Abstracts
Knowledge Sharing in Multicultural Singapore – A Challenge for Governance?
CHAY Yue Wah
Associate Professor
UniSIM
Thomas MENKHOFF
Practice Associate Professor
Lee Kong Chian School of Business
Singapore Management University
LEONG Chan Hoong
Head of Programme, Psychology
UniSIM
Hans-Dieter EVERS
Professor and Senior Research Fellow
Center for Development Research (ZEF)
University of Bonn
This study empirically examined the effects of cultural patterns of diverse teams and their members as well as other factors such as capability, credibility, cohesion, communication and the type of knowledge (explicit vs. implicit) transferred on members' willingness to engage in knowledge sharing activities with other teammates. Besides exploring the complex relationship between these factors and knowledge transfer which is derived from combining theories of knowledge sharing, teams and cross-cultural behaviour, the study is aimed at examining some of the key success factors of enhanced peer learning in multi-cultural project teams which represents an important k-transfer approach in higher educational institutions as well as k-intensive organisations such as Biopolis. Survey data provide support for our hypotheses, indicating that knowledge sharing between ‘collectivists' and ‘individualists' is a potential fault line in knowledge-intensive teams which needs to be managed to improve team performance and collaborative learning.
Using Knowledge for Development – General Strategies and the case of South Korea
Derek H. C. CHEN
Economist
Knowledge for Development Program
World Bank Institute
It has been found that more than half of the global variation in income per capita results from differences in total factor productivity. In addition, more than half of the global variation in income per capita growth results from differences in TFP growth. Knowledge accumulation and application, being a key determinant of TFP, has received much focus as the new engine of growth for many economies.
This presentation will first briefly introduce the Knowledge Economy approach of the Knowledge for Development Program ( www.worldbank.org/wbi/k4d ) of the World Bank Institute. The objective of the Program is to assist client countries in accessing and using knowledge to enhance their long-term economic growth.
The presentation will also provide an overview of the knowledge economy experience of South Korea . Korea has been experiencing rapid, and more importantly, sustained economic growth since the 1960s. This has resulted in its real GDP per capita increasing rapidly enabling the once low-income country to join the ranks of high-income industrialised nations within a short time span of four and half decades. Moreover, the majority of this growth can be attributed to knowledge accumulation, rather than to the accumulation of traditional factors of production of capital and labor.
Korea had achieved this knowledge-based growth by investing heavily in education and training, boosting innovation through intensive research and development, developing a modern and accessible information infrastructure, all coupled with a stable economic and conducive institutional regime that enabled the knowledge-related investments to flourish. Due to this, Korea has ably made its transition to a knowledge economy, that is, an economy that uses knowledge as the key engine of growth. Its successful knowledge-based development experience offers many valuable lessons for developing economies.
This presentation is based on a recent World Bank report: “ Korea as a Knowledge Economy: Evolutionary Process and Lesson Learned”. The report is geared towards policymakers from developing countries that are in the midst of, or are intending to, embark on the transition towards the knowledge economy. It provides pragmatic policy lessons drawn from Korea 's forty-five years of knowledge-based growth. This report not only looks at the current policies and challenges of today's high-income Korea , but also reviews its historical economic development since the 1960s when Korea was still a low income country. It follows Korea through the decades as it undertook an array of knowledge strategies that propelled it through the various income levels. The report therefore provides compelling policy lessons that are relevant for developing countries at different stages of economic development.
View slides here
View paper here
The Developmental State as Creator of K-Hubs and K-Clusters: Hong Kong and Singapore Compared
CHUNG Wai Keung
Assistant Professor of Sociology
School of Social Sciences
Singapore Management University
It is widely accepted that the governments in East Asian countries had played a significant role during the industrial transformation of their economies after WWII. This paper discusses if these governments have once again positioned themselves in a strategic way, and if so, in what way, in facilitating the transformation of their capital-intensive manufacturing economies to a globally competitive knowledge economies. While technological infrastructure is essential, advancement from traditional manufacturing economy to the “new economy” requires the development of a pro-IT institutional setting, social by nature, that could nourish innovation and creativity for the creation of K-hubs and k-clusters. This research focuses on identifying the prerequisite conditions for the development of a knowledge-intensive economy, and to compare and contrast what the governments of Hong Kong and Singapore have done so far in creating the institutional infrastructure for the economic transformation.
Knowledge for Poverty Alleviation: A Framework for Design and Evaluation of Development Projects for Low-Income Communities
Serafin D. TALISAYON
Professor
Asian Center
University of the Philippines
Jasmin P. SUMINSTRADO
Director
Knowledge for Poverty Alleviation
CCLFI. Philippines
The paper describes a framework that brings together two powerful and recent development paradigms - knowledge-based management and sustainable development - and presents a new perspective for developing low-income communities. It proposes the Knowledge for Poverty Alleviation (KPA) framework, a new model that can be used in the design and evaluation of anti-poverty projects at the community level to increase chances of project success and sustainability. KPA emphasises the importance of recognising a community's intangible assets, and proposes four criteria for the success of community-based anti-poverty projects: leveraging community intangible assets, neutralisation of community intangible liabilities, using its available tangible assets, and the build-up of sustainable structural and stakeholder capital. Sustainability is pursued along the three domains of sustainable development: social empowerment, environmental protection, and economic sustainability. Initial applications of the KPA framework in the analysis of the most successful among several hundred poverty alleviation projects in the Philippines provide initial evidence of its explanatory and diagnostic usefulness. Some directions are indicated for development of program and project management toolkits to deliver better results.
The New Geography of Innovation - Asia's Role in Global Innovation Networks
Dieter ERNST
Senior Fellow
East-West Center
I will talk about changes in the geography of innovation that reflect and that are driven by the spread of global innovation networks (GINs). And I will highlight specifically Asia's role in these networks.
At the EWC, we have done extensive research, much of it as part of joint international projects, to document what is happening. Specifically, we have collected profiles of GINs for a sample of now almost 150 hi-tech companies that are headquartered in the US , Asia and Europe*. We use these profiles to examine the forces that drive the development of global innovation networks and their defining characteristics. And we explore the impacts of these networks on learning, capability formation and innovation at diverse locations in China, Taiwan, Korea and India .
In my talk, I will draw on this research to address three ‘Big Picture' questions:
1. Innovation networks in transition. What is new?
Innovation is fragmented and dispersed across boundaries (firm; geographic; sector). Global innovation networks reflect a shift in corporate strategy to open (boundary-crossing') and integrated innovation. US firms are key drivers and shape the architecture of global innovation networks. However, we find an increasing diversity of actors, locations, business models and network arrangements
2. How important is Asia ?
Much econometric analysis focuses on a too narrow set of data and misses the hidden underbelly of innovation offshoring. EWC research shows Asia's role in these networks is increasing (driven by the resurgence of China and India ) But: established centers in the US , Europe and Japan retain their dominance.
3. The challenge for Asia : Will network integration foster innovation?
The new geography of innovation is not a flatter world. Instead, concentrated network dispersion creates a handful of new, yet very diverse and intensely competing innovation hubs in Asia. It is still an open question whether network integration will reduce entrenched barriers to innovation. Much depends on policies to strengthen domestic innovation systems.
The punch-line argument can be summarised as follows:
First, GINs add an important new dimension to the geography of innovation, by drastically increasing the mobility of innovation. Second, there is also an important element of continuity: GINs emerge as a natural extension of GPNs and hence share important characteristics. But, as I will demonstrate, they also differ. And, third, it makes sense to study GINs, as they will have important implications for corporate strategies and public policies that seek to improve the environment for learning organisations.
*The firms in our sample differ substantially in terms of the size, ownership, business model and technological sophistication. The sample includes for instance long established global industry leaders (like IBM) and Asian newcomers like Samsung, Acer or Lenovo. We also have good data on trans-Pacific start-up firms that are pushed by VC to do R&D and manufacturing in Asia, while conducting HQ functions and strategic marketing in the US .
Knowledge Hubs and Knowledge Clusters: A Knowledge Architecture for Development
Hans-Dieter EVERS
Professor and Senior Research Fellow
Center for Development Research (ZEF)
University of Bonn
With globalisation and knowledge-based production, firms may cooperate on a global scale, outsource parts of their administrative or productive units and negate location altogether. The extremely low transaction costs of data, information and knowledge seem to invalidate the theory of agglomeration and the spatial clustering of firms, going back to the classical work by Alfred Weber (1868-1958) and Alfred Marshall (1842-1924), who emphasised the microeconomic benefits of industrial collocation. This paper will argue against this view and show why the growth of knowledge societies will rather increase than decrease the relevance of location by creating knowledge clusters and knowledge hubs.
A knowledge cluster is a local innovation system organised around universities, research institutions and firms which successfully drive innovations and create new industries. Knowledge hubs are localities with high internal and external networking and knowledge sharing capabilities. Both form a new knowledge architecture within an epistemic landscape of knowledge creation and dissemination, structured by knowledge gaps and areas of low knowledge intensity.
The paper will focus on the internal dynamics of knowledge clusters and knowledge hubs and show why clustering takes place despite globalisation and the rapid growth of ICT. The basic argument that firms and their delivery chains attempt to reduce transport (transaction) costs by choosing the same location is still valid for most industrial economies, but knowledge hubs have different dynamics relating to externalities produced from knowledge sharing and research and development outputs.
The paper draws on empirical data derived from ongoing research in the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University and in the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, supported by the German Aeronautics and Space Agency (DLR).
View slides here
Operation & Technology Roadmapping (OTR): A Knowledge Transfer Perspective
Michael FERRILL
OTR Lead Facilitator
Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology
The OTR programme, developed from Cambridge Universities T-Plan approach has been running as part of a government initiative to upgrade Singapore's small and medium sized companies for nearly five years. To date over 100 roadmaps have been completed including several update exercises where company staff develop their roadmapping capability as well as review and update the company's roadmap. Other developments under the programme include the use of roadmaps for internal research groups within A-Star and the creation of roadmaps for spin-off companies from the research institutes.
This presentation will relate the experience of OTR to four possible modes of knowledge transfer: socialisation, externalisation, combination and internalisation.
Knowledge Sharing in Indonesian Context: Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) as Potential Knowledge Hub To Create Value from Academia, Business and Government Linkages
Jann HIDAJAT TJAKRAATMADJA
Professor and Vice Dean for Academic Affairs
School of Business and Management
Institut Teknologi Bandung
Lenny MARTINI
Candidate of Master of Science in Management
School of Business and Management
Institut Teknologi Bandung
Agung WICAKSONO
Lecturer
School of Business and Management,
Institut Teknologi Bandung
Understanding knowledge sharing processes in a learning organisation context is an important issue in the knowledge era, where knowledge has become the main organisational asset for survival. Organisational knowledge will grow and develop if the organisation has the ability to learn continuously, irregardless of whether it is an academic, business or Government (ABG) organisation. Our research in this area was triggered by the concept of a ‘learning state' in the knowledge era which has been defined as a state skilled at creating, acquiring, and sharing knowledge between Academia, Business and Government (ABG). To prove this concept, empirical research in 9 Indonesian companies was conducted and enriched with empirical findings from a case study of knowledge sharing activities within faculties of SBM ITB, a business school in a leading Indonesian university. The studies confirmed much of the current KM literature and helped to develop new insights. They were also instrumental in identifying certain contradictions and paradoxes. The conceptual framework which resulted from our research can be used as reference point to answer the following question: “Can ITB play an important role as a knowledge transformation hub in bridging ABG sectors to create value through knowledge sharing among participating actors”? Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) is Indonesia 's oldest and most renowned technology school. It was here where the idea of creating the so-called ‘Bandung High-Tech Valley' was launched decades ago. Despite related implementation challenges, we argue that ITB possesses huge potentials to drive the success of knowledge governance in Indonesia. The paper will also briefly highlight the role of the new Knowledge Management Society Indonesia (KMSI) which is aimed at facilitating the implementation of the above ABG linkages.
View slides here
View paper here
Promoting Innovation and Scientific Progress: Gene Patenting and its Implications for Singapore as a New Life Sciences Knowledge Hub
Kenneth HUANG
Assistant Professor
Lee Kong Chian School of Business
Singapore Management University
The intellectual property system constitutes an integral part of a nation's institutions designed to promote technological innovation and scientific progress in the knowledge based economy. Although patents contribute to the commercialisation of science, aspects of patenting are now controversial. As the intellectual property landscape becomes more complex and characterised by patent thickets and ownership fragmentation and as patents are increasingly uncertain in scope and strength, scholars have argued over the detrimental impacts on follow-on innovation. Opposing arguments highlight the positive effects of patenting on public research. These debates collide when we consider patenting on human genes. Little evidence exists to adjudicate the pros and cons of gene patents. Using a large sample of matched gene patents and publications based on the population of gene patents, patenting is found to impede follow-on diffusion and use of knowledge by 5 to 17%. The effect increases in the patent scope, claims, thicket, and with ownership fragmentation. These findings inform policy, contribute to the strategic management of science and have important implications for Singapore positioning herself to become a new life sciences knowledge hub in Asia.
Public Research System as a National Knowledge Infrastructure of Korea
Kong-Rae LEE
Senior Research Fellow and Director
Science and Technology Policy Institute
South Korea
This paper aims to investigate Korea 's public research system as a case study of a national knowledge infrastructure. It reviews the reform of governance system of government-sponsored research institutes (GRIs) which caused the separation of all GRIs from the ministries to which they belonged in 1999. It was believed that R&D performance and efficiency of GRIs was low because ministries intervene too much in their research activities. As a consequence, the separation of GRIs from their subordinate ministries was seen as a viable policy option to activate and increase performance and efficiency of GRIs. R&D performance of government research institutes (GRIs) has been regularly evaluated by social science research institutes like STEPI or private consulting companies based on a research contract with a high level administration body. It is found that GRIs under research councils have recently improved their R&D performance in terms of paper publications and patent applications. The results of the comparison appeared to be similar when compared using the index of publication of SCI papers per 100 million wons. This finding implies that public research institutes in Korea have successfully built up their research capability within a relatively short development history.
View slides here
View paper here
Competency Enhancement in KM Programs:
The Case of the British Council
Poornima LUTHRA
Doctoral Research Scholar
Department of Information Systems
School of Computing
National University of Singapore
PAN Shan Ling
Assistant Professor of Information Systems
Coordinator of Knowledge Management Laboratory
Department of Information Systems
School of Computing
National University of Singapore
Fifteen years on, and after significant research in the field of Knowledge Management (KM), there is a need to push research in the field to deeper and more reflective levels by addressing a gap in current research. KM research needs to move away from the mere identification of general competencies (or critical success factors) for KM to understanding how organisations enhance their organisational competencies while implementing their KM program. To address this gap, our paper presents an analysis of the British Council (BC) with a focus on the implementation of its KM program. The findings show that the BC enhanced its strategic, structural, cultural and resource competencies by adopting a bottom-up strategic approach, undergoing an organisation-wide restructuring, clarifying its corporate values to develop its KM culture, while dedicating human, financial and technological resources throughout the process of implementing its KM program.
K-Architecture for Development: Approaches and Experiences (Thailand)
Suparb PASONG
Researcher
Member of Thailand Creative and Design Center, Bangkok, Thailand
The paper examines the empirical evidence of how knowledge of various kinds and sources plays a role in the development of the Thai economy and society. The study traces the recent history of knowledge management as a development practice in Thailand. It describes how they have evolved in the public and private sectors, among the state and the civil society actors. Experiences of two organisations representing different approaches in the practice of knowledge management are documented and analysed. Both cases offer a comparative analysis of the architecture underlying each practice.
The analysis seeks to understand the people and their interactions, the mechanisms and the institutional arrangements driving the dynamics and the application of knowledge as development inputs. It also assesses the outcomes of knowledge-driven development, where knowledge significantly plays a role.
In the conclusion, the paper attempts at identifying challenges for the state, society and the corporate world in managing knowledge for development results. It seeks to further refine the conceptualisation of knowledge governance, backed by these experiences. Finally, it also draws lessons learned and implications for knowledge-driven development strategies.
View slides here
KM Implementation Roadmap Overview
Gopinathan R
Deputy Director
Public Service Centre for Organisational Excellence
Civil Service College
Organisations have adopted different approaches in their KM implementation efforts. They have seen mixed results and gained different experiences. A few have adopted a big bang approach, where they try to implement KM organisation-wide from the onset, while other agencies try to identify low hanging fruits and start with a pilot. Others try to build from bottom up and find like minded people to kick off a community and gather more buy in. There are others which feel they have successfully carried out a pilot but face challenges when they try to expand the KM practice organization-wide. Irrespective of approaches taken, one consistent feedback received was the need for some kind of a guide to help organisations implement KM more systematically. In addition, aligning KM movement to meet business needs and identifying initiatives to reduce knowledge gaps in business processes continue to be major challenges.
With this business need in mind, a roadmap was developed. The purpose of the Knowledge Management (KM) Implementation Road Map is to provide a reference guide for public agencies to plan, kick-start and sustain the KM journey systematically to achieve organisational outcomes. This methodology is adapted and customised from American Productivity & Quality Centre (APQC) KM Road Map. The roadmap is constructed with best-practice research, expertise and work in the field of knowledge management.
Organisations can use this roadmap as a guide to help them better understand where they are in their KM journey, what could be the possible gaps that need to be addressed and the good practices of other organisations that could be leveraged from. The roadmap will also help them better understand issues at each stages and the different tools and techniques they could use to help them progress along the journey. The tools are designed to address some of the challenges faced by organisations as they began implementing KM initiatives.
Supporting Governance through ICT4D: Lessons Learnt in the Rural Domain in Asia-Pacific and the Way Forward
Michael RIGGS
Information Management Specialist
Food and Agriculture Organisation
United Nations
Knowledge is recognised as a key factor in productivity and economic growth. Through its work to reduce hunger and improve food security, FAO recognizes the critical role of knowledge in sustainable development, particularly in rural areas, and in meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Capacity to utilise information is critical to this, to avoid the “knowledge trap,” and to reduce inequalities between rural and urban, and between developing and developed areas. There are many examples in which ICT is being used to improve rural development and governance, as well as the role of public policy to enhance ICT4D's positive impacts. FAO is developing ICT4D models by studying innovative rural applications across the region, applying ICT in field-level development programmes, and evolving to support dynamic communities of practice.
View slides here
Emerging Knowledge Economy India
– A Critical Review of the National Knowledge Commission
Waltraut RITTER
Managing Partner and Research Director
Knowledge Enterprises
The National Knowledge Commission was set up in 2005 by the Indian government and is a high-level advisory body to the Prime Minister of India, with the objective of transforming India into a knowledge society. It covers sectors ranging from education to e-governance in the different areas of the knowledge paradigm, namely access to knowledge (from literacy to networks and portals), concepts of knowledge (all levels and forms of education), creation of knowledge (science and technology, Intellectual Property Rights, innovation), application (traditional knowledge) and services (e-governance).
The NKC deals with a very broad range of issues, some of which are also on the agenda of other government agencies. According to their latest report, the NKC has “successfully covered 20 subjects and outlined about 160 concrete action plans”.
The paper will discuss the functions, organisation and agenda of the NKC and examine the relationships of the NKC with other government agencies in India dealing with knowledge economy issues. It will also discuss the role of NKC in advancing India 's position as knowledge economy, which is, according to the Worldbank Knowledge Economy index, quite low in the overall ranking, however, leading among South East Asian countries.
Utilising External Knowledge by Chinese Technology Firms
James ROBINS
Associate Professor
Lee Kong Chian School of Business
Singapore Management University
Kathleen Yi Jia LOW
Graduate Student
City University of Hong Kong
Entrepreneurial firms in emerging economies firms have become dependent on foreign sources of knowledge to upgrade capabilities, as previously closed societies have opened to international competition. Utilisation of knowledge from foreign sources can be difficult for these companies, and risky relationship-specific investments may be important. This paper explores the conditions for utilisation of foreign-source knowledge by entrepreneurial firms in China using data from a sample of small and medium sized companies in the PRC. We find that relationship-specific investment is important to knowledge utilisation and that it is more likely when foreign relationships provide additional externalities through effects on reputation.
Leverage on Diversity : Lessons Learnt in Malaysia's Multimedia Supercorridor
Peter Charles WOODS
Motorola Chair of Knowledge Management
Multimedia University
Malaysia is frequently referred as an exemplar of a multi-racial, multi-cultural society, where diversity is a positive asset.
If synergies exist at a societal level, what is the case for business and institutions? The Multimedia Super Corridor now MSC Malaysia, is Malaysia 's initiative for the global information and communication technology (ICT) industry. Originally a physical corridor from KLIA to the Petronas Twin towers in Kuala Lumpur it now encompasses the whole Klang Valley region. At the heart is Cyberjaya (the “intelligent city”) hosting more than 900 multinationals, foreign-owned and home-grown Malaysian companies focused on multimedia and communications products, solutions, services and; research and development. Multimedia University has a campus in Cyberjaya, specifically to provide the knowledge workers required. The strategic intent is clearly aimed towards knowledge sharing, co-operation, and co-competition.
This paper considers the extent that physical proximity of diverse organisations in Cyberjaya has produced evidence of knowledge clustering, and reports both the observable and reported formal and informal knowledge sharing.
Applying Global Knowledge to Local Circumstances
– GTZ: Global – Regional – Local
Holger ZAHN
Advisor Knowledge Management & Impact Monitoring
Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH
A. The Organisation
As an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations, the federally owned Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH supports the German Government in achieving its development-policy objectives. It provides viable, forwardlooking solutions for political, economic, ecological and social development in a globalised world. Working under difficult conditions, GTZ promotes complex reforms and change processes. Its corporate objective is to improve people's living conditions in their local circumstances on a sustainable basis.
Worldwide Operations
GTZ employs some 10,000 staff in more than 120 countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Eastern European countries in transition and the New Independent States (NIS). Around 9,000 of these staff are national personnel. GTZ maintains its own offices in 67 countries. Some 970 people are employed at Head Office in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main. In addition, 365 staff work for supraregional projects based at various locations within Germany.
Experience and Competence
GTZ can draw on over 30 years of experience in international cooperation for sustainable development. It maintains a local presence of expert and managerial staff in the partner countries. GTZ operates nationally, adapting its approaches and solutions to the conditions in the individual country. Together with its partners, it develops and implements concepts and measures tailored to the prevailing situation. For this, it relies on a combination of local, sectoral, regional and managerial competence and knowledge.
Concept
GTZ takes on tasks in the field of international cooperation and implements them in line with its concept of sustainable development. We help realise this concept with our holistic, value-based and process-oriented approach that secures the participation of all stakeholders under consideration of their knowledge systems. We take account of economic, social and environmental issues in our work and support our partners when it comes to negotiating solutions in the broader societal context. We act at local, national, regional and international level in order to achieve maximum impact.
Activity Areas
GTZ's services span a wide range of activity areas, from economic development and employment promotion, through governance and democracy, health and basic education to environmental protection, resource conservation, agriculture, fishing and nutrition. In all our activity areas we help enhance the capabilities of individuals and organisations. Government advisory services are a high priority area of work, and in many partner countries we are assisting comprehensive reform processes and the necessary changes to the political, economic and social framework conditions. Where acute need is jeopardising human survival, GTZ also responds with emergency aid and refugee programmes. Here too, our concept is geared to strengthening people's capacity to help themselves and promoting development that is self-sustaining in the long term. In recent years, GTZ has further extended its services, for example in organising major events.
B. Linking Global Knowledge to Local Knowledge
Knowledge management can look back on a long tradition at GTZ. Since the early 1990s, GTZ has systematically invested in a company-wide exchange of knowledge, with a view to learning from valuable experience. In practice, it is essential to evaluate positive and negative project experience and to incorporate this into future projects and programmes. This is the only way to consistently improve the results of development interventions and to be innovative. GTZ is known around the globe for its methodical innovations, such as ZOPP (objectives-oriented project planning) and Capacity WORKS. But GTZ is more than a knowledge organisation that focuses exclusively on its own experience. Rather, it sees itself as a global knowledge broker for an ongoing exchange of knowledge with a wide range of diverse institutions. To this end it maintains a large number of cooperation arrangements and networks.
Sector Networks
GTZ aims to bring together people, technology and management in a harmonious system. Unlike other companies, GTZ made the individual main focus of its knowledge management strategy from the outset. Sector networks, networks and contacts are the heart of the GTZ knowledge management philosophy. Sector networks are the link from individual projects in a country to a region and to headquarters. GTZ experts not only play an active part in numerous international sector-specific and expert networks, but often themselves initiate and supervise them. With the help of some 20 sector networks, GTZ organises an internal exchange of knowledge in the regions. Involving also key stakeholders and counter parts from different countries. The sector networks are considered a best practice model in development cooperation, and can already look back on a nearly 20-year tradition. These networks are continually upgraded and further developed. The sector networks in the individual regions of the world work closely with Head Office in Eschborn. The central Planning and Development Department is responsible for securing valuable knowledge and experience and disseminating this both inside and outside GTZ. Combined with their professional management, this makes them as vibrant today as ever to interconnect knowledge gained on various levels.
For this interaction between people, technology and management, GTZ's managers were voted Knowledge Manager of the Year 2005 by the Financial Times Deutschland, the Commerzbank and the business magazine impulse.
C. Applying Global Knowledge to Local Circumstances
In South East Asia 6 sector networks are active for the time being, bringing together some 600 people out of 113 GTZ projects from different countries in the region. Main aim of all sector networks is to share gained knowledge on identified or recognised knowledge systems in a region, country or area and to improve methods, tools, and instruments applied in individual projects. Knowledge systems can be formal or informal, global or local, traditional and/or indigenous. Knowledge transfers within one knowledge system are relatively easy. However, transfers from a global knowledge system to a local one – or vice versa – are very difficult instead, because the transferred messages do not make sense within the other knowledge system. The challenge to technical cooperation consists in facilitating and improving the communication between involved technical experts and local target groups who have both been educated in distinct knowledge systems. Both knowledge systems are complex and contain systematic knowledge in their heads.
Knowledge Systems
Local and global knowledge systems overlap only partially. If the overlap is small, communication between TC professionals and local target groups may be full of misunderstandings. The more overlap, the easier communication gets. The area of shared knowledge can be expanded, if involved parties do spend more time with each other, exchange ideas in an open and respectful way and omit qualifying the others knowledge as true or false. If complex knowledge shall be exchanged between experts and target groups, communication must be personal. Moreover new information or know-how will be accepted only, if the person, who offers it, is respected, trusted and considered competent by the person who shall accept it.
Added Value
To gain a systematic understanding of local knowledge usually requires years of anthropological-technical research. This cannot be done during the regular life span of a TC project. The sector networks in combination with IT solutions from GTZ Headquarters its maintaining services for networks all over the world do provide access to tools, methods, and instruments which make already gained knowledge on knowledge systems accessible and recyclable to new projects in local circumstances. On top of this accessible layer of global knowledge new projects do tie in and will, during their life span, top up a new layer.
Continuousness
Knowledge management must never become an end in itself. GTZ meticulously ensures that all processing, saving and dissemination of knowledge is geared to what is genuinely needed in practical development work. Knowledge management is thus part of GTZ's corporate culture and not a specialised discipline accessible to only a handful of experts. The main thrust must be to mainstream learning and sharing experience in the day-to-day routine of staff members and projects, and in internal corporate processes. Then, and only then, does knowledge management have the status it needs in a knowledge organisation. And only then does the organisation have the chance to make the transition from staff learning to becoming a learning organisation.
