By Robert S. Seiner - CIBER, Inc. / TDAN.com

Introduction - Explanation of the Continuum

The following is a brief and simplistic description of a knowledge-sharing continuum, a tool that can be used to help a company evaluate their current knowledge sharing capabilities and understand the characteristics of moving from being knowledge dependent to knowledge independent to knowledge inter-dependent.

In order for companies and organizations to recognize their need for knowledge management, they must evaluate their present level of knowledge sharing versus a target for how they want to share knowledge in the future. One of the first steps in addressing a company's preparedness to address knowledge management is to conduct an in-depth knowledge readiness assessment that covers the business architecture, organizational design to support knowledge management, and the technical and information architectures of the organization. As part of the business architecture assessment, companies may want to consider using the knowledge-sharing continuum provided below to identify where the company is compared to where the company wants to go.

The idea for the knowledge-sharing continuum came to me while I was listening to a CD-version of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. Early in the book, Mr. Covey spoke about a continuum that takes communicators through a level of dependence, to a level of independence, to the ultimate level of inter-dependence. As Mr. Covey described the illustration in his book, my mind immediately drew the association to knowledge management and a picture of a knowledge-sharing continuum popped into my head. A variation of that diagram appears in

Figure 1. The Knowledge Sharing Continuum

Although my diagram doesn't look anything like the one in Mr. Covey's book, the message became clear in my mind that - as individuals and companies become better at sharing knowledge (moving across the x axis), they too grow through the knowledge worker levels of reliance that progress from knowledge dependence, to knowledge independence, and finally to the level of knowledge inter-dependence (up the y axis).

The knowledge sharing continuum takes into consideration one basic assumption ... Employees need significant amounts of knowledge from somewhere other then themselves to complete a specific job. This assumption brings companies to the starting point of the continuum at the meeting of the x and y axis.

Knowledge Worker Reliance

As knowledge sharing increases, a company (or group of individuals) moves from being knowledge dependent to knowledge independent to knowledge inter-dependent. Along the continuum line (lower left to upper right), that same company moves from being weak to being strong in each of the levels of knowledge worker reliance (how much they can rely on the knowledge of colleagues and fellow workers) including dependence, independence, and inter-dependence.

The bullets below highlight the movement across the knowledge-sharing continuum, through the weakness and strength in each of the levels of knowledge worker reliance, to the ultimate pinnacle of enterprise knowledge sharing and pure collaboration.

You will notice that the first (lowest) attribute in each strength and weakness of each new level of reliance is the last (highest) attribute from the previous level of knowledge worker reliance. This is intentional and is re-stated to emphasize the point that employees cannot become knowledge independent until they pass through the knowledge dependence level. Just the same, an employee cannot pass into the knowledge inter-dependent level until they have reached a level of strength in the knowledge independent level.

In keeping with this line of thinking, this explains why the first basic assumption was made - that employees need significant amounts of knowledge from somewhere other then themselves to complete a specific job. Without that need there is no reason to evaluate an organization on the knowledge-sharing continuum.

Reliance Level One - Knowledge Dependence

Weakness in Knowledge Dependence

• Assumption ... Employees need significant amounts of knowledge to complete a job
• Employees can not articulate the knowledge they needed complete a job
• Employees can not locate knowledge needed to complete a job

Strength in Knowledge Dependence

• Assumption ... Employees need significant amounts of knowledge to complete a job
• Employees know how to articulate the knowledge they need to complete a job
• Employees know and understand the knowledge that is available inside and outside their organization that is relevant to the completion of a job
• Employees know where to request & locate other people's knowledge needed to complete a job
• Employees can access other people's knowledge needed to complete a job

Reliance Level Two - Knowledge Independence

Weakness in Knowledge Independence

• Employees can access other people's knowledge needed to complete a job.
• Employees do not share their knowledge with others in the organization.
• Employees cannot articulate who in the organization would benefit from their knowledge.
• Employees have no means or instruments available to capture knowledge for others to use.

Strength in Knowledge Independence

• Employees can access other people's knowledge needed to complete a job.
• Employees share knowledge with others in the organization
• Employees can articulate who in the organization will benefit from their knowledge
• Employees have the means, desire, and instruments necessary to record knowledge that can be share with others

Reliance Level Three - Knowledge Inter-Dependence

Weakness in Knowledge Inter-Dependence

• Employees have the means, desire, and instruments necessary to record knowledge that can be share with others
• Employees know that others have knowledge needed to complete a job but do not know how (or do not have the tools) to request, locate and make use of that knowledge
• Employees want to share knowledge and collaborate on knowledge but do not have the time or will not put forth the effort required to collaborate on and record knowledge

Strength in Knowledge Inter-Dependence

• Employees have the means, desire, and instruments necessary to record knowledge that can be share with others
• Employees know what information is available from others and know how to request, locate, and make use of that knowledge
• Employees know how to collaborate on organizational knowledge and have the tools in place that encourage and facilitate knowledge collaboration

What Does This All Mean?

In simple terms - what does this knowledge sharing continuum mean, and how does it apply to different organizations?

Using this continuum diagram and the explanation of strengths and weaknesses in each level of reliance, companies can evaluate themselves as to where they currently sit on the knowledge-sharing continuum. Companies or departments can only sit in one position on the continuum line and most companies prefer to move along the line from lower left to upper right. The only way to do this is to become a knowledge sharing company.

If knowledge sharing doesn't take place and the x-value is very low, obviously the company gets an initial rating of weak in the knowledge dependence level, and has a long way to go before they become knowledge independent or knowledge inter-dependent.

If a lot of knowledge sharing takes place at a company and the x-value is very high, that company is much more likely to collaborate on the building and recording of new knowledge. That company ranks strong in knowledge inter-dependence level.

By evaluating how much knowledge sharing takes place at a company, and by marking where that knowledge sharing point exists on the x-axis of the continuum diagram, that company can identify if they are knowledge dependent, knowledge independent, or knowledge inter-dependent.

Many companies that embark on knowledge management efforts aspire to get to point that they share lots of knowledge and therefore collaborate on lots of knowledge. In a future article, I will address the steps that are necessary to move from being weak in knowledge dependence to strong in knowledge inter-dependence. If you are interested in speaking to me about this subject prior to the next installment of this article, I can be reached via email at rseiner@tdan.com.

© Copyright 2001 - The Data Administration Newsletter (TDAN.com)

About the Author

Robert (Bob) S. Seiner has accumulated twenty years of experience applying data/information-based and knowledge/content-based solutions and disciplines to solve business and technical problems. Mr. Seiner is recognized in the IT industry for his depth of knowledge and involvement in the fields of data & meta-data management, data governance & stewardship, content & knowledge management, and business intelligence / data warehousing.

Mr. Seiner is the President and Principal Consultant of KIK Consulting & Educational Services – www.KIKconsulting.com - a firm that focuses on best practices and knowledge transfer. Mr. Seiner offers traditional consulting services as well on-site intensive education in how to build & implement data management programs, data stewardship programs and meta-data programs.

Mr. Seiner is the Publisher of an internationally recognized Internet publication focused on the management of data, information and knowledge as valued corporate assets. The Data Administration Newsletter (TDAN.com) located at www.tdan.com attracts over thirty thousand visitors every month, and is a reputable and non-biased on-line source for information about the data and knowledge management industries. Mr. Seiner's publication was recently awarded an "exceptional resource" honor offered by the publishers of Data Management Review magazine, and has received “Editor’s Choice” honors from America Online, Netscape, datawarehouse.com, and searchdatabase.com over the past seven years.