Unforeseen Experiences from a Balanced Scorecard Project in the Healthcare Sector
In the context of the Balanced Scorecard development in the Upper Austrian Gesundheits- und Spitals AG (gespag) the methodology of strategy maps was applied in order to build a base for the definition of relevant areas of strategic measures. When applying the methodology it turned out that it is very supportive also from the knowledge management perspective (especially 2nd Generation KM), e.g. for the explication of knowledge, cognitive mapping, the creation of a common-mindset (organisational learning), the storage of information and individual learning about strategy and systemic thinking. Furthermore, it allows organisational knowledge integration meaning that people can integrate both the explicated knowledge in their system or their work, and the appropriate “sense” of the further information provided. The intention of the article is to show that methods of strategic management, and possibly from many other fields, can also be very beneficial in a knowledge management context.
In this paper we address and discuss the approach of learning employee skills from data based on XML structured profiles and their representation as a Bayesian network. For extracting new information we use a dependency analysis approach. Many enterprise resource management systems (ERP) come along with integrated modules for Human Resource Management (HRM). One main task of HRM is to manage, improve and deploy the right skills at the right time. These processes are well known as skill management. Furthermore the problem of finding hidden or implicit dependencies between employee skills is considered. Using an information theoretical approach to construct a powerful skill representation as graphical model is recommendable. To demonstrate the achievement of the learned network structure, a test scenario is given, where historical reference project data is used.
Hewlett Packard services consulting and integration (HPS C&I) has had worldwide Knowledge Management programs for over 6 years, but until recently they had not developed a consistent set of monthly KM measures. In late 2003, HPS C&I established a set of 6 worldwide measures, which are described in this presentation. We also discovered that there was value in having uniform worldwide measures, but we could not establish uniform worldwide goals. The reason for this had to do with wide variability in business maturity and English language capability within our workforce. Consequently, we assigned each country into one of four “bands” and set different goals for each band. The presentation provides details on this aspect of our measurement program. Actual performance is not presented, because it is deemed company confidential.
In the paper the applications to the 2002 Knowledge Management Award are discussed in relation to measuring the benefits of KM. It is concluded that benefits of KM initiatives depend on the KM approach taken.