Reserve Bank of New Zealand 219Copyright © 2005, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without writtenlevel support (Blackler, 1995; Nonaka & Konno, 1998) are widely acknowledged as
fundamental to the development of a strong knowledge culture. At the same time, staff
from the library and records management area as well as other parts of the Bank came
together to form an informal, grassroots network. This network followed the growth of
thinking on knowledge management theory and could be categorised as an early
community of practice, defined as one of three key critical components of knowledge
management (Cohen & Prusak, 2001). Other critical components were identified as the
trust of the organisation’s staff and the presence of appropriate social norms and
organizational culture, both of which were confirmed by the experience of the Bank.
Communities of practice have an important role to play in sharing learning and knowledge
across an organisation (DiBella & Nevis, 1998), as evidenced within the Bank, where this
informal network initiated brown-bag lunchtime sessions, where those interested in
finding out more about knowledge management and how it would work in the Bank could
meet and discuss the various issues. This group also helped to identify the barriers that
existed in terms of knowledge sharing.
Building a KM Framework/Strategy
Thus far, the Bank had developed a vision and seen the formation of both the
Knowledge Services Group and more informal knowledge management-friendly net-
works. However, although knowledge management was much discussed, very few
organisations were actually implementing knowledge management programs. Despite
recognition that knowledge management could be beneficial to an organisation, many
organisations simply did not know where to start (Earl, 2001). The Bank found itself in
a similar position and determined that the most logical starting point was to gain an
understanding of knowledge management, to investigate global best-practice thinking,
and to identify a preferred development process or framework that would be most
appropriate to the Bank. Development of knowledge management frameworks can assist
organisations to understand the sorts of knowledge management initiatives that are
possible and to identify those that are most suitable to the context of the organisation
(Earl, 2001).
To enable this development, the Bank sought to develop its own local framework
with the help of an outside individual who could bring in best practice and knowledge
in terms of what was happening in other parts of the world. However, a critical concern
for the Bank was loss of control of ownership of the process. In order to maximise
potential of the appointment, the Bank secured the services of an individual through
whom it could gain access to established networks and the individual’s organisation. By
doing this, the Bank was able to harness significant information on what other organisations
were doing in relation to knowledge management, and assessment of this information
would assist the Bank to develop its own knowledge management strategy. The aim of
a strategic approach to knowledge management is “to build, nurture, and fully exploit
knowledge assets through systems, processes, and people and convert them into value
as knowledge-based products and services” (Earl, 2001, p. 228). This was the Bank’s
objective.
The Bank then undertook a 12-week program that effectively developed the
framework into a workable strategy.