Knowledge Management Systems at Honeywell: A KMS Case Study

Introduction: ERP Systems and the Limits of Traditional IT

Business organizations have become increasingly reliant upon externally acquired information technology solutions for contending with everyday operational problems. The traditional approach has been to integrate static information technology systems to underscore internal networks, databases, and personnel terminals. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software represents one such solution. According to Barton's (2001) introduction and analysis of information technologies, the software package may most accurately be defined as "a business management system that integrates all facets of the business, including planning, manufacturing, sales, and marketing." As a database systems approach to automating inventory, stock, and resource management, ERP is extremely common in today's business world, with many organizations feeling great pressure to adapt to evolving IT models. However, these systems do not always yield positive outcomes, as demonstrated in the article by Hong & Kim (2001), "The Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation: An Organizational Fit Perspective."

Such systems can help improve corporate governance, solidify the public identity of an organization, and improve its overall decision-making process. However, in the case examination of Honeywell, this report will consider that a new generation of information and knowledge systems is altogether reinventing the manner in which organizations compile and maintain shared stores of information resources. Wikis and blogs — modes of online publishing driven by content created by and for users — denote an approach to creating singular online locations for the cataloguing of up-to-date reports, correspondences, documents, and accounting scenarios as they impact various areas of a company.

For an organization on Honeywell's scale, this approach is especially practical. Its enormous size and segmented market create the need for information systems that are malleable and subject to the input of all appropriate users, yet still governed by a form of central administration. As is evident in the instance of Honeywell, the implementation of user-generated content such as wikis and blogs represents an opportunity for overall improvement of the knowledge economy available to the organization. The purpose of this examination is therefore to consider the motives, implications, and recommendations relating to adding functional, enterprise-level Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) to the existing intranet at Honeywell, including an internal wiki, departmental and functional forums, and individual intranet-only blogs.

Current findings suggest that this represents the next generation in information technology, allowing for the nuance and multidirectional communication available in the noted forms. As one study observes, "the UGC (User Generated Content) revolution of Web 2.0 brought the application of this new paradigm into the enterprise and professional environment. This phenomenon is called Enterprise 2.0 and in these last years has drawn the attention of many experts in the fields of organization and knowledge management." (Cammarata, i) Where the notion of using the web as a place to publish ideas and findings has long been understood for independent users, the internet as a platform for sharing information with internal and operational — rather than external and marketing — purposes has become increasingly accepted in corporate settings.

The research here points to several primary benefits which justify the implementation of a KMS that puts these resources at the fingertips of Honeywell's personnel. Most important among them are those which will enable the organization to create a single destination where the most current information is available to all members; which will allow members at every level to participate in the creation of a dynamic knowledge economy; and which will help the organization evaluate the activities of its members according to their own reports.

The Case for Knowledge Management at Honeywell

At the base of this discussion is the dilemma faced by so many organizations that must contend with uncertainty while simultaneously harnessing available technologies in a meaningful way. Traditional models of information technology have revolved around the static compiling of databases used to synthesize information reports and produce usable projections. Too often, however, such methods have proved to diminish the crucial human elements of information creation — real insights that, in turn, produce greater bodies of knowledge among personnel. By relying heavily on the creation, compilation, and navigation of static reporting, too little contextualization is available to underscore the implications of that reporting.

In a fast-moving business environment, the implications of traditional IT solutions are increasingly seen as sluggish when compared to the flux of real-world information. As an article from 2005 noted prophetically, "to qualify as intelligence, information must be both used and renewed. Good synapses fire fast and standard groupware can be too structured and rigid to support real-time, off-the-cuff data collection for workgroups or projects." (Udell, 43) The author speaks further of emails and instant messages as the informal mode of communication of choice in intra-office settings, considering these as increasingly less effective in meeting the needs for collective communicative interaction, the sharing of ideas, the achievement of a single verifiable perspective, and the recording of the process which has produced that perspective.

Research has argued that where such features do not exist in the process, even recorded information can be lost in a shuffle of data and abstruse systems. In traditional compiling of information and data, a certain aspect of the day-to-day process becomes lost as authorship becomes focused on reaching a cumulative document. This is supported by research pointing to the reality that "for most organizations, once explicit data is recorded in a designated medium, the explicit knowledge needs to be organized and manipulated in some way for optimal learning. This is where knowledge management comes in. Knowledge management promises a better way for organizations to organize, share, interpret, and teach information amongst their employees. Organizational behavior expert Thomas Davenport notes that firms often become interested in knowledge management when they 'realize that they do not know where to find their own existing knowledge.' (Dean, 2005)" (Marshall, 7) Many such organizations, including Honeywell, have found that this approach to the knowledge economy not only reduces the pertinence and actionability of organizational knowledge but also diminishes the opportunity to remain informed about activities and progress at all tiers of the organization.

For Honeywell and many other large-scale organizations, the answer lies in collaboration software — specifically, tools that solve these problems while, unlike many traditional content management systems, remaining simple enough for non-technical employees to use (Goodnoe, 1). In recent years, blogs and wikis have become a pervasive presence on the internet, following the web's historical pattern of advancement: first through the efforts of fringe computer experts, next in the hands of mainstream users with recreational interests, and ultimately to adoption by corporations, major media outlets, and prominent individuals.

Wikis and Blogs as Enterprise Knowledge Tools

This trajectory has been enhanced by an ongoing demonstration of the varied opportunities for web expression implied by these technologies, which essentially offer common web users the opportunity to compose, organize, and publish ideas and information through a personally tailored variation on a collectively accepted template. Though the implications of such web applications were immediately clear for recreational self-expression and entertainment or informational purposes — particularly for external audiences — it is only more recently that professional organizations with sufficient IT maturity are recognizing the implications of open-source knowledge management. As Goodnoe (2005) observes, "although wikis have been around for a decade, they're just starting to take off in business. Like the Web did when it first caught hold in the corporate world, wikis will likely go through a period of wild growth, fierce competition, and inappropriate usage." (Goodnoe, 1)

Though "inappropriate usage" may strike as a value judgment, it is in fact a useful lens through which to examine the controversy surrounding Wikipedia, the most well-known of wikis. While its value as a perpetually growing store of information is real and credible, the fact that it conforms to the primary characteristic of wikis — allowing any and all users to contribute content modifications — has cast a shadow of doubt on its scholastic credibility and the veracity of its claims. The use of the wiki principle is not inherently inappropriate, but this example does reflect one problematic consequence of unrestrained open access.

The internal premise applying to the enterprise wiki may help suggest a more effectively protected and accountably appropriate way to catalogue the knowledge gained by individuals and, consequently, by the organization. The creation of user-generated content mechanisms is especially promising for larger organizations with complex and diffuse knowledge areas. Individuals must be positioned to share and catalogue the knowledge gained from or contributed to the daily functionality of the organization. This is crucial because, though information and knowledge may have been created or resolved within the organization, this does not in itself assure that such knowledge will remain there or continue to serve the organization's overall effectiveness.

As Marshall (2008) notes, "in today's world of business, companies need to understand the importance of effectively managing their knowledge. Years ago, employees would stay with a company for many years before moving on, while many planned upon a lifetime of dedication to their organization. In today's industries, it is not uncommon to find employees who stay no more than three to four years without looking to move on. When a company loses a skilled employee, they also lose the knowledge that the employee has gained." (Marshall, 3) If Honeywell does not create a system that allows its personnel to catalogue the ongoing construction and sharing of knowledge, the process by which that knowledge was acquired will not remain within the organization's body of knowledge. This is an absolutely essential strategy for contending with the inevitable turnover of today's marketplace and occupational culture, while simultaneously building a body of knowledge that depends on the commitment of all personnel to its construction, compilation, and maintenance.