Capítulo 3: Análisis de Marco Jurídico en Materia de Deuda Pública, Transparencia
3.1. Bases normativas
3.1.2. Leyes Secundarias Federales
Based on differences between how individuals and organizations manage knowledge, let us see several important areas of research in knowledge management for organizations, particularly large organizations. The following table presents the major research topics by each of the four steps of the knowledge management cycle described in the sub section 1.3.4.
Table 1.2 Areas of research within each step of the knowledge management cycle.
Observation and Analysis
1. Retrieval and filtering of data/information 2. Enabling access to salient environmental data 3. Sharing organizational goals and objectives Theory
Generation
4. Elimination of “silo” processing and reinvention 5. Fostering knowledge creation through small teams 6. Reduction of bureaucracy and formal meetings
Testing and Application
7. Enabling “start to finish” development and deployment
8. Effective measurement of business processes and knowledge assets
9. Management of changing requirements
Knowledge Consolidation
10. Methods of collective reflection
11. Building trust for the dissemination of knowledge 12. Retaining knowledge when employees leave
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Retrieval and filtering of data / information. The rate of data and information in-flow to organizations by way of card-readers, automated telemetry, telephone calls and most notably the Internet is overwhelming. Most company wrestle every day with effective and efficient methods of retrieve data and filtering out the salient information. This is an area where both people skills and technology require improvement. Studies of the relative strengths and weaknesses of systematic approaches to information retrieval and filtering in the workplace would be of benefit. The education of knowledge workers in library science research skills is needed. Intelligent user interfaces that can learn the profile of a user’s interest and filter information based on that profile would greatly facilitate Internet searches.
Research into advanced methods of Knowledge Query and Manipulation (KQML) will also facilitate the retrieval of information. Integrated with content management systems and the Internet, these technologies will provide very powerful observation tools.
Enabling access to salient environmental data. Although there is much organizational data that is encoded into electronic form for ease of communications and analysis, there is other important information that is not. For example, in hospitals much of the important information on a patient is recorded with pencil on paper; on the manufacturing floor, important data is communicated verbally; and information surrounding important interactions with customers is rarely communicated beyond the sales staff and their managers. Internet, groupware and portal technologies can be used to assist with these problems, however there is a fundament need for cultural change in most organizations that encourages the capture of salient environmental data. Research is required into methods of cultivating cultural change.
Sharing organizational goals / objectives. Large organizations suffer greatly from a lack of sharing and caring about organization goals. Clear and repeated communication of company objectives to all employees provides an environment in which knowledge can be better managed. Methods of sharing organizational goals and objectives and bringing them in-line with individual goals are important areas of research.
Elimination of “silo” processing and reinvention. Large organizations have traditionally developed “silos” of endeavour because departmental and professional barriers make knowledge management difficult. This leads to competing analysis of environmental data and the generation of tactical business strategies that often conflict when they are executed. The best organizations are composed of “organic” networked teams where knowledge is able to flow freely across disciplines and departmental boundaries. The major problems that must be addressed are dynamic management methods and career development approaches that consider individual and organizational objectives and reward trusting relationships at every opportunity.
Fostering knowledge creation through small teams. Work-teams of small numbers of people that share common goals are highly innovative environments. Having
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members of an organization move between these groups passing along best-practice methods is very important, yet often disruptive. Sharing knowledge takes time and can cause short-term delays in group performance. Creating an organizational culture that is receptive to personnel movement and knowledge exchange is a challenge. Technologies such as electronic mail, corporate intranets, portals and collaborative software (such as Lotus Notes) can be very helpful in creating and enabling small teams. Research and application of new management methods and technologies is needed.Reduction of bureaucracy and formal meetings. Moving from four levels of management bureaucracy to delegated authority and responsibility has been one of the most difficult transitions for modern organizations. The traditional hierarchy fosters a climate of presentations, proposals and meetings versus strong analysis and decisive action. A healthy knowledge management environment is one in which people wish to share information for the common good and not one in which they must share information in order to proceed with projects or business plans. This having been said, legal and fiscal responsibility requires a formal chain of command within organizations. Resolving this conflict continues to be an important area of research in business administration. Technologies such as message passing, groupware and document management systems can facilitate a more efficiently and effective movement of “paper-work” within the office and across the globe. Standard protocols and languages, such as the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), for interoperation between systems is an active area of research
Enabling “start to finish” development and deployment. Too often in large organizations, design engineers or business strategists are not involved in the testing of the final product or the implementation of the tactical operations. This can lead to a false sense of accomplishment on the part of the engineer or strategist and a poor opinion of upper management and technical authority on the part of front-line employees. Methods of feedback between designer and user need to be created that ensure better communication of success and failure with a minimum investment of both parties’ time. Solutions can include people-centered approaches such as education of front line workers, practical job shadowing by designer engineers and the involvement of designers, testers and front-line workers from the start of design to implementation and deployment.
Effective measurement of business processes and knowledge assets. Marketing through data mining and customer relationship management is really the first area of business administration outside of finance to widely employ rigorous mathematical methods. This has many management researchers excited about the use of measures and mathematics in other areas. Further work is needed in measuring the quality and value of business processes and intangible knowledge assets. In particular, methods of measuring success due to knowledge creation and knowledge transfer are needed.
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Management of changing requirements. The pressures affecting modern organizations ensure that change will always occur. Tried and proven methods of managing change within projects and product cycles are needed. Project management research has turned to engineering methodologies that have established methods of change management.
Innovative new methods of managing projects, products and services have also been developed that take iterative, incremental approaches that can more easily incorporate change (e.g. the Unified Software Development Process used in Software Engineering).
Methods of collective reflection. An organization unlike an individual, rarely takes the time to reflect on successes and failures. Surprisingly, when an organization does do so, it is often recognized as a hallmark event; a defining moment in the life of the business.
Most typically these events take place off-site, in seclusion and happen at best annually and often only at points of crisis. Why? There must be better ways to regularly reflect on successes and failures and share in the consolidation of new knowledge.
Building trust for the dissemination of knowledge. Success factors within most organizations are closely guarded secrets. From an intellectual property perspective this makes a great deal of sense. However, secrets between departments, work-units or project teams within the same organization are counter-productive. Without trust between people there cannot be a productive sharing of information that results in knowledge transfer. The generation of a trusting environment is one that must extend from the top of the organization to the grass roots. Trust building activities such as team social activities, induction programs, job rotation, milestone celebrations, impromptu lunches and face-to-face communications need to be encouraged.
Retaining knowledge when employees leave. The loss of organizational knowledge when an employee leaves is a very serious problem. Methods of retaining knowledge can be divided into proactive and reactive categories. Proactive methods include personnel rotation programs, master/apprentice schemes and recording information from internal experts (such as salesmanship techniques). Reactive methods include exit interviews and aftermath peer discussion sessions. Further research is required to find better methods of retaining organizational knowledge.