What Does a Chief Knowledge Officer Do?

Chief Knowledge Officer (English full name: ChiefKnowledgeOfficer), CKO (Chief Knowledge Officer) appeared in the early 1990s, also known as the knowledge director or knowledge director, refers to a company or enterprise dedicated to knowledge management administrative officers.

Chief Knowledge Officer

CKO is a new senior position within the company with the development of knowledge management, representing a senior knowledge executive. The establishment of the position of CKO means that knowledge management has officially become an important management content of the company and will play an important role in the realization and development of the company's knowledge management strategy.

In a sense, the chief knowledge officer CKO is the product of the knowledge economy, and generally needs to do the following: Combine the business development strategy of the company, lead the company to find the vision and goal of knowledge management; define the enterprise's knowledge system and implement the system Promote the establishment of appropriate IT system tools to ensure the operation of the "wheel of knowledge"; tightly integrate the processes of knowledge management with business processes; establish appropriate assessment and incentive mechanisms for knowledge management; and build trust, Shared and innovative cultural atmosphere.

CKO (Chief Knowledge Officer) appeared in the early 1990s. Their functions are like plumbers, channeling various information through different channels to the right people. Compared with other managers, CIOs can take a more strategic perspective to observe and intervene in things that cross formal business boundaries.

Rise

In the early 1990s, Knowledge Management was an exciting new

Provide the support needed for knowledge management to all business units,

entrepreneur. CKO must have a strong entrepreneurial spirit and do everything in its power to do something to give the company a competitive advantage.

Consultant. CKO must be able to disseminate new ideas, listen to others and support them.

Technical experts. CKO must understand IT capabilities and opportunities from a strategic perspective and trust its judgment of IT.

Environmental expert. CKO must be able to design and establish a good human environment that can stimulate and promote formal or informal interpersonal communication and promote the creation and dissemination of knowledge within the enterprise. ^[1]

For enterprises implementing knowledge management, in addition to setting up CKO, they should also establish and complete necessary knowledge management functional departments to form a relatively complete knowledge management organization system.

Under the leadership of CKO, companies can set up the following functional departments directly under the leadership of CKO at the highest level of the company or the company's headquarters.

1) Knowledge Management Technology Department

Responsible for the planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance, update and upgrade of the enterprise's knowledge management technology infrastructure. The technical management content involved in this department overlaps to a considerable extent with the information technology department led by CKO. This technical overlap will be more serious in the early stages of knowledge management activities. So this department can consider merging with IT department or entrust IT department to manage knowledge management technology.

2) Knowledge Base Management Department

Responsible for the investigation, registration, and entry of explicit knowledge within the company, the design, construction, organization, and update of the knowledge base, the investigation, confirmation, recording, and entry of tacit knowledge sources, the identification, acquisition, and filtering of knowledge resources on the external knowledge network of the company , Organization and entry, enterprise knowledge mapping.

3) Knowledge Asset Management Department

Responsible for the investigation and evaluation of company knowledge, operation, preservation and appreciation of intellectual assets, application, maintenance and trading of corporate intellectual property.

4) Knowledge service department. Responsible for investigating the knowledge needs of enterprises, determining the focus of enterprise knowledge management, service provision and service management of the knowledge base, and responsible for the supervision and evaluation of the effectiveness of knowledge management.

5) Planning and Research Department

Responsible for formulating strategic plans for corporate knowledge management, researching the development direction of corporate knowledge management and proposing countermeasures, researching the best measures for the integration of knowledge management with corporate mission or strategic goals, researching the realization conditions of corporate knowledge management and putting forward reform proposals, and researching on The impact of the business and proposed preventive measures.

6) Informal Communication Department

Responsible for the establishment, operation and development of the company's internal knowledge group and other informal organizations, support and organize all kinds of informal communication activities within the company, record the important results of the informal communication activities, and submit it to the knowledge management department to enter the knowledge base.

Represent the corporate knowledge management department to coordinate the relationship with other functional departments within the enterprise, represent CKO to coordinate the relationship between the knowledge managers and knowledge management activities of each department, coordinate the knowledge management activities of the enterprise, and externally act as the company's knowledge management representative This relationship provides various administrative support for the enterprise's knowledge management department or activities, such as finance, personnel, security, logistics, and so on. ^[2]

First of all, CKO should be a master of cultural traction. After all, knowledge management is a conceptual change that focuses on changing the mindset and habits of people. IBM believes that knowledge management can change the way employees work, learn, and values (To change the way we work, how we learn and what we value), so CKO needs a high degree of prestige, with a spring wind and rain, and a silent attitude. CKO needs to be intangible to teach everyone in the organization. It is necessary to be knowledgeable in the methodology of knowledge management implementation. It can ensure that the tinder of knowledge management is spread to every corner of the company scientifically, systematically and comprehensively. In foreign countries, sometimes the role of CKO will be There is no reason why CLO is the chief learning officer.

Of course, CKO needs to be very familiar with the industry, the overall status of the company, the operating mode, and business processes. In this way, when he is designing the corporate knowledge blueprint and knowledge management blueprint, he can combine the real situation of the company and find the most suitable way to achieve the goal. Path and method.

According to the current situation in China, the ability to coordinate resources is particularly critical for CKO. How to persuade corporate executives to invest in knowledge management consistently and consistently? How to make use of the strength of the team so that every department is actively involved? After all, knowledge management is a long-term work that spans departments and organizations, and is mostly carried out in the form of virtual teams. It can not last long with a single passion, so establish a suitable interest contract, stimulate everyone's motivation, and coordinate multiple resources It is CKO that always needs attention.

In addition, overall planning ability, systematic thinking ability, communication and coordination ability, learning innovation ability, and promotion execution ability are all necessary capabilities for the role of CKO.

The position of CKO in China is still a bit awkward, unlike the CEO, CEO, COO, and CFO CFO have clear responsibilities, powers and benefits. How to accurately position CKO's responsibilities according to China's national conditions is still in the process of practice and exploration. Practice has shown that the promotion of knowledge management in enterprises is generally performed by the information department and human resources department, and some general managers may also be responsible for promoting knowledge management.

CKO and CIO are often confused. However, CIOs cannot replace CKOs. Chinese CIOs are mainly responsible for the overall information construction of enterprises. The focus is mostly on the planning and construction of IT information systems, but the knowledge behind information cannot be effectively managed. CKO focuses on managing the most important intangible asset of an enterpriseknowledge, and focuses more on the analysis of its content itself. The author believes that in the future, information management itself will gradually fall into the responsibility of CKO, but the CIO is still responsible for the planning and construction of enterprise information systems and tools. Of course, knowledge management itself also needs IT system support, but CKO only needs to ask for it, and it is only necessary for the CIO to set up the specific IT system.

The Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) of a company is a new type of position created during the development of an enterprise in the era of the knowledge economy.

Among the few companies that already have the title of knowledge executive, the main work content of CKO can be roughly summarized into the following points, which can basically represent the connotation of the company's knowledge management work at the performance stage:

1) Develop a good environment conducive to the development of organizational knowledge, including various supporting software and hardware facilities;

2) Act as the goalkeeper of corporate knowledge, timely introduce all kinds of knowledge needed by the organization, or promote knowledge exchange between the organization and the outside;

3) Promote knowledge sharing and exchange within the organization, and assist individuals and units in knowledge innovation activities;

4) Guide the direction of organizational knowledge innovation, systematically integrate and develop knowledge from the entire enterprise, and strengthen the core technical capabilities of the organization;

5) Apply knowledge to improve the performance of technological innovation, product and service innovation and the overall external competitiveness of the organization, and expand the contribution of knowledge to the enterprise; 6) Form a corporate culture and values that are conducive to knowledge innovation, and promote knowledge circulation and Knowledge cooperation enhances the efficiency of members in acquiring knowledge, enhances the individual and overall knowledge learning ability, and increases the overall knowledge and value of the organization. ^[3]