QUESTION 1: (40 MARKS) Case Study

Building a knowledge-based company - Initial Knowledge Sharing Mechanisms Since its inception, Infosys had always emphasized knowledge sharing. Over the years, as the knowledge-sharing needs of employees intensified, some other standalone mechanisms evolved which included a technical bulletin forum, corporate intranet, process assets database, project leader toolkit and marketing assets repository. In 1999, it was decided to initiate formal KM program. A steering committee of senior management was formed to articulate a formal KM implementation strategy. The committee's first task was to define Infosys's KM vision statement envisioning Infosys "to be an organization where every action is fully enabled by the power of knowledge; which truly believes in leveraging knowledge for Page 2 of 5 innovation; where every employee is empowered by the knowledge of every other employee; which is a globally respected knowledge leader". Building the KM Infrastructure The steering committee made four critical decisions while establishing the organizational KM infrastructure: Focus on Explicit Knowledge - The committee restricted its infrastructure-related efforts to enhance the sharing of explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge sharing was identified as a long-term goal, and efforts for enhancing explicit knowledge flows were seen as contributing to that goal. Moreover, Infosys already had a number of tacit knowledge-sharing mechanisms including knowledge transfer sessions among the project team members, impromptu project meetings, formal seminars by experts, and best-practice sessions. Facilitated-Distributed Architecture - Another important decision at this stage was selecting the appropriate KM architecture. The results indicated that a top-down KM model will not fit with Infosys' largely decentralized culture, while a bottom-up approach may lead to a selective dissemination and application of knowledge, thus leaving the genuine knowledge needs unmet. The KM steering committee and the KM group finally decided on a facilitated-distributed architecture that was more akin to the middle-updown model proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995). Enabling Knowledge Creation Sensing an increase in business opportunities in e-commerce, ERP solutions, and telecommunications, three new business units were added to scout for opportunities in these fields. An engineering services group was also created to develop new knowledge and competencies in these fields. The group transferred its members to the three units to share competencies. To involve the global locations in knowledgecreation exercise, knowledge-generating units were added to all the locations. "Proximity centers," as these units were called, internalized knowledge from the local environment. Usually, the centers worked closely with technology startups in their respective markets to gain access to the latest technologies. Knowledge Page 3 of 5 pertaining to these technologies was supplied to the local office and to the TCG in India. Strong behavioural issues were attached to mandatory sharing and application. The KM Group realized that highly talented professionals could not be forced to share their knowledge. It would malign the whole rubric of Infosys's philosophy toward its intellectual assets. So they initiated mandatory sharing and application in areas where the information being shared had a low knowledge component. Project management was one such area. Project managers had to input mandatory project information at various project stages in the integrated project management (IPM) application. The IPM was slightly modified to require managers to provide experiential knowledge. The idea was to encourage them to contribute knowledge artefacts during the project itself, rather than as a time-consuming exercise at the end of the project. Once completed, the document was uploaded as a project snapshot to the KM portal. An important accomplishment for Infosys' KM program was the company's recognition as one of the Asia's Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) for 2002 and 2003. In 2003, Infosys was also recognized as one of the Globally Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises. (Other winners included Accenture, Amazon.com, BP, GE, Toyota, and World Bank.) With the initial success of the KM initiative, there also emerged new challenges. As with KM initiatives at other companies, questions were being raised about the program's impact on the firm's performance. While the KM Group was busy developing assessment metrics for KM-enabled value creation inside the company, the committee focused on the potential usefulness of the KM initiative even beyond firm's boundaries. One of the biggest benefits of the initiative was its contribution to make Infosys a truly scalable company. Existing knowledge facilitated creation of new knowledge, thus enhancing firm's innovative capabilities and enabling it to exploit business opportunities earlier and better than the competition. On a separate note, the company would ever be possible to facilitate tacit knowledge sharing within an economically and temporally feasible framework. "That is the final frontier, where we can claim true individual empowerment every employee having access to every iota of organizational knowledge. Page 4 of 5 [Source: BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE-BASED COMPANY - Initial KnowledgeSharing Mechanisms - Idea Group Inc.]

Required: (a) Explain with examples, the following terms as used in the case study above:

(i) Tacit knowledge (2 marks)

(ii) Explicit knowledge (2 marks)

(iii) Experiential knowledge (2 marks)

(iv) Organisational Knowledge (2 marks)

(v) Existing knowledge (2 marks)

(b) Which KM mechanisms were previously adopted by Infosys to share knowledge among employees before the steering committee was formed? (5 marks)

(c) "The KM steering committee and the KM group decided on a facilitated- distributed architecture that was more akin to the middle-updown model proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995)".

(i) Describe the Nonaka and Takeuchi model as the type of KM architecture implemented at InfoSys. (10 marks)

(ii) What was the purpose of the "Proximity Centers" at Infosys? (6 marks)

(d) Illustrate three most important lessons learnt during the KM implementation at Infosys.