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Bridge Building

20 January, 2016 - 15:30

To illustrate the importance of Knowledge Harvesting in training new employees and gaining knowledge for organizations, we constructed an experiment to compare and contrast two different systems. One system had an outline of the knowledge that should be entered into system; the other contained no guidelines whatsoever and allowed entry of any free-form comments. A group of students was divided into two groups of equal size and given the same instructions: Build a model bridge from Lego blocks that spans a six inch ravine and is at least two inches wide. The two groups developed different designs based on their interpretations of these instructions. Neither group had any idea that they would need to explain how to build their bridge via written instructions. After the groups were done building, Group A was given a detailed form asking for certain sketches of their model, what problems they had run into, and any other comments they would like to add. Group B was merely told to write instructions on how to build the bridge. The two sets of instructions represent the aforementioned Knowledge Harvesting systems.

When the groups traded instructions and were asked to reproduce each other’s models, both groups struggled to reconstruct the bridges, but for very different reasons. The instructions that Group A wrote prompted them to draw the different layers of their bridge, which they did, but not completely to scale. The form did not specify whether layer one was the top or bottom layer. When Group B received these instructions, they had a general idea of what the bridge should look like, but due to the lack of knowledge about the organization of the layers and the size of the pieces, were unable to reconstruct the bridge exactly. The instructions that were written by Group B were very vague and contained a great deal of information that Group A did not find pertinent to the building of the bridge.

Table 6.1 Bridge building exercise

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Group A Original

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Reconstruction of A by B

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Group B Original

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Reconstruction of B by A

 

This situation is not far from what businesses must cope with today. Effective Knowledge Harvesting helps create value for the organization and makes it easier to train new employees, because the usefulness of certain information is already determined. Group A, by answering prompts similar to that which would be given in an exit interview, was able to establish exactly what information should be passed the next group in order to construct the bridge. However, Group B could not establish what information was essential, and when the instructions were passed on, Group A had a hard time determining what information would help them remake the bridge and what was extraneous.

Group B also had a hard time constructing their bridge despite the fact that they had most of the essential information. The problem in this case lies more so in the presentation of the information. Group B had all of the information that they needed, but they could not determine where to place each of the layers nor could they determine the scale of the drawing in the directions. If the experiment could be repeated, the follow up form would be further revised so as to better represent the way in which the bridge could be constructed.

An organization implementing Knowledge Harvesting techniques, such as exit interviews, informal transition processes, or periodic meetings with employees, has an advantage when it comes to retaining knowledge that is important to the organization. As with the bridge building experiment, when an exit interview is conducted, the company gains possession of information that previously would have left the company along with the employee. Rather than valuable experience being lost when the employee leaves or is required to pass a project on to another team, the company maintains control that knowledge. The training process, as illustrated in the bridge building example, can also be shortened with effective Knowledge Harvesting. The employee being trained no longer has to solve every problem already solved by previous employees. Through a brief description of the problem and solution, the new employees can now overcome obstacles without wasting time rediscovering the solution, and organizations can save time and money. The organization would also have to go through a revision process to make sure that the information is being presented to the employees in a way such that it is helpful.