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Recommendations

8 September, 2015 - 09:32

Based on our analysis of the demand for and factors affecting Knowledge Harvesting, we created a list of general recommendations that organizations should heed if they expect to remain competitive in the knowledge market of the near future. By following these recommendations, the knowledge created by their employees can be successfully harvested and then, in turn, used to increase the productivity and uniqueness of the organization’s projects and processes. These recommendations can be summarized as: a broad implementation of standardized Knowledge Harvesting techniques in organizations, the creation of a cooperative work environment, the creation of a definitive rewards system, and the disassociation between the idea of sharing knowledge and that of being replaced within the organization.

The broad adoption of a standardized Knowledge Harvesting system is, as we have demonstrated, becoming an ever pressing demand on organizations today. The baby boomer generation, which makes up a large part of the current workforce of knowledge workers, is steadily moving towards retirement. For many organizations this will mean a loss of much of their experience and knowledge, unless they put into place a dedicated system to harvest these from their departing employees. However, the system must be standardized across the entire organization, as differences in technique or thoroughness can create problems with organizing and sharing the collected pieces at a later date.

Second, the creation of a working environment centered on sharing or cooperating with fellow employees is essential to the Knowledge Harvesting process. If employees feel that they are part of a larger team working towards a common goal, it will become easier for them to share their own knowledge in the hopes that it will further the team as a whole. In contrast, a work environment that fosters individualism and the hoarding of knowledge will make individual workers reluctant to share their own knowledge with others, as it may give others an advantage over the sharer. One possible way organizations might accommodate for this is by structuring employees into teams centered on certain projects, and then rewarding those teams or individuals who contribute the most in the form of shared knowledge or experience. This same idea could then be extended to the individual level by rewarding those employees who contribute knowledge to a knowledge base and then have their contributions used by their co- workers. These developments could have the effect of both providing an incentive to share and allowing the more experienced employees to pass on knowledge to those with less experience through direct interaction.

Directly related to the creation of a strong group work environment is the creation of a definitive rewards system that helps to facilitate knowledge sharing. This reward program would have to track both the amount of work any given employee accomplishes and how much knowledge they contribute to other employees of the organization.

One idea for this could be a Wikipedia-like database where information is collectively edited and shared, but that would keep track of those who contributed the information for tracking purposes. Though in many cases the reward system developed would have to accommodate for the organizational culture in which the information is being shared, as each organization might handle group collaboration differently (e.g. one organization might hold group sessions where ideas are traded and discussed, while another might rely on an intranet-based discussion board).

The final, and possibly one of the most essential, recommendations for the implementation of Knowledge Harvesting processes is the disassociation of sharing knowledge with the fear of being replaced within the organization. In many cases, employees are hesitant to share their knowledge as they believe that the company will eventually decide that the employees are no longer useful, and can thus be replaced with less experienced and lower paid workers who can use the experienced employees’ harvested knowledge. In order to dispel this myth, organizations will have to make an effort to show their employees that sharing knowledge is beneficial to them, their fellow employees, and the organization as a whole, while also demonstrating that it is the employees who do not share with others that are replaced. This sort of organizational culture will create a sense of the necessity of sharing while also giving employees a greater sense of pride and security in their jobs.

Although these recommendations are far from exhaustive in respect to actions which organizations can take to ensure the preservation of their current employees’ knowledge, they are the essential pieces needed to create an effective Knowledge Harvesting system. The production of usable artifacts of knowledge, and especially the most effective and extensive methods for doing so, can be expected to become a major issue within organizations, both large and small, in the coming years. Those organizations which take these initial steps towards creating a Knowledge Harvesting system will be the same organizations that can expect to be at the forefront of their industries and the public sphere of the future.