Knowledge Management at HP
The case study in itself relates several attempts to create aneffective knowledge management within Hewlett Packard, however, we shouldfirst start by attempting a definition of knowledge management, because theconcept in itself is more difficult to grasp. Following a definition fromone of the many knowledge management websites, knowledge management wouldbe "the capture, retention, and reuse of the foundation for imparting anunderstanding of how all these pieces fit together and how to convey themmeaningfully to some other person"[1] . Following this definition, wenotice that the concept of knowledge management has several importantcomponents. First, the concept of knowledge in itself, regarding acollection of data, information, facts, etc. that may appear and be used ina company. Second, the concept of management, which regards the way wesucceed to get the best out of the information available and use itefficiently across the company. Third, there is the concept of sharingthis information and making it available for everybody in the company.Indeed, it is to be believed that if more people can effectively andefficiently use this information and knowledge, the overall value of the
Whyshould an unit invest a large amount of its funds in acquiring knowledgethat is later to be shared across other units' In this sense, perhaps theworkshops will improve the company awareness of individual business units. In my opinion, this solution would have several obviousadvantages. As wehave seen, most of the business units find it more important to improvetheir own performances and care less for the general performances of thecompany. The main one and most obvious is that this would bean attempt to centralize HP's activity. Thefact that each business unit has a large autonomy is beneficial from manypoints of view (the ability to make decisions on their own, in case onecalls for fast decisions, less bureaucracy and easier management at thetop), however, it also means that the connections between the units israther weak. Indeed, it seems quite obvious that the tradition of decentralizationwithin Hewlett Packard, besides the advantages that I have mentioned above,has created a somewhat dangerous affiliation and level of loyalty. Somehow, this seems natural, because each unit is evaluated at anindividual level. Besides the obvious fact that, psychologically speaking, youhave every interest to ensure that your own unit is doing well and you areless concerned for the other business units, we should also mention thefact that the incentive to share knowledge is almost non-existing. This would be a full-timeposition that would allow the CKO to handle 8-10 hours a day the knowledgemanagement issue. However, as it is pointed out at the end of the case study, one ofthe most important challenges that Hewlett Packard is facing in improvingits ability to manage organizational knowledge is "emphasizes awareness-building and the development of common vocabulary and frameworks"[2]. The first thing to be mentioned is thedecentralized organizational structure used within Hewlett Packard. Given the long tradition ofdecentralization within HP, as well as the results that this tradition hasdeemed throughout the year, the general impression is that such a measureis not according to HP's principles.
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