Hi! Thanks for bearing with me.
Let us first discuss about the aspect of the responsibilities, roles
and duties of the Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO).
One good model for a Chief Knowledge Officer for a consulting firm can
be seen from the company Ernst & Young. The ideas about organization
creation also talks about the staffing aspects of a knowledge
management entity. Ernst & Young has 103,000 employees.
?John Peetz, who had previously led the firm?s Western Region
Performance Improvement Consulting Practice, became the firm?s first
Chief Knowledge Officer. The role involved overseeing the processes
and technologies of the firm that related to knowledge. He and the
directors of the three centers were advised by a Knowledge Process
Committee consisting of senior consulting partners from around the
U.S. practice. The Committee?s role was to recommend both topics on
which knowledge was necessary and means by which knowledge could be
integrated into E&Y?s consulting practice. The U.S. E&Y firm also set
up a Knowledge Committee to address knowledge management issues that
cut across consulting, audit, and tax, and shortly thereafter a Global
Knowledge Committee was established to address issues in the entire
E&Y organization worldwide. John Peetz served as the head of both
committees. In addition, E&Y hired a new Director for the Center for
Business Knowledge. Ralph Poole had previously been head of Bain and
Company?s Experience Center, which had several similar functions to
E&Y?s Center.?
?At the same time, E&Y was also organizing a consulting practice
around knowledge management. About 20 consultants were identified who
had either expertise or strong interest in knowledge management
issues, and a "Knowledge Management Network" was formed.?
?Knowledge Management at Ernst & Young, 1997?
http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/kman/E&Y.htm
Ernst & Young Profile
http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/International/About_EY
Another consulting firm worth mentioning in terms of having a CKO and
a Knowledge Management organization is Booz-Allen & Hamilton. The
company has 14,000 employees.
Booz Allen Hamilton first created a CKO position and a senior partner.
Then they created a Core Knowledge Team with members acquired from
within the company. The complete discussion can be found on page 6 of
our next link.
?Managing Knowledge at Booz-Allen Hamilton?
http://faculty.insead.edu/weeks/documents/Galunic-and-Weeks-Booz.pdf
Booz-Allen & Hamilton Profile
http://www.boozallen.com/bahng/SilverDemo?PID=Home.html&dispType=HTML&contType=TABLE&NGPgID=about
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Our next articles deal with a more detailed description of the roles
and duties of a Chief Knowledge Officer.
a. Job Description:
?Lead in the development of corporate culture, processes,
infrastructure and information resources to facilitate the creation
and utilization of corporate knowledge, expertise and information to
create competitive advantage and support creativity. The ability to
work with and influence senior colleagues including negotiation,
persuasion and presentation skills. Team building leadership and
motivation skills. Strong communication skills. Fundamental
understanding of information content and associated issues. An
in-depth appreciation of IT and its utilization. A good appreciation
and human resource and staff development issues. A good understanding
of business processes.?
b. Qualifications:
?At least degree level with an appropriate post degree qualification
in a professional discipline. A business related degree such as an MBA
is desirable but not essential. The successful CKO is likely to be a
senior, highly regarded manager, (Partner, Director, General Manager
level) who has demonstrated a capacity for managing change programmes
or for managing sensitive projects. Sound experience of the business
sector or related industry is essential. Previous experience of
leading the development of a knowledge or information culture in other
organisations.?
?Intro to KM: Careers in Knowledge Management?
http://www.icasit.org/km/intro/kmcareer.htm
Our next link is a real life sample of job description for a CKO.
Although it is not for a consulting firm, one can modify it to suit
their organizations purposes.
Executive Registry
http://information.technology.cto.cio.jobs.executiveregistry.com/index.php?job=29383
c. CKO Objectives:
- ?Having knowledge at the right time means it is available
sufficiently in advance of when it must be utilized to allow for the
application time. If it is to be applied in an area that is difficult
to change then it must be available early enough to allow for sluggish
application.?
- ?Having knowledge at the right place means having it in a specific
someone's head, not in the wrong person's head and not in an on line
repository or a corporate library or a document file.?
- ?Having the right knowledge means managing the organizational
knowledge portfolio to anticipate emerging needs, satisfy current
needs, and weed out the obsolete needs - everywhere in the
organization.?
?Managing The Knowledge Portfolio?
http://www.parshift.com/Essays/essay052.htm
d. CKO Contributions to the Organization:
- ?CKOs fight against the ambiguities of a new, ill-defined corporate
role by carefully
linking KM projects to a company's bottom line. Successful CKOs are fully aware
that KM is not an end in itself. CKOs argue that KM must be deployed
in the interest
of business models and overall corporate strategy.?
- ?CKOs are designers and architects. They develop comprehensive knowledge sharing
systems that stretch across an enterprise. They establish procedures
that coordinate and integrate diverse communities throughout a
corporation.?
- ?CKOs change the way work is done in an organization. They embed KM
strategies into the day-to-day life of an enterprise. For example, to
further the exchange of tacit knowledge,?
- ?In addition, CKOs are agents of cultural transformation. In many
workplaces, information is power?Workers must be able to trust that
the information they receive is accurate and the information they give
will be used in an appropriate manner.?
?CKOs contribute to organizational success through effective knowledge leadership?
http://www.kmadvantage.com/docs/leadership_articles/Peak_Performance_-_CKOs_Contribute_to_Org_Success.pdf
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Our next discussion will focus on the organization wherein CKOs work
in. This article describes what kind of organizations CKOs will be
really productive.
?An organizational profile emerged from the cases of the type of
organizations most likely to support knowledge management,
organizational learning, and formal CKO and CLO positions. They are
companies that value learning and knowledge as critical to their
business strategies, not just as nice things to do. In each case, the
organization, or at least the involved individuals, had made an effort
to identify what knowledge and learning were critical to operational
success.?
?Another common organizational value that emerged from the cases is
that most of the companies have aggressive growth plans and are
strategically using knowledge and learning to leverage expansion. In
addition, a high-trust climate is seen as a precondition to encourage
knowledge flow, innovation, and intellectual curiosity leading to
productivity. Another value is a belief that learning and knowledge
matter on the bottom line. That sets the stage for including learning
and knowledge efforts in strategic planning at the highest levels.?
Furthermore, the article talks about the reasons why businesses create
CKO positions. Here are some of the interesting reasons.
- ?CEO believes knowledge is strategic factor for business success?
- ?Major changes in internal processes, structure, and leadership?
- ?Competition is fierce and growing for best talent?
- ?Customers are increasingly informed and demanding?
You can read more about from the link below.
?Enter the Chief Knowledge Officer?
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m4467/2_54/59949725/print.jhtml
------------------------
Finally let us talk about the staffing of knowledge management. An
article we will see provides some good insights on the roles of the
staff in a KM department.
a. Chief Knowledge Officer ? ?CKOs have three critical
responsibilities: creating a knowledge management infrastructure,
building a knowledge culture and making it all pay off economically.?
b. Knowledge Initiative Manager ? ?The knowledge initiative manager is
analogous to the leader of a reengineering project or a strategic
planning group. In fact, knowledge management initiatives are similar
to these more familiar types of projects insofar as they are process
oriented and advance some strategic goal.?
c. Knowledge Reporters/Editors ? ?The most intriguing new knowledge
jobs, however, can best be described as knowledge reporter/editors.
Let's be honest: Few organizations have many workers skilled at
framing and structuring knowledge. Even if employees have the skills,
few have the time to input what they know into a system. We need
people able to extract knowledge from those who have it, reorder it to
a form anyone can use, and periodically update and edit that
knowledge. These skills are not really taught anywhere, but the
closest approximation may be found in journalism schools.?
?These roles all require a combination of "hard" elements (structured
knowledge, technology and tangible benefits) with "softer" traits (a
sure sense of the cultural, political and personal aspects of
knowledge).?
?Knowledge Roles: The CKO and Beyond?
http://www.cio.com/archive/040196_davenport.html
The World Bank also formed a KM division and this is how their staff looks like,
- ?a small central unit (three people) has overall coordination and
facilitation responsibilities;?
- ?operational managers in the networks and the regions are
responsible for implementing the knowledge sharing program;?
- ?thematic groups, supplemented by help desks, are the preferred
instrument for sharing know-how; and?
- ?a governance body (knowledge management council) is responsible at
the corporate level for the overall knowledge management policy
formulation.?
?How the World Bank launched a knowledge management program (page 2)?
http://www.knowledgepoint.com.au/knowledge_management/Articles/KM_MP001b.htm
A sample KM staff of the VA Healthcare Network Upstate New York can be
seen from the latter?s website. Although it is not from a consulting
firm, it can be used as another guide in developing your organization.
The CKO here is titled as a ?Knowledge Management Officer?.
?Staff Directory?
http://www1.va.gov/visns/visn02/is/km/staffdirectory.html
Another article discussing the formation of a knowledge management
organization can be found in the preceding link.
?Knowledge Management & New Organization Forms: A Framework for
Business Model Innovation?
http://www.brint.org/KMNewOrg.pdf
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During the course of my research, I have found under documents
discussing the nature of the position of a CKO and its relationship
with the KM department and the whole organization. I think these
articles will be of interest to you. Rather than overwhelm you with
numerous points and summaries on them, I will just post them here for
you to examine at your own time.
?What is a Chief Knowledge Officer??
http://itmnet.cba.hawaii.edu:82/OldVersions/What%20is%20a%20Chief%20Knowledge%20Officer.htm
?CKO Wanted ? Evangelical Skills Necessary: A Review of the Chief
Knowledge Officer Position?
http://www.kmadvantage.com/docs/leadership_articles/CKO_Wanted_-_Evangelical_Skills_Necessary.pdf
?Knowledge Management and the Role of the CKO?
http://www.kmadvantage.com/docs/leadership_articles/KM_and_the_Role_of_the_CKO.pdf
?THE RISING STAR of the Chief Knowledge Officer?
http://www.kmadvantage.com/docs/leadership_articles/The_Rising_Star_of_the_CKO.pdf
?THE POSITION AND ROLE OF THE CHIEF KNOWLEDGE OFFICER IN SOUTH AFRICA
? A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE??
http://www.unisa.ac.za/contents/faculties/humanities/docs/KCChauke.pdf
Search terms used:
?chief knowledge officer? CKO position role ?job description?
responsibilities large consulting firm
"knowledge management" staff staffing organization
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
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Regards,
Easterangel-ga
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