AUDIT REPORT & RECOMMENDATIONS

3. AUDIT REPORT 

Knowledge Audit report, present conclusions and suggested list of suitable actions in facilitating the KM implementation. The audit report reflected on the following issues that were found as a result of the  report and survey instrument used to collect first hand data.

• There has been lack of knowledge sharing from the top to the bottom of the organization. Information has been residing with people more than being made available and shared. The culture of knowledge sharing has been distorted.

• Information has been available in various areas of the organization, such as intranet, website, folders and in various format. Staff and tutors lacked the knowledge of retrieving such information, as well as understanding how the information is organized

• Tutors consultation and administrative activities was not organized as this was performed manually, hence the recommendation of technology to streamline the activities.

• There was not enough budget to maintain the tutor program activities, such as creating career development for the tutors and the program to have more support for students learning. such as extra curricular activities

As a results these are the issues that were raised by the audit as concern and requires attention for improvement, below are the recommendations made to sole the issues discussed.

4.RECOMMENDATIONS

In flagging the findings addressed by the knowledge audit conducted in the Independent Institute of Education, the assignment discusses the recommendations made by the audit team that can be applied to achieve the goals of the organization. This further includes the results of the survey that came out and guide the issues to be addressed and recommendations to be made.

4.1 The result of the knowledge audit and survey conducted indicated that there is lack of knowledge sharing in the organization, little is done in the area. Most of the information is available in strategic documents online in various platforms. The audit team suggested that this should be promoted starting from the top management filtering down to staff. The management should take the lead in driving the culture of knowledge management. Tools and resources should also be made available for utilization and promotion of knowledge sharing.

 4.2 There should be  creation of social activities where tutors and other staff can have formal and informal conversation. This is another method of promoting knowledge sharing. An example of this is the case where an experienced tutor (7 years) is having a conversation with a new tutor. In this case tacit knowledge is being shared so easily. The SECI MODEL created by (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995) thus, is adopted in this context since it ties in with socialization frame in the model as an activity that promotes knowledge sharing through social interaction. The SECI MODEL sees socialization as sharing of tacit knowledge. An example is tutors sharing tacit knowledge with other tutors during social settings. Tacit knowledge can also be converted to tacit knowledge. 

 4.3 Lack of organizing and storing of the information within the institution. Some of the information is available and stored in  documents but is not systematically organized according to a certain format that makes it easy for staff and tutors to find information, such as no coding, or including creation and naming of folders for an example. In this case knowledge is present in the form of tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. In this case Jasimmudi & Zhang (2014) suggest that explicit knowledge can easily be communicated and stored because such knowledge is codified. Codification of knowledge as suggested implies the order that can help the staff to transmit, making it easily available. This is further supported by Jasimmudi and Zhang (2014) statement of the codification strategy which focuses on explicit knowledge, allowing knowledge to be easily articulated and store in the computer, so that relevant knowledge is available to use.

4.4 As a result of this idea, some of the organizations are investing on electronic systems to organize and store organizational knowledge. In this case for tutors the author is suggesting the use of the libstats-online as an electronic system to capture, organize and store information for the tutoring program. As indicated earlier the process and workflow for tutoring program is done manual especially the application forms and other administrative activities such as use of excel spreadsheet to capture the consultation sessions. The application of this system within tutoring program administrative activities, will create smooth running of the process, there will be proper record keeping and will assist in making informed decision based on the program

Finally, the last recommendation made and encouraged was benchmarking and partnering with other universities on the same program to share best practice which can assist in developing the program within the institution. 

5.CONCLUSION

Despite the limitations based on lack of time and shortage of staff to conduct knowledge audit, the audit methodology used has been very useful in collecting data  to improve various areas of the business performance. Numerous lessons have been learned when conducting knowledge audit, one of the significant aspect noted is that, to conduct Knowledge Audit, the knowledge audit team needs to acquire a through overview  of the operations and workflows and to get a strategic  vision  for knowledge management road map development. Knowledge Audit  process needs a strong support  from the organizational leadership, commitment and engagement of all employees. 

Employees should understand and support it. Without the application of the issues highlighted, there is a possibility of failure in the process of conducting the audit. However it would be interesting for further research to investigate  numerous best practice cases and make comparative study. This will assist other researchers to draw on that practice for planning on implementing KM strategy that is in line with the objectives of the organization.

On that note, companies should be encouraged to invest in knowledge audit as it yields beneficiary results that boost the performance of the organization.

References

Jasimuddin, Sajjad M, & Zhang, Zuopeng. (2014). Knowledge management strategy and organizational culture. The Journal of the Operational Research Society, 65(10), 1490-1500.

Nonaka IO, Takeuchi H (1995) The knowledge-creating company: how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. Oxford University Press, New York. GoogleScholar

KNOWLEDGE AUDIT

2. KNOWLEDGE AUDIT FOR THE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION

Knowledge Audit as indicated in the last paragraph of the introduction has been  considered as  tool to be used to investigate the Independent Institute of Education  status, regarding  the knowledge availability and needs, its workflow and usage in the process, by employees. (Liebowitz et al. 2009) defines KA as the process that clarifies, interaction, gaps, flows and how they impact on business objectives. 

It is viewed from the perspectives of what information in available in the organization and where it can be found, knowledge of the expert in the organization, maintaining and sustaining  knowledge assets in the organization and how they could work to achieve the organization objectives. The basic aim of the KA is to give a deliberate approximate view of the extent and state  of affairs of specific  sections of corporate knowledge. The first step was to set up questions to identify what knowledge exists? or available in the organization and differentiate between  the tacit and explicit knowledge. The questions will focus more on vision and mission, programs, policies, resources and assets. The information gathered will be appropriate to determine the suitable strategy for implementing Knowledge Management within the institution

https://slideplayer.com/slide/9750341/ (video on Knowledge Audit)

Aim of the Knowledge Audit:

• To clearly identify what knowledge is needed to support overall organization goals and individual and teams activities 

• Explains how knowledge moves around in and is used by, the organization

• Determine the vision and mission of the Institution (IIE)

• Describe the tutoring program activities, coordinators and partners

Knowledge Audit begins

Knowledge audit is usually the starting point to design KM Strategy. The first part was the decision towards selecting the department for conducting KA. One challenges in conducting the proper discussion was the issue of social distancing where the conversation was online only. The use of online conferencing tool created the barrier of human touch. The decision to decide on the target audience KA was another challenge as well. 

Audit Team

There are various approaches towards KA implementation, such as: 

outsourcing the KA activity to a company or designate a team within the company. However in this case the audit team consisted of the one person only which is the author of the project. The challenge was the unavailability of the top management due to unforeseen circumstances.

The other challenge experienced is the time frame the audit was to be carried out, which was only two weeks whereas under normal circumstances it takes three months in approximation.

Audit Methods

Knowledge audits generally consists of the identification of knowledge needs through the use of questionnaires, interviews and focus groups (Perez-Soltero 2007, p.11)5. For this audit the survey questions was adopted to examine the patterns of knowledge flow, how people processes information which eventually governs how well the organization uses and shares its knowledge. The survey questions was thus designed using Microsoft 365 application forms. The questions comprises of open and closed ended questions. 

The questions were formulated based on the objectives described in survey as follows:

• Describing the tutoring program currently functioning in the institution, information available via the tutoring office
• Describing the person responsible for managing the tutoring program (skills, qualifications)
• Human Resources: How many tutors are employed ( experience and qualifications)
• Identification of how information is shared with tutors and amongst themselves (website and intranet)
• How information is processed during consultation- obtained via survey

Audit Performed 

The audit was conduct by first contacting the tutoring program office, the Director of Teaching and Learning as well as Campus director for permission and elaboration on the benefits of KA

exercise.

Knowledge Assets

Responses from the survey and findings analyzed. These were captured in Microsoft Teams application which allows you to analyze the results and make conclusion. The document was converted to PDF and renamed as Knowledge Audit 2021 (Tutoring Program). The file was kept on SharePoint. The Top Management was than made aware of the availability.

Findings & Analysis

The Director of the campus indicated that there was an institution vision and mission, but this information is available via website and in strategic documents. The documents are share in strategic  meetings and does not filter down to staff. Information reside mostly with staff and tutors, website and print material, some in brochures and not constantly updated. The author also noticed that technology was not available to capture the consultation session available to support students with academic learning. This is further extended by the idea that tutors are trained but there is no follow up on evaluating and monitoring the impact towards support provided. 

Survey Questions (these were used to respond to the purpose and objectives of Knowledge Audit)

Reference

Perez-Soltero, A., Barcelo-Valenzuela, M., Sanchez-Schmitz, G., Martin-Rubio, F., Palma-Mendez, J. T., & Vanti, A. A. (2007). A model and methodology to knowledge auditing considering core processes. ICFAI Journal of Knowledge Management, 5(1), 7-23.

INTRODUCTION

1.INTROUCTION

This video describe what is knowledge management ? to create an understanding of the activities related to this project of Tutoring Program within the Independent Institute of Education. The intention is to create a roadmap towards the significance of implementing KM which begins with conducting the Knowledge Audit, and Knowledge Strategy in order to design an efficient and effective Knowledge Management strategy that is in line with the organizational objectives.

 

The world today is having an overload or overflow of data, information and or knowledge, it is becoming difficult for organization to streamline or evaluate large amount of data, information and knowledge in order to achieve the organizational objectives (Ayinde, 2021 p.2).Girard, & Girard, (2015) defines Knowledge Management as a process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. Knowledge Management teaches organizations methods of doing things to create value.

On the other hand Abusweilem & Abualoush (2019) 3 explains that KM is evolving as an innovative method of shifting away from traditional methods of record and information management, enabling better management and organization of workflow processes.  Nonaka (1991) identified the types of knowledge as centering around explicit and tacit knowledge. He viewed explicit knowledge as the knowledge that is formal, and systematic and expressed in words and symbols which can be communicated via computer program, product specification and scientific formulas. Explicit knowledge are knowledge that are in codified form used to achieve organizational goals while tacit knowledge are knowledge that is still raw in the head of the employees which is also used for the same purpose of achieving the organizational objectives. 

Explicit knowledge is characterized by its ability to be codified and easy to transfer to others (Nonaka & Peltokorpi, 2006 p.2) 3. An interesting statement was raised by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) stating that new knowledge is created through the synergistic relationship and interplay between tacit and explicit knowledge. 

KM thus plays an important role in creating new knowledge in the process of sustainable  innovation and competitive advantage. It is a sources of excellence and bases for organizational success and advancement. It is therefore imperative that the goals and strategies of knowledge management be reflective of those of an organization.

 

1.1 INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE  OF EDUCATION TUTORING PROGRAM

The use of peer tutoring program in the extracurricular education of the university students has become wide spread globally. This is due to the challenges that the universities are faced with in seeking ways to enhance the academic skills of students and achieve the academic excellence of the institution This can translate to lack of wide range of academic skills such as:

• Assignment writing, 
• Citing and referencing
• Time management
• Breaking down the assignment topic

To mention a few out of a number of academic skills that the students are struggling with.

The Independent Institute of Education is an academic college providing learning support to 3000 students ranging from undergraduate to postgraduate students. Like other academic institutions the tutoring program was also adopted to enhance the academic skills of the students in order to produce excellent results.

One of the objectives of the institution was, to encourage knowledge sharing as the core business of the organization. The tutoring program was identified as a critical area that contributes immensely in this area. Chen and Liu (2011) finds tutoring program as a method for improving educational effectiveness whereby tutors work together to implement strategies through a systematic process. This is further supported by Osatuyi (2009)e stating that institutions of higher education can leverage the expertise of their tutors by capturing  such tacit knowledge into a repository for knowledge sharing. Tutoring is an important means that higher institutions of learning use to enhance students learning. Professors and advisors recommend students who exhibits excellent academic skills in a particular course or program.

As such the author identified an opportunity that can be explored through conducting Knowledge Audit to assess the potential stores of knowledge such as, is knowledge shared in the organization? How is it organized and stored? Do staff have access to information stored where ever it is ? In conducting KA these questions will be answered through findings and recommendations that can be made to fix the problems.

References

Abusweilem, M., & Abualoush, S. (2019). The impact of knowledge management process and business intelligence on organizational performance. Management Science Letters, 9(12), 2143-2156.

Ayinde, Lateef, Orekoya, Ibrahim Oluwapelumi, Adepeju, Qaozara Adebanke, & Shomoye,  Adeyinka M. (2021). Knowledge audit as an important tool in organizational management: A review of literature. Business Information Review, 38(2), 89-102.

Chen, C., & Liu, C. C. (2011). A case study of peer tutoring program in higher education. Research in Higher Education Journal, 11, 1.

Girard, J., & Girard, J. (2015). Defining knowledge management: Toward an applied compendium. Online Journal of Applied Knowledge Management, 3(1), 1-20.

Nonaka, I. (1991), The Knowledge-Creating Company, Harvard Business Review, 69: 96–104.

Nonaka, I., & Peltokorpi, V. (2006). Objectivity and subjectivity in knowledge management: a review of 20 top articles. Knowledge and process management, 13(2), 73-82.

Osatuyi, B., Andoh-Baidoo, F. K., & Blue, J. (2009). Enhancing knowledge management process in academic tutoring: the use of domain memory and scenarios.