Report On Knowledge Cafe.

Introduction
This report presents the outcome of the knowledge Café held on February 15 2008. The facilitators asked each group to write down a list of the worst things that could prevent an organisation from being able to manage knowledge. Out of these initial list each group select the 3 worst things.

Group 2 list of the 3 ‘Worst’ things that could prevent Knowledge Management
1. No Communication Strategy - This is where the management of an organisation does not consciously put in place a plan to ensure effective communication amongst its members and also with the external environment. This might include lack of Information technology enabled communication techniques like Intranets, Internets, and E –mail; no means of manual communication like letters, hand-over notes, and other documentation; and the organisation does not promote social interaction amongst its members using restaurants, bars, or other social gathering amongst members both during working hours and after work.

2. No Learning and Development Strategy – The organisation does not promote organisational learning by making conscious effort to train its members. There are no plans to tap into the knowledge and skills of members and other external parties to train existing members on new and emerging ideas about doing things within its industry. There are no clear development paths for members and there are no policies regarding training and re-retraining of members.

3. No Identification of Required Knowledge - The organisation does not make a conscious effort to identify the knowledge it has and that which is required to achieve its goals. The organisation’s leaders are not aware of the difference between what members currently know and what they ought to know to improve performance or gain competitive advantage (called Knowledge Gap). In essence the organisation cannot identify the kind of knowledge it requires to achieve organisational goals.

The Important Things for an Organisation to do to Manage Knowledge
From the foregoing, the writer believes that to effectively manage knowledge and promote organisation learning, leaders in the organisation must take necessary steps to consciously and actively identify the knowledge required to achieve its goals; promote organisational learning through a well documented training and development plan for all its members; and encourage effective communication amongst its members using both information technology enabled tools as well as other informal means of socialization which are best for sharing tacit knowledge.