Deck 3: Knowledge Management Foundations

Question 1

If knowledge is treated as a resource, knowledge management may be defined as doing what is needed to get the most out of knowledge resources.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The term "knowledge resources" refers to just the knowledge currently possessed by individuals within the firm.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The benefits of KM do not necessarily have to exceed the cost of doing so.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

KM mechanisms and technologies rely on KM infrastructure.

Question 5

Each KM system must select one KM mechanism and one KM technology.

Question 6

KM mechanisms are organizational or structural methods used to promote KM.

Question 7

The Viant corporation uses their new employee initiation process and assignment rotation as KM mechanisms.

Question 8

KM technologies support KM infrastructure.

Question 9

According to the text, traditional MIS (management information systems) are a technology that supports KM.

Question 10

KM technologies do not have to be a key element of KM systems, since people are the source of knowledge.

Question 11

Video taped interviews of retiring employees are an example of the use of KM technologies.

Question 12

An important challenge for KM initiatives is that the current organization culture does not encourage knowledge sharing.

Question 13

Knowledge resources are relevant to the decision making of which of the following?

A)An individual.
B)A corporation.
C)A department within a firm.
D)A and c
E)All of the above.

Question 14

"Get the most (out of knowledge resources)," reflects the impacts of KM on the ___________ of the individual or the organization.

A)goal achievement
B)motivations
C)business strategies
D)performance evaluation
E)market value

Question 15

Which of the following is not a possible activity involved in KM?

A)Share knowledge with others.
B)Capture existing knowledge.
C)Discover new knowledge.
D)Archive old knowledge.
E)Apply knowledge.

Question 16

Which of the following is not a component in KM Foundations?

A)KM mechanisms.
B)KM infrastructure.
C)KM technologies.
D)KM processes.
E)None of the above.

Question 17

Which of the following is not true regarding the process of knowledge sharing?

A)Sharing may take place across individuals or groups.
B)The recipient must understand the shared knowledge well enough to act on it.
C)Knowledge sharing requires an effective telecommunications infrastructure.
D)Sharing may take place across departments or organizations.
E)What is shared must be knowledge and not recommendations based on knowledge.

Question 18

Which of the following reflects the norms and beliefs that guide the behavior of the organization's members and helps in KM?

A)Organizational Culture.
B)Leadership.
C)Knowledge Management Foundations.
D)Management.
E)Routines.

Question 19

Which of the following is not an example of a KM mechanism?

A)OJT (On the Job Training).
B)Hiring a CKO (Chief Knowledge Officer).
C)Face-to-face meetings.
D)Employee rotation across departments.
E)None of the above.

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT a component of KM infrastructure?

A)Organizational Culture
B)Organizational Structure
C)Organizational Behavior
D)Common Knowledge
E)IT Infrastructure

Question 21

The "Beenz" system of micropayments at Hill and Knowlton, was an incentive program to encourage employees to:

A)Use KM Technologies.
B)Hoard Knowledge.
C)Share knowledge.
D)Adapt KM solutions.
E)None of the above.

Question 22

Which of the following is NOT a KM technology?

A)Electronic Discussion groups
B)Email.
C)Databases.
D)Decision Support Systems.
E)Management Information Systems.

Question 23

What is not true of Common Knowledge?

A)It provides unity to the organization.
B)It support knowledge transfer within the organization.
C)It is common only to an organization.
D)It enables transfer of knowledge to outside an organization.
E)It consists of shared norms and individual knowledge domains.

Question 24

The richness of a medium is based on its ability to

A)Provide multiple cues
B)Transfer information quickly
C)Customize the information transferred
D)Efficiently access the information
E)Aggregate large volumes of information

Question 25

__________ is the foundation on which KM resides.

A)KM mechanism
B)KM technology
C)KM systems
D)KM infrastructure
E)KM metrics

Question 26

Which of the following is not a main component of KM infrastructure?

A)Artificial intelligence.
B)Organization culture.
C)Common knowledge.
D)IT infrastructure.
E)Organization structure.

Question 27

Which of the following is not one of the four most important challenges in KM?

A)The organization's employees have no time for KM.
B)The current organization culture does not encourage knowledge sharing.
C)KM is a new term and is not known by managers.
D)An inadequate understanding of KM processes and its benefits to the organization.
E)An inability to measure the financial benefits from KM.

Question 28

Which of the following is an attribute of an enabling organizational culture for knowledge sharing?

A)Strong hierarchical organization structure.
B)Management support of KM at all levels.
C)A curved individual-based reward system.
D)Encouragement of competition between employees.
E)Purchasing the latest information technology.

Question 29

Which of the following is a specialized structure or role within an organization's structure that facilitates KM?

A)Chief knowledge officer (CKO).
B)A separate department for KM.
C)The research and development (R&D) department.
D)The corporate library.
E)All of the above.

Question 30

Which of the following best describes the part of an organization's technology infrastructure that facilitates KM?

A)All of the organization's information systems.
B)Expert systems and other intelligent technologies.
C)Data warehouses and data mining applications.
D)Communication technologies.
E)Conferencing technologies (video and scheduling).

Question 31

Diagram the interrelationship between the four levels of KM solutions & foundation.

Question 32

Briefly explain KM solutions and KM foundation

Question 33

Enumerate the different components of KM Foundation:

Question 34

The list of example KM technologies in the text did not list email as a KM technology. Discuss whether or not electronic mail (email) should be considered as a KM technology that supports KM systems.

Question 35

Both World Bank and British Petroleum (BP) utilize video-based KM technologies. Which knowledge processes are being performed by World Bank's combination of video interviews and hyperlinks to documents for employees close to retirement? Which knowledge processes are being performed by BP's desktop videoconferencing?

Question 36

What are the four most important challenges in KM?

Question 37

Why is getting employees to participate in knowledge sharing considered the hardest part of KM?

Question 38

Define a "community of practice." Why are communities of practice beneficial to the KM of an organization?

Question 39

Briefly define the four aspects to systematically view IT infrastructure.

Question 40

Discuss why the physical environment at an organization is an important aspect of the KM infrastructure.