Health Systems

(Knowledge
Management)
INSTITUTIONAL CARE DIVISION, NOETH EAST
REGIONAL HEALTH DIRECTORATE

Presented by:
Mr. Nathaniel Awuni – Deputy Director Clinical Care
Outline of the Presentation
• What is KM
• How does Knowledge get transferred
• Relevance of Knowledge Transfer in Healthcare
• What makes it complex
Knowledge Management - A Definition
“KM is the systematic processes by which knowledge needed for
an organization to succeed is created, captured, shared, and
leveraged.”

What does this mean to you??

Best practice sharing

Knowledge transfer

Innovation diffusion

Performance improvement

How do these relate to each other? 4

 Perspectives…
“Every day that a better idea goes unused is a lost
opportunity. We have to share more, and we have to
share faster. I tell employees that sharing and using
best practices is the single most important thing they
can do.”
-Ken Derr, former Chairman and CEO, Chevron
“Knowledge transfer isCorporation
a strategic imperative. It is our
stewardship responsibility to share and adopt ‘best
practices’ that have already been identified within our
system. Knowledge sharing is no longer a ‘nice to
have’, it has become a ‘must have’.”
- Chris Carney, CEO, Bon Secours Health System, Inc.

What prevents organizations like hospitals

from effectively sharing their knowledge?
 Perspectives…
“Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is
communicated through certain channels over
time among the members of a social system.”
-Everett Rogers, ‘Diffusion of Innovations’

“Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread

just like viruses do.”
-Malcolm Gladwell, ‘The Tipping Point’

How can we orchestrate how knowledge gets

shared within an organization to impact
results?
•Leadership/Management
•Culture/People Fundamentals of Knowledge Management
• Process
• Technology

LEADERSHIP CULTURE

TECHNOLOGY PROCESS

Developed by: Janet Guptill and Douglas E. Goldstein, 2003

Leadership
Knowledge transfer will only succeed
if accountability and authority are
clearly defined and imbedded in
existing operational decision
making structures.

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Discussion
• How do leaders transfer their
Knowledge?
• How do they model others to share
Knowledge?
• What are the potential barriers to
sharing Knowledge in an organization?

9
Culture
Knowledge transfer will only be
effective if managers find the
process a useful and productive way
to meet performance objectives.

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Discussion
• What is an example of organizational
culture?
• How does culture get shaped?
• How does one go about changing an
organization’s culture?
• How might a KM strategy affect culture
– and vice versa?

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Process
Knowledge transfer must become the
way performance is awarded and
managed, not an “extra” task or
process.

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• Transferring knowledge is often not enough; need to figure
out how to transfer capabilities as well through human and
technology enabled support systems
• Getting an organization to adapt new ideas requires a
process of re-invention—people need to own the result as
their own idea-- 10 Critical Dynamics of Innovation Diffusion:

1. Relative Advantage

2. Trial ability

3. Observability

4. Communications Channels

5. Homophilous Groups

6. Pace of Innovation/Reinvention

7. Norms, Roles, and Social Networks

8. Opinion Leaders

9. Compatability

10. Infrastructure
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 Basic Steps to Innovation Diffusion--

Set goals, Evaluate Clarify, Evaluate,

look for alternative Decide:
adopt, reject, implement confirm,
solutions s routinize
redefine,
restructure

Centralized/Decentralized Continuum to Diffusion

Process-- Dedicate
Mandate Mgt d Proscribe Performance
Centralized: d targets endorsed linked to transfer
execution d
best resources approach success
practice

Awards, Knowledg Peer Scorecar

Decentralized incentive e consultation d results
CoP best
: s exchange
practices
Developed by Janet Guptill and Douglas E. Goldstein, 2003, adapted from
Diffusion of Innovations, Everett M. Rogers, 1995
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Technology
Managers will need to develop an
“electronic attitude” which will
require an investment in collaboration
technology infrastructure, and
training and modeling on how to work
in a new web-centric manner.

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 A Knowledge Management Infrastructure Requires These Elements

Strategic Leadership

• Knowledge envisioned
What as a strategic asset
is Knowledge Management (cont.)?
• Knowledge
What sharing part of corporate culture
is Knowledge
• Continual innovation for competitive advantage
Management?
• An organizational investment designed to help the company achieve
its business strategy more effectively and efficiently
A systematic process for identifying, organizing, and applying the
• intellectual
A systematic mechanism
capital for capturing
of a company, to result in:both market intelligence and
Content Creation and Use internal experiences in order to derive newCollaboration insights and yield better
business
• Improved decisionsand reduced cost of doing business
efficiencies
• A tool for organizing data• and
• Core work products organized for broad access Peerinformation
to peer interaction
to avoidand collaboration
“re-inventing the
• Experience knowledge base continually•updated • Internal education and
wheel”, share lessons learned, and build on one another’s competency development
Faster innovation of new products
• Newtoproduct
generate new sources
design of
and development
experiences
• Internal and external “best practices” research
revenue
• A strategy for making more tangible the unique knowledge
resources within the company to attract and continually serve
• Enhanced marketing of unique capabilities and competitive
customers
Systems
advantage to Integration
grow market share
• An approach that ensures that the organization retains key
knowledge
• Communication andwhen there is turnover,
collaboration tools and that new members can
benefit
• Data storage, quickly from
indexing, prior experience
and retrieval
• KM templates, tools, and technologies
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1

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Recap—What have we learned about KM so
far? 1/2
• Works differently in different organizations
• Starts with a definition of what problem exists now
and how key knowledge is used and shared
• It is enabled by technology but IT is not a substitute
for KM
• When it is truly successful, KM becomes the way
people work; the filter they apply to make sure they
are working smarter not harder
• Directory of expertise within the organization is key

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Recap—What have we learned about KM so far?
2/2
• How to manage “intellectual capital” in a practical
sense
• Everyone has unique knowledge to share
• Having a forum to share knowledge is important
• KM can help an organization be more proactive
• KM reduces the sense of “competition” in an
organization – broadens the focus on the whole
organization rather than the individual or the team

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What is KM?
• What is organizational knowledge? Where
does it reside? Why is managing it so difficult?
• What else have you learned about defining
knowledge management?

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 What are examples of KM approaches?
• Best practice sharing
• Work process documentation
• Information repository
• Information technology and infrastructure, tools
• Knowledge communities
• Top-down and bottom-up accountability – mandates vs. awards
• Cultural change
• Focus on “fixing problems”
• Measuring the impact of effective knowledge transfer – pre and
post metrics
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 How do you get started with
KM?
• Developing a strategy
• Building the infrastructure
• Identifying relevant communities of practice
• Facilitating connections between knowledge and
people
• Understanding the role of leadership and culture
• Identifying measures of success

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What are examples of KM tools?
• Document management systems
• Online meeting tools
• Electronic whiteboard/brainstorming – digitized
information
• Handhelds and phones that integrate with central
databases
• GPS systems and mapping
• Location microchips in vehicles, and most
importantly, people
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Examples of KM in Practice
• World Bank
• Daimler-Chrysler
• Buckman Labs
• Shell
• Red Cross
• Catholic Health Initiatives

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KM Results

• Cost savings
• New revenue generation
• Innovation
• Efficiencies
• Soft and hard ROI measures
• What else?

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The value of Knowledge Management
• Improved operating performance as a result of effective
knowledge sharing and adoption of best practices
• More rapid decision-making and innovation adoption as a
result of decentralized approach to problem resolution
• Enhanced competitive positioning as a result of synergistic
use of external intelligence and internal experience

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THE END
THANK YOU