As far as dates go, this one is easy to commit to memory. Nineteen ninety nine; the last year of the last millennium, also the year that had the world in a panic over the Y2K bug where a defect in computer coding threatened to crash years of hard work and billions of dollars worth of investment. That was the year that Tata Steel embarked on its knowledge management (KM) journey in the course of its modernisation programme. The same year Tata Steel set up a central KM group which was in charge of defining the requirements and processes that would enable the capture and sharing of knowledge across the organisation. The KM group led the efforts that saw communication channels created across and within the company’s multi-layered hierarchical structure and was also instrumental in including ‘contribution to KM’ as a part of the annual employee performance and BSC reviews. These steps pushed people to participate in the KM programme and a year later, a KM web portal was launched.

The KM programme at Tata Steel had three key elements. The first focused on the people aspect. The company developed a sophisticated network to ensure employee participation across functions and geographies. The knowledge sharing culture was reinforced through reward and recognition mechanisms.

The second element focused on building processes that would route the knowledge from and to appropriate functions, thereby spreading the knowledge movement as well as deepening its impact. As a result, communities of practice and associated networks emerged to complement existing hierarchical structures. This helped galvanise knowledge sharing, learning, and innovation and Tata Steel was able to identify several best practices and these were then deployed through an initiative called MASS (Manthan ab shopfloor se). The result has been a huge knowledge repository which reflects the maturity of the sharing culture as well as the depth of experience that goes into the Tata Steel knowledge bank.

The third element focused on the use of technology. The company mapped the knowledge creation processes as well as the products and services that emerged from those processes into an integrated system that could be used by every individual in the organisation. Technology allowed Tata Steel to scale up its KM efforts beyond measure.

The Tata Steel KM model has evolved into a robust framework that rests upon these three critical factors; people, processes and technology. The model effectively captures and spreads new ideas and know-how, channelises these into a well developed network of processes and enables action on these ideas in a way that extracts maximum value and minimises waste.

The rigorous execution of the model has helped the company win the Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) Asia award from 2003 to 2008. However, as other companies sought to emulate the same model, it was clear that the biggest challenge would lie in adapting the model to diverse needs and environments.

Knowledge Maturity Model

Creating a KM framework for the group is a monumental task. It needs careful study and analysis of the way the companies are run and the way KM models have been applied inside and outside the group.

As the Tata Steel experience showed, the three-element approach translates into the following key principles:

• Focus on the people who generate the knowledge and those that use it
• Develop processes that are flexible and open to multiple users
• Use technology that can be integrated with ease

Technology ties up processes and people together in the knowledge matrix. It also plays an important role in integrating the various IT systems across the company such as CRM, ERP etc. It needs to be secure, scalable and easy to use.

Apart from these three principles, the Tata group also identified the key challenges that companies would have to deal with to build a stable KM framework. The challenges were:

• Stemming the loss of knowledge due to a large superannuating workforce in established companies
• Managing knowledge leaks due to high attrition rates in companies from new and more competitive industries
• Integrating knowledge across geographical borders, languages and processes through a secure but flexible system

The challenges were daunting but there were also a slew of opportunities waiting to be exploited. These were:

• Potential to leverage domain knowledge across Tata companies
• Move knowledge from process driven companies to new companies
• Develop new processes in companies wanting to establish a KM system

Tata KMM framework

In order to build a knowledge framework for the Tata group it was essential to incorporate the learnings from successful KM programmes at Tata Steel and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and at the same time address the challenges and opportunities within the group. So while the three elements of people, processes and technology were essential ingredients, there was a need to factor in other elements such as: organisational needs, scope of the KM programme and a tracking and measurement system for the entire KM programme. The additional elements would make the programme more effective.

Scope: This element operates on two dimensions. The first addresses the level of deployment of the KM programme in terms of the number of units, locations and businesses that would come under its ambit. The second dimension identifies the stakeholders that need to be addressed and those that have been covered.

For instance, the ‘stakeholder’ dimension of scope of the KM framework would help companies determine whether the programmes should address only employees or whether it should capture the knowledge that resides on the interfaces of the business, with respect to dealings with customers, suppliers and partners. In the case of Indian Hotels, the framework captured customer knowledge while for Tata Motors, it captured partner and supplier knowledge. By incorporating the scope element, companies were able to develop a strong internal knowledge base.

Organisational need: This element seeks to address whether the KM programme aligns itself with changing organisational needs. This is becoming increasingly important especially since the group is continuously exploring new markets, acquiring companies in different geographies and addressing markets at the bottom of the pyramid. It is also critical at a time when organisations and the markets they operate in are changing so rapidly. For example, in the late nineties, most companies were pursuing cost leadership and cost reduction strategies and the KM programme was tailored to meet the requisite needs. However with companies now pursuing internationalisation strategies, the KM process needs to facilitate these. For instance, the KM framework must be able to integrate networks across geographies and carry out transfer and implementation of best practices from one network to another.

Results: All programmes need supportive feedback mechanisms. This provides a check, helps keep the balance and allows for continuous improvement in the methods used. An important thing to do is to study how the KM programme benefits the organisation in terms of reduced costs, improved profitability, and faster cycle times. For example companies using IT as a backbone for the KM programme, will measure metrics such as number of hits on the intranet, number of problems solved through collaborative networks and such others.

The KM framework as defined by these principles and objectives places the Tata group at an advantage, especially as it acquires an increasingly large international presence. Knowledge is considered to be the greatest differentiator between good and great companies in the contemporary corporate world and, a framework that is built using these elements would be of immense value to all group companies, in the coming years.

The TQMS experience

TQMS has used the Tata KM maturity methodology to evaluate a few Tata companies and found that although at an overall level this framework was much more holistic than the three-element approach, for some companies the technology element may not be as critical. Hence there was a need to adapt the model so that it aligned even more closely to their needs.

Some companies may deliberately decide not to use the technology element as intensely as others and power their KM programmes through communities of practice and various ‘face to face’ mechanisms instead. This calls for a suitable rearrangement of priorities within the KM framework.

Another key factor that many companies have to deal with is integrating the KM programme with all functions in the organisation. For instance, for a KM programme to be successful it needs to be adequately supported by the human resources (HR) and finance functions. This has been taken into account and the revised Tata KMM includes ‘support systems’ as one of its additional pillars instead of the original pillar that focussed only on technology matters.

Author: Gautam Gondil, TQMS

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