Subject name: Knowledge management

Read Fluor (US) case study and answer the following questions: Questions 1 What changes to Knowledge OnLine should John McQuary recommend to Alan Boeckmann in light of Fluors rapid expansion in South America? 2 What are the shortcomings of Fluors online communities and how could they be improved? 3 How can Fluor get employees to share project mistakes on Knowledge OnLine for the benefit of other employees and the organisation?

CASE STUDY Fluor (United States) Y Alan Boeckmann, CEO of Fluor, met John McQuary, Vice President of Knowledge Management, at his offices. 'We have a major challenge, John, and I need your help. Until the end of 2008 most of our activities in South America were focused in Puerto Rico through Fluor Daniel Caribbean. At Board level, we have now made a decision to expand across South America and we have opened offices in Buenos Aires in Brazil, Santiago in Chile, Lima in Peru, Caracas in Venezuela and Mexico City in Mexico. Our corporate knowledge and expertise is critical to our success in these countries. Please tell me where we are with our global knowledge manage- ment activities and what we need to do to ensure success across new markets in South America.' Mr McQuary began by confirming that Fluor had been winners of the 2008 Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) awards. 'At Fluor, we take a true enterprise-wide approach to knowl- edge management. This requires an expanded mindset for deploying and maintaining com- munities beyond what is required when the KM approach is targeted to a segment of the com- pany, is regional, or is not open to all employ- ees. We have also adopted a broad definition of knowledge communities that includes the global network of people and a technology platform providing integrated content, expertise, and dis- cussions. Every employee has access to every community, a rigorous community deployment process is followed, community performance measurement and auditing programs align com- munities with strategic business direction, and knowledge-sharing behaviors are integrated into all aspects of company operations, Mr Boeckmann interrupted and said: 'Take me slowly through what this means and how we can apply it to South America.' Fluor is one of the world's leading engineer- ing, procurement, construction and maintenance (EPCM) firms in a range of heavy industrial sec- tors: oil and gas, industrial and infrastructure, government, global services and power. Fluor employs more than 40,000 employees in 25 countries and had an annual turnover in excess of $22 billion in 2008 with profits of $721m. Fluor's knowledge management journey started in 1997 when they became aware that much valuable knowledge was being lost at the end of projects. The nature of their work meant that teams disbanded at the end of projects and reformed into new project teams. Lessons learnt on projects weren't necessarily passed on, with new project teams making the same costly mis- takes and dissemination of new approaches hav- ing limited success. This problem is inherent in any large project- based organisation whether it be IT, shipping or construction. Fluor was clear from the start that a community-based solution was required and that technology would be needed in some form to allow its large employee base to be connect- ed. They were interested in allowing employees to access and share their collective knowledge, which would result ultimately in benefits for the customer. They built a Web-based knowl- edge management platform called 'Knowledge OnLine' as part of their solution. In essence, this technology platform combined aspects of social networking with a document-management sys- tem that was constructed, owned and managed by the company. The focus was on open knowl- edge-sharing across organisational, regional and project boundaries. In 1999 Fluor started with two communities as a pilot. In 2000 the success of the pilot communities led to 32 communities with 4,000 members. Now there are 43 communi- 90 Part 5/Mobilising knowledge ties with 26,000 members including almost all of Employee participation was difficult in the Fluor's professional staff (21,000). early days of Knowledge Online. Fluor decided Each community has its own homepage with against the 'points'-based incentive scheme used news stories, featured content and knowledge in other organisations. Instead, they engaged objects such as best practice guidelines, specifi new employees to use the new platform from cations and tips and tricks. The emphasis is on day one and tried to show existing employ. material that other employees will find useful. ees through Global Communications that most The other aspect of the homepage is the commu of the resources used in their everyday work nity dimension. Users are provided with contact could be found either as knowledge objects details for Community Leaders and Subject Matter or within one of the communities. The main Experts (SMEs). There is a section on community incentives came from recognition awards annu- mission and charter, community help and links ally from their KM success-story contest and to community discussion forums, a calendar of 'KM Pacesetter' award where employees were activities and a search function. Apart from tra- nominated by peers for epitomising exceptional ditional search functions sorting results for rel- knowledge-sharing behaviours. Over the past evance, Knowledge OnLine provides the user with ten years there has been a distinct shift from contributor profiles for each knowledge object or a management-driven KM directive towards a discussion list searched. The user can see the con- more employee-focused one. The emphasis is on tributor's past experience and projects and deter- performing communities that can add corporate mine whether to contact them directly. Another value to the organisation. approach is for the user to start a discussion in To coordinate the KM system, John McQuary the community forum by posting to 'Asking a adds: 'At Fluor there is a central KM team of Question'. Apart from the content and context of seven, but only two are assigned full-time to KM. the question, the user also provides the date by Those two maintain the technology platform for which the response is needed.2 Knowledge Online. The rest are part-time. Other An example of the responsiveness of the Knowledge Online discussion forums can team members focus on improving community be shown by a process study conducted for a performance and communication. I myself split Kuwaiti client wanting a dehazing solution for my time between the KM programme and tech- diesel and gas oil to meet the Haze-2 specifica- nology strategies. Each community also has a tion at 77C. The client's initial judgement was knowledge-manager responsible for maintaining to use an electrostatic coalescer and salt-bed the content and people connections through the drier with a water-cooled chiller. The project online community. Like the community leaders team found the salt-bed drier manual as a knowl- and central staff, KM responsibilities are either edge object on Knowledge Online and placed a f the job description or fulfilled by vol- request for any design and operational experi- unteers. In total, there are 200+ people globally ence of electrostatic coalescers and salt-bed dri- providing explicit support for what looks like a ers. They received three responses in three days corporately managed system'.3 from their Netherlands and Canadian offices Alan Boeckmann interjected and asked about with different design options and project refer the nature of the 43 communities and how they ences to each. The underlying advice was to would operate with their recent South American pre-cool the diesel and oil to 60C which would expansion. Mr McQuary explained that all their avoid the need for a salt-bed drier. The project communities fall into functional or business team packaged this solution as the Dehazing categories. The functional communities repre- Facility Design and offered it to the client. The sent different aspects of the project such as pro- client was extremely pleased as the new solu curement and project management. Business tion saved them 1m in equipment costs and communities are linked to certain sectors of future operating costs. This process study using their work such as mining, oil and gas and life Knowledge OnLine led to new work for Fluor sciences. Mr Boeckmann laboured the point and with the same client.3 asked how their new employees would cope in part of Chapter 9 / Enabling knowledge contexts and networks 291 edge management in an engineering organization', Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects - Stanford University, Working Paper no. 40, 1-24. 3 Ash, J. (2007) 'Connecting people', Inside Knowledge, 10(9), 20-23 these large online communities with over 1,000 members when Spanish or Portuguese was their first language. He asked Mr McQuary to reflect on whether there was any need for changes to Knowledge OnLine given their South American expansion and to arrange another meeting with him with some concrete plans. He confirmed that he was impressed with the way knowledge management had engaged staff at all levels over the past ten years and provided lasting value to the organisation. Questions 1 What changes to Knowledge Online should John McQuary recommend to Alan Boeckmann in light of Fluor's rapid expansion in South America? 2 What are the shortcomings of Fluor's online communities and how could they be improved? 3 How can Fluor get employees to share project mistakes on knowledge Online for the benefit of other employees and the organisation? References 1 McQuary, J. (2009) 'Lessons from a decade of knowl- edge management', KM Edge. 2 Will, A. J. (2008) 'The institutionalization of knowl- C Summary This chapter has elaborated five areas that need to be considered developing knowledge-sharing culture and communities of practice: 1 The importance of norms, artefacts and symbols in provid explicit clues to given culture and how knowledge management interventions can be aligned to th prevailing culture. 2 The development of core values that guide every and decision in a compan to prevent them from becoming meaningless generating cynicism with senio management 3 The different approaches to measuring ture fall into typing surveys or profiling surveys such as effectiveness surveys, scriptive surveys and fit profiles. 4 The debates related to knowledge-sharing cultures arising from the promotion of dif ferent forms of 'Ba' (space) in knowledge-conversion process or the developmen of cooperative cultures through the values of 'care' or the result of an interplay o dialectic between cooperative and competitive cultures. 5 Communities of practice as informal, self-selecting groups that are open-ended, withou any deliverables. They play an important role in embedding tacit knowledge cognitivel and socially through storytelling and narratives shared regularly between actors. CASE STUDY Fluor (United States) Y Alan Boeckmann, CEO of Fluor, met John McQuary, Vice President of Knowledge Management, at his offices. 'We have a major challenge, John, and I need your help. Until the end of 2008 most of our activities in South America were focused in Puerto Rico through Fluor Daniel Caribbean. At Board level, we have now made a decision to expand across South America and we have opened offices in Buenos Aires in Brazil, Santiago in Chile, Lima in Peru, Caracas in Venezuela and Mexico City in Mexico. Our corporate knowledge and expertise is critical to our success in these countries. Please tell me where we are with our global knowledge manage- ment activities and what we need to do to ensure success across new markets in South America.' Mr McQuary began by confirming that Fluor had been winners of the 2008 Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) awards. 'At Fluor, we take a true enterprise-wide approach to knowl- edge management. This requires an expanded mindset for deploying and maintaining com- munities beyond what is required when the KM approach is targeted to a segment of the com- pany, is regional, or is not open to all employ- ees. We have also adopted a broad definition of knowledge communities that includes the global network of people and a technology platform providing integrated content, expertise, and dis- cussions. Every employee has access to every community, a rigorous community deployment process is followed, community performance measurement and auditing programs align com- munities with strategic business direction, and knowledge-sharing behaviors are integrated into all aspects of company operations, Mr Boeckmann interrupted and said: 'Take me slowly through what this means and how we can apply it to South America.' Fluor is one of the world's leading engineer- ing, procurement, construction and maintenance (EPCM) firms in a range of heavy industrial sec- tors: oil and gas, industrial and infrastructure, government, global services and power. Fluor employs more than 40,000 employees in 25 countries and had an annual turnover in excess of $22 billion in 2008 with profits of $721m. Fluor's knowledge management journey started in 1997 when they became aware that much valuable knowledge was being lost at the end of projects. The nature of their work meant that teams disbanded at the end of projects and reformed into new project teams. Lessons learnt on projects weren't necessarily passed on, with new project teams making the same costly mis- takes and dissemination of new approaches hav- ing limited success. This problem is inherent in any large project- based organisation whether it be IT, shipping or construction. Fluor was clear from the start that a community-based solution was required and that technology would be needed in some form to allow its large employee base to be connect- ed. They were interested in allowing employees to access and share their collective knowledge, which would result ultimately in benefits for the customer. They built a Web-based knowl- edge management platform called 'Knowledge OnLine' as part of their solution. In essence, this technology platform combined aspects of social networking with a document-management sys- tem that was constructed, owned and managed by the company. The focus was on open knowl- edge-sharing across organisational, regional and project boundaries. In 1999 Fluor started with two communities as a pilot. In 2000 the success of the pilot communities led to 32 communities with 4,000 members. Now there are 43 communi- 90 Part 5/Mobilising knowledge ties with 26,000 members including almost all of Employee participation was difficult in the Fluor's professional staff (21,000). early days of Knowledge Online. Fluor decided Each community has its own homepage with against the 'points'-based incentive scheme used news stories, featured content and knowledge in other organisations. Instead, they engaged objects such as best practice guidelines, specifi new employees to use the new platform from cations and tips and tricks. The emphasis is on day one and tried to show existing employ. material that other employees will find useful. ees through Global Communications that most The other aspect of the homepage is the commu of the resources used in their everyday work nity dimension. Users are provided with contact could be found either as knowledge objects details for Community Leaders and Subject Matter or within one of the communities. The main Experts (SMEs). There is a section on community incentives came from recognition awards annu- mission and charter, community help and links ally from their KM success-story contest and to community discussion forums, a calendar of 'KM Pacesetter' award where employees were activities and a search function. Apart from tra- nominated by peers for epitomising exceptional ditional search functions sorting results for rel- knowledge-sharing behaviours. Over the past evance, Knowledge OnLine provides the user with ten years there has been a distinct shift from contributor profiles for each knowledge object or a management-driven KM directive towards a discussion list searched. The user can see the con- more employee-focused one. The emphasis is on tributor's past experience and projects and deter- performing communities that can add corporate mine whether to contact them directly. Another value to the organisation. approach is for the user to start a discussion in To coordinate the KM system, John McQuary the community forum by posting to 'Asking a adds: 'At Fluor there is a central KM team of Question'. Apart from the content and context of seven, but only two are assigned full-time to KM. the question, the user also provides the date by Those two maintain the technology platform for which the response is needed.2 Knowledge Online. The rest are part-time. Other An example of the responsiveness of the Knowledge Online discussion forums can team members focus on improving community be shown by a process study conducted for a performance and communication. I myself split Kuwaiti client wanting a dehazing solution for my time between the KM programme and tech- diesel and gas oil to meet the Haze-2 specifica- nology strategies. Each community also has a tion at 77C. The client's initial judgement was knowledge-manager responsible for maintaining to use an electrostatic coalescer and salt-bed the content and people connections through the drier with a water-cooled chiller. The project online community. Like the community leaders team found the salt-bed drier manual as a knowl- and central staff, KM responsibilities are either edge object on Knowledge Online and placed a f the job description or fulfilled by vol- request for any design and operational experi- unteers. In total, there are 200+ people globally ence of electrostatic coalescers and salt-bed dri- providing explicit support for what looks like a ers. They received three responses in three days corporately managed system'.3 from their Netherlands and Canadian offices Alan Boeckmann interjected and asked about with different design options and project refer the nature of the 43 communities and how they ences to each. The underlying advice was to would operate with their recent South American pre-cool the diesel and oil to 60C which would expansion. Mr McQuary explained that all their avoid the need for a salt-bed drier. The project communities fall into functional or business team packaged this solution as the Dehazing categories. The functional communities repre- Facility Design and offered it to the client. The sent different aspects of the project such as pro- client was extremely pleased as the new solu curement and project management. Business tion saved them 1m in equipment costs and communities are linked to certain sectors of future operating costs. This process study using their work such as mining, oil and gas and life Knowledge OnLine led to new work for Fluor sciences. Mr Boeckmann laboured the point and with the same client.3 asked how their new employees would cope in part of Chapter 9 / Enabling knowledge contexts and networks 291 edge management in an engineering organization', Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects - Stanford University, Working Paper no. 40, 1-24. 3 Ash, J. (2007) 'Connecting people', Inside Knowledge, 10(9), 20-23 these large online communities with over 1,000 members when Spanish or Portuguese was their first language. He asked Mr McQuary to reflect on whether there was any need for changes to Knowledge OnLine given their South American expansion and to arrange another meeting with him with some concrete plans. He confirmed that he was impressed with the way knowledge management had engaged staff at all levels over the past ten years and provided lasting value to the organisation. Questions 1 What changes to Knowledge Online should John McQuary recommend to Alan Boeckmann in light of Fluor's rapid expansion in South America? 2 What are the shortcomings of Fluor's online communities and how could they be improved? 3 How can Fluor get employees to share project mistakes on knowledge Online for the benefit of other employees and the organisation? References 1 McQuary, J. (2009) 'Lessons from a decade of knowl- edge management', KM Edge. 2 Will, A. J. (2008) 'The institutionalization of knowl- C Summary This chapter has elaborated five areas that need to be considered developing knowledge-sharing culture and communities of practice: 1 The importance of norms, artefacts and symbols in provid explicit clues to given culture and how knowledge management interventions can be aligned to th prevailing culture. 2 The development of core values that guide every and decision in a compan to prevent them from becoming meaningless generating cynicism with senio management 3 The different approaches to measuring ture fall into typing surveys or profiling surveys such as effectiveness surveys, scriptive surveys and fit profiles. 4 The debates related to knowledge-sharing cultures arising from the promotion of dif ferent forms of 'Ba' (space) in knowledge-conversion process or the developmen of cooperative cultures through the values of 'care' or the result of an interplay o dialectic between cooperative and competitive cultures. 5 Communities of practice as informal, self-selecting groups that are open-ended, withou any deliverables. They play an important role in embedding tacit knowledge cognitivel and socially through storytelling and narratives shared regularly between actors.