Strengths, Weaknesses and Recommendations for H&LPA

Strengths, weaknesses and recommendations for the Knowledge Management Cycle in the company Home and Lifestyle Products Australia (H&LPA). 


KM STRENGTHS AT H&LPA

The use of SharePoint allows collaborative work in real time for the staff in the office as well as those working remotely.

Compatibility of information with other client companies which makes it easier to share information and schedule meetings. 

Management desire for improvement is a valuable strength as the company is quickly growing during the last years and management are open to hear and try out new ideas from employees. 

The systems for customer relationship management, document and warehousing management have lately been greatly improved allowing easy migration of information.

 


KM WEAKNESSES AT H&LPA


Management doesn’t clearly schedule specific times to analyse the current KM systems and make a plan for it in the middle and long term. 
 
H&LPA relies exclusively on SharePoint for most of its working processes.

A good part of the information is shared by email and not by specific channels of communication in Teams, it generates inconveniences later on when trying to search and reuse information.

There are no current incentives to employees for updating and improving the information available in the intranet. 

Therefore, most processes are still relying mostly on specific team member's expertise, which is one of the main inconvenient companies present in Australia as current expert employees rather keep the information for them than sharing it without any gain (Zingier 2022).

Social tools for KM are not commonly used as well as wikis and blogs.




RECOMMENDATIONS FOR H&LPT


The company is growing at a fast pace in the last years since the pandemic and more members are likely to join the team, it is important to encourage current expert employees to create more content sharing specific knowledge and making it available for new members to come and improve.

Identify which key areas of the company have more potential for improvement, then work on defining the top three objectives H&LPA  wants its KM systems to achieve in the middle and long term. 

It is recommended to use gamification tools to encourage current employees as well as the use of the blog and wikis which are appropriate tools to improve the culture and practices of knowledge management (Garfield 2022).

Schedule a yearly meeting to follow up on the KM objectives and adjust as necessary . 
Provide staff training for the correct use of chats with Teams and define clear rules for the use of email ensuring information is made accessible in the right channels and platforms. 








Written by Sergio Quintero, 2023, student of Master of Business Administration, 

Kaplan Business School, Melbourne, Australia.





REFERENCES



AIIM 2022, “What is SharePoint?”, Association for intelligent information management, retrieved 04 December 2022, <https://www.aiim.org/what-is-microsoft-sharepoint>



Davenport T., Prusak L. 1998, “Technologies for knowledge management”, Working knowledge: how organisations manage what they know, Harvard Business School Press 1998.



Evans M., Dalkir K., Bidian C., 2014, “A holistic view of the knowledge life cycle: the knowledge management cycle model”, McGill University, EJKM, volume 12, issue 2. 



Garfield S, 2016, Knowledge management technology components, Quora, retrieved 3 December 2022, <https://stangarfield.quora.com/Knowledge-Management-Technology-Components>



IFAD 2020, “Knowledge management plan”, International Fund for Agricultural Development, retrieved 02 December 2022, <https://ifadkmcentre.weebly.com/knowledge-management-plan.html>



Microsoft 2022, “SharePoint service description”, Microsoft, retrieved 04 December 2022, <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/servicedescriptions/sharepoint-online-service-description/sharepoint-online-service-description#available-plans>



Rao M. 2021, “Discovery, delivery, delight - how EY harnessed knowledge management and became one of the two most outstanding winners of the Mike award”, Your Story, retrieved 02 December 2022, <https://yourstory.com/2020/08/cii-knowledge-management-ey>



Saa Sworthy 2022, “Comparison knowledge management prices”, Microsoft SharePoint, retrieved 04 December 2022, <https://www.saasworthy.com/product/microsoft-sharepoint/pricing>



Zyngier, S. 2022, ‘5 Knowledge Management Strategies in Australia: Analysis of uptake and understanding’, University of Wollongong Press, Australian Studies in knowledge management (pp.487 - 521).


Comentarios

Publicar un comentario

Entradas populares de este blog

Infographic for a Cultural Workshop

Imagen
Applying Cultural Intelligence, Hofstede's Intercultural Dimensions Model,  and Hall's model of Low-context vs High-context Cultures.  WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION The workshop has by name and purpose “Developing Intercultural Competence” and subtitle “Aussie - Thai Cultural Workshop”, together with a kangaroo picture with the Australian flag and an elephant with the flag of Thailand. Furthermore, this infographic catches the eye by indicating this is a great opportunity to taste Aussie and Thai meals and indicates the time, day, place and topic of the workshop. Cultural Intelligence is explained using images and description of concepts. Then Hofstede’s intercultural dimensions model is explained through pictures, comparing Australia and Thailand in the six different dimensions while two of them are explained in more detail.  Hall’s model of low-context versus high-context culture is presented indicating which one aligns more with Thailand and which one with Australia, as well as how c
Leer más

Cultural Intelligence - Hofstede's and Hall's model

Cultural intelligence - CQ Cultural intelligence  is the “Capability of an individual to function effectively in situations characterised by cultural diversity” (Ang 2015).  It involves increasing the CQ drive, CQ knowledge, CQ action and CQ strategy. In other words, increasing the level of Cultural Intelligence comes as a result when it is increased the level of interest, understanding, awareness and adaptation to other cultures (Cultural Intelligence Center 2023). Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory  is a model developed in 1973 thanks to Hofstede’s examinations of worldwide employee’s surveys during 6 years. This model indicates how communication varies within different cultures, as they differ in values, behaviours and understanding of it.  Hosftede’s cultural dimensions are six, they are described as:  1) Power of Distance Index, this is the degree to which authority is accepted and followed.  2) Individualism vs Collectivism, to what extent
Leer más

Trust, Leadership and Desicion Making

Trust between leaders and followers represent one of the most relevant influences to predict success or failure. It sets the base for collaboration which in term brings organisational effectiveness, improves people’s motivation, co-operation, performance and positive behaviour.  As a way of exploring this topic, a formal definition or trust is presented together with the analysis of how trust between leaders and followers influences the decision making and behaviours both for leaders and followers. TRUST DEFINITION Trust is an attitude people have towards other people in the hope that the other person will be trustworthy. Trust has several important characteristics, firstly, it requires being vulnerable to other people's decisions.  Secondly, one of the parts rely on the other one to be competent to do what they have been trusted to do, and lastly, to rely on them to be willing to do it (McLeod 2021). TRUST AND LEADERSHIP IN DECISION MAKING Trust between leaders and followers is kn
Leer más