Knowledge Management Systems Assessment: A Conceptual Framework And A Methodological Proposal

Modern management has discovered in knowledge a never ending source of wealth and competitive advantage for organisations. Nevertheless, for this to be as effective as it promises, a sound conceptual framework and good methodologies for Knowledge Management (KM) are needed. This paper addresses these two critical aspects of KM, focusing on the assessment function of a KM System (KMS). The paper starts describing the conceptual approach adopted, and then continues presenting the methodology proposed, aiming at obtaining a comprehensive profile of a KMS to assess the maturity level of the system. A clear differentiation of system management and operational functions is introduced, to produce a set of indicators that clearly identifies system’s critical resources and functions. These indicators are regarded as key information to start an improvement process of the KMS. The methodological proposal is based on a conceptual model which articulates three theoretical contributions: the feedbacked management cycle inspired in organisational 1 Paper submitted for IAMOT 2000, Conference on Technology Management, Track 15 – Knowledge Management 2 Mario L Vasquez ([email protected]) is an associate consultant of Xeon Technology Corporation. Systems Engineer from EAFIT University and MSc in Technology Management from UPB University (Medellin, Colombia). He has worked as an IT Business Developer and Consultant for eight years and KM researcher for the last two. 3 Carlos F. Gomez ([email protected]. ) is an Organisational Planning Specialist from Empresas Publicas de Medellin. Mechanical Engineer and MSc in Technology Management from UPB University. 4 Ana M. Lopez ([email protected]) is an Information Technology Consultant from Unisys de Colombia. Systems Engineer from EAFIT University and MSc in Technology Management from UPB University. 5 Dr. Jorge Robledo ([email protected]) is the Director of the Technology Management and Policy Research Group, UPB University. He has worked before for Colciencias (the Colombian Institute for the Development of Science and Technology) and for several electrical utilities as consulting engineer. He holds a professional diploma in Mechanical Engineering (National University of Colombia), a MSc in Electrical Generation Systems (Valle University at Cali, Colombia) and Ph.D. in Science and Technology Policy Studies (University of Sussex at Brighton, UK).