Catalog

	Table of Contents
p. 6 of 15 BACK | NEXT I. Introduction II. Knowledge and Development III. Managing Knowledge at the Asian Development Bank Current Practice Recent Initiatives Challenges and Opportunities Lessons From Experience Elsewhere IV. Knowledge Management at the Asian Development Bank: The Framework V. Benefits, Organizational And Resource Implications VI. Conclusion Appendixes

Knowledge Management : III. Managing Knowledge at the Asian Development Bank

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C. Challenges and Opportunities

23. In recent years, ADB has improved how it processes and disseminates knowledge. During formulation of the Information System and Technology Strategy Phase II (ISTS-II) ¹³ and the KM framework presented in this paper, specific issues affecting ADB’s ability to deliver on its long- and medium-term strategic objectives were identified, including the following:

1. Teamwork and collaboration. Teamwork-enabling processes and support systems are lacking. Execution of virtual teamwork, workflow, and sharing of information, data, and knowledge is difficult.
2. Business processes. Ownership of key business processes is fragmented across departments, and considerable time and energy is spent by staff in looking for the latest “rules” that must be complied with.
3. Corporate culture and shared values. ADB is a conservative and often consensus-driven organization. An adverse feature of this corporate culture is that it dampens innovation, generates resistance to change, and discourages knowledge sharing and debate.
4. Information technology (IT) issues. In addition to “people and process” issues, a number of IT-specific issues were also identified with respect to the constraints imposed by the current IT environment, including lack of systematic ADB-wide management of internal and external data, connectivity issues, lack of analytical and reporting tools, and lack of systems integration (which means that data and information are often spread over several systems in different formats).

24. While reconfirming the need for a formal approach to more effective knowledge management in ADB, the problem analysis identified the following challenges and opportunities to propel ADB’s knowledge agenda:

1. Contribution to knowledge must be adequately valued to create incentives for knowledge sharing. Staff feedback confirms that few incentives exist to proactively share knowledge through teams, committees, and networks, or to disseminate and share the benefits of participating in learning events. To create adequate staff incentives, management systems at all levels (staff, division, department or office) must value and recognize the importance of knowledge activities.
2. ADB-wide knowledge initiatives must focus on results. Expected results of knowledge initiatives must be specified and monitored regularly to allow continuous improvements in their delivery. To ensure that intended results of knowledge initiatives are in line with ADB-wide strategic objectives, monitoring and evaluation of knowledge initiatives should be an integral part of the ADBwide managing for development results (MfDR) system.
3. Quality of KPS activities must be improved. A special evaluation study on ADB’s economic and sector work (ESW) noted that, to enhance it, its design, implementation, and dissemination must improve.¹⁴ The study urged ADB to (a) introduce internal processes to enhance the overall quality of ESWs, (b) develop a dissemination strategy to use the vast amount of knowledge generated through ESWs, and (c) mainstream ESWs within ADB by changing the focus from inputs to results. While specific to ESW, the observation is also applicable to all KPS. These three recommendations need to be addressed as part of a quality assurance methodology for ADB’s KPS.

Box 5: Staff Expectations Findings from workshops and brainstorming sessions with staff indicate that they need information technology systems and knowledge products that support the following: · One common authoritative source for data and information. Key documents such as reports and recommendations of the President should be electronically stored in only one location. Staff want to know where to look for a particular knowledge product and to be able to trust that it is the current version. · Ease of use. Staff want knowledge to be well organized, to some extent summarized, easy to locate and easy to retrieve. · Access. Staff want access to information from the field, resident missions, representative offices, home, and preferably 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. · Processing. Staff wants to be able to format information and manipulate it to serve their needs, whether in a report or as input for analytical work.

4. Knowledge outputs must be better captured and disseminated to achieve their intended development impact. In contrast to the financial and human resources spent on generating knowledge, ADB’s efforts to capture and disseminate nowledge—internally and externally—remain inadequate. For example, knowledge gained from ADTA operations is often not compiled in a publicly accessible form, and knowledge dissemination is normally limited to targeted clients. ADB must reinforce the capture and dissemination of knowledge by adopting a more systematic approach to leveraging the benefits of disseminating KPS outputs, consolidating the ADB publications program, improving ADB’s Web sites, and planning dissemination events more strategically.
5. Planning, monitoring, and evaluation of an ADB-wide KPS work plan must be institutionalized. This will (a) sharpen strategic focus, (b) ensure effective allocation of funds, (c) avoid overlap or duplication, (d) meet the demands of ADB’s internal and external clients, (e) provide an effective tool for assessing the planned KPS operations of ADB and ADBI against ADB’s overall strategic agenda, and (f) ensure acquisition of adequate and consistent institutional knowledge on key sectors and thematic priorities.
6. Knowledge processing must be harmonized. A large number of offices are involved in processing knowledge at ADB. For knowledge storage and retrieval alone, units involved include Central Operations Services Office (COSO), Office of External Relations (OER), Office of Information Systems and Technology (OIST), Office of the Secretary (OSEC), and library and records under the Office of Administrative Services (OAS). Individual operations departments (including resident missions and representative offices) are developing their own IT solutions for knowledge sharing. As a result, information is stored at various repositories without synchronization, which makes access to repositories and retrieval of knowledge burdensome. To improve operational efficiency, ADB must urgently adopt a more coherent and streamlined system of processing knowledge.
7. ADB should adopt a more effective system to improve information storage and retrieval. This is essential considering the increasing knowledge outputs created through ADB operations, and the growing demand for knowledge as operational inputs and as a product in its own right. ADB supports the implementation of almost 500 loans and 1,100 TA projects in over 37 DMCs, each with their own inherent knowledge. These are often not adequately documented or stored systematically. Some knowledge outputs are voluminous which makes it difficult to extract key knowledge for dissemination and use. ADB should adopt available IT solutions to remove obstacles to efficient information storage and retrieval. Establishing and managing an efficient taxonomy and classification system for all knowledge-related products is essential for ensuring consistent storage and easy retrieval of information. Staff feedback from various workshops and brainstorming sessions is summarized in Box 5.

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