Does your business follow a tribal knowledge or an organizational knowledge style of management for process administration?
Tribal Knowledge
Most businesses start out using a tribal knowledge style of management, where there is no system to administer process details. The company is simple enough that the process details for operating the business are passed along to team members through sharing around the campfire events. Employees pick up on the knowledge from a series of activities like training, meetings, emails, conversations, and workplace experiences. With this management style, the responsibility of knowledge preservation permeates across the memories of the employees.
The effectiveness of tribal knowledge starts breaking down when the business grows and becomes more complex. Using employee memories to preserve process details undermines efforts to manage changes; it becomes difficult to gauge which portions of the process details are known by the employees. There are risks that the knowledge is spread too thin, and details become lost when someone either forgets or leaves the business. Employees can become less confident about the work because they’re uncertain if their understanding of the process details is up-to-date and accurate.
To compensate tribal knowledge practices, companies started documenting this information in knowledge base articles, procedure files, PowerPoint slides, training materials, emails, and other forms of documentation. The inconsistency of these documentation methods adds complexity issues with administering the knowledge. They generated additional concerns about where the information resides and if it is still up-to-date and accurate. There were also timing issues, where the knowledge content was not easily accessible to users at the times when they needed to use it. These documentation methods still kept employees in the unsupported position of having to practice tribal knowledge.
Organizational Knowledge
The organizational knowledge style of management involves using a central interactive software system for maintaining and administering process details. The system provides employees a support resource to record process details which relieved the burden of their memory being the sole knowledge source. With organizational knowledge, employees can perform their work confidently, knowing they have quick access to a support resource for the latest process details. The risks of knowledge losses were minimized by having a system to retain process details. Using a central system for reviewing and updating process details simplified the change management efforts on planning and implementing business improvements.
Organizational knowledge is another example where a software system improved the productivity of business operations. Software systems enhance productivity by reducing the work effort needed to convert data into the information employees use to be successful at work. An organizational knowledge system reduces the mental effort of having to memorize all the process details by supporting employees with quick access to the knowledge they need to be successful at work.