Master's Thesis in Information Technology Management
The Trend of Advanced Information Systems
Abstract
In today's business world, the difference between organizations in growth and sustainability is the importance they give to the valuable and strategic source of knowledge, and as a result, their use of this important and key source lies in the provision of services and products. Therefore, in the last few years, a new topic called knowledge management has been raised with the aim of producing and using knowledge better and creating knowledge-based organizations in the world of management. Knowledge management is a broad process that focuses on the identification, organization, transfer and correct use of internal information and experiences. Nowadays, knowledge is considered the most important asset of organizations.
In order to establish and implement knowledge management in an organization, it is necessary to first define indicators for different stages of implementation, and in the next step, a model should be presented to evaluate the success rate of implementation at the level of the entire organization.
According to the above, this research is presented with the aim of measuring the probability of success of knowledge management implementation using a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making approach. Using a probability model derived from the article of Cheng and Wang (2009), this research tries to estimate the success rate of the implementation of knowledge management in the Entrepreneur Bank as a bank with private ownership and professional management that has set the achievement of new horizons and organizational excellence at the top of its goals. In this research, first, eight key factors that play an essential role in the implementation of knowledge management were identified according to the research literature and previous studies and were evaluated by the experts of Entrepreneur Bank. These eight factors were: employee characteristics, organization strategy, senior management support, knowledge evaluation and transfer, organizational culture, organizational infrastructure, technical infrastructure, and motivational measures, for each of which separate indicators were defined (31 indicators in total) to be evaluated according to the relevant indicators.
According to the data analysis, the factors as well as the desired indicators were ranked using fuzzy multi-criteria decision matrices, which are three factors of the organization's strategy, Organizational culture and technical infrastructure were ranked first in terms of importance in the implementation of knowledge management. Finally, using the probability model, the probability of success and failure of knowledge management in the entrepreneur bank was quantitatively calculated, which showed a weak probability of success according to the evaluations.
Key words: knowledge management [1], fuzzy multi-criteria decision making method [2], probability of success 3
Chapter 1
Overview of the research
1.1. Introduction
With the emergence of new technologies and their absorption and application in various aspects of today's life, new paradigms have been proposed that have completely transformed human life. In such a situation, organizations are forced to use new management tools and new methods in order to have a competitive advantage and maintain and adapt the organization in a different environment. Therefore, knowledge management is proposed and considered as a new attitude in organizations.
Today, in the developed society, knowledge is considered as one of the most important economic resources of the organization, along with factors such as capital, land and labor. The results of a survey in the last decade indicate that more than half of the new companies in the United States produce knowledge instead of making goods. Peter Drucker in his book entitled "Management at the time of tremendous transformation" regarding the importance of knowledge and its role in the performance of the organization said "Knowledge has become a vital economic resource and it can even be said that it is the only source of competitive advantage of organizations (Drucker, 1998).
Knowledge creation, transfer and copying is not easily possible and therefore knowledge is compared to other competitive resources of the organization from a strategic position.
The decision to implement knowledge management is sometimes difficult for organizations. The survival or downfall of an organization can depend on this decision, therefore, considering that knowledge management projects are usually very expensive and require time for their effects to be fully felt in the organization, it is necessary to carry out fundamental investigations inside and outside the organization before reaching a general agreement for the foundation of knowledge management in the company (Bahra, 2001).
2.Statement of the problem
Believing in the influx of thousands and observing the rapid changes of technology and the complexity of our environment. In such conditions, creating more strategic coordination requires a new type of organization that has the ability to create new knowledge. For this reason, managers are expected to have a deep understanding of organizational changes and improve organizational performance by investing in concrete projects.
In this way, a method of predicting success and an effective decision-making method can make better decisions about the implementation of knowledge management possible. Since many factors affect the success of knowledge management, predicting this is a multi-criteria problem. Most forecasting problems rely on statistical and probabilistic analyzes to solve the impact of individualism and the uncertainties of the real world.
Statistical methods are used to estimate the uncertain information of events and results in the future, although statistical methods have limitations in dealing with the concept of uncertainty in predicting the success of knowledge management, so to solve such problems, in this research, I presented my prediction method based on the multi-criteria fuzzy decision-making method to help organizations in knowing the factors affecting the implementation Knowledge management helps. Then, the prediction values ??of success (failure) are presented in order to help identify the initial measures to increase the probability of success of knowledge management in the organization.
Due to the new complex conditions and situations that have faced organizations with competitive and technological bottlenecks and have made the continuation of traditional methods a serious problem, the Entrepreneur Bank has also realized the need to use knowledge management systems. In this research, we have investigated the probability of success or failure of the implementation of the knowledge management project in the entrepreneur bank. It should be noted that this model is not limited to presenting only one review mechanism, but also provides the possibility to analyze organizational capabilities by considering key factors in the successful implementation of knowledge management.
3.1. Importance and necessity of research
Due to the rapid growth of specialized knowledge-based systems, previous studies in the field of knowledge management focus on the technological aspects of applications and solutions. However, recent studies state that knowledge management projects are not realized only by establishing information systems (Stewart, 1997).
Many influential factors determine the success of knowledge management implementation. The factors that need attention are not only financial, but also include issues such as organizational culture, harmony, management, control and measurement; The problem is combining old and new operational processes; The interaction of people and the relationships between them, the effectiveness of strategic management, the personality of leaders and their vision, the definition of new rules in the organization, etc.
The first challenges in the foundation of knowledge management are combining the above factors with the limitations and capabilities of personnel and organization, however, past studies have not yet found any linear relationship between the cost of knowledge management and business success. Despite the uncertain feedback and the extensive investment required, it is important not to stop investing in knowledge management because these investments can increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness and create competitive advantages.
4.1. Research goals or expected results
Nowadays, many managers have understood the essential role of knowledge in gaining competitive advantage and pursuing the organization's strategic goals, and knowledge management has become a competitive requirement in organizations. Despite this, if the proper infrastructure and prerequisites are not provided for the use of such a process, the implementation of knowledge management may result in nothing but the disgust of human resources and the waste of financial resources.
This research has developed an approach based on the fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making method [1] (FMCDM), and in this way, it intends to help organizations to become aware of the key and effective factors in the implementation of knowledge management, while introducing the necessary measures before implementing knowledge management. Measuring the probability of success of the knowledge management project. So, in general, the objectives of this research are:
Identifying the influencing factors in the successful implementation of knowledge management
Prioritizing the influencing factors in the successful implementation of knowledge management
Measuring the probability of success in the implementation of knowledge management using the fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making approach
5.1.