Statement of the problem
An organization like KPMG is based on commercial dissemination of the knowledge of its partners and the professionals employed there. It is essential that customers need accurate, relevant and up to date information at competitive prices. The two focus areas in this regard are knowledge management and content management. A well established and planned IT based system should be established in the organization.
Recommendations
- The firm should put emphasis educating its partners and employees (professionals) about the importance of knowledge management in an IT based infrastructure.
- The knowledge base and content should be classified and catalogued for easy management, retrieval and dissemination.
- Support for accessing the internal and external content.
- Creation of a website that will enable clients to interact with the organization is a seamless manner.
Discussion and analysis of the recommendations
The organizational structure within KPMG needs some modification to suit the implementation of the IT based knowledge management system. New roles with related responsibilities should be created within the organization. The best way to do this is to name the new roles in a non-technical manner. It is proposed that six new roles be created and the necessary training (along with infrastructure) be provided for the personnel. The roles will be named knowledge champion, knowledge master, knowledge integration manager, page master, web master and web librarian. The first role mentioned will be the responsibility of the senior management and as the name indicates will involve balancing strategy and knowledge management. It will also involve committing everyone concerned to the new strategy. Knowledge master will be responsible for the sharing of knowledge between personnel and also with the clients. The knowledge integration manager will be responsible motivation, coordination and management of the project between the many knowledge centers. The page master will be the person who actually publishes the matter on to the company website and will have basic knowledge about HTML and other related software. The web master is responsible for the running and maintenance of the whole website. The web librarian is to keep track or the indexing of all the content. The role needs knowledge of HTML and database management.
Limitations of the proposed solution
Acceptance and understanding the new system by the large number of employees will be a challenge and will take time for smooth integration. Different work and organizational cultures across KPMG’s international markets is also a limitation. This is because the knowledge management system is universal and is not tweaked to suit individual markets. New posts and roles (like HTML and IT personnel) in an organization that predominantly consists of tax and law experts will also be a limiting factor in the smooth implementation of the knowledge management system.