of knowledge” 1

9. Structures That Support Learning Organizational Structure - Community of Practice The Purpose: The purpose is a free, and usually informal exchange of knowledge to increase the resource base of knowledge and experience available to the members both individually and as a group. Slides by Payman Shafiee

10. Structures That Support Learning Organizational Structure - Virtual Teams A virtual team is defined as a team that has members dispersed across distance and time who are linked together by some form of electronic communication technology and who are able to physically interact as a team only on a limited basis (Sessa et al., 1999). People working in virtual teams have been a driver for raising the awareness of the need to institutionalize Knowledge Management tools and practices, because virtual teams by definition require mechanisms for knowledge sharing. Slides by Payman Shafiee

11. Structures That Support Learning Organizational Structure - Virtual Teams Slides by Payman Shafiee

12. Structures That Support Learning Norms Norms are: policies, procedures, and rules for accepted behavior within a team or an organization. Best practices are: tools and techniques associated with improving and optimizing norms However, “best practices” is a misleading term because a KM principle is that every practice can be improved. Therefore, “better” or “proven” practice is a more descriptive label than “best practice.” Slides by Payman Shafiee

13. Structures That Support Learning Norms Technology tools can be used during each phase of a project. Examples are virtual teamworking (VT), a PC videoconference technology with coaching, Webcasts, and database search tools. Each of these tools can be made available as part of the technology infrastructure and used when appropriate. For example, PC videoconferences can replace or augment face-to-face meetings. Slides by Payman Shafiee

14. Structures That Support Learning Organizational Structure - Technology Slides by Payman Shafiee

15. Structures That Support Learning Organizational Structure - Technology Technology is a critical enabler for teams in general and virtual teams in particular. Team and/or communication technology can be separated into two categories: infrastructure and collaborative app Infrastructure is: the hardware and software that allow anyone to communicate with anyone else from any place at any time. Without the technical infrastructure that supports communication and information sharing, virtual teams cannot function. Components of the infrastructure: are standardized hardware and software as well as networks that provide fast, reliable, consistent access. Slides by Payman Shafiee

16. Structures That Support Learning Organizational Structure - Technology Once the infrastructure is in place, collaborative technology (or groupware) applications can be effectively implemented to address communication across time and space. The three categories of collaborative technology (Dalton, 1992) include group communications, group memory, and group process support. Slides by Payman Shafiee

17. Structures That Support Learning Organizational Structure - Technology Group communications involves teleconferencing, screen sharing, group scheduling, meetings support, and group writing. Group memory refers to existing databases, group filing, filtering, and refining. Group process support involves managing groups and workflow. Each element can be separated, but for optimum efficiency and effectiveness, the components form a “system” that combines the core groupware functionality of communication, coordination, and collaboration. Slides by Payman Shafiee

18. Structures That Support Learning Organizational Structure - Technology Underlying the use of collaborative technologies is the basic premise that virtual work requires increased shared efforts, cooperation, and collaboration. Schrage (1995) states that the goal of groupware is to create value through human interaction, not just better information. Computer mediation can help distributed teams increase interaction by providing communication, coordination, and collaboration tools. Although a virtual team cannot function efficiently without some collaborative technology, without other structuring and sense-making variables that include information practices, resources, and capabilities, performance and learning cannot be sustained. Slides by Payman Shafiee