Origin of the Knowledge Life Cycle Joseph M. Firestone Ph.D. CKO Executive Information Systems, Inc. Co-CEO KMCI eisai@comcast.net www.dkms.com www.kmci.org Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 1
Knowledge Life Cycles (KLCs) and Organizational Learning Cycles (OLCs) 4Knowledge life cycle frameworks are getting increasing attention as people begin to accept that Knowledge Management is about managing KLCs and their process components. 4Alongside the KLC concept though, many others have been concerned with the Organizational Learning Cycle (OLC) and its role in knowledge processing and KM. Some even believe that there are no KLCs and that only OLCs exists. Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 2
The KLC: A Separate Framework 4I ll show that while the KLC is comprised of OLCs, it is a separate construct and that, in fact, KLC processes originate in OLCs and then feed back into them. 4The alternation between KLCs and OLCs is both basic to knowledge processing and grounded in human psychology, both at the individual and group levels of interaction. 4This alternation is the foundation of knowledge management as a distinct process and discipline. Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 3
The Organizational Learning Cycle Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 4
The Gap Motivating Action X 1, X 2, X 3 = Transaction Or Attribute Dimension X 1 Goal State (t 0 ) a Perceived Actual State (t 0 ) a = The Perceived Pre-decision Instrumental Behavior Gap X 2 X 3 Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 5
The Decision Execution Cycle Monitoring Previous Knowledge Acting The The DEC DEC applies to to any any business process Evaluating Previous Knowledge Planning & Decision Making Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 6
Previous Knowledge: The Distributed Organizational Knowledge Base Mental and Artifact-based Knowledge Content found in: A A Information Systems Documents A M M M M M Other Cultural Artifacts Individuals Communities of Practice Teams Groups Other Agents Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 7
Single-Loop Learning: Based on Argyris Governing Knowledge: The DOKB Actions Events And Conditions Single-Loop Learning Single-Loop learning involves adjustment of of behavior based on on previously developed general and specific knowledge in in the DOKB and new knowledge of of specific events and conditions! Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 8
Double-Loop Learning (loosely) Based on Argyris Governing Knowledge: The DOKB Actions Events And Conditions Double-Loop Learning Single-Loop Learning Double-Loop learning involves adjustment of of behavior based on on creative problem-solving resulting in in change in in the previous general and specific knowledge in in the DOKB! Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 9
Karl Popper s Tetradic Schema: A Framework for Adaptation A Problem Error Elimination P 1 TS EE P 2 Tentative Solutions New Problem 4Tentative Solutions are produced by Knowledge Claim Formulation 4Error Elimination occurs by means of Knowledge Claim Evaluation 4The result of EE is Falsified TSs, Undecided TSs and Surviving TSs. Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 10
Double-Loop Learning Combining Argyris and Popper Governing Knowledge: The DOKB Actions Events And Conditions Single-Loop Learning Error Elimination Theories Double-Loop Learning Problem Since DLL involves adjustment of of behavior after creative problem-solving, I I identify it it with Popper s Theory. Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 11
The Social Psychological Foundation Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 12
The Flow of Behavior Among Agents The The Network Network of of Agent Agent Behavioral Behavioral Processes Processes j, j, k, k,.....,., n, n, including including Social Social Ecology Ecology and and Goal- Goal- Directed Directed Agents Agents j, j, k, k,.....,., n. n. Transactions I j, k,... n Agent Behavioral Process Goal Goal Directed Directed Agent Agent (I) (I) Decision Decision Execution Execution Cycle Cycle Decisions Decisions Desired Desired Transactions Transactions and and Ecology Ecology Memory, Memory, Values, Values, Attitudes, Attitudes, Situational Situational Orientations, Orientations, Goals Goals Social Social Ecology Ecology Social, Social, Cultural, Cultural, Geographical, Geographical, Economic Economic Conditions Conditions Transactions j, k,... n i Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 13
The Immediate Pre-behavior Context Value Value Orientation Predispositions Pre-behavior Situation including the the Behavior of of Other Other Agents Agents Attitudinal Predispositions Situational Orientations Agent Agent Behavior Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 14
Generalization: A Motivational Subsystem Goal-Striving Goal-Striving Tendency Tendency From From Motivational Motivational Systems Systems Defined Defined At At the the Kth-1Level Kth-1Level of of Specificity Specificity The The External External Pre-behavior Pre-behavior Situation Situation including including Material/Ecological Conditions, Conditions, Social Social Conditions, Conditions, and and the the behavior behavior of of Other Other Agents. Agents. All All Defined Defined at at the the Kth Kth Level Level of of Specificity Specificity System System Predispositions Predispositions to to Behavior Behavior Defined Defined at at the the Kth Kth Level Level of of Specificity Specificity Directed Directed Transactions Transactions and/or and/or Cumulated Cumulated Transactions Transactions Goal-Striving Tendency From Motivational Sub-System Defined at the Kth Level of Specificity Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 15
The Incentive System of an Agent Environmental Stimuli Stimuli E E N N V V I I R R O O N N M M E E N N T T A A L L S S T T I I M M U U L L I I Value Value Orientation Orientation Availability Availability X X Expectancy Expectancy X X Incentive Incentive Goal-Striving Goal-Striving Tendency Tendency Attitude Attitude Level Level 1 1 Availability Availability X X Expectancy Expectancy X X Incentive Incentive Goal-Striving Goal-Striving Tendency Tendency Attitude Attitude Level Level n n Availability Availability X X Expectancy Expectancy X X Incentive Incentive Goal-Striving Goal-Striving Tendency Tendency Discrete Discrete Situational Situational Orientation Orientation Availability Availability X X Expectancy Expectancy X X Incentive Incentive Behavior Behavior Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 16
Environmental Encouragement/Resistance 4An agent interprets environmental stimuli in terms of whether they constitute resources and opportunities (social ecology) or cooperation (transactions). 4This is environmental encouragement 4An agent interprets environmental stimuli in terms of whether they constitute constraints (social ecology) or conflict (transactions) 4This is environmental resistance or inertia 4 Any situation involving instrumental behavior has an environmental encouragement/resistance mix Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 17
Reactions to the Encouragement/Resistance Mix 4To social encouragement the agent responds with goal-striving tendencies and transactions perceived as contributing to reaching the goal state. This I call steering behavior 4To social resistance the agent responds in a variety of ways depending on its expectancy concerning the ease or difficulty involved in closing the instrumental behavior gap in the face of social resistance. If resistance is seen as moderate the agent will respond with coping behavior Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 18
Coping Behavior 4There are two classes of coping behavior: 0A habitual pattern of regulatory behavior applying previous knowledge more or less according to a procedure, routine, or rule. This corresponds to single loop learning 0A novel development and selection of decision alternatives involving learning new ways of coping with the environmental resistance. This, of course corresponds to double-loop learning and Popperian problem-solving 4Habitual/regulatory coping behavior continues the instrumental behavior toward the original goal Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 19
Problem-Solving Life Cycles 4But problem-solving represents a temporary interruption of instrumental behavior in which a new problem is defined: a problem viewed in terms of a gap between what we know and what we need to know to cope with environmental resistance 4So a problem-solving situation in the context of coping behavior arouses its own incentive system, the incentive to learn, and this motivation reinforced by the initial motivation toward goal attainment, drives what we might call a problem-solving, or adaptive life cycle. Problem-solving Life Cycles are basic to to the motivation of of all all intelligent agents! Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 20
The Decision Execution Cycle Sometimes Kicks off the Problem Life Cycle (PLC) Monitoring (Sensemaking) DLL DLL including the the PLC/DOKB Acting The The DEC DEC applies to to any any business process Evaluating Planning & Decision Making DLL DLL including the the PLC/DOKB Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 21
Problem-Solving Life Cycles and Decision Execution Cycles The Problem Life Cycle Monitoring (Sensemaking) Previous Knowledge Monitoring (Sensemaking) Previous Knowledge Monitoring (Sensemaking) Previous Knowledge Problem Acting The The DEC applies to to any any business process Evaluating Acting The The DEC applies to to any any business process Evaluating Acting The The DEC applies to to any any business process Evaluating Previous Knowledge Planning & Decision Making DLL DLL Loop including the the problem Previous Knowledge Planning & Decision Making DLL DLL Loop including the the problem Previous Knowledge Planning & Decision Making DLL DLL Loop including the the problem New Knowledge Acting Previous Knowledge Monitoring (Sensemaking) The The DEC applies to to any any business process Planning & Decision Making Evaluating Previous Knowledge DLL DLL Loop including the the problem Acting Previous Knowledge Monitoring (Sensemaking) The The DEC applies to to any any business process Planning & Decision Making Evaluating Previous Knowledge DLL DLL Loop including the the problem Acting Previous Knowledge Monitoring (Sensemaking) The The DEC applies to to any any business process Planning & Decision Making Evaluating Previous Knowledge DLL DLL Loop including the the problem The The Problem Life Life Cycle is is a process composed of of many Decision Execution Cycles all all motivated by by the the learning incentive system! Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 22
Sense Making 4 Recently, writers in knowledge management such as Ralph Stacey and David Snowden have begun to rely on ideas about sensemaking developed by Karl Weick over the past 30 years 4 While the perspective presented here is different in many ways from Weick s, it has many similarities to that perspective. In particular, the importance of the following characteristics is common to sensemaking and the transaction framework 0 identity construction ((the idea that agents and systems create their own identities in the process of adapting to their environments) 0 Monitoring (sensemaking) after action 0 Sensemaking partly shapes (enacts) sensemaking environments (social interaction shapes social ecology) 0 Sensemaking occurs in social settings (monitoring occurs in the social interaction framework) 0 Sensemaking (and DEC activity) is ongoing Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 23
Behavioral Business Processes, the KLC, and KM Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 24
The Activity to Business Process Hierarchy The Business Process Level The Cluster of Task Patterns Level The Task Pattern Level BP 1 CTP 1 TP 1 The Task Level T 1 Business Processes Ultimately break down to to activities, and and activities, as as we we have seen, are are produced by by Decision Execution Cycles. The Activity Level A 1 Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 25
The Business Processing Environment and Business Outcomes Business Processing Environment e.g., Sales, Marketing, Business Process Management Business Outcomes e.g. Profit, Revenue, ROI Business Processes are are performed and and managed by by agents. Agents, if if they re groups, have an an internal culture. At At the the same time time the the cultural component of of social ecology also also impacts the the agent decision execution cycles that that ultimately comprise the the business processses. Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 26
Business Processing Environment and Business Problems Problems Since Since Business Processing Environments are are comprised of of Decision Execution Cycles, they they will, will, from from time-to-time, spawn spawn learning problems Business Processing Environment Business Outcomes Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 27
And Knowledge Processes Problems Knowledge Processes Business Processing Environment Business Outcomes Problems require problem-solving processes. In In organizations we we call call these knowledge processes Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 28
And Knowledge Outcomes: the DOKB The Knowledge Life Cycle (KLC) The The Knowledge Life Life Cycle is is the the Problem Life Life Cycle! It It is is comprised of of DECs. Problems Knowledge Processes The The DOKB impacts Business Processing through the the DEC DEC Business Processing Environment Business Outcomes Knowledge Outcomes: The DOKB Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 29
The KLC: A More Granular View (From McElroy, 2003) Knowledge Production Individual And Group Learning SKC Info About SKC Knowledge Integration Broadcasting Knowledge Claim Formulation CKC Knowledge Validation Process FKC Info About FKC OK Searching Teaching Information Acquisition UKC Info About UKC Sharing External Inputs Feedback Loop Feedback (including the detection of problems) Business Process Behaviors of Interacting Agents Business Process Environment DOKB Containers - Agents (Indiv. & Groups) - Artifacts (Docs., IT, etc.) Distributed Organizational Knowledge Base Knowledge Processes Knowledge Sets CKC - Codified Knowledge Claim IKCS - Info About Knowledge Claim Status COK - Codified Organizational Knowledge OK - Organizational Knowledge DOKB - Dist d Org l Knowledge Base SKC - Surviving Knowledge Claim FKC - Falsified Knowledge Claim UKC - Undecided Knowledge Claim Copyright 2002 Macroinnovation Executive Information Associates, Systems, LLCInc. Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 30
Nested Knowledge Processes Organization KP KP CoP CoP KP KP Group KP KP Each Each level level has has its its own own Knowledge Life Life Cycle Cycle Team KP KP Individual KP KP Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 31
And Knowledge Management Knowledge Processing Problems KM Knowledge Processes Other KM Processes Problems Knowledge Processes Business Processing Environment Knowledge Outcomes: The DOKB Business Outcomes Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 32
Conclusion 4I ve shown that the KLC is a separate framework from the DEC/OLC. 4KLC processes both originate in the DEC/OLC, are comprised of DECs themselves and then feed back into DECs at the business process level. 4Yet KLCs are not the same as DECs. Rather, they are higher level processes or value networks, patterns of DECs integrated by motivation toward achieving knowledge production and integration goals, rather than primary business goals common in sales, marketing, manufacturing, and other business processes. Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 33
Conclusion (Two) 4We have seen that the alternation between KLCs and OLCs is both basic to knowledge processing and grounded in human psychology, both at the individual level and group level. 4It is an alternation between different types of motivation, and this alternation is the foundation of a distinction between business processing and knowledge processing and between the latter and knowledge management. 4 This last distinction is the basis of knowledge management as a distinct process and discipline. Without it there can be no knowledge management. Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 34
The End Questions? Call me at 703-461-8823 or write to: eisai@comcast.net Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 35
Back-up Slides on the KLC Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 36
What is Knowledge? Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 37
What Is Knowledge? The KMCI View 4 World 1 knowledge encoded structures in physical systems (such as genetic encoding in DNA) that allow those objects to adapt to an environment 4 World 2 knowledge beliefs and belief predisposition (in minds) about the world that we believe have survived our tests, evaluations, and experience; 4 World 3 sharable linguistic expressions, that is, knowledge claims about the world, the beautiful and the right, that have survived testing and evaluation by the agent (individual, group, community, team, organization, society, etc.) acquiring, formulating, and testing and evaluating the knowledge claims. 4 The distinction between World 2 and World 3 Knowledge is Karl Popper s Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 38
What Is Knowledge? The KMCI View (Two) 4The notion of World 1 knowledge is my own extension All three types of of knowledge are about encoded structures in in one kind of of system or or another, that arguably help the systems involved to to adapt. Issue: What should be the primary focus of of KM? Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 39
Knowledge and Validation 4 The difference between information and knowledge is validation 4 But what is validation? It is: 0 Testing and evaluation of knowledge claims (World 3) or 0 Testing and evaluation of beliefs (World 2) 4 Testing and evaluation of knowledge claims is public and sharable in the sense that the claims themselves are sharable and the tests and their results are sharable. That is why world 3 knowledge is objective 4 Testing and evaluation of beliefs is private and personal 4 It is this difference that makes world 2 knowledge subjective Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 40
Knowledge and Validation (Two) 4Validation is not the same thing as justification 4Justification is the process of proving that a knowledge claim is true 4Validation never proves anything with certainty 4It simply provides (a) a record of how well competing knowledge claims stand up to our tests or (b) personal experience of how well competing beliefs stand up to our tests. In In our view, justification of of knowledge claims and beliefs is is impossible, but validation of of them is is not Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 41
Variation in Validation 4 Since validation is just our process of testing and evaluating knowledge claims or beliefs, the practice of it will vary across individuals, groups, communities, teams, and organizations 4 A particular entity may use validation practices based on explicit rules or specified criteria, to compare knowledge claims, but it need not 4 Agents are free to change their tests or criteria at any time, to invent new ones, or to apply ad hoc tests and criticisms in validation That is, is, validation is is a free-for-all, it it is is just the the process by by which knowledge claims and beliefs run run the the gauntlet of of our our skepticism and our our criticism Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 42
OK = Organizational Knowledge (Artifactual) Info Info About About SKC SKC SKC SKC Info Info About About UKC UKC To: Knowledge Integration From: Knowledge Production UKC UKC Info Info About About FKC FKC FKC FKC UKC - Undecided Knowledge Claims SKC - Surviving Knowledge Claims FKC - Falsified Knowledge Claims Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 43
Knowledge Life Cycle Categories 4Information Acquisition 4Individual and Group Learning 4Knowledge Claim Formulation 4Knowledge Claim Evaluation 4OK: Falsified, Undecided, and Surviving Knowledge Claims and Meta-information about these claims 4Knowledge and Information Broadcasting 4Knowledge and Information Searching and retrieving 4Teaching 4Knowledge and Information Sharing 4The Distributed Organizational Knowledge Base Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 44
KM Categories 4Knowledge Management - Interpersonal Behavior 0 Leadership (hiring, training, motivating, monitoring, evaluating, etc.) 0 Building relationships with individuals and organizations external to the enterprise 4Knowledge Management - Knowledge Processing Behavior (Knowledge Production and Integration and their sub-processes) Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 45
KM Categories (Two) 4Knowledge Management - Decision-Making KM Activities 0 Changing knowledge process rules at lower KM and knowledge process levels 0 Crisis Handling 0 Allocating Knowledge-related and KM Resources 0 Negotiating agreements with representatives of other business processes Reproduction Without Permission Strictly Prohibited 46