Lexicon
Business
Continuity Management (BCM)
A program to ensure the continuity of the critical activities
of your organization in the event of a major disaster or disruption
to business activities, safeguards the interests of its key
stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities.
It is based on organizational, human and technological elements.
Business
Process Management (BPM)
"Aligning processes with the organization's strategic
goals, designing and implementing process architectures, establishing
process measurement systems that align with organizational
goals, and educating and organizing managers so that they
will manage processes effectively." Source:
Paul Harmon, Business Process Change (2002)
Decision
Science
Decision Science is a new technology sector that focuses upon
the methods and tools for knowledge execution to deliver superior
productivity and performance. Adaptive and agile business
strategies are creating a momentum for smarter interactions
that need to handle increasing rates of complexity, velocity
and volatility. Decision Science provides the potential means
for delivering mass customisation capabilities for, whilst
coping with the localised and globalised cultural, competitive
and regulatory pressures. Source:
Freddie McMahon, CEO Decisionality Ltd.
Intangible
Assets
An asset is a claim to future benefits (value or cash flows).
An intangible asset can be defined as a nonphysical claim
to future value or benefits. An intangible is any event that
creates or modifies perceptions of the future behavior, value
or relevance, of an individual, group, or otherwise constituted
organization. Intangibles, intangible assets, knowledge assets
and intellectual capital are considered synonyms. Over
25% of the net worth of American public companies is said
to be intangible. Source: Value
Based Management
“Everything
that can be counted does not necessarily count;
everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted”.
- Albert Einstein
Interaction
Interaction
is the dialogue between two or more entities, whereby during
the exchange a series of nano decisions are actually taken
that typically result with an outcome. Some common types of
interactions occurring nowadays are:
Person
(P) Computer (C): P2P, P2C, P2P2C or C2C
Knowledge
Management
There is no consensus within either the academic or popular
management literature on a definition of knowledge management.
The term encompass more specific aspects such as knowledge,
innovation or learning. Furthermore the topic is closely related
to concepts such as organisational learning, organisational
memory, information sharing, and collaborative work. Within
a literature review of knowledge management, Harry Scarbrough
defines knowledge management as
“any
process or practice of
creating, acquiring, capturing, sharing and using knowledge,
wherever it resides,
to enhance learning and performance in organisations.”
Knowledge
Worker
The term "knowledge worker" was coined by Peter
Drucker some thirty years ago to describe someone who adds
value by processing existing information to create new information
which could be used to define and solve problems. Examples
of knowledge workers include lawyers, doctors, diplomats,
law makers, marketers, software developers, managers and bankers…
"Knowledge
workers use their intellect to convert their ideas
into products, services, or processes."
Source: WC Miller, Fostering Intellectual Capital
Learning
Economics
"The study of the strategic value of learning, both formal
and informal, and its economic impact on a corporation or
organization." Source:
Learning Economics Group
Processes
vs. Procedures
Processes provide a mechanistic series of events of which
some involve steps that require information workers to perform
activities typically around documents. The instructions to
guide information workers with these activities are procedures
or if there is uncertainty then the activity is passed to
more experienced support people. Procedural complexity, velocity
and volatility influence the amount of human interactions
which are not clearly visible even with the most advanced
business process management solutions.
Processes by their mechanistic nature are a steady state,
whereas procedures are dynamic, ever changing eco-system of
intra and inter-dependent components.
Rate
of Change
The pace of change today is such that industrial-age corporate
giants simply cannot move fast enough to keep up. Bureaucracy,
governance and accountability bog down processes to the point
of never being current. Technology, mass media and competition
are impelling business cycles to occur faster and faster until
"soon" is replaced by "at this moment."
"An
analysis of the history of technology shows that technological
change is exponential, contrary to the common sense, "intuitive
linear" view. So we won't experience 100 years of progress
in the twenty-first century - it will be more like 20,000
years of progress (at today's rate)."
- Ray Kurzweil (2001)
Social
Network Analysis (SNA)
Social network analysis is
focused on uncovering the patterning of people's interaction.
In the context of knowledge management, social network analysis
(SNA) enables relationships between people to be mapped in
order to identity knowledge flows:
- Who
do people seek information and knowledge from?
- Who
do they share their information and knowledge with?
In
contrast to an organisation chart which shows formal relationships
- who works where and who reports to whom, a social network
analysis chart shows informal relationships - who knows who
and who shares information and knowledge with who. It therefore
allows managers to visualise and understand the many relationships
that can either facilitate or impede knowledge creation and
sharing. Because these relationships are normally invisible,
SNA is sometimes referred to as an 'organisational x-ray'
- showing the real networks that operate underneath the surface
organisational structure.
"Social
network analysis is the mapping and measuring of
relationships and flows between people, groups, organisations,
computers or other information/knowledge processing entities."
- Valdis Krebs (2002)
Web
Services
In 1999 'Internet 2' began to emerge, now known as web
services. It would include standards for component interoperability
a key part of the verifying compiler solution. It was also
clear that the rate of change and complexity of business would
continue to increase, much of it driven by regulatory change.
By early 2002 the know-how engine could cope with a rich depth
of know-how. Microsoft .NET and C# was selected as the technology
platform as it was the most advanced capability for knowledge
intensive work.
Workflow
Learning
Optimize business performance by using "smart" software
to guide, inform, and assist workers to do their jobs better.
When appropriate, it will put the worker in touch with the
right expert or mentor or help desk, someone who's both knowledgeable
and available. Assuming the right permissions, the worker
can also realign the process, correct error situations, receive
a chunk of simulation-based learning, or be connected with
another person. Workflow engines are at the heart of IBM,
Microsoft, Oracle, BEA, SAP, and PeopleSoft.
Source: Jay Cross, What is Workflow Learning?
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