Assignment Task:
Addressing the Challenges of Facilitating Knowledge Sharing among a Diverse and Geographically Dispersed Workforce.
You are to assume the role of a Learning and Knowledge Management consultant who has been commissioned by the senior management team of Total IT Solutions, a medium-sized IT company to help with its plans for a proposed knowledge management initiative. You have been asked to write a report evaluating the challenges involved in implementing a knowledge management initiative to facilitate the sharing of knowledge ACROSS the company’s various sites between its system designers. You are also required to provide some advice on how to use IT systems AND appropriate people management practices to facilitate cross-site knowledge sharing. Some background information on Total IT Solutions appears below, following the details of the assignment.
Review relevant academic literature to highlight the key challenges that Total IT Solutions faces with the sharing of knowledge between sites. Focus centrally on using relevant academic literature, concepts and theories to examine these challenges, illustrating your argument with relevant examples from the academic literature. This should be written in the form of an academic essay and should include full academic references (Harvard style).
Make some brief recommendations on how Total IT Solutions can facilitate the sharing of knowledge between sites via (1) the use of relevant IT systems; (2) the use of relevant people management practices (such as setting up a community of practice, pay & reward, training, job design, mentoring ..) You do not need to provide any details on cost or timescales, but recommendations made should be broadly practical. Further, you should focus purely on the knowledge management initiative and not provide more general business/strategy advice.
This assignment is designed to allow you to demonstrate your theoretical and practical knowledge on the topics of Knowledge Management and Learning & Development. In writing this coursework you should therefore utilize relevant concepts & theories, as well as any case study material, or examples of Knowledge Management initiatives that are relevant to your argument.
Total IT Solutions: Company Background and Knowledge Management Challenge
(This case study is set in a post-Covid19 context, where it is assumed there are no restrictions on travel, or office-based working)
Total IT Solutions is a successful, medium-sized IT company. It currently employing 250 staff located at four separate sites. It provides custom-designed IT systems for clients in the biotechnology sector. At each site employees include managers, system designers and support staff. Total IT Solutions head office and main site is in Glasgow, with smaller offices in Shanghai, New York and Berlin. Staffing levels for all sites are outlined in Table 1. All sites of the company have an open plan layout, with every person having their own dedicated workspace separated by partitions. All sites have a number of meeting rooms which can be used for project meetings. The only people with private offices are the managers at each site.
Site Staffing Levels
System Designers Managers Support Staff Site Total
UK 70 10 20 100
Shanghai 35 5 10 50
New York 35 5 10 50
Berlin 35 5 10 50
TOTAL 175 25 50 250
Table 1: Staffing Levels within TOTAL IT SOLUTIONSs four sites
The work of the system designers is organized around project teams, with designers being allocated to projects on the basis of their expertise and workload, with each project team having a senior designer as its leader. Project teams typically contain between 4 and 6 staff. Each project team is typically made up of system designers from one site only. As a consequence, the system designers typically do not travel between sites, and work at one site exclusively. On average, projects last for 6-9 months. Designers typically work on two to three projects at a time.
The work of the designers is typically complex and non-routine, often requiring significant creativity to provide IT systems that meet the particular needs of individual clients. Further, the customized nature of work means that project team members often required to communicate extensively with clients over the course of projects. However, apart from initial visits to client sites at the start of a project, interactions with client staff are typically done via phone or email.
In terms of working hours, most system designers generally work longer than their contracted 37 hours, often working into the evening one to two days per week. Pay levels for designers are average for the industry. The designers’ salaries are linked to their levels of experience. There is no overtime pay, but if projects are completed on time, or early, project team members are paid a financial bonus.
Staff retention levels within Total IT Solutions are average for the industry and are similar across all sites. Typically 10-15% of designers leave Total IT Solutions every year, and staff recruitment at all sites thus happens regularly. Only about 20% of the designers have worked at the company for more than 5 years. All the designers have postgraduate qualifications, typically in specialized computing/IT courses. Total IT Solutions operates in a competitive market, and the specialized knowledge and skills of its designers are regarded as crucial to its competitive advantage.
While project teams typically involve staff from one site only, the senior management team have realized that project teams at all sites face a number of similar challenges and problems. The senior management team also realize that their staff turnover levels are resulting in valuable knowledge regularly being lost from the company. It is for these reasons that the senior management team want to use a knowledge management initiative to facilitate the sharing of the designers’ knowledge across sites. They have no clear ideas regarding the form that this initiative should take. You have been employed to help initiate this process and have been asked to write a report evaluating the challenges that Total IT Solutions is likely to face in attempting to implement a knowledge management initiative to facilitate the sharing of knowledge across projects and sites. You have also been tasked with providing some advice on the type of knowledge management initiative that should be developed, but do not currently require to provide any information on costings or timescales.
