The main aim of the study is to develop a new methodology for KM strategic planning to navigate KM projects strategically. The mixed-method approach was used to develop KM strategic planning methodology.
The main focus of the proposed methodology is KM strategic alignment by considering internal and external environment of business and adopting a top-down approach in strategic planning which was less seen in the previous studies.
The proposed methodology helps organizations to know what processes and activities must be emphasized in KM project adoption. Application of the proposed integrated methodology assists organizations to gain strategic alignment and fit KM investment with a business requirement.
the proposed methodology is general in nature; it is recommended to develop customized KM strategic methodologies in specific domains, for example, public organization, SCM and virtual organization.
The majority of investments in the field of KM do not meet organizations’ knowledge needs and expected benefits, and therefore, it leads to loss of investments (Ale et al., 2014). Some of the important reasons for the failure of KM projects are the lack of an appropriate roadmap or methodology to implement KM initiatives (Kim et al., 2003; Wiig, 1998; Bolisani and Scarso, 2015), the lack of clear distinction between data, information and knowledge, ignorance of unique features of knowledge and knowledge workers (Kim et al., 2003), lack of clear KM strategies and vision (Beiryaei and Jamporazmay, 2010; Martinsons et al., 2017), lack of KM strategic alignment (Martinsons et al., 2017) and ignorance of consequences of KM (Lopez-Nicolás and Meroño-Cerdán, 2011). Many organizations use IT planning techniques to identify the core knowledge, design KM procedures and implement KM, while KM cannot rely solely on technical approaches because of the multi-dimensional nature of KM (Akram et al., 2015). This challenge reveals the necessity of a specialized strategic planning methodology for KM
one of the most cited KM failure reasons is the lack of strategic planning and poor strategic alignment of these initiatives (Shankar et al., 2003; Ale et al., 2014; Patil and Kant, 2014; Bolisani and Scarso, 2015). Considering that strategic alignment and strategic planning are regarded as the primary requirements of successful KM implementation (Ale et al., 2014; Beiryaei and Jamporazmay, 2010), the main purpose of this paper is to develop a new integrated methodology for KM strategic planning which could be applied as a roadmap for implementation of knowledge initiatives with a strategic approach.
KM is defined as the process of identifying, creating, absorbing and applying organizational knowledge to exploit new opportunities and enhance productivity
KM barriers were grouped in five categories, including knowledge characteristics, knowledge source, knowledge receiver, contextual factor and mechanisms. Patil and Kant (2014) believed that KM barriers can be grouped in strategic barriers, organizational barriers, technological barriers, cultural barriers and individual barriers. They found that strategic barriers were the most important barriers to KM adaptation.
KM strategy is the high-level plan which identifies KM processes, tools and infrastructures and guarantees the effective circulation of knowledge in the organizations.
On the KM focus dimension, KM strategies can be grouped as explicit- oriented and tacit-oriented. On the other dimension, KM strategies can be categorized as internal orientation and external orientation.
Selecting the appropriate KM strategy by considering organizational conditions and business knowledge requirements is a core concern of KM strategic planning methodologies.
Strategic planning of KMS has been important for the following reasons:
better support for business objects
enhancement of integration and consolidation of KMS
appropriate use of KMS to get competitive advantage
prioritization of KMS development projects
better executive supports of KMS operations
decision-making facilitation related to KMS investments
improvement of resource allocation in KM area
prediction of needed resources
improvement of the communication with top managers
identification of key problematic areas
- According to APQC’s KM strategic planning methodology, there are seven steps to KM strategic planning success:
- (1) establish organizational goals and strategic objectives for KM;
- (2) identify KM strategies (that support those goals and objectives);
- (3) identify KM priorities;
- (4) confirm the scope for each strategy;
- (5) identify the roles needed and skill requirements for those roles;
(6) define measures and expectations; and
(7) assess critical success factors, gaps and potential risks
The first phases of the integrated methodology include internal and external environment analysis of business and KM, which these strategic practices were emphasized by Kim et al. (2003), Beiryaei and Jamporazmay (2010) and Martinsons et al. (2017).
The second main phase is KM strategic orientation which is mentioned by strategic researchers in strategic management and IS strategic planning (Hoque et al., 2016). This phase encompasses activities such as setting KM vision, setting KM mission, identifying strategic knowledge gap, prioritizing knowledge-oriented processes and identifying KM strategy.
The third main phase is KM strategy implementation which is an important phase in strategic planning approaches (Hashim et al., 2015). In this phase, some activities like allocating the KM resources, identifying appropriate KM mechanism, identifying KM processes and developing detailed action plan must be performed to implement strategic formulation in the previous stage.
The last phase of the KM strategic planning methodology is KM strategic control which is considered as the vital phase of the most strategic model (Wiig, 1998). This phase encompasses activities such as identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), evaluation scheduling, reviewing strategic priorities regarding the emerging changes and taking corrective actions.
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Further reading
Becerra-Fernandez, I. and Sabherwal, R. (2014), Knowledge Management: Systems and Processes, Routledge.
Peppard, J. and Ward, J. (2004), “Beyond strategic information systems: towards an IS capability”, The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 167-194.