Evaluation

	Table of Contents
p. 7 of 7 BACK | NEXT Preface I. Introduction II. The Setting of Knowledge Audits III. Auditing Knowledge IV. Auditing the Lessons Architecture V. The Survey of Perceptions VI. Picking Investments in Knowledge Management

VI. Picking Investments in Knowledge Management

41. The survey of perceptions conducted in 2007 clarified the need for new knowledge management initiatives. Future knowledge audits will reveal others still. How can investments in knowledge management be picked? This is no easy matter: What can be measured is not necessarily important and what is important cannot always be measured. Not surprisingly, despite the wide implementation of knowledge management initiatives, a systematic and comprehensive assessment tool to prioritize investments in knowledge management in terms of return on investment is not available. This owes to the difficulty of demonstrating direct linkages between investments in knowledge management and organizational performance, most of which can only be inferred, and the fact that the miscellany of possible knowledge management initiatives calls for both quantitative and qualitative approaches. This is indeed the rationale behind the Balanced Scorecard introduced by Robert Kaplan and David Norton in 1992, whose qualities make it quite useful as a knowledge management metric.⁶²

42. When prioritizing investments in knowledge management, common traps lie waiting. They are:

• delaying rewards for quick wins
• using too many metrics
• implementing metrics that are hard to control
• focusing on metrics that tear people away from business goals

Until the state of the art is better developed, it is in the final analysis recommended to consider knowledge management initiatives as a portfolio of well-balanced investments. Figures 11–18 present a purposeful medley of insights that can help pick these. They cover in turn

• a time management approach to full agendas that focuses on importance and urgency
• generic features of a portfolio of knowledge management initiatives
• ways to map knowledge management initiatives by knowledge agent, form of knowledge, and core knowledge activity
• four broad aspects that sustain an innovative organization
• five areas of value creation in knowledge products and services
• ways to locate knowledge management initiatives in an options space
• a multi-staged review process to underpin knowledge product and service development
• an approach to strategic management that balances the financial perspective

In the spirit of learning, readers are invited to ponder the usefulness of each depending on context.

____________________
⁶²Robert Kaplan and David Norton. 1992. The Balanced Scorecard: Measures that Drive Performance. Harvard Business Review. January–February: 71–80.
⁶³See Stephen Covey. 1989. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic. Simon and Schuster. Dwight Eisenhower is the originator of the matrix.

Back V. The Survey of Perceptions	Auditing the Lessons Architecture