Deck 12: Leadership Assessment of Knowledge Management

Question 1

A KM assessment can establish a baseline for implementing KM solutions.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Since KM is difficult to measure, management of KM must be done well.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

According to the Ernst & Young survey, measuring the value of knowledge is the most important challenge facing organizations today.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

A KM assessment can help to make a business case for financing additional KM initiatives.

Question 5

One of the three possible ways to assess KM is related to where KM is assessed.

Question 6

A KM assessment may be performed periodically for the entire organization or an organizational subunit.

Question 7

A KM assessment survey across an organization typically produces a pass or fail result.

Question 8

The purpose of a KM assessment done at the start of a project is to identify the gap in current KM.

Question 9

It may be necessary to establish historical KM performance to evaluate the effects produced by the KM project.

Question 10

An actual decrease in customer service time would be assessed at the start of a KM project.

Question 11

Quantitative measures are more difficult to develop during an organization's initial KM projects.

Question 12

Only quantitative measures can be used to assess KM impact.

Question 13

Determining if current IT technology at an organization is up to date for supporting a KM project is another example of a quantitative assessment.

Question 14

A convenient way to assess organizational subunit activities is to plot target performance versus actual performance for each activity on a matrix.

Question 15

The first step in assessment of knowledge is evaluating the availability of knowledge.

Question 16

An important aspect of KM assessment is determining the value that each area of knowledge contributes to the organization.

Question 17

Assessment of KM's impacts is centered on the utilization of explicit knowledge.

Question 18

KM can impact employees, processes, and products.

Question 19

Shortening of proposal times is a possible measure to help assess KM impact on employees.

Question 20

KM assessment should evaluate both KM's direct impacts on organizational performance and indirect impacts on organizational performance.

Question 21

According to the Ernst & Young survey, what is the most important challenge facing organizations with a KM initiative?

A)Measuring the value of knowledge assets.
B)Measuring the contribution of knowledge assets.
C)Protecting intellectual capital.
D)Providing sufficient IT infrastructure.
E)Changing people's behavior.

Question 22

Which of the following is not a reason for conducting a KM assessment?

A)Realize the difficulty in measuring KM.
B)Identify contributions currently made by KM.
C)Determine if costs of KM are justified.
D)Identify gaps in KM and knowledge at the organization.
E)Understand the quality of efforts put into KM.

Question 23

Which of the following is a noteworthy time for performing a KM assessment as described in the text?

A)When the organization becomes a going concern.
B)At the midpoint of a KM implementation.
C)Prior to a merger or bankruptcy.
D)Periodically for the entire organization.
E)Every time a new employee is hired.

Question 24

Assessing KM at the start of a KM project is strongly aligned with which reason for performing a KM assessment?

A)Understand the quality of efforts put into KM.
B)Identify contributions currently made by KM.
C)Help build a business case for the project.
D)Realize the difficulty in measuring KM.
E)Motivate knowledge sharing by employees.

Question 25

The purpose of KM assessments performed prior to the start of a KM project is to ________.

A)determine required maintenance costs of the KM system.
B)identify the gap in current KM.
C)recruit a corporate champion.
D)build a knowledge sharing business culture.
E)determine impacts of the KM project.

Question 26

The purpose of KM assessments performed at the conclusion of a KM project is to __________.

A)determine impacts of the KM project.
B)build IT infrastructure.
C)demonstrate the need for continued KM investments.
D)identify the new gap in KM.
E)determine maintenance costs of the KM system.

Question 27

What are the two types of KM assessment with regard to the way in which KM assessment is performed?

A)Time of assessment and impact.
B)Solutions and impact.
C)Qualitative and quantitative.
D)KM solutions and knowledge produced.
E)None of the above.

Question 28

How is qualitative assessment data typically gathered (which KM process)?

A)Combination.
B)Exchange.
C)Internalization.
D)Socialization.
E)Routines.

Question 29

Which of the following is not a focus of KM assessment based on differences in aspects of KM?

A)KM solutions.
B)Knowledge produced by KM solutions.
C)Impact of knowledge on performance.
D)Knowledge shared through KM solutions.
E)None of the above.

Question 30

Assessment of KM solutions involves evaluating the extent to which _______ is/are utilized.

A)KM infrastructure
B)KM processes
C)information technology
D)contingency factors
E)none of the above

Question 31

What is the relationship between qualitative measures and quantitative measures for KM assessment as KM experience increases?

A)Both qualitative and quantitative measures usage remain constant regardless of KM experience.
B)Qualitative measure use increases while quantitative measure use decreases.
C)Quantitative measure use increases while qualitative measure use decreases.
D)Both qualitative and quantitative measure use increases with experience.
E)Both qualitative and quantitative measure use decreases with experience.

Question 32

Which of the following is not a level of evaluation in the Knowledge Advisors comprehensive solution for measuring learning investment as reported in the text?

A)Is the learning enjoyable?
B)How long did the learning take?
C)Do trainees use what they learn?
D)Did the trainees actually learn?
E)What is the ROI?

Question 33

What are the two requirements for assessment of knowledge?

A)Determining the ratio of tacit to explicit knowledge and determining if knowledge is declarative or procedural.
B)Determining overall costs and identifying a project sponsor.
C)Establishing an appropriate business culture and obtaining upper management buy-in.
D)Identifying the time to perform the assessment and selecting qualitative or quantitative measures.
E)Identifying of relevant knowledge and evaluating knowledge availability.

Question 34

Assessment of the value of knowledge is one way for attributing _________ of the benefits resulting from the knowledge.

A)an assessment
B)a success factor
C)a contingency
D)a tangible measure
E)an early cost

Question 35

Which of the following is not an illustrative measure of KM impacts on people?

A)Number of customers accessing Web-based product knowledge.
B)Number of conferences or seminars attended by an employee.
C)Number of subunit areas that an employee has rotated through.
D)Number of countries in which a senior manager has worked.
E)Percentage of employees retained in the previous year.

Question 36

Which of the following is not an illustrative measure of KM impacts on processes?

A)Increased economy of scope.
B)Reduced costs.
C)Enhanced customer service.
D)Number of new entries in KM databases.
E)Shortened proposal times.

Question 37

Which of the following is not an illustrative measure associated with KM impact on value-
added products?

A)Increased rate of new product launches.
B)Increased information content.
C)Increased rate of product improvements.
D)Increased profit margin to price ratio.
E)None of the above.

Question 38

What should a KM assessment of KM impacts on organizational performance measure?

A)Employee job satisfaction and process effectiveness.
B)Adaptability and innovativeness.
C)Direct and indirect impacts.
D)Economies of scale and economies of scope.
E)Return on investment.

Question 39

Who should be on the KM assessment team?

A)Upper and middle management.
B)Management and staff from the subunit being assessed.
C)An external consulting firm.
D)Internal and external members.
E)Accounting and IT members.

Question 40

What is benchmarking, with relation to KM?

A)Establishing a baseline value for easier evaluation of returns from knowledge and knowledge systems.
B)Setting a timeline for KM systems implementation.
C)Assessing the impacts of KM on employees, processes, products, and organizational performance.
D)Developing a knowledge sharing business culture through the use of communities of practice.
E)Comparing KM at an organization or subunit with the KM at other subunits or organizations to learn common and applicable best practices.

Question 41

What are the five reasons for performing a KM assessment?

Question 42

What are the three times for performing a KM assessment discussed in the text and what are the focuses of each different time?

Question 43

Which types of knowledge management assessment are being used if an organization assesses its KM by determining the ROI for each KM project?

Question 44

Give an example of an illustrative measure for each of the four KM processes when assessed as aspects of KM solutions.

Question 45

How can the activity performance matrix described in the text assist in identifying knowledge gaps and knowledge sharing solutions?

Question 46

A learning management system (LMS) for company Qwerty houses all of the online training materials for the organization. The LMS is capable of automatically assigning classes to new employees; of letting existing employees select classes (or be assigned classes by their managers); keeping track of course attempts, evaluation scores, and total courses completed for all employees. Discuss how this LMS may be used as part of a planned KM assessment and what aspects of KM assessment are impacted by the specified information available from the LMS.

Question 47

Discuss the requirements for assessing knowledge and how these requirements are performed and how they impact the assessment of knowledge.

Question 48

Who should be involved in a KM assessment of an organization and why?

Question 49

List four of the five overall approaches described in the text for performing KM assessments. What is the focus of each of the overall methods listed?

Question 50

What are the eight suggestions that should be considered when performing a KM assessment? List and briefly explain each suggestion.