Transfer Of Knowledge Reports Examples

For obvious reasons, having a clear and effective understanding of knowledge transfer is a vital tool that should be possessed by all the individuals in any given organisation. Taking the case of the army, knowledge transfer is a critical issue that should never be underestimated. In the military, a soldier is supposed to know what to expect and how they ought to react to varied military situations, therefore, to the soldier, this knowledge is literally a matter of life-and-death. Similarly, the aspect of effective transfer of knowledge in a business organisation either dictates its success or fall. In this report, I will focus on the subsection of transfer of knowledge because I believe that, data or any form of knowledge should be deemed worthless if it is not communicated. Knowledge workers in a business organisation are the key assets to innovation and growth of the entity. They are the individual who are responsible for inventing better products and services.
When I was reading about the subtopic on velocity and viscosity being factors that affect the success and efficiency of knowledge transfer in organisations, I could not help but relate it to how most successful and renowned companies capitalises on these factors. I immediately thought of Google as a company that is dedicated to passing valuable information to internet users by making accessibility of knowledge very easy. I tried to trace the origin of this brain child and carefully related it to Davenport’s teachings. It became apparent that, Google has managed to understand clearly how to transfer knowledge to its millions of users in its primary form, thereby making the knowledge transferred viscous. According to the explanations put across by Davenport, Viscosity in regard to the transfer of knowledge refers to the “thickness” or richness of the knowledge transferred. Additionally, at Google, you receive almost any kind of knowledge from any field that you might be interested in a blink of an eye, thereby they have also factored in the importance how fast (velocity) the transfer of knowledge ought to be.
Arguably, it is basically due to these two aspects, viscosity and velocity, that has made Google the number one search engine in the whole world. I did my little research on this issue and I realised that out of me and my seven closest friends, five of us use Google as our homepage and all seven of us always use this particular company as our primary search engine. It is for this reason that Google has rightfully risen to the topmost level of the proverbial internet resource pyramid. When I look at the teachings of by Davenport and the notion of transfer of knowledge and how Google has managed to literally transfer knowledge to the world makes me realise the power of information to any given organisation. It is for this reason that Google has become one of the highest publicly traded companies that has created enormous wealth to its investors since its start up. It is obvious that when you create a competitive advantage above your fellow competitors in terms of knowledge transfer to your workers you will definitely end up performing better than them. I am of the opinion that this increased performance can be achieved through methods such as the use of an enterprise system that has been configured to generate real time data which would connect both sales and other departments such as planning. This approach can also be regarded to be an example of how the transfer of knowledge as applied in an organisation.
Suppose Google decided to charge internet users for accessing information through their search engines? Could it still be as popular and successful as it is now? This is another argument that makes me believe that Davenport’s argument are very applicable in real life organisation performance. I believe that if this popular search engine used to charge people then it would not be very popular because not everybody would afford the charges that they would charge and therefore information, which is part of knowledge, would not be accessible to all the people. If I was a manager of a business organisation, I would seek to improve my employees’ knowledge base through things such as indulging them in intensive training aimed at increasing their know-how in relation to the organisations mission and objectives. Knowledgeable workers basically are the backbone in creating a sturdy organisation while most importantly helping in building value. However, most of the companies fails to understand that the issue of customer satisfaction begins with satisfying or equipping their workers with the relevant skills and knowledge that would otherwise improve on the level of satisfaction for their customers.
Another example that I think can be used to show how the issue of transfer of knowledge as discussed by Davenport is in the case of a person who has decided to be taught a certain sport or playing an instrument that involves a lot of cognitive skills such as playing a guitar or golf. Initially, when a total amateur who has no skills in playing a guitar, is given chance to showcase his skills, it is usually evident by how they pluck the strings that they are not knowledgeable in that field. They create noise instead of the intended rhythm. Nonetheless, if the individual is willing to learn, the tutor will make it possible for the transfer of knowledge and skills on how to professionally play the guitar from him to the amateur. On the other hand, for this endeavour to be successful, the tutor must also be in a perfect position to transfer his or her knowledge at the required speeds (velocity) and quality (viscosity) using the best strategy available to make the learner understand. If this happens successfully, after some few days of training, one will notice that the skills of the leaner have gradually started to improve.
The notion of learning the guitar is analogous to the idea of transferring knowledge from various professional sources into the daily activities of the business organisation. If the people who have been targeted for knowledge transfer are willing to learn, gradual improvement in how the organisation handles it affairs. Just like how the leaner will start to pluck the guitar strings with improved professionalism and expertise, the parties involved in the running of the business entity will also start to deal with both the customers and the internal affairs of the organisation with improved expertise. The major importance of the aspect of experience and transferred knowledge is one of the major indication of the great ability that knowledge has in dealing with various forms of complexity in a business organisation. Davenport appears to have done a lot of research on this topic due to the way he addresses his ideas about the transfer of knowledge. He has given this topic a more technical outlook that uses a more scientific methodology thus making it a reliable approach.
In conclusion, although in many occasions a business organisation might get tempted to look for simple solutions or answers to complex problems or situations, and dealing with various uncertainties by pretending as if they do not exist, knowing and learning more usually leads to better outcomes than knowing less. I agree with most of Davenports thoughts on knowledge management and I am of the opinion that when any business entity fully adopts his teachings, they will surely results in improvement. His ideas have change my way of thinking by showing me the great importance of transferring knowledge to other people whom we have a common interest such as increasing profits for a business. In addition, I have come to learn that knowledge works to a large extent through rules of the thumb: flexible guidance to action that has been carefully developed through the method of trial and error for a very long period of experiences. I consider the rule of the thumb to being certain shortcuts solutions to current problems using the wisdom that has been gained through solving previous problems. Therefore, the people who are more experienced and are knowledgeable have learnt the pattern of problems and how they can use this knowledge to solve future problems. In general, I second Davenport that transfer of knowledge is vital tool that every organisation should endeavour to exercise at all time.