knowledge management

2026 Update: While the core Agile principles discussed here remain highly relevant, Scrum practices and certification tracks have evolved. To master the latest frameworks and get certified, view our fully updated Scrum Master Certification Course in Malaysia for the latest class schedules and HRD Corp claimable options.

Under pressure, a spring recoils to take the pressure as it is agile. However, a thin plastic sheet cracks as it is fragile. The consequence of what happens depends on the characteristic of the spring and the plastic sheet. The pressure applied is akin to challenges posed in this ever-turbulent environment that breeds disruptive technologies at an alarming pace. Organizations are either able to adapt to this turbulence or disintegrate due to it, depending on how agile or fragile they are.

The desire to and realization of the importance of becoming agile is predominant. How exactly does a business entity become agile and what should be done to avoid becoming fragile in the face of the relentless onslaughts of challenges being faced?

With the advent of disruptive technologies, business entities have to shift their preference to remain agile. Otherwise they become fragile and susceptible to failure. As long as they plan strategically, learn when necessary and exploit existing opportunities, they remain fragile. The degree to which these preferences shift towards scenario planning, unlearning and relearning continually as well as exploring beyond existing opportunities, they become increasingly agile.

Scenario Planning over Strategic Planning

Strategic planning involves structured consideration of internal and external issues to develop the one true ‘best way forward’. Scenario planning involves developing different scenarios and analyzing different ways of moving forward. Strategic planning is premised on a predictive approach to strategy development that assumes it is possible to predict the future. Scenario planning is premised on an adaptive approach that embraces change and incorporates this into a planning horizon.

This involves asking and seeking answers to the “what if” questions, rather than assuming all will work well once a strategic plan has been established. When business entities encourage senior management to ask “what if” questions regularly, they remain agile. Otherwise they become fragile, susceptible to the changing business terrain.

Unlearning and Relearning over Learning

As uncertainty takes center stage within the business ecosystem, the need for better understanding increases. Better understanding comes from developing accurate and deep insights of issues from many different perspectives that require unlearning previously held perspectives.

A willingness to unlearn, learn and relearn continually is required to adapt and remain agile. Acquiring knowledge only when necessary without sufficient understanding leads to fragility, especially whenever the need for new processes and systems overwhelms the capacity to develop them. Comfort zones are the enemy of growth.

Exploration over Exploitation

When the focus is in exploiting the existing business model, fragility sets in whenever the existing boundaries of exploitation are approached. Many car manufacturers in the US suffered huge losses when to the exploitation of their existing patents and intellectual property led to market fatigue and declining sales margins. Their inability to innovate and ‘explore’ led to their downfall, and the rise of Tesla Motors. Elon Musk, an ‘explorer’ in the truest sense, managed to forge a path for himself beyond the self-imposed boundaries of the auto industry, and challenged the very notion of ‘driving’, and the concept of ‘cars’.  Only when faced with increased competition did the traditional car manufacturers relent and explored other possibilities, such as electric vehicles and self-autonomous vehicles.

To explore beyond the boundaries of existing expertise and capabilities requires agility and adaptability. Better mechanisms for optimizing existing knowledge assets are sought for exploration to occur. Knowledge acquisition, creation and integration on a regular basis becomes a mainstay that facilitates agility and adaptability. By exploring what lies beyond what they are doing, they remain agile.

To be agile, business entities should shift their preference towards scenario planning, unlearning and relearning and engage in exploration over exploitation. By doing so, they remain agile, otherwise, they become fragile in the face of disruptive technologies they encounter.

Dr Rumesh Kumar

January 2020

Every industry recognizes the value of learning. However, not all organizations are able to make the best use of their knowledge assets to learn continually. Hence, it's crucial to gradually introduce knowledge acquiring, sharing, and producing best practices into your organization.

Thus, it is recommended that you or your employees seek to be certified as Certified Knowledge Manager (CKM®). By being certified, they will be better positioned to optimise organizational learning to steer your company towards being a Learning Organization.

Many initiatives can be undertaken by a Certified Knowledge Manager, CKM who has acquired this certification from the Knowledge Management Institute, KMI. Such a person is thoroughly trained through a very practical approach to be sufficiently competent to undertaken the following which are crucial for successful implementation of Knowledge Management.

1. Spearheading the need for transformation.

This is done through the development and communication of an appropriate call to action, definition of knowledge management as well as the development of a Knowledge Management methodology that is relevant to your specific requirements.

2. Establishing precise metrics for developing and sustaining KM efforts.

Knowing your destination for your knowledge management strategy will help you determine the best course of action to take. However, defining your organization's objectives can be difficult if the metrics used for results is not carefully considered and aligned to the overall strategic direction. How activity as well as results metrics have to be developed are crucial aspects of demonstrating success in knowledge based activities.

3. Undertaking Quick Wins and KM Transformation in an orderly manner

People generally don't like change, especially when it's done poorly. For this reason, creating a step-by-step implementation procedure for defining and undertaking “no budget KM initiatives” or quick wins is essential. To do this effectively requires careful consideration of a number of key steps that are essential for ensuring success both in developing quick wins as well as engaging in overall transformation into a Learning Organization.

4. Overcoming barriers to successful implementation of Knowledge Management .

Based on more than twenty years of experience in this field, an entire spectrum of barriers to implementing KM has been identified. These barriers have to be proactively managed in advance to accelerate the ability to identify and overcome them with best practices.

The above competencies will be developed through an intensive 5 days session conducted by an official Knowledge Management Institute Instructor who has demonstrated the abilities to develop such competencies. Those who are interested, please click on the link below to have a look at our Certified Knowledge Manager (CKM®) Certification, https://bit.ly/3f8Yb4c.

By: Sharma Management International

We are truly now in the Knowledge Age, way past the Information Age. Faster information processing
has become less important compared to developing intelligence systems that will shape our future.
The technological advancement in robotics has been phenomenal and so has the advent of artificial
intelligence which has been spurred on by the concept of advanced robotics as well as the “Internet
of Everything”. These are exciting times where we are witnessing phenomenal growth in human
capability and expertise.

2026 Update: While the core knowledge management principles in this article remain relevant, digital transformation and new technologies have evolved the industry standard. To learn modern strategies and get certified, view our fully updated Certified Knowledge Management Course in Malaysia for the latest class schedules and HRD Corp claimable options.

Click here to listen to the full podcast on BFM 89.9

Communication is the process of sharing knowledge. Effective communication requires an understanding of how knowledge should be shared across various knowledge boundaries that exist when silo-based mentalities manifest.

Essentially, three knowledge boundaries exist in any organisation: syntactic, semantic and pragmatic. These three boundaries are explained through increasing magnitude of difference, dependence and novelty. Understanding these concepts allows an organisation to better manage knowledge sharing specifically in the new product development process and, arguably, in any circumstance. This saves time and money while ensuring accuracy and satisfaction.

At each boundary, there is some level of difference, dependence and novelty. The 'difference' here refers to a difference in the amount of knowledge and/or type of knowledge. Dependence is the connection of different knowledge to accomplish a task. Novelty is how different the knowledge is from what is currently known. For example, a front-end and back-end engineer will have a difference in what programming languages they know, their knowledge is dependent on each other to create a website and there will be some novelty as they move between different projects that have different requirements. These three parameters would change in magnitude were we looking at a back-end engineer and marketer.

The first major boundary is syntactic. In short, this is the language (defined broadly) that each person speaks. Every role in an organisation has its own jargon and common lexicon, even more if cultural differences are
involved. Syntactic boundaries make knowledge transfer difficult as there is no common lexicon. Thus, to solve syntactic boundaries, a common lexicon must be developed. This is not to be underestimated; it may take more effort than it initially may seem. For our engineer and marketer, they need to develop a common set of words to communicate with each other.

This leads us to the next boundary: semantic. Having a common lexicon is a great first step but now there must be a common, shared understanding to avoid misinterpretation. Semantic boundaries focus on translating knowledge. Here it is crucial to make implicit knowledge explicit. “It is not just a matter of translating different meanings, but of negotiating interests and making trade-offs between actors”. To solve semantic boundaries, common meanings and interpretations must be developed. The engineer and marketer must develop a common understanding of their lexicon – this can require making new agreements. Essentially, this is exploring meaning. Boundary spanners can act to mediate people in conflict here – spanners can be people, activities, or processes.

Lastly, the pragmatic boundary. Sometimes a common lexicon and understanding are still not enough because of conflicting interests between people. Pragmatic boundaries look at how shared meaning is transformed into the actual product/service. To solve pragmatic boundaries practical and political effort is needed. Here the engineer and marketer must work through their specific interests in the project to create a common interest. Boundary objects such as prototypes, drawings and wikis can be helpful because they are malleable enough to change but solid enough to define a direction.

Any activity in an organisation with more than one person has these knowledge boundaries. A clear understanding of and attempts to minimize syntactic, semantic and pragmatic knowledge boundaries allows for effective knowledge sharing, correct outcomes and satisfied people; this is an iterative process that will get better the more a team works together.

The 4^th Industrial Revolution has revolutionized the way society functions and the nature of work itself. We witness staggering changes it has brought and are left wondering how to deal with this new phenomena. This article provides a glimpse of what has transpired and how to navigate around this bewildering episode called the 4^th Industrial Revolution.

This revolution has brought in its wake, a blistering array of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), automation, Big Data, and the Internet of Things (IoT). These technologies have indeed to a large extent improved the quality, speed, or price at which value is produced. We have new discoveries made in the field of genetics and a huge vista of business opportunities opened to people who have ventured to capitalize on the new value propositions available.

2026 Update: While the core knowledge management principles in this article remain relevant, digital transformation and new technologies have evolved the industry standard. To learn modern strategies and get certified, view our fully updated Certified Knowledge Management Course in Malaysia for the latest class schedules and HRD Corp claimable options. 

Anyone responsible for managing knowledge in an organization needs to develop a game plan or strategy for doing so. This provide guidance on what needs to be done and why it is necessary. Without a business strategy, a business cannot grow as intended. Likewise, without a knowledge management strategy, attempts to optimize knowledge cannot proceed as intended.

We may be clear of what a business strategy entails. However, a lot of uncertainty surrounds the development of a knowledge management strategy. What should such a strategy comprise of? How do we begin developing one? Who should be involved in its development?

How can we get funding for such a strategy? These are very pertinent questions that need to be addressed.

Answering these questions maybe done systematically through the adoption of a simple three step approach that involves;

As business environments become increasingly embroiled in uncertainty and ambiguity the necessity for critical knowledge retention takes center stage. This is especially so in the knowledge age where people drown in information are starved of critical knowledge of how to continually improve.

In the knowledge age, the terrain of critical knowledge changes with time. Determination of critical knowledge is a dynamic phenomenon. It changes with circumstances and time. Many organizations spend time, money and resources acquiring knowledge that is supposedly critical but in reality, is not. Consequently, the applicability of knowledge retained in knowledge repositories declines with time. This short article seeks to provide ideas on how retention of knowledge has to be undertaken to arrest this decline.

Retention of such knowledge in the knowledge age requires consideration of a number of issues. They include the value it brings, the support it delivers and the process of retrieval that is required insofar as ensuring that the knowledge retained is applicable in practice.

Value Proposition of Knowledge

For any retained knowledge to be fervently consumed, it has to be knowledge that people value. Such knowledge helps employees work better, resolve issues and problems they face and make informed decisions. The higher the value this knowledge brings, the more readily it is acquired and applied in practice.

To establish what knowledge is critical requires a consideration of value it brings to the recipient of that knowledge from the perspective of the recipient. This highly valued knowledge for the specific targeted recipients has to be first determined. Only after this is established, the source of the required knowledge is determined. The knowledge source could include new hires, retirees, experienced managers or subject matter experts who have the critical knowledge required by the targeted knowledge recipients.

Social network mapping and technical support

Given the volatility of knowledge applicability in practice in the knowledge age, critical knowledge has to be analyzed in two primary context, know how or technical based and know who or social based. People need to be supported in terms of what they need to do as well as whom they need to refer to when this knowledge is required and applied.

Developing a checklist of what to do based on input received from a subject matter expert is insufficient. In addition, a social network mapping of who else possess this knowledge, why should this person be referred to, whom to avoid etc. enables a valuable ecosystem of social interactions required for knowledge acquisition to be developed as well.

When developing a framework for retaining critical knowledge that remains valuable over time, it is necessary to make adequate considerations for both technical know-how and know-what as well as mapping the flow of accessing knowledge from the right sources within specific domains that relate to the knowledge required.

Ease of Knowledge content retrieval

Critical knowledge has to be stored in a way that enables the best knowledge to be assessed by the right people at the right time to accomplish a specific goal. This requires knowledge to be stored in a condensed form and remain easily accessible to whosoever requires it when it is required.

Making this possible requires developing readily consumable knowledge nuggets developed based on the existing taxonomy in use. In addition, a process of content validation of knowledge from the source is required so that it may be readily accessible by knowledge recipients. The process of tagging key words or phrases and linking these to the specific content that has been stored is crucial in this regard.

In summary for iteratively improving business processes and delivering better products and services over time, critical knowledge required has to be retained and applied in practice. The knowledge retained will be of value only if it incorporates both know how as well as know who to get work done better. In addition, such knowledge should be structured in a way that remains easily accessible to whomsoever needs it whenever it is needed.

For additional assistance on how this may be done and to view a number of templates that have been developed to do this in practice, please contact Sharma Management International here at your convenience.

Dr Rumesh Kumar DBA MBA PMP CKM CST

As business environments become increasingly embroiled in uncertainty and ambiguity the necessity for critical knowledge retention takes center stage. This is especially so in the knowledge age where people drown in information are starved of critical knowledge of how

to continually improve.

In the knowledge age, the terrain of critical knowledge changes with time. Determination of critical knowledge is a dynamic phenomenon. It changes with circumstances and time. Many organizations spend time, money and resources acquiring knowledge that is supposedly critical but in reality, is not. Consequently, the applicability of knowledge retained in knowledge repositories declines with time. This short article seeks to provide ideas on how retention of knowledge has to be undertaken to arrest this decline.

Retention of such knowledge in the knowledge age requires consideration of a number of issues. They include the value it brings, the support it delivers and the process of retrieval that is required insofar as ensuring that the knowledge retained is applicable in practice.

Value Proposition of Knowledge

For any retained knowledge to be fervently consumed, it has to be knowledge that people value. Such knowledge helps employees work better, resolve issues and problems they face and make informed decisions. The higher the value this knowledge brings, the more readily it is acquired and applied in practice.

To establish what knowledge is critical requires a consideration of value it brings to the recipient of that knowledge from the perspective of the recipient. This highly valued knowledge for the specific targeted recipients has to be first determined. Only after this is established, the source of the required knowledge is determined. The knowledge source could include new hires, retirees, experienced managers or subject matter experts who have the critical knowledge required by the targeted knowledge recipients.

Social network mapping and technical support

Given the volatility of knowledge applicability in practice in the knowledge age, critical knowledge has to be analyzed in two primary context, know how or technical based and know who or social based. People need to be supported in terms of what they need to do as well as whom they need to refer to when this knowledge is required and applied.

Developing a checklist of what to do based on input received from a subject matter expert is insufficient. In addition, a social network mapping of who else possess this knowledge, why should this person be referred to, whom to avoid etc. enables a valuable ecosystem of social interactions required for knowledge acquisition to be developed as well.

When developing a framework for retaining critical knowledge that remains valuable over time, it is necessary to make adequate considerations for both technical know-how and know-what as well as mapping the flow of accessing knowledge from the right sources within specific domains that relate to the knowledge required.

Ease of Knowledge content retrieval

Critical knowledge has to be stored in a way that enables the best knowledge to be assessed by the right people at the right time to accomplish a specific goal. This requires knowledge to be stored in a condensed form and remain easily accessible to whosoever requires it when it is required.

Making this possible requires developing readily consumable knowledge nuggets developed based on the existing taxonomy in use. In addition, a process of content validation of knowledge from the source is required so that it may be readily accessible by knowledge recipients. The process of tagging key words or phrases and linking these to the specific content that has been stored is crucial in this regard.

In summary for iteratively improving business processes and delivering better products and services over time, critical knowledge required has to be retained and applied in practice. The knowledge retained will be of value only if it incorporates both know how as well as know who to get work done better. In addition, such knowledge should be structured in a way that remains easily accessible to whomsoever needs it whenever it is needed.

For additional assistance on how this may be done and to view a number of templates that have been developed to do this in practice, please contact Sharma Management International at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. at your convenience.

Dr Rumesh Kumar DBA MBA PMP CKM CST

2026 Update: While the core knowledge management principles in this article remain relevant, digital transformation and new technologies have evolved the industry standard. To learn modern strategies and get certified, view our fully updated Certified Knowledge Management Course in Malaysia for the latest class schedules and HRD Corp claimable options.

Harnessing knowledge does not necessarily lead to people working better. People do not work better because they know more. They work better because they feel a sense of ownership and demonstrate that ownership by working better.

A doctor needs to understand human anatomy as well as physiology to be able to detect and treat diseases. Similarly a knowledge management practitioner needs to understand how information is put into context and the nature of information flows in an organization. This helps such a person develop a framework that enables him or her to map knowledge flows.

Developing such a framework that includes knowledge rather than information helps identify what knowledge is available and what knowledge is missing so that gaps in knowledge flows are better identified. The process of identifying the gaps in knowledge flows is called information modelling.

 Knowledge Mapping

Information Modelling

Through a process of information modelling, it becomes possible to identify what knowledge is available and what knowledge is required to either improve a process, solve a recurring problem or seek better marketing opportunities

Sharma Management International has the required expertise to develop suitable knowledge maps as well as undertake information modelling to enable your company manage its knowledge assets better. For us to understand how to help you better, please provide basic information by clicking here

2026 Update: While the core knowledge management principles in this article remain relevant, digital transformation and new technologies have evolved the industry standard. To learn modern strategies and get certified, view our fully updated Certified Knowledge Management Course in Malaysia for the latest class schedules and HRD Corp claimable options.

Knowledge broadly refers to what is known. On a personal level, it refers to a fluid
mix of framed experiences, values, contextual information, and intuition that a
person has. This knowledge provides an environment for evaluating and
incorporating new experiences and information. Previously acquired knowledge is
the basis for learning. Learning in turn leads to acquisition of more knowledge.

2026 Update: While the core knowledge management principles in this article remain relevant, digital transformation and new technologies have evolved the industry standard. To learn modern strategies and get certified, view our fully updated Certified Knowledge Management Course in Malaysia for the latest class schedules and HRD Corp claimable options.

Knowledge broadly refers to what is known. On a personal level, it refers to a fluid mix of framed experiences, values, contextual information, and intuition that a person has. This knowledge provides an environment for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. Previously acquired knowledge is the basis for learning. Learning, in turn, leads to the acquisition of more knowledge.

In our previous newsletter, we highlighted how optimizing knowledge management processes enables the gradual transformation of an organization from a culture of blaming to a culture of accountability. We stressed that only through active involvement of all parties involved facilitated through knowledge management based practices, can such a situation come to fruition.

In this segment allow us to explore the idea mooted by Forbes that Knowledge Management facilitates decision making, enables the building of a learning organization as well as creates a culture of knowledge sharing and innovation. We focus in this segment the intimate relationship between better decision making by leaders and knowledge management at a personal level.

In order to make high-quality better decisions in volatile and highly uncertain and complex business environments, three requirements need to be fulfilled. The first is the ability to undertake assumptions analysis. The second is the ability to suspend unilateral perspectives in favour of multiple perspectives when attempting to understand the situation and complication being faced. The third is the ability to make a decision that meets the short as well as long term aspirations of all stakeholders involved.

Assumptions analysis

In the highly complex and uncertain business leaders have to rely on their gut feel and intuition to decide on the best way forward. They are forced to decide based on limited, changing information and make assumptions on what other issues impact the proposed decision. This was an acceptable practice in the past but is not the case anymore. Today, the volatility and extremely complex interrelationship between different elements of a business environment makes renders the tendency to assume a very risky option to undertake.

To minimize the risk associated with making assumptions that may not be correct, leaders need to acquire critical information either through association with people have relevant experience within the areas in question or be able to analyse intelligently data presented to guide them better and quicker in assessing the assumptions they make. Hence knowledge acquisition process needs to be optimized by enhancing the ability to connect people who have necessary expertise at short notice and the expertise to analyse information intelligently.

Multi perspective Analysis

Rapid and significant changes have become commonplace occurrence these days. There have been cases where what appeared to be the “obvious” decision to make from a leadership standpoint, led to a nightmarish outcome. A case in point is the decision by Nokia to downplay the advent of Apples I Phone because according to the leaders at that time that ,“such a phone not go far” in 2007 led to the demise of its leading position as a retailer of cell phones.

With the complexity and interdependency of technological start-ups including the advent of artificial intelligence and advanced robotics, boundaries of technological developments are becoming increasingly blurred. Under these circumstances, leaders are limited in options available to our current level of superficial understanding within the confines of a limited point-of-view when making critical decisions given their limited comprehension of the unprecedented evolution of technology that is unfolding before them.

The only way to make better decisions in such situations is through the production of knowledge that broadens the understanding of the emerging business environment. This requires the involvement of all stakeholders in terms of sharing and producing knowledge on a regular basis. This will over time, enable development of a more holistic and multi perspective view of issues. These perspectives raised and discussed amicably through dialogue using Knowledge Management techniques such as the Knowledge Café will go a long way in extending options available to leaders in dealing with issues that are ambiguous in nature.

Balancing short and long term needs of stakeholders  

In general the thinking process of people involves perceiving what is happening and from that perception, developing an understanding of how what is happening affects the wellbeing of the person followed by making a decision on what to do based on the understanding achieved.

When this is done by one person such as a leader who has to decide on the next course of action, his or her perception may be clouded by inaccurate or incomplete information that could lead to a superficial understanding of the situation and complication inherent within it. Consequently the decision made may be sub optimal and at times disastrous. This is by virtue of the fact that all stakeholder considerations were not made and the decision most often is based on good short term returns without considering long term implications of these decisions.

To mitigate the negative outcomes of a wrong decision and to minimize the possibility that sub optimal decisions are made, leaders need to develop a knowledge management capability that optimises the process of acquiring the correct knowledge from the right stakeholders at the right time, producing a holistic, shared understanding of the situations and complications involved from all relevant stakeholders and based on such an understanding be in a better position to make better decisions.

Making a reasoned, well thought out decision that can affect stakeholders wellbeing is dependent to a large extent on minimizing the consideration of unverified assumptions and adopting a unilateral, superficial understanding of issues. Such a decision has to be premised on the need for internalizing concerns and welfare of stakeholders involved both in the short and long term.

If this is done as a matter of routine, then such a decision making process is deemed to have been integrated within the decision making approach adopted by leaders in the organization. Developing and maintaining a well-oiled and thought out knowledge management approach as a catalyst for making the right decisions is certainly a step in the right direction.

2026 Update: While the core knowledge management principles in this article remain relevant, digital transformation and new technologies have evolved the industry standard. To learn modern strategies and get certified, view our fully updated Certified Knowledge Management Course in Malaysia for the latest class schedules and HRD Corp claimable options.

In our previous article, we explored how optimizing knowledge processes enables organizational transformation from a culture of blaming towards a culture of accountability. A key lesson learned was that only with active involvement of all parties involved, facilitated through knowledge management practices, can such a situation come to fruition.

Recently, we have been discussing an idea suggested by Forbes that Knowledge Management facilitates decision making, enables the building of a learning organization, as well as creates a culture of knowledge sharing and innovation. In this segment, we focus on the intimate relationship between better decision making by leaders and knowledge management at a personal level.

In order to make high-quality better decisions in volatile and highly uncertain and complex business environments, three requirements need to be fulfilled. The first is the ability to undertake assumptions analysis. The second is the ability to suspend unilateral perspectives in favour of multiple perspectives when attempting to understand the situation and complication being faced. The third is the ability to make a decision that meets the short-term, as well as long-term, aspirations of all stakeholders involved.

Assumptions analysis

In highly complex and uncertain business environments, leaders have to rely on their gut feel and intuition to decide on the best way forward. They are forced to decide based on limited, changing information and make assumptions on what other issues impact their proposed decisions. This was an acceptable practice in the past but is not the case anymore. Today, the volatility and extremely complex interrelationship between different elements of the business environment renders the tendency to assume a very risky option to undertake.

To minimize the risks associated with making incorrect assumptions, leaders need to identify and acquire critical information either through the association of people who have relevant experience or be able to intelligently analyze data to guide and assess the assumptions they make. As a result, the knowledge acquisition process needs to be optimized through enhancing the ability to connect with people who have the necessary expertise at short notice and the expertise to analyze information intelligently.

Multi-perspective Analysis

Rapid and significant changes have become commonplace occurrences these days. There have been cases where what appeared to be the “obvious” decision to make from a leadership standpoint, led to a nightmarish outcome. A case in point is the decision by Nokia to downplay the advent of Apple’s iPhone. According to Nokia leaders at that time “such a phone will not go far” in 2007, led to the demise of Nokia’s leading position as a cell phone retailer.

With the complexity and interdependency of technological start-ups, including the advent of artificial intelligence and advanced robotics, boundaries of technological developments are becoming increasingly blurred. Under these circumstances, where leaders are limited to their current level of superficial understanding, within the confines of a limited point-of-view, when making critical decisions. Given their limited comprehension of the unprecedented evolution of technology that is unfolding before them, we clearly need a more effective means of making such critical decisions.

The only way to make better decisions in such situations is through the production of knowledge that broadens the understanding of the emerging business environment. This requires the involvement of all stakeholders in terms of sharing and producing knowledge on a regular basis. This will over time, enable development of a more holistic and multi-perspective view of issues. These perspectives shared and discussed amicably through dialogue using Knowledge Management techniques such as the Knowledge Café will go a long way in extending options available to leaders in dealing with issues that are ambiguous in nature.

Balancing short and long-term needs of stakeholders  

In general, the thinking process of people involves perceiving what is happening, and from that perception, developing an understanding of how what is happening, affects the well-being of the person, followed by making a decision on what to do, based on the level of understanding the individual has achieved.

When this is done by one person, such as a leader who has to decide on the next course of action, his or her perception may be clouded by inaccurate or incomplete information that could lead to a superficial understanding of the situation and complication inherent within it. Consequently, the decision made may be suboptimal and at times disastrous. This is by virtue of the fact that all stakeholder considerations were not made and the decision most often is based on good short-term returns without considering long-term implications of these decisions.

To mitigate the negative outcomes of a wrong decision and to minimize the possibility that sub-optimal decisions are made, leaders need to develop a knowledge management capability that optimises the process of acquiring the correct knowledge from the right stakeholders at the right time, producing a holistic, shared understanding of the situations and complications involved from all relevant stakeholders and based on such an understanding be in a better position to make better decisions.

Making a reasoned, well thought out decision that can affect stakeholders wellbeing is dependent to a large extent on minimizing the consideration of unverified assumptions and adopting a unilateral, superficial understanding of issues. Such a decision has to be premised on the need for internalizing concerns and welfare of stakeholders involved both in the short and long term.

If this is done as a matter of routine, then such an approach to decision-making is deemed to have been integrated into the decision-making process adopted by leaders in the organization. Developing and maintaining a well-oiled and thought out knowledge management approach as a catalyst for making the right decisions is certainly a step in the right direction.

We live in a world where major governmental policy changes take place via Twitter. One tweet can change the course of the world’s economy, with billions of dollars and millions of people being affected overnight. In this era, where stability and certainty are words we can only use to wistfully remember the past, agility becomes essential to an organization’s survival.

Being in an agile landscape means being able to adapt in a work environment that changes very quickly and unexpectedly. These emerging changes can be very significant and impactful to an organization. When one is not able to adapt to these changes, their overall performance falls. Consequently, organizational objectives and key performance indicators are not met.

The realization of the importance of adaptation within this changing environment is important. Why is it so difficult to adapt to perform better in an agile working environment? What should be done to adapt better with others as changes become increasingly common?

People work best when they know what to do and how to do it. This is usually only possible when people have the experience and expertise to do what is needed. However, when their responsibilities deviate from the norm, uncertainty crops in. They may not have the expertise or experience needed, and as such are unable to perform as required. Therefore, in order to effectively perform their roles, they will then have to seek and access relevant pieces of knowledge, to ensure that their expertise and experience matches up with their role and responsibilities. If they are unable to effectively access the knowledge needed to adapt to the changing requirements, the organization will lose their ability to grow more resilient in the face of these uncertainties.

As per the above, the one effective method to combat uncertainly is effective knowledge management. One of the ways to more effectively manage knowledge is to ensure a better understanding of issues, which comes from developing accurate and deep insights of expertise from many different perspectives. This requires connecting with people who possess the required expertise and experience needed to deal with emerging problems or requirements.

Once better understanding is achieved, organizations may wish to to further explore beyond the boundaries of existing expertise and capabilities. This involves developing better mechanisms for optimizing existing knowledge assets.

In short, organizational agility is the byproduct of effective knowledge management. Investing in optimizing knowledge assets, by acquiring, creating and integrating knowledge, will lead to a greater ability to confidently respond to the turbulence that uncertainty causes. This leads to improved performance. Hence, knowing how to optimize knowledge assets is the key to succeeding in an agile landscape.

Dr Rumesh Kumar

January 2020

2026 Update: While the core knowledge management principles in this article remain relevant, digital transformation and new technologies have evolved the industry standard. To learn modern strategies and get certified, view our fully updated Certified Knowledge Management Course in Malaysia for the latest class schedules and HRD Corp claimable options.

Crisis management sets in whenever there is a crisis that involves stakeholders. This may include anything from a major customer compliant that is highly publicized, a delay in the politically connected project launch or even the disappearance of an airline. In any case, under such circumstances the relationship with stakeholders is at an all time low and the trust deficit gap has widened considerably. Managing the situation is crucial to the survival and reputation to the company. What is needed under these circumstances is crises management. Such a management approach is characterized by being reactive, very vulnerable to shifting perceptions and can lead to hostile reactions from affected stakeholders. 

You may have heard of brainstorming, but questionstorming?? Well this is apparently a new term being bandied around in knowledge management based circles. Let me share with you why this approach is gaining ground fast as a tool for acquiring knowledge that is required, when it is required.

2026 Update: While the core knowledge management principles in this article remain relevant, digital transformation and new technologies have evolved the industry standard. To learn modern strategies and get certified, view our fully updated Certified Knowledge Management Course in Malaysia for the latest class schedules and HRD Corp claimable options.

How Knowledge Management is crucial for Digital Transformation 

I had a chat with a Chief information Officer of a business conglomerate the other day. His company embarked on a Digital Transformation strategy recently. Millions of dollars were invested in cloud computing and data analytics but he lamented that the efficient return on these investments are difficult to realize. As we spoke it became clear to me that this was a common problem most companies embarking on a digital transformation experience. I enquired on the basis for selecting the digital technology in question and his response was that it appeared to be the best available. Evidently, it appears that the allure to invest is there but grounds for doing so efficiently remain unclear. Let me share my thoughts on how better knowledge management helps identify what needs to be digitized and how to select the digital technology that gives the best returns for investing in digital transformation. 

2026 Update: While the core knowledge management principles in this article remain relevant, digital transformation and new technologies have evolved the industry standard. To learn modern strategies and get certified, view our fully updated Certified Knowledge Management Course in Malaysia for the latest class schedules and HRD Corp claimable options.

To manage means to be in control. We need to be in control of these aspects in order for us to achieve our desired outcome. Most existing literature in management tend to dwell on how to manage these aspects on a daily basis. Articles and books on management today predominantly provide “to do” lists to guide behavior.

2026 Update: While the core knowledge management principles in this article remain relevant, digital transformation and new technologies have evolved the industry standard. To learn modern strategies and get certified, view our fully updated Certified Knowledge Management Course in Malaysia for the latest class schedules and HRD Corp claimable options.

An alternative approach to dealing with volatility, uncertainty, complexity ambiguity in the new world

Unleashing the powers of the mind has been one of the more enduring and yet elusive goals of mankind. As we embark on a perilous voyage into the realm of ambiguity, the need for seeking solace through introspection has never been so acute as it is now. Despite a plethora of suggestions on how to addresss complex, ill structured and ambiguous challenges, little has been done to demonstrate how this can occur in practice.