The Knowledge Management Maturity Model (K3M)^TM

In 1998, the Gartner Group stated that knowledge management will be the standard way of running a business[1]. Through the inevitable advent of working technology (software & hardware), competitive advantage will shift from the ability to run things, to strategy, which depends upon clear understanding, just-right knowledge, and expertise.

There is no shortage of skills or people in the workplace; knowledge has become the key resource, and the only scarce one[2]. As such, the strategy which an enterprise employs to manage its knowledge has become critical to the realization of the organization’s purpose, mission, and goals.

The Knowledge Management Maturity Model - K3M^TM is a roadmap that organizations follow to implement a series of increasingly sophisticated knowledge management practices in order to achieve the ultimate goal of Organizational Self-Actualization through the maximization of current human resource potentialities. (Organizational Self-Actualization, as with the individual self, is not a fixed state, but a process of development which does not end. The term derives from the idea that each company or individual has multiple hidden potentialities: talents or competences they could develop, but which have as yet not come to the surface. Self-actualization signifies that these potentialities of the organization or self are made actual, are actualized in a continuing process of unfolding[3].) The K3M and WisdomSource software methodically ensure that the organization’s Purpose is actualized through optimum management of corporate core competencies and potentialities.

The Knowledge Management Maturity Model is maintained by the world’s KM thought leaders from business, government, and academia in the fields of management consulting, leadership development, and organizational governance.

K3M: ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE IN PERSPECTIVE

Achieving effective organizational governance is the greatest challenge of the new millennium. At this time in history, the world is faced with numerous problems which have resulted in the scrutiny of leadership’s responsibility to care for the welfare of employees and of the true shareholder and/or societal value added. In the face of leadership failures in the public and private sector such as the recent accounting scandals and the slow response to natural disasters, executive leadership has been tasked with improving organizational governance (e.g. Sarbanes-Oxley[4], Federal Managers Financial Integrity Act - FMFIA[5]), increased discipline in internal controls (COBIT, SAC, COSO, and SAS 55/78), and an ingrained desire to sincerely change to sustainable business models that provide true long-term benefit to society. Furthermore, communities must be convinced that its new neighbors, in addition to providing jobs, will be good corporate citizens and catalysts for community betterment[6].

Dealing with complex issues such as increased competition, corruption, information overload[7], shifting demographics, terrorism, and low work morale demands new approaches to leadership, resource management, compliance, and conflict resolution. Such approaches require a true understanding of the causes and effects of the underlying problems and can only come from the implementation of effective knowledge management solutions.

The K3M – Knowledge Management Model has been established as a new schematic for increasing the efficiency & effectiveness of organizations through the implementation of improved governance models designed to take organizations from the information age into the age of wisdom[8]. Through increasing critical thinking in the boardroom, the K3M is designed to make business transformation the primary, if not the sole, task of business leaders[9]. K3M provides a vision for going beyond compliance to an understanding all of the things that need to go right for the enterprise to be successful[10]. K3M is a vision for transforming the workplace into an environment where employees can experience CEO level clarity at the point of task execution, thereby allowing for the realization of business advantage that is unfettered and unexcelled in recorded human history.

REFERENCES:

1. Gartner Group. (1998). Knowledge Management. October 1997/June 1998. Available at: http://www.gartner.com
2. Drucker, Peter. (November 1, 2001). “The new workforce”, The Economist (From the Economist print edition). Available at: http://www.economist.com/surveys/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=770847
3. Fancis Heylighen. (1992). “A Cognitive-Systemic Reconstruction of Maslow’s Theory of Self Actualization”, Behavioral Science (vol. 37, pp. 39-57). Pleinlaan, Belgium: PESP: Free University of Brussels. Available at: http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/Maslow.pdf
4. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Corporate Responsibility. 15 USC 7201. 107th Congress. (PULIC LAW 107-204 – July 20, 2002. 116 STAT. 745 H.R. 3763). Available at: http://www.sec.gov/about/laws/soa2002.pdf
5. Federal Managers Financial Integrity Act of 1982. (PUBLIC LAW 97-55 – September 8, 1982). An Act to amend the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950 (31 U.S.C.66a). Available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/financial/fmfia1982.html
6. Colbert, Janet L., Ph.D., CPA, CIA, and Bowen, Paul L., Ph.D., CPA. A Comparison of Internal Controls: COBIT, SAC, COSO, and SAS 55/78. Information Systems Audit and Control Association.
7. Packard, David. (1995). The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company (1st ed., p. 173). New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
8. DeLuca, Joel M., Ph.D. (1992). “OMPT: Organizational Politics Mapping Techniques”, Political Savvy: Systemic Approaches to Leadership behind-the-Scenes (1st ed., pp. 63-79). Horsham, Pennsylvania: LRP Publications.
9. Covey, Stephen R. (2004). “5 Ages of Civilization’s Voice”, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness (1st ed., pp. 12-13, Figure 2.1). New York: Free Press.
10. Gouillart, Francis J., Kelly, James N. (1995). “Business Transformation”, Transforming the Organization (1st ed., pp. 6-7). New York: McGraw-Hill.

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