βTechnology Consulting Group Logica Australia

Introduction

We have just journeyed through what was a distinct phase of development of information technology and systems. This has provided much of the world with access to interconnected systems, extensive data storage and increasingly standards based software.

Unfortunately we are finding that there is a mismatch between what our current information systems are capable of delivering, the increasing need to make better use of the increasing volumes information collected and our ability to deliver this information to end users in a meaningful way.

For individuals the issue is not the quantity of information but the ability to find, make use of and share relevant information.

Information Silos

From a historical perspective we have structured our organisations around functional silos. Like the siloed nature of the enterprise, information has also become siloed. This in turn has implications for the effective sharing of knowledge. Consequently it is very hard to create a comprehensive view of the organisation from an informational sense.

We are now rapidly moving from an era where competitive advantage was driven through increased transaction efficiency to one where competitive advantage will be increasingly secured through the effective use and sharing of knowledge.

This requires a new generation of business systems that are able operate in an environment that is increasingly dynamic and subject to rapid and discontinuous change; something that our current generation of information systems are simply not designed for.

The Need to Share Knowledge

The emergence of integrated networks has lead to increased attention being focused on the potential to deliver information to individuals within what some describe as a ‘guided framework’. Our current generation of technologies is largely based on simple pre-programmed rules that are suited to well known and understood problems within stable and predictable environments.

The challenge is a complex one as there is a need to be able to utilise information in complex and discontinuous environments as well as predictable environments. These discontinuous environments are known in the literature as ‘wicked environments’ and require the capability to understand and respond to multiple views of what may be an uncertain and unpredictable future.

Generally there is confusion between the meaning of ‘Knowledge’ and ‘Information’. This confusion has arisen from the way our current information systems operate and they way we interpret the information we gather. Indeed, knowledge and Information are very different creatures as Churchman (1971) clearly articulated.

“To conceive of knowledge as a collection of information seems to rob the concept of all of its life…knowledge resides in the user and not in the collection. It is how the user reacts to a collection of information that matters.”

The current generation of information systems collects information but does not assign any human interpretation to the information that is collected and stored. Knowledge is subjective and is based on a user’s interpretation and the context to which any action is based and the relevant information that is used in making a decision, or decisions. Therefore, it would be correct to observe that knowledge resides in human understanding and not in the information that has been collected within systems.

This misunderstanding has significant implications in terms of trends regarding information systems expenditure and the inability of these systems to support knowledge creation and information sharing. We have observed millions of dollars spent on systems that simply gather information in the mistaken belief that this constitutes effective knowledge sharing.

In reality, knowledge is contained within people and knowledge creation occurs when individuals interact with each other and/or when they use, share and discard relevant information in support of decision-making and human interaction.

Our Systems Need to Interpret and Understand

It is evident that the business world must be able to manage increasing complexity and rates of change – the delta, given by the increasingly wicked environment that is characterised by a world discontinuous change For ‘wicked environments’ it is difficult to ensure a unique interpretation of ‘best practices’ since knowledge is created dynamically by individuals as they use the information stored in systems.

A wicked environment totally defeats the traditional software model based on prediction and reaction that is underpinned by pre-programmed heuristics characterised by the operation of our current generation of information systems. That is responding to known repeatable and predictable problems.

An increasing volume of information is being ‘trapped’ within information systems. However, these systems are simply not capable of supporting human interactive concepts and cannot, therefore, enable knowledge sharing between many individuals. Indeed, our current systems are not set up to enable multiple interpretations of information they contain and are, therefore, not capable of ‘unlearning’. That is to be able to discard irrelevant and obsolete information and unlearn what was previously learnt via human interaction with relevant (relevant to the individual) information.

What is required is a system that has been designed from the perspective of understanding how individuals within organisations go about creating and sharing knowledge from information sources and add intelligence to our systems.

A More Dynamic Learning Organisation

Traditional or ‘Tayloristic’ organisational structures tend to contain processes that tend to be static. They also seek compliance and adherence via predefined, goals and rules which are also largely static. These have been designed to ensure conformity. They may, however, severely inhibit creativity and initiative. The enforcement of ‘rules’ is negative, as it explicitly defines what cannot be done and in turn reinforces single loop learning.

In view of this and given the increasing dynamic nature of the business world there is need to also accommodate increasing levels of innovation and experimentation. Therefore, to support new business operational models our information systems must also be able to accommodate dynamic change that may encompass arational information, progression, change and multiple perspectives of the possibilities.

IT systems must, therefore, evolve the capability to interact with human users in order to exploit previous experiences, whilst at the same time ensuring that past experiences cannot hinder ongoing experimentation and the assimilation of new ideas.

Business Management in a Knowledge Sharing World

What we may see via the emergence of new class of Personal Agent driven technologies are new ways of organising the management and operation of a business (or government). From one that moves away from the traditional model of command and control to one that increasingly embraces self-control via the dynamic interaction of individuals and teams.

The culture of ‘command and control’ is not suited to a rapidly changing business environment that is both ill structured and complex, and where operational rules may require rapid review in response to business challenges as they emerge.

What might this new business model look like? Technologies with embedded intelligence will ensure a higher degree of participation and teaming via knowledge sharing and increased adherence and awareness by the individual to the strategic vision and direction of the organisation. This suggests that an organisation may evolve from a hierarchical command and control structure to one where the enterprise is horizontally managed as management is closely aligned to core business processes.

In this new world individuals increasingly have all the ‘relevant’ information required and are able to make informed decisions and share knowledge. There are a lot of business operations around the world that currently tout this type of business operation now but they will not experience enhanced performance, as they are not capable of doing so with the technologies they currently have in place. The new model of business operation will increasingly require management to maintain a holistic view of business operation where all aspects of the business are aligned and which in turn is understood by all individuals within the business.

Knowledge Sharing Enabled

The application of Personal Agents makes our information systems relative and dynamic to our needs and provides each human user with a tireless ‘counterparty’ that undertakes information retrieval, analysis, etc. in accordance with its owners needs – every minute, of the day.

This capability enables multiple feedback loops and delivers information to each individual that is fully contextualised to that individuals needs. This allows the role of each team member to evolve and change over time based on the information received, actions taken and the interaction between individuals and teams.

More importantly, the application of a these technologies will present the opportunity to realise the pent up investment in existing accumulated Information across the enterprise by co-opting them to support the guided framework.

In this way, knowledge sharing can take place in a non-hierarchical way, as the network of Personal Agents will work to fetch, collate and deliver contextualised information to each individual team member in accordance with their role within the organisation.

As already noted this offers up the intriguing possibility of the application of new and very innovative organisational models driven via the benefits of interaction arising through the network effect.