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its core, management could show their enthusiasm in a boundless and persistent way,
including vocal support, speech, inaugural memo, and wandering around different
business units to invite impulsive idea generation and knowledge creation from all levels
of staff. Also, management could champion the KM process and lead by example with
employees who are receptive to KM.
Lesson 3: Integration of Monetary and Nonmonetary
Incentives
To stimulate KM behaviors, specifically sharing and creation, it is important to
assure a balanced reward system integrating monetary and nonmonetary incentives that
fit various forms of motivation (Desouza, 2003). In the beginning of the KM programs,
employees needed to be shown that personal benefits could be obtained from KM
success with improvement in products, processes, and competitiveness. Therefore,
rewards that are direct, monetary-based, and explicit are useful. For this, management can
provide salary increase or promotion. With the passage of time, rewards could be
extended to something implicit. For instance, management can publicize those employ-
ees’ names and respective ideas that contributed to organizational processes, or provide
skills-enhancement program to enable employees to see their importance with extended
job scopes. Moreover, management can consider rewards systems geared toward
individual or team achievement so as to encourage more interaction, creativity, team-
work, and harmony among people.
Lesson 4: KM has to be Cultivated and Nurtured, which
is not a Push Strategy or Coercive Task
As shown in this case, KM is not a singly motivated exercise. It requires a collective
and cooperative effort to put into effect various resources. Other than the vision and top
management support, operational staff can greatly affect the success of the KM program.
Their influences affect attitudes, behaviors, and participation in KM and could exert
positive impacts on KM effectiveness if managed properly. For attitudinal changes,
efforts have to remove or at least alleviate employees’ negative perception toward KM.
For example, the fear and misconception that KM is a means to downsize organizations
for efficiency or as heavy workload which requires much IT expertise. For behavioral
changes, we highlight a supportive working environment where employees can have
ample time to engage in KM endeavors, such as sharing and creation, a fair and positive
culture where everyone is valued and encouraged to contribute to KM effectiveness, is
needed. To encourage participation, pushing or mandatory activities are least effective.
Coupled with the rewards systems, employees should be inspired to take risks as learning
steps for KM success. Unexpected failure or unintended results may cause management
to call for a break to identify the causes and remedy solutions. Do not quit or blame,
otherwise, mutual trust and commitment to work with the KM processes will be lessened.