Ibms Knowledge Management Proposal for the ontario Ministry of Education

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The Ministry of Education operate in the public sector which complicates things. Every action they take can be scrutinized, and every dollar spent runs the risk of being criticized for “wasting tax payer dollars”. Planning to spend money on a Knowledge Management System which the majority of tax payers will not understand will definitely be questioned and criticized. Keeping this in mind, whether the Ministry spends a little or a lot, they will face the same hurdle, so ensuring that no expense is spared, and a system is designed that is done right the first time, and sustainable for an extended period of time is important. One strength they must pay to is that they seemingly have more resources to play with than a small private company.

Additionally, a high level of security will be critical to this system. It will essentially act as the brain of the Ministry, and when holding a large amount of highly sensitive data, an unsecure system will not do. Whether it is student records, curriculum planning, or staff information, every piece of data is confidential. The Ministry is lucky to not have any real competitors that they need to protect themselves against, however as was previously mentioned, they are an institution that is easy to criticize, and a security breach in the public eye would be detrimental to their reputation. One key problem with Knowledge Management Systems is that when people do not understand their full utility and benefit, they are easy for staff to reject them if they do not work the way they think they should, therefore reinforcing the point of doing it right the first time.

Lastly, and unfortunately for the Ministry, culture is very difficult to change within the organization. It is not as easy in their case to hire and fire employees in order to shift corporate culture. Government employees have the blessing of high job security, and is not unrealistic to think of many employees at the Ministry not feeling the need to adapt and use a Knowledge Management System. This weakness will place a very large emphasis on the implementation plan in order to sell employees on the utility of the system to achieve buy-in from employees.

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Alternatives & Options

Issue

Pro

Con

Alternative

Relying on Informal Relationships

- Constant passing of information

- Corporate chemistry

- Incorrect people are being consulted

- Knowledge sharing is not as strong as it could be

- Productivity is disrupted

- Create a formal network like an expert directory for employees to refer to for complete and accurate information

Document Duplication

- None

- Convolutedness of information

- information overload

- Inefficient

- Implement a document management system to filter and store documents to boost efficiency and aid employees

Increasing Rate of Electronic Information

- Going the way of the future

- Documents become easily accessible

- No way of handling and organizing increasing amounts of data

- Information overload

- Implementing a network to store information on in an organized manner such that information does not become convoluted or hard to find

Corporate Culture

- Dependable, and solid work force with lower than usual attrition rates

- Difficult to change

- Work closely with employees to shift to a learning/knowledge organization that promotes sharing of knowledge and collaboration in order to boost all employees’ efficiency

Security Concerns

- None

- Deal with highly confidential data

- Operate in the public eye

- Difficult to keep a security breach quiet

- Codify information such that it is blatant what pieces of information can and can’t be shared

- Implement strong security with their document storage and sharing system to combat security threats

Weak Knowledge Sharing Infrastructure

- None

- Inefficient workflow practices

- Inconsistent information is conveyed

- Information now readily available

- Create formal communities of practice to assist in knowledge sharing

- Formalize document sharing policies

- Implement document sharing server

Recommendation & Implementation

Recommendation

Activity

Who – Primary

Who – Secondary

When

1

Create an Implementation Team

Managers reporting to the Deputy Minister

Deputy Minister

Immediately

2

Create Communities of Practise

Deputy Minster

Minister

Immediately