HKQAA Workshop for establishing Corporate University (Unit 3)

Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) organized three-day workshop named “Establish  own Corporate Academy / University: from Training, Educational Institution Management, and International Standards for Knowledge Management” (建立自身企業培訓學院：從培訓，教育機構管理，知識管理的國際標準取經) on 15^th , 22^nd Feb and 6^th Mar 2019. Unit 1 is Application of Training Management System (培訓管理體系的應用); Unit 2 is Management System Applicable to Educational Institutions (適用於教育機構的管理體系); and Unit 3 is Application of Knowledge Management System (知識管理體系的應用).  I attended the unit 3 today and shared the content below.

I took a photo with speaker Ms. Ivy Leung (Manager, Market & Technology, HKQAA) for memory.

Ms. Ivy Leung presentation topic was “ISO 30401 Knowledge Management System”.  The first edition issued in Nov 2018 and it set sound knowledge management principles and requirements as guidance for organizations that aims to be competent in optimizing the value of organization knowledge as a basis for auditing, certifying, evaluating and recognizing such competent organizations.

ISO 30401 has 8 guiding principles as follows:

i)                    Nature of knowledge: knowledge is intangible and complex; it is created by people.

ii)                  Value: knowledge is a key source of value for organizations to meet their objectives. The determinable value of knowledge is in its impact on organizational purpose, vision, objectives, policies, processes and performance. Knowledge management is a means of unlocking the potential value of knowledge.

iii)                Focus: knowledge management serves the organizational objectives, strategies and needs.

iv)                Adaptive: there is no one knowledge management solution that fits all organizations within all contexts. Organizations may develop their own approach to the scope of knowledge and knowledge management and how to implement these efforts, based on the needs and context.

v)                  Shared understanding: people create their own knowledge by their own understanding of the input they receive. For shared understanding, knowledge management should include interactions between people, using content, processes and technologies where appropriate.

vi)                Environment: knowledge is not managed directly; knowledge management focuses on managing the working environment, thus nurturing the knowledge lifecycle.

vii)              Culture: culture is critical to the effectiveness of knowledge management.

viii)            Iterative: knowledge management should be phased, incorporating learning and feedback cycles.

Some related terms and definitions are summarized below. 

Data (ISO 9000:2015 – cls. 3.8.1) – facts about an object

Information (ISO 9000:2015 – cls. 3.8.2) – meaningful data

Knowledge (ISO 30401:2018 – cls. 3.25) – human or organizational asset enabling effective decisions and action in context

Wisdom (Cambridge Dictionary) – the ability to use your knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgments

Knowledge management (ISO 30401:2018 – cls. 3.26) – management with regard to knowledge

management system (ISO 9000:2015 – cls. 3.5.3) – set of interrelated or interacting elements of an organization (3.2.1) to establish policies (3.5.8) and objectives (3.7.1), and processes (3.4.1) to achieve those objectives

Knowledge management system (ISO 30401:2018 – cls. 3.28) – part of a management system  with regard to knowledge (3.25)

To establish, implement, maintain and continually improve a knowledge management system, it included Knowledge Development, Knowledge Conveyance and Transformation, and Knowledge Management Enablers.

The 1^st Stage of Knowledge Development through systematic activities and behaviours, supporting the knowledge management system objectives and covering the prioritized knowledge domains defined as follows:

i)                    Acquiring new knowledge

ii)                  Applying current knowledge

iii)                Retaining current knowledge

iv)                Handling outdated or invalid knowledge

The workshop for knowledge development using three examples.

Our discussed result for Recycle Equipment Company.

Knowledge Conveyance and Transformation is the second stage through systematic activities and behaviours, supporting the knowledge management system objectives and covering the prioritized knowledge domains below.

i)                    Human interaction

ii)                  Representation

iii)                Combination

iv)                Internalization and learning

The third stage is Knowledge Management Enablers which support the

knowledge management system objectives and cover the prioritized knowledge domains included:

i)                    Human capital

ii)                  Processes

iii)                Technology and infrastructure

iv)                Governance

v)                  Knowledge management culture

Knowledge management culture reflects the extent to which people:

i)                    feel comfortable openly discussing issues and offering advice;

ii)                  share knowledge and information openly and honestly to enhance socialization and flow of knowledge through the organization;

iii)                protect the organizational knowledge;

iv)                feel empowered to autonomously act on knowledge;

v)                  demonstrate accountability for their own learning and results;

vi)                offer their knowledge to others rather than keeping it to themselves;

vii)              collaborate with, rather than compete with, their colleagues;

viii)            invest time in reflecting and learning;

ix)                place value on acquiring new knowledge through their own experiences (success or failure).

The main factors that affect the desired behaviours and attitudes composing the knowledge management culture included leadership behaviour and attitudes, trust, engagement, diversity, customer and norms, policies and procedures, training and competence levels, incentives, physical and digital environment, technology, as well as, organizational structure.

We had two workshop and discussed by different teams.  

Ivy explained culture using story named “A Fable-The Ant”.

The ISO 30401 standard also employed ISO High Level Structure (HLS) and the standard was focused on clause 4 as above. The remaining clauses are very similar to ISO 9001:2015.

The following table demonstrated the documented information for procedures and records requested by the standard.

At the end, I proposed to using ISO 30401 as guideline to fulfill ISO 9001:2015 clause 7.1.6 Organizational Knowledge.  The requirement showed as follows:

The organization shall determine the knowledge necessary for the operation of its processes and to achieve conformity of products and services. This knowledge shall be maintained and be made available to the extent necessary.  When addressing changing needs and trends, the organization shall consider its current knowledge and determine how to acquire or access any necessary additional knowledge and required updates.

Organizational knowledge can be based on:

a) internal sources (e.g. intellectual property; knowledge gained from experience; lessons learned from failures and successful projects; capturing and sharing undocumented knowledge and experience; the results of improvements in processes, products and services);

b) external sources ( e.g. standards; academia; conferences; gathering knowledge from customers or external providers).

Reference:

HKQAA - http://www.hkqaa.org/en_index.php

Course Details - http://www.hkqaa.org/en_tra_coursedetail.php?id=486&loc=1&catid=13

20190215: HKQAA Workshop for establishing Corporate University (Unit 1) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2019/02/hkqaa-workshop-for-establishing.html

20190222: HKQAA Workshop for establishing Corporate University (Unit 2) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2019/02/hkqaa-workshop-for-establishing_22.html