Steps were being taken to create one such framework (see Exhibit 4).It was a graphical depiction of the different segments of Integral is work. This search engine could locate better nugget with subtle industry specific nuances because it offered a filter on the knowledge. Senior management had not yet approved this approach, but various factions within the organization were supportive of this structure. As Confrey stated Right now they are really unable to develop tools on the internet of the same quality as we have in the client/server world. So ali of the tools that they are trying to bring to the internet world not truly cross platform. There is still a long way to go on this Where information is stored should be transparent doing the actual work.
An Opportunity to Redefine the Role of Consulting
As the group at Integral pondered the possible ramifications of throwing themselves into the KM revolution, it became clear that it could transform the entire consulting practice. First, Integral pondered
could drastically improve. As Elton said, It should take a lot less time to do basic, routine tasks and we should be able to measure the difference. In senior managers’ minds, it took a specific amount of time for a junior associate to create what they called a resource analysis. If the associate could structure the activity of data gathering and compilation in a way that the questions were standardized, then performance gains could be measured by calculating the billing rate of the associate. If the standardized material could be made available quickly to the consultant then he or she could spend more time developing the truly unique and innovative aspects of deliverables.
Integral is role with client offerings could also change because of KM and TeamRoom. Specifically, there were examples of active TeamRoom where the client could see and enter material into the TeamRoom along with Integral consultants. Alpha Company was a large organization that ensured fair housing to moderate and middle-income consumers. Is had been working with Integral for some time on how to manage innovation and to improve product development. Steve Moran, the lead manager from Alpha who had been invited into the TeamRoom by Costanzo, commented, we are using the TeamRoom to capture all of our documents about this project. It is an interesting way to manage the project. I like the idea of being able to get my hand on any document that I wanted at any time. I don’t think the full potential has been realized yet because Notes is not well understood here. We have an excellent relationship with Integral. We have put a lot of trust in them. TeamRoom was thus another vehicle around which Integral could build trust with its clients.
There was some concern, that bringing clients into the knowledge transfer business might cause more significant problems. Developing a complete guide to knowledge transfer might cannibalize future efforts with clients who learned to do some of the work that Integral previously had done for them. To paraphrase one of the consultants, It is like going to the doctor. If you do your job too well and to one gets sick, no one ever returns.
Is was clear that since effectively using a KM system necessitated adopting new habits, the connection between The reward structure at Integral and how consultants were measured would need to be reexamined. To this point, however, there was no consensus. As one of the principals suggested, we have no accurate way of tracking and enforcing accuracy in the knowledge base. Elton described an example from a recent trip to California. In the knowledge bank for one senior consultant, two managers had created a specific solution that he knew. When I pulled it up in the knowledge base, he said, It had just one name on it, with no attribution to the others. Elton observed that it may in fact have been just an oversight but admitted that he did not like the way it made him feel about the entire process. We are almost setting this tip. It is kind of like a social issue now about who has access to the technology and who don’t. It almost like this tyranny of knowledge origination. We are creating a class society of folks who have and haven’t contributed to the intellectual capital of the firm.
Emerging Challenges
With Team Room behind them and KM just ahead, Elton, Mankin, and Costanzo knew that they needed to move quickly but not how or where. A number of questions needed to be answered. For example, were should they spend their time on developing in house capabilities or software capabilities for their clients? If this was a new product offering, how much effort should go into it? After all they had seen reengineering come and go what if KM is just a fad as well? Should they shrink-wrap their own system to sell to other consulting firms, or was it too sensitive to share? And what about the reward system? It was fine to say that people would be rewarded for using the knowledge base but what would really make this? Who could evaluate the quality of the nuggets adequately and fairly? There were but a few of the challenges that lay ahead for Costanzo as she attempted to implement a pilot version of the KM system. Costanzo was up to the challenge, however, and echoed the Nike motor let is just do it.