A.F. Schreij
Adapting knowledge management
A practical approach
Domestic Appliances and Personal Care B.V. University of Groningen, Faculty Management and Organization
Adapting knowledge management
A practical approach
Ing. A.F. Schreij
Industrial Engineering and Management Science
University: University of Groningen
Faculty of Management and Organization Landleven 5
9700 AV Groningen
The Netherlands
University supervisors: Prof. dr. ir. F.P.J. Kuijpers Drs. G. Blaauw
Company: Philips Electronics N.V. DAP
Oliemolenstraat 5
9203 ZN Drachten
The Netherlands
Company supervisors: T. van Veen
K. van de Poppe
© Philips Electronics N.V. August 2004, A.F. Schreij
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system of any nature, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying or recording, without prior written permission of the publisher.
“For any organization to survive and have a chance of growing, its rate of learning has to be equal to, or greater than, the rate of change in its external environment”
Karl Wiig 1993
Table of contents
MANAGEMENT SUMMARY... 2
PREFACE... 2
NOMENCLATURE... 2
1. INTRODUCTION ... 2
1.1ROYAL PHILIPS N.V. ... 2
1.2PHILIPS DAP ... 2
1.3PHILIPS DAPDRACHTEN... 2
1.3.1 Mission ... 2
1.3.2 Strategy... 2
1.3.3 Products ... 2
1.3.4 Structure ... 2
1.3.5 The innovation process... 2
1.4ASSIGNMENT... 2
1.5RESEARCH DESIGN... 2
2. PROBLEM DEFINITION ... 2
2.1PROBLEM DEFINITION... 2
2.2RESEARCH OBJECTIVE... 2
2.3MAIN RESEARCH QUESTION... 2
2.4SUB QUESTIONS... 2
3. CONCEPTUAL MODEL... 2
3.1THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL... 2
3.2THEORY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT... 2
3.2.1 The Knowledge Value Chain... 2
3.2.2 The knowledge conversion framework ... 2
3.2.3 Substantiation of the chosen theories ... 2
4. CURRENT SITUATION... 2
4.1SYSTEMS... 2
4.2STRUCTURES... 2
4.3STYLE... 2
4.4STAFF... 2
4.5SKILLS... 2
4.6STRATEGY... 2
4.7SHARED VALUES... 2
4.8CURRENT KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SITUATION... 2
5. THE DESIRED SITUATION ACCORDING TO THE KM WAY OF WORKING .... 2
5.1THE INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEE CREATING ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE... 2
5.2 SUPPLEMENTARY ASPECTS OF THE DESIRED SITUATION... 2
6. DEPLOYMENT OF THE DESIRED KM WAY OF WORKING... 2
6.1HOW TO DEFINE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND ITS WAY OF WORKING? ... 2
6.2HOW TO INDICATE WHICH COMPETENCIES TO DEVELOP? ... 2
6.3WAYS TO STIMULATE COLLECTIVITY... 2
6.4HOW TO APPLY A SYSTEM OF REWARD AND RECOGNITION?... 2
6.5A PRACTICAL APPROACH FOR DEPLOYMENT... 2
6.5.1 The practical approach ... 2
6.5.2 Measurement of the practical approach ... 2
6.5.3 Pragmatics ... 2
6.5.4 Strengths and weaknesses ... 2
6.6ASPECTS TO BE AWARE OF DURING IMPLEMENTATION... 2
6.6.1 Organizational rigidity... 2
6.6.2 No insight in slow changes... 2
6.6.3 Strong action focus... 2
6.6.4 Bad learning from mistakes... 2
6.6.5 Defensive routines ... 2
6.6.6 The difficulties of experience-learning... 2
6.6.7 Restricted communication between hierarchical layers ... 2
7. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... 2
7.1CONCLUSION... 2
7.1.1 What does the current situation in accordance with the knowledge management way of working look like?... 2
7.1.2 What does the desired situation in accordance with the knowledge management way of working look like?... 2
7.1.3 How does management need to deploy this new knowledge management way of working practically? ... 2
7.1.4 What kind of difficulties might occur during deployment? ... 2
7.2RECOMMENDATIONS... 2
REFERENCES ... 2 APPENDIX A ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. APPENDIX B ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. APPENDIX C ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. APPENDIX D ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. APPENDIX E ... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. APPENDIX F... ERROR!BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
Management summary
Research background
In order to remain competitive in the shaver market, Philips DAP Drachten has to create - mostly technical- competencies to fulfil future customer needs with regard to shavers.
Therefore, emphasis within the organization lies on competence management. Due to the fact that knowledge management takes care of building and deploying competencies, these two management concepts are strongly related. In fact, they can be seen as one management concept. However, it appeared to be impossible to exploit this one management concept only with this fundamental theoretical basis. For that reason, Philips DAP Drachten desires a practical approach, which describes the deployment of this one management concept.
In order to find an answer to the way of deployment, this research answers the following main research question: “What does this practical approach look like?”
Facts and findings
A practical approach is developed, which emphasizes the deployment of the desired situation.
Mainly, this desired situation acknowledges the fact that competence management comprises knowledge management and distinguishes individual and organizational competence development or improvement.
Furthermore, the practical approach emphasizes the following aspects managers have to execute: clearly define what knowledge management is, indicate to organizational members which competencies to develop or improve, promote collectivity and apply a system of reward and recognition.
During deployment, management has to be aware of the following aspects that might occur:
organizational rigidity, no insight in slow changes, a strong action focus, bad learning from mistakes and successes, defensive routines, difficulties of experience-learning and restricted communication between hierarchical layers.
Conclusion
Managers have to create sense of urgency with regard to competence and knowledge management and its way of working, together with the distinction between individual and organizational competence development. Therefore, besides the process of deployment –given in the practical approach- management has to lead by example and show teamwork. Finally, management has to emphasize both the inside as well as the outside of the organization.
Recommendations
In total five recommendations are handed over to the Philips DAP Drachten management.
1. Distinguish two ways of competence development, whereas peer-to-peer learning represents individual or small group competence development, while trainer-trainee learning represents organizational competence development.
2. The practical approach is based on difficulties indicated by project members, i.e.
bottom-up; use this fact as a manner of promotion of the practical approach.
3. Reward employees who exploit the knowledge management way of working appropriately, by involving them in the process of deployment. These employees can act as marketers of the new way of working.
4. Management has to continuously check if the practical approach is still suitable for the maturity of the organization with regard to knowledge management.
5. Managers have to emphasize focus on the outside environment –suppliers, institutes, universities and competitors-.
Preface
In the light of my study Industrial Engineering and Management Science at the University of Groningen, writing a final thesis is the last hurdle to take in becoming an academic. During a six months period you are supposed to make use of gained academic knowledge in a business environment.
On December 15th 2003, I started my final research project at Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care in Drachten. This thesis is written on the subject of knowledge management, and especially how to deploy and exploit knowledge management in a practical manner.
The first month I used to get to know Philips DAP Drachten and the way things go in its environment. The months afterwards were challenging in the way that I translated difficulties according to knowledge management in the project environment, into an approach that is feasible and suitable for the Philips-community to solve these difficulties.
For identification of these difficulties, I interviewed core-members of the Corona project-team together with other organizational members -such as resource, competence and project managers and knowledge officers- and analyzed their answers to the questions.
Next to writing my final thesis I participated in the Learning-project, which was a tremendous learning experience for me, together with workshops and benchmarks on knowledge management and competence management.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience to work in such a knowledge intensive environment, and it was absolutely as instructive as I had hoped for.
I want to thank my company supervisors Ton van Veen and Klaas van der Poppe for their support and patience. My special thanks go out to Ton, with whom I discussed on many occasions with lots of joy. Furthermore, I want to thank Wiljan Hoekstra for his support and informative meetings and the Corona team members for their cooperation. Next to that, I want to thank all people within Philips who helped me writing this final thesis, and off course the management of Philips DAP Drachten for giving me the opportunity to do my final research.
At the University of Groningen, my gratitude goes out to my supervisors Prof. dr. ir. F.P.J.
Kuijpers and Drs. G. Blaauw for their advice and instructive support.
Drachten, The Netherlands August 2004
Aart Schreij
Nomenclature
Collective ambition: A tool to communicate wherein the organizational shared vision and understanding is expressed.
Competence: Due to the fact that this research is exported in the innovation department within Philips, only technical competencies are relevant. This is why in this report; a competence represents a technical competence.
Deployment: The process of translating newly ways of working, systems, strategies and structures to the employees together with the empowerment of employees. Managers from all corporate levels work on the process of deployment.
Design rule: A (information) rule that describes how a design parameter of a product, process or resource, can be directly designed successfully because it is derived from a proven solution.
Explicit knowledge1: Knowledge that is transmittable in formal and systematic language.
Explicitation: The transfer of (implicit) knowledge into explicit knowledge, i.e. writing down knowledge in the form of presentations, documents, drawings, etcetera.
Exploitation: Implementation of a way of working.
Function Creation Process: A process which guides the predevelopment of products, materials and manufacturing processes.
Implicit knowledge2: Personal, context-specific knowledge, which is hard to formalize and to communicate (it also referred to as tacit knowledge).
Innovative culture3: An internally used terminology for adaptability or an entrepreneurial culture. This culture is characterized by strategic focus on the external environment through flexibility and change to meet customer needs. Innovation, creativity and risk- taking are valued and rewarded.
KM way of working4: The developing (together with co-developing and purchasing of knowledge), sharing, exploiting and evaluating of knowledge, together with organizing and managing the operational processes during these steps.
Organization: The organization represents the Development Department Shavers (DDS), i.e. the innovation community within the organization.
Outside-in: The focus on the outer environment of the Philips Drachten organization. Other Philips plants and product divisions (e.g.
Medical systems, Consumer Electronics, etcetera) and the external Philips environment (e.g. competitors, universities, substitutes, etcetera) represent the outer environment.
1 Polanyi, 1966, The tacit dimension
2 Polanyi, 1966, The tacit dimension
3 Daft, 2001, Organization, Theory and Design, p.319
4 Weggeman, 1997, Kennis management, p. 169
Personal development plan: Personal educational plan to support the desired direction in which to become competent, triggered by organizational and personal preferences. This plan will be composed by the individual employee in close cooperation with the resource manager in question together with the HRM department.
Product Creation Process: A process which guides the successfully development of products by means of a description of seven milestones and main activities in each of the seven phases that lead to these milestones.
Technology roadmap5: A tool that maps technologies, and products based on these technologies, together with the mutual relations in time.
5 Biemans, 2000, Business Marketing Management, p.213, 214
List of abbreviations
ATC = Advanced Technology Center BA&E = Break Away and Excite
CC = Core Competence
CM = Competence management
CoC = Center of Competence CoP = Community of Practice CSF = Critical Success Factor
CT = Competence Team
CT E&M = CT Electronics and Motors
CT ID&A = CT Integrated Design and Architecture CT M&D = CT Materials and Decorations
CT PAC = CT Packages and Accessories CT PMW = CT Precision Metal Working CT SK = CT Shaving Knowledge CTC = Consumer Test Center
DAP = Domestic appliances and Personal care DSS = Development Shaving Systems
DQD = Development Quality Department EDS = Electrical Development Shavers FAQ = Frequently Asked Questions FCP = Function creation process HRM = Human Resource Management IPP = Innovation Planning Process KIO = Knowledge Intensive Organization
KM = Knowledge management
LoB = Line of business
MT = Management Team
PA = Performance appraisal PCP = Product creation process
PD = Product Division
PDS = Product Development Shavers
PI = Performance Indicator
TPT = Throughput-time
1. Introduction
In this chapter a brief introduction is given of the Philips organization, the different product divisions within the corporation and the Philips DAP organization in Drachten.
The organization in Drachten forms the environment in which this research is conducted.
This chapter furthermore describes the strategy of the organization, the assignment given by the assessor and the research design.
1.1 Royal Philips Electronics N.V.6
The Philips company was founded in Eindhoven in 1891, to 'manufacture incandescent lamps and other electrical products'. These products were meant for both national as well as domestic markets.
Nowadays Royal Philips Electronics is one of the world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of EUR 29 billion in 2003. It is a global leader in color television sets, lighting, electric shavers, medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring, and one- chip TV products. Its 164,500 employees in more than 60 countries are active in the areas of lighting, consumer electronics, domestic appliances, semiconductors, and medical systems.
Philips is quoted on the NYSE (symbol: PHG), Amsterdam and other stock exchanges.
Royal Philips Electronics has five relatively independent product divisions (PD). These five PD’s are Consumer Electronics, Medical Systems, Semiconductors, Lightning and Domestic Appliances and Personal care.
1.2 Philips DAP7
Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care (DAP) is one of the product divisions of Royal Philips Electronics. The scope of Philips DAP is to design, manufacture and sell electrical appliances for home management and personal well-being, whose installation requires no expertise. DAP markets about 400 different products and its annual sales volume amounts to about 70 million products. DAP employs about 8,200 people worldwide.
The DAP organization comprises the Corporate Center (CC), five Centers of Competence (CoC’s), several International Production Centers (IPC’s) and about 45 National Sales Organizations (NSO’s), which are organized in regions.
Philips DAP states the following mission:
“DAP aims to lead by offering exciting propositions focused on core consumer needs in the areas of home management and personal well-being”
Philips DAP is divided into four different separate business units:
• Shaving & Beauty,
• Oral Health Care,
6Source: http://www.philips.com/InformationCenter/Global
7 Source: Philips DAP intranet
• Home Environment Care and
• Food & Beverage.
1.3 Philips DAP Drachten8
One of the DAP sites is located in Drachten, the Netherlands. DAP Drachten employs about 2000 workers and is involved in the Lines of Business (LoB’s) “Shaving” and “Sun Care”.
This research will focus on the LoB “Shaving”.
DAP Drachten is a Center of Competence, which implies that it is more than an International Production Center. Next to production, design, development and testing of shavers, Suncare products and production of tools takes place in Drachten. Design and development of the shavers is done in close co-operation with Product Design and Product Management in Amersfoort (DAP’s CC). Together with the IPC in Zhuhai (China), Drachten forms the center of the LoB “Shaving”.
1.3.1 Mission9
The overall goal for an organization, also known as the organization’s reason for existence, is called the mission10. The mission describes an organization’s vision, its raison d‘etre and the strategy. The Philips DAP Drachten’s mission is the following:
“Outpace competition on shaving performance and design, at increased profit margins”
The vision sets a direction to focus on for a longer period of time. The following vision is outlined.
“We give men the perfect shaving experience”
In the following paragraph the strategy will be highlighted in a comprehensive way to show the bigger picture of where this research will be conducted.
1.3.2 Strategy
The strategy of Philips DAP Drachten is based on four different pillars. The pillars are:
shorten innovation to market, global supply chain, develop our people and speed. Each of the pillars will be described below and also the objectives and actions of each of the pillars will be mentioned.
Shorten innovation to market
This pillar means that the correct products for the right customer will be in place at the right time. The efforts of the organization mainly aim at customer’s value and reducing the costs of the product functions. The objectives of this first part of the strategy are:
1. New market segments which gives a lead over the competition;
2. Being the product leader;
3. Satisfy customer’s needs;
4. Highest possible results of innovation-efforts.
8 Philips DAP Drachten intranet
9 PP presentation Industrial strategy 2002 – 2005 M. Hillen and T. van Veen
10 Daft, 2001, Organization theory and design p. 63 and Weggeman, 1997, Kennismanagement, p. 95
World class 1. Neat plant
2. Quick ramp-up new products 3. Reliable
4. Reducing investments
The action taken to realize the first three objectives is assigning every product category their own technical roadmaps. Having purposive and quick FCP’s and quick and effortless PCP’s realize the highest possible results. These processes will be described in §1.3.5.
Global supply competence
With this pillar is meant the desire for the lowest possible integral costs for the business. The focus at this point of the strategy of the organization is directed towards creating a perfect worldwide production-chain and focusing on the issues other organizations cannot or do not execute. The objectives of the global supply competence are:
1. Quick and easy ramp-up
2. Supplying the complete product series 3. Act flexible and reliable
4. Bringing superior quality 5. Limited use of capital
To execute these objectives certain actions need to be taken. To limit the use of capital, high- tech production needs to take place in Drachten and the simple adult products need to be produced in Zhuhai. To achieve competence improvements in the global supply chain the best suppliers need to be utilized. A condition to execute the actions in a proper way is becoming world class in everything the organization does! Criteria of
world class are given in the figure.
Develop our people
This pillar means that entrepreneurial behaviour is desired within the organization. The thought that lies behind this entrepreneurial behaviour is improving the employee’s competencies. To improve competencies the employee has to know the customers and competitors, contribute to the strategy, develop his/her own scales and craftsmanship and has to take the initiative on his/her own career. The main focus however, is on the employee’s contribution to the strategy and the development of one’s entrepreneurial behaviour.
The actions to come to this main focus are:
1. Translation strategy to personal tasks 2. Enforcing entrepreneurship
3. Culture of sharing and re-using knowledge and learning 4. Enlarge someone’s availability
Speed
This pillar means that the fastest processes without waste are desired and that waiting times are reduced to a minimum. Speed is part of the BEST-program11, which is introduced at corporate level as the successor of its former quality program. With this speed-part old habits will be broken and efforts will be focused on the elimination of waste. The objectives of this part of the strategy are:
1. Same results in half the time;
2. Enhanced decisiveness;
3. Controlling the processes at an early stage and;
4. A simple and focused organization.
11 BEST stands for Business Excellence through Speed and Teamwork.
To achieve these objectives, the following actions need to be taken: employees need to recognize the necessity for speed and simplification, a simple organization needs to be realized, clear tasks and clear assignments needs to be given, faster decision making needs to come in place and existing explicit knowledge needs to be accessible.
Hereby, the main targets of the strategy are emphasized and the objectives and actions are made clear.
1.3.3 Products
The main trademark of the LoB “Shaving” is Philishave for the regions Europe, Asia and the rest of the world except for North America where the trademark Norelco is used. Furthermore there are sub-brands such as Coolskin for the additive range and Sensotec for the high-end range. The LoB “Shavers” markets three different shaver categories:
• 2 and 3 head “dry” shavers,
• 2 and 3 head “washable” shavers and
• 2 and 3 head “additive” shavers.
Below a few examples of products are reproduced:
Fig 1.1: A dry, two washable and an additive shaver
1.3.4 Structure
Hereafter, the structure is outlined, which exists at the plant in Drachten. The structure is split up in three sub-structures; the functional and process structure and an additional competence structure. These sub-structures will be described in the following paragraphs:
The functional structure
In a functional structure, activities are grouped together by common function from the bottom to the top of the organization (Daft: 2001 p.96). In Drachten the functional structure is divided into ten functional departments. These departments are: Development, Engineering, Innovation, Means & Services, Logistics, Purchasing, Production, Human Resource Management, Finance & Accounting, Project Management and Plant Services. A resource manager leads every functional department and is responsible for his/her employees. Different supporting departments such as Industrial support and a secretary department support these departments. The organizational chart is displayed in appendix A.
The process structure
Parallel to the traditional functional departmental structure, a second organizational structure can be identified in Drachten. This structure is based upon the identification of three key, and five supporting processes. The key processes are “Strategic Process”, “Innovation Process”
and “Supply Process”. The five supporting processes are reproduced in the process structure on the following page.
The PCP environment is part of the Innovation Process, so it will take place in one of the key processes within the Philips DAP Drachten organization. In this Innovation Process the KM environment is also in place, due to the fact that KM supports the creation of knowledge and thus new products.
The competence structure
Besides the traditional functional structure and the process structure, a third structure can be identified at Philips DAP Drachten. This structure, called the competence structure, is based on the identification of six technical competence areas within the organization:
• Shaving Knowledge,
• Precision Metal Working,
• Materials and Decoration,
• Integrated Design and Architecture,
• Electronics & Motors and
• Packaging and Accessories.
Each of these technical competencies is supposed to be managed by a Competence Management Team (CT). A Competence Management Team should be concerned with six main responsibilities:
1. Prepare, discuss and guard its part of the technology roadmap;
2. Prepare and implement an insourcing / outsourcing strategy;
3. Initiate, support and steer (review and coach) FCP’s and Technology Improvement projects (e.g. projects outsourced at ATC [Advanced Technology Center] or Research);
4. Coordinate Departmental Capability Roadmaps (+ HRM);
Fig 1.2: The process structure of Philips DAP Drachten
5. Manage the knowledge and 6. Benchmark the competency.
The first two responsibilities are aimed at the IPP processes, responsibility number three is aimed at the FCP processes and the last three responsibilities are aimed at the innovation chain i.e., the IPP, FCP and PCP processes.
The way in which the functional structure and the competence-based structure are currently related to the FCP and PCP (the process structure), is displayed in the following figure.
Fig 1.3: CT’s, projects and functional departments12
A competence team more or less has the character of the management of a Community of Practice (CoP). CoP’s are made up of individuals who are informally bound to one another through exposure to a similar set of problems and a common pursuit of solutions13. The employees who are part of a CoP come from different functional departments and can also exceed the divisional border (e.g. the Global Competence Clusters which will not be emphasized in this thesis).
12 PP presentation “Innovation chain” by M. Hillen, October 2002
13 Daft, 2001, Organization Theory and Design, p. 265
CT 1 CT 2 CT 3
Dept’s
Project Leader PCP’s
FCP’s
1.3.5 The innovation process14
In the following picture, the innovation process within Philips DAP Drachten is reproduced.
Fig 1.4: The innovation process
The picture shows that the core of the innovation process consists of three different processes, the innovation planning process, the function creation process and the product creation process. The processes will be described in the following paragraphs. Considering the preconditions of this research, the scope of this research is within the PCP environment and this is the reason that the Innovation Planning Process and the Function Creation Process will be described shortly and the Product Creation Process will be described comprehensively.
Innovation planning process (IPP)
The IPP transforms market and technological information into a portfolio of technical plans represented in product and technology roadmaps. The IPP plans the FCP and the PCP.
Shortly, the IPP consists of the following steps:
• Preparation: This is aimed at information collection and generation of new ideas for technology development.
• Draft of the roadmap: The collected information is grouped into plans that are not yet limited by resource constraints.
• Evaluation: The slightly over-optimistic plans are detailed, assessed for risks and rescheduled, because of resource constraints.
• Consolidation: The final roadmap is drawn up, reviewed and assessed for the fulfillment of consolidation criteria.
• Operational plans. After the roadmap has been consolidated, the operational technology plans are further refined and prepared for approval.
The IPP thus has three main outputs. It generates reference architecture, product and technology roadmaps and the innovation project portfolio.
14 Innovation to market manual 2002 2nd edition
Innovation Planning Process
Function Creation Process
Product Creation Process
Supply Process
Customer trends Technology trends
Released products Released processes Released modules Roadmap
Project portfolio Reference architecture
Proven functions Proven technologies
Function creation process (FCP)
The FCP process guides the predevelopment of products, materials and manufacturing processes. The FCP provides guidelines, an approach and a philosophy that must be customized for every project. The FCP process consists of three phases: the start phase, the physical principle phase and the function deployment phase. The following picture shows a description of the FCP process. Though, the FCP serves as an input for the PCP process.
Fig 1.5: The FCP process
Start phase:
The FCP starts with a management assignment. This assignment states a visionary goal for the FCP project team and the assignment authorizes the start of a project. The main activities during this phase are organizing and developing capabilities, determining market and industrial needs, initial identification of interesting concepts and making a global plan.
The global plan at consolidation ‘S’ describes the final scope, objective, resources, activities, timing and budget.
Physical principle phase:
Within this phase the main activities complete the list of potential principles, evaluate the fundamental phenomena for each principle, select the principle (product, material and/or process) within the business context and determine the parameter window within which the principle works.
Function deployment phase:
Within this phase the principle is translated into a realistic embodiment, the interfaces are fixed and the parameter/process windows in which the embodiment works are determined in detail.
At this point the PCP can be started.
Product creation process (PCP)
The following figure describes the PCP process. The timeline of this process is approximately three years.
Fig 1.6: The PCP process
The PCP has been designed to successfully develop new products. It describes the seven milestones and the main activities in each of the seven phases that lead to those milestones.
Those phases are given above and will be described below.
In the orientation phase the first step is to come to a clear and concise project order and to minimize uncertainties. In this phase the focus is on the product as a whole and innovation is still taking place, resulting in a winning (industrial) design.
Within the development phase innovation will turn into ‘straightforward’ realization after the project order is given. The product becomes more concrete with each phase. In this phase the chosen product, concept and industrial design are worked out into a more detailed technical design and a manufacturing/logistics concept.
The development phase follows the definition phase and further details the design. Ultimately it will be transformed into a fully dimensioned and functioning prototype that is used to verify the product design.
During the preparation phase, all tools are built and ordered so that the first product samples can be created. These samples are tested and then released.
In the product release phase, the product is released for volume production. The definitive tools and equipment are used in a pilot run with the right batch size. The products of these pilots are tested and released. These pilot runs also serve to demonstrate the stability of the processes.
After this, the production will be ramped up to full capacity and both the product design and the manufacturing system are verified during this phase. At the end of this phase, the product will be released for delivery.
In the final phase, the mass-production release, the correct quality level of the product is ensured. Based on the experiences from the initial production phase and the first market feedback, corrective actions are taken and ultimately the project is transferred to the production organization.
Orientation Definition Mass prod.
release Production
ramp-up Product
release Preparation
Develop- ment
1.4 Assignment
Following the research conducted by Franken and Streefland15, who extended a theoretical correspondence between CM and KM, a more pragmatic and practical approach is desired for KM implementation. First, the research of Franken and Streefland will be expressed shortly to act as an input for this assignment.
In summary, KM can contribute to throughput-time reduction in the PCP environment by building and deploying the competencies. However, the organization at the moment has not emphasized or recognized the relation between competence management and knowledge management. Therefore, when knowledge management is discussed in this report, the knowledge management concept is part of the competence management concept. Actually, both management concepts can be seen as one.
15 Franken and Streefland are two interns from the University of Groningen who conducted the research mentioned in the frame shown above
Competent Knowledge Management
By A.C.T. Franken and F.D. Streefland, March 2003
In 1999, knowledge management was introduced at Philips Drachten. Ever since its introduction, the company has tried to grasp the essence of this relatively unknown management concept. Several vital aspects concerning the fundament of KM still have not been dealt with: it is not clear what KM exactly is, in what way it relates to other management concepts and thus what can be expected from it.
Recently, the management team has expressed the supposition that KM can make a contribution to achieving the goal of throughput-time reduction. Franken and Streefland were asked to find out whether this supposition is right. They supposed the following main research question:
“What is the influence of KM on the throughput-time of the PCP?”
Facts and findings
Competence management in fact comprises knowledge management. As such, knowledge management takes care of building and deploying competencies.
Conclusion
Knowledge management influences the throughput-time of the PCP through the competencies: properly building and deploying these competencies can speed up the PCP.
Within CM several (fundamental) aspects are ready for improvement.
Recommendations
KM has been specified as one of the tasks of the competence teams, whereas everything they do is KM. Furthermore, the competencies are required for a correct operation of the PCP, but the competence teams do not manage the knowledge that is needed to be competent.
KM, as part of CM, can make a significant contribution to substantially reducing the throughput-time of the PCP by building and deploying the competencies.
In what way can KM be implemented to strengthen competencies, where strengthening competencies contains the building and deploying of competencies?
The assigner, partly due to the research expressed above and several internal discussions, recognizes that there is currently a lack of deployment of a KM way of working to improve competencies.
After putting this fact on record, it has to be explained what a KM way of working exactly is.
In this thesis the following definition will be applied for the KM way of working based on Weggeman, 1997 p. 169. This definition is based on theoretical thoughts. During this research the exact way of working, with a foundation in the organization in Drachten, will be developed and enlarged.
At the end of this research, a practical and pragmatic approach will be handed over to the Philips Drachten organization, which focuses on the lack of deploying of the KM way of working to strengthen competencies.
To achieve this practical approach in the end, the first step is to design the process of research, which will be enlarged in the subsequent paragraph.
Precondition: There is a lack of deployment of KM way of working.
KM way of working: The developing (together with co-developing and purchasing of knowledge), sharing, exploiting and evaluating of knowledge, together with organizing and managing the operational processes during these steps.
1.5 Research design
According to De Leeuw (1996 p.88), the usefulness of research is guaranteed when decisions are taken on the five aspects of research, given in figure 1.7:
• The problem definition;
• The concepts, used during research;
• The data-sources;
• The methods of measurement and observation, and
• The methods of analysis and reporting.
The core of this figure represents the problem definition and the concepts, which will be used to deal with the problem. Furthermore, the data-sources, methods of analysis and reporting and the methods of measurement and observation all influence the core of the figure.
All these elements will be described hereafter piece by piece in a concise way. Thereby, first the data-sources, methods of measurement and observation and methods of analysis and reporting will be expressed, after which chapter two depicts the problem definition and chapter three depicts the concepts, i.e. the conceptual framework.
Fig 1.7 The lay-out of the research design16
Data-sources
The main data-sources used during this study are documents. Herby, a distinction is made between internal documents (all confident) and literature.
The company-confidential reports and manuals have been made available by the Philips organization, but are not available to the public. Furthermore, the applied literature is given in the list of references, at the end of this report. Literature consist of books and academic articles.
16 Leeuw, de, 1996, Bedrijfskundige methodologie, p.88 Problem definition
Concepts Methods of
analysis and reporting
Methods of measure- ment &
observation
Data - sources
In this research also databases are consulted. These databases are the intranet and internet.
Especially, the intranet is a heavily consulted database, because of the fact that large amounts of information can be found here, referring to the research situation. Hence, also intranet information has a confidential character and will therefore not be available for the public.
Finally, also real-life data-sources are applied for during this research. Different meetings, discussions and brainstorm sessions17 were organized with employees. For a complete list of consulted employees, see appendix F.
Methods of measurement and observation
Within this research, methods of measurement have been used. After having interviewed Corona team members, answers were analyzed and conclusion were drawn by recognizing similar answers given by several interviewees. Furthermore, documents, literature and academic articles were studied.
Several methods of observation are used in this research. The main method of observation was interacting with employees on several occasions. Thereby, interviews with an open character were the most applied for, together with the sharing of gut-feelings with several employees. These open interviews had a semi-structured character. This method for interviewing is best suited for the collection of real life data18. Besides, the writer of this report participated in several workshops and benchmarks.
Methods of analysis and reporting
In chapter three, the conceptual framework indicates numerous theoretical models which were used as a method of analysis. These theoretical models were intensively studied and compared.
This report, including conclusions and several recommendations, is the final result of this research. This report will therefore be widely spread over the DDS community. Furthermore, this research will be closed by means of a final presentation, Friday August 27th 2004, to the DDS management and some supporting staff.
Research type
Due to the fact that this research examines a relatively unknown field and it tries to generate intended ideas, it can be concluded that this research has an “explorative” character19. Another character of explorative research, is the fact that the research questions (both main as well as sub-questions) have an open character. The results of this research could further be examined through hypotheses to test in another environment or situation.
The intend of this study is to come to correct insights in a specific situation; the DDS community of Philips DAP Drachten.
Hereby, an introduction has been given to the research subject. The organization, the strategy and the relevant processes are explained in the DDS environment, together with the
17 Baarda and De Goede, 1998, Methoden en technieken, p 153: Interviews with an open character suit best at explorative research.
18 Baarda and De Goede, 1998, Methoden en technieken, p 153-155
19 Leeuw, de, 1996, Bedrijfskundige methodologie p 78,93,94
assignment given by management of the DDS environment. In the end, the design of this research is given. The only decisions that have to be made to complete the research design are the problem definition and the concepts to use in the study. In the next chapter the problem definition is outlined.
2. Problem definition
In this chapter the core of the research is given, i.e. the problem definition, together with the methodology. The methodology is the result of the problem definition. This chapter also contains some preconditions to the research situation.
2.1 Problem definition
The Philips DAP organization in Drachten wishes to remain a competent organization that creates value for the customer faster than competitors, and at lower cost. This means that competence teams have to define required competencies to fulfill the future customer needs and to stay ahead of competition. Once these are acknowledged they have to be brought into life and have to be improved. Strategy and the technology roadmaps acknowledge the required competencies. In this process, the marketing research department plays an important role.
As mentioned before (§1.4), competence management in fact comprises knowledge management. Moreover, knowledge management takes care of building and deploying required competencies, which are desired to stay ahead of competition. Therefore a way of working with regard to knowledge management is desired, e.g. a way of working to develop or improve competencies through knowledge management. This way of working from now on, will be referred to as a KM way of working.
Using a KM way of working for competence developments or improvements also follows from the theoretical fact that competence is the multiplication of knowledge, behavioral repertoire and using the right KM approaches20. Therefore, knowledge is just one of the pillars of competencies.
A KM way of working is developed and introduced to enhance the flow of knowledge. The reason why this KM way of working is being developed is as a way to strengthen organizational competencies. After all, becoming better in something you do on a daily basis is of surplus value for the entire organization. It is also said as working more efficient! To create such a high level of efficiency this way of working is needed. The complication of this way of working however, is the fact that employees do not see the benefits of this way of working beforehand and do not exploit it voluntarily.
A central problem arises on this matter: The current KM way of working does not show benefits to the employees, resulting in a lack of intrinsic motivation for the exploitation of the KM way of working.
Hereby, the organization is dealing with a two-sided problem. On the one hand, the employees have to deal with KM and CM, while management has to align strategy and vision and has to deal with the lack of enthusiasm and passion for the KM way of working of employees.
20 Boersma, 2002, Management van kennis and extended with PP from T van Veen, march 2004, CM / KM framework
Therefore, in short the following problem definition is present:
At the moment, there is no insight in the fact that competence management comprises knowledge management, together with a lack of personification of competence management and knowledge management to improve individual and organizational competencies is present in the DDS organization.
2.2 Research objective
The following research objective is posted:
Translate the current KM way of working into an improved practical and pragmatic approach to strengthen competencies, which will support the throughput time reduction program in the PCP process and which in return will improve financial performance and customer satisfaction.
2.3 Main research question
What does this improved practical approach look like?
2.4 Sub questions
In order to develop a practical approach the following questions have to be answered. By answering these sub-questions the main research question will be solved.
1. What does the current situation in accordance with the KM WoW look like?
2. What does the desired situation in accordance with the KM WoW look like?
3. In what way does the organization need to be prepared practically to fully exploit the KM WoW, i.e. how does management need to deploy the KM WoW practically?
4. What kind of difficulties might occur during deployment of this way of working and how to cope with these?
These sub-questions will be answered in the following chapters, whereby the current situation will be described in chapter 4, the desired situation in chapter 5, the deployment of the new way of working together with the difficulties according to the deployment will be described in chapter 6. In the end, chapter 7 gives the conclusion together with recommendations.
First the precondition will be given and the next chapter elucidates the conceptual framework to use to solve the problem stated in paragraph 2.1.
2.5 Preconditions
The problem owners are the resource managers and the competence managers who see to strengthening individual competencies. Together with this strengthening of individual competencies, the competence environment also provides conditions (FCP projects) to achieve the improvement of the organizational competencies. All in all, the focus within this research is primarily on the functional and competence team environment (as outlined in paragraph 1.3.4). Within these environments the individual and organizational competencies21 will be developed and strengthened.
Within the functional environment, a personal development plan is set out and therefore describes the individual competencies to develop or strengthen.
The competence teams however, are responsible for the FCP projects. These projects take care of developing or strengthening organizational competencies, because of the fact that these projects will be made public within the organization. With this, the organization becomes more competent on this specific matter.
The following bullets form the preconditions in this research.
• KM only influences through competencies because KM is part of CM22;
• There is a causal relationship between KM way of working and improving competencies;
• There is a lack of deployment of KM way of working;
• Strengthening competencies is possible by the building and deploying of competencies;
• KM way of working is part of the corporate culture and is only to be influenced by either culture or by management style, strategy, systems, structure, staff and skills;
• Focus is primarily on functional and competence team environment.
21 Franken and Streefland, 2003, Competent knowledge management, p.34-36
22 Franken and Streefland, 2003, Competent knowledge management
3. Conceptual model
In this chapter the conceptual model will be displayed and described. This model consists of several interrelated concepts, which are necessary to find the answer to the main research question. This model deals with the research decision and which concepts to use during the research.
This research mainly tries to hand over a practical approach of how to deploy the knowledge management way of working. Therefore it is essential to map the current situation with regard to KM. This situation acts as the first step in building up a practical approach.
The second step in developing a practical approach is to define a desired situation. This desired situation is the main target of the approach.
Now that both the “ist”, as well as the ”soll” situation is indicated, the path to this desired situation has to be determined, e.g. it has to be defined and deployed by management. This is exactly what the practical approach describes.
3.1 The conceptual model
Referring to the conceptual framework in figure 3.1, the four main aspects mentioned above of the practical approach, are indicated by means of the numbers 1,2,3,4. These numbers correspond to the sub-questions stated in §2.4. Resuming, question one corresponds to the current situation, question two corresponds to the desired situation, questions number three and four correspond to respectively the process of deployment and potential difficulties during the deployment process.
Fig 3.1 Conceptual model Conclusions and recommendations strategy
mngt.style structure
culture systems
personnel
strategy
mngt.style structure
culture systems
personnel
1 2
3 & 4
KM KM
