Order from us for quality, customized work in due time of your choice.
Introduction
The gain in prominence of knowledge management across the diverse sectors of the economy has been tremendous (Ponzi & Koenig 2002), and the hospitality industry is no exception. Different authors have diverse views on what exactly should make up knowledge management (Stewart 1997; Ruggles 1998; Wilson 2002). For example Wilson (2002) contends that the application of knowledge management revolves around the management of work practices that are aimed at enhancing knowledge sharing within a given organisation. Separately, Ponzi (2002) views knowledge management as an organizational construct that is predominantly based on science. Nonetheless, other authors (for example Durcikova. & Everard 2004 p. 14; Skyme 1998 p. 6) indicates a strong association between business strategy and knowledge management. In this regard, the proponents of knowledge management within the business circle are of the opinion that it facilitates business to effectively handle rapid changes within the business environment, in addition to helping them gain a competitive advantage, when compared with the competitors.
The intention of this research paper is to examine how Domino Hotel Incorporated, a private limited company within the hospitality industry, handles knowledge management as a tool for enabling the organization to gain a competitive advantage in the hospitality industry, in the face of stiff competition. To start with, this research paper shall examine the current knowledge management processes as practiced by Domino Hotel Incorporated. In exploring the implementation process of knowledge management by Domino Hotel Incorporated, this study will explore the strengths and weaknesses of the current system of knowledge management at Domino Hotels Incorporated.
The study has also taken an assumption that Domino Hotel Incorporated has decided to make knowledge management a strategic issue. Accordingly, the paper explores how Domino Hotel Incorporated may in the long-term apply knowledge management as a strategic competitive advantage. In view of that, the paper has examined how the organization could benefit from technology integration into its social networking strategy, by use of wikis and blogs. Furthermore, Domino Hotel Incorporated could benefit by integrating customer focus with knowledge management, as part of its customer relationship management exercise, and this has also been addressed adequately by the study. In addition, this research paper has examined how Domino Hotel Incorporated may integrate employee training programs with knowledge management for operations skills improvement and cost reduction. Finally, the paper explores how the establishment of a knowledge center within the organization could help Domino Hotel Incorporated effectively manage its knowledge base.
Current knowledge management process at Domino Hotel Incorporated
Currently, Domino Hotel Incorporated has implemented employee training and social networking through job rotations as part of the companys knowledge management process. The job rotation schedule is designed in line with the organizational structure, and this has enabled the company to attain a successful implementation. In terms of organization structure, Domino Hotel Incorporated has marketing, finance, sales, and the operational departments, with the cross-functional concept having been integrated into the formation of the various teams from different departments. Lakshman (2005 p.58) argues that cross functional teams in an organization are usually composed of personnel from various departments.
Strengths
Through their interaction, employees gain knowledge related to the various operations of the organization. By adopting the job rotation strategy, this helps to create job variety within an organization. With regard to Domino Hotel Incorporated, the adoption of a job rotation strategy has enabled employees gain new skills from within the organization. Accordingly, employees have been able to gain new knowledge, resulting in increased levels of satisfaction from the employees. Furthermore, the orientation process of the employees at Domino Hotel Incorporated helps motivate the employees to perform better, leading to increased efficiency over tasks assigned to these employees. In order to realize a successful knowledge management process, Nonaka (1991 p. 5) argues that organizations require establishing a corporate culture that would not only encourage rewards and collaborations, but also promote those individuals that plays a significant role in sharing and contributing their knowledge to the organization.
Thanks to the adoption of job rotation as a knowledge management concept, the management at Domino Hotel Incorporated has managed to lower the rate of employee turnover at the organization, mainly by challenging the employees to assume diverse tasks. Thomas (2006 p.162) has noted that job rotation has enabled the employees gain diverse knowledge related to various operations of the organization. In a bid to achieve this, the management of Domino Hotel Incorporated successfully developed an in-house learning program for its employees, and this has led to the creation of a learning culture amongst the employees. Furthermore, this has also enabled employees of the organization to understand the contribution of various departments towards achieving competitive advantage. By creating cross functional teams, the knowledge shared amongst employees leads to the attainment of a high competitive advantage since the organizations intellectual capital is enhanced.
The current knowledge management process at Domino Hotel Incorporated has also embraced knowledge transfer through documented reports, by integrating an open knowledge concept. As a result, it is possible for employees to transfer procedures, policies, reports and other manuals. Additionally, the management has formulated a policy demanding that all findings made by the different teams be submitted to the management in written form. The top management analyzes the information and determines the kind to be disseminated to the various departments. This strategy has enabled the management to control the flow of information within the organization.
Weaknesses
Domino Hotel Incorporated has not been able to comprehensively implement job rotation as a knowledge management strategy. This is due to the fact that in some technical departments within the organization, such as finance, job rotation is not applied because they are deemed sensitive. Additionally, a number of employees see job rotation as more of a challenge since placement may be inconsistent with the employees preference. The effect of it is that employees fail to attain the desired knowledge. On the other hand, the knowledge transfer process at Domino has led to limited sharing of information amongst employees, due to lack of organizational knowledge as a motivation tool. It sometimes becomes difficult for employees to access information related to the performance of the organization. Paul (2000 p.2) asserts that explicit knowledge in its documented form limits the ease of knowledge sharing amongst the employees of an organization. In fact it is difficult for the management to make changes to these documents in time. This means that the alterations that occur within the organization such as those of policies are not communicated to employees conveniently.
Knowledge management as a strategic issue
For the short as well as the long-term survival of an organization, innovation and re-use of the existing knowledge is a necessity. Even as innovation could be regarded as a strategy that is quite enticing to a majority of the firms that are keen on establishing a competitive edge in the face of competition, nevertheless we cannot also rule out the power of knowledge sharing and management. Accordingly, it is important that firms are in a position to strike a balance between knowledge management and innovation, so that they may sail through a competitive environment. Sharing and communication of knowledge amongst the employees of a company helps to enhance the competencies of such employees and by extension, the efficiency of the organization in question (Durcikova & Everard 2002 p. 16). It is therefore possible for an organization like Domino Hotel Incorporated to apply knowledge management as a toll to enable it establish a competitive advantage in the long-term. On the chance that Domino Hotel Incorporated decides to make knowledge management a strategic issue, there are a number of desirable changes within the existing knowledge management process that needs to be changed, to enable the organization gain a competitive advantage in the long-term
Integration of technology in its Social networking strategy
In order to attain a high competitive advantage, the management of the firm could reach a consensus on integrating technology within its operation. One of the strategies worth of consideration by the firm is the incorporation of information communication technology. Through information technology; the management of Domino Incorporation will be able to incorporate codification strategy effectively in its knowledge management. According to Mortein and Nitin (2009 p.23), codification strategy refers to the process of transforming tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. Emily (2001 p.724) asserts that tacit knowledge refers to knowledge that is known by an individual subconsciously but it is applied in the process of undertaking various activities.
On the other hand, explicit knowledge refers to the knowledge available in written form and is codified (Emily 2001 p. 275). The management of Domino Hotel Incorporated needs to appreciate the importance of information sharing in the process of enhancing employee knowledge within the organization. In an effort at enhancing social networking within the organization, the management of the firm could integrate such emerging informal social networking tools as the wikis. For social networking to be effectively integrated in the organization, it is imperative that the management develops a company website. Further, the management also needs to develop company blogs. The wikis and blogs will enable effective sharing of information within the organization since all the employees of the organization will be able to enter information in the wikis with ease, as it does not require prior knowledge of computer programming (Kristina 2001).
The wikis and blogs will also enable the management of Domino Incorporation to disseminate relevant information to the employees in a more cost effective manner. As a result, individual employees of the organization will be aware of the progress that the organization anticipates to realize in good time. For example, through the wikis, the management can post the organizations policy document and other company reports in one location. In addition, it is possible for employees to forward their comments through the wikis, meaning that the management will be better able to know the thoughts and insights of their employees regarding the different issues within the organization that affects them. The result of this is that the management at Domino Hotel Incorporated shall be in a position to better understand its human resource.
Furthermore, wikis will also enable the employees of the organization to share personal insights and other relevant knowledge amongst themselves. To facilitate this, the organization need to connect the various department to these blogs and wikis, in effect acting like a knowledge repository. The result of this is that there will be increased knowledge retention within the organization due to effectiveness in knowledge circulation. Sharing of insight amongst the employees will result into improved departmental relationship, thus enhancing organizational culture. Therefore, through the use of wikis and blogs, knowledge management will be effectively implemented within the organization. This is due to the fact that tacit knowledge will be enhanced and shared in the organization
Integrating Customer focus with knowledge management
The management of Domino Incorporated is committed to ensuring that the service delivered by the firm to its consumers results in high customer satisfaction. According to Emily (2001p.725), competitive advantage is directly related to the effectiveness of a firm in meeting customer requirements. In its effort to attain competitive advantage through the integration of knowledge management within the organization, the management of the firm could consider adopting the concept of customer focus.
Customer focus refers to the process where the customer is considered to be the most important asset of an organization. This means that all the activities undertaken by employees within the various organizational departments focus at the customer. Integrating customer focus will enable the employees of the organizations to understand customers more effectively. This will ensure that there is effective service delivery to the customers since they understand their needs. As a result, the level of satisfaction of the customers shall increase. Increased customer satisfaction will lead to the development of customer loyalty.
According to John and Chen (2001 p.213), an increase in customer loyalty translates into improved and sustainable growth in the sales level of a firm, implying that the level of profitability of an organization shall be enhanced. To effectively enhance knowledge management with regard to customer focus, the management of Domino Incorporated should consider integrating information technology by implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software within the organizations computer network. The CRM software will enable the organizations staff to understand consumers more effectively.
Additionally, integrating the concept of CRM will enable the management of the organization to communicate with the customers more effectively. This means that the management will gain more knowledge with regard to its customers. Through the CRM software, the employees will also be able to understand the customers needs since they will be best placed to access from the software information relating to the organizations customers. One of the benefits of nitrating the CRM software into the knowledge management process is that it enables an organization to collect information relating to the consumers in a more effective manner.
Integrating employee training with knowledge management system
Considering the competitive and dynamic nature of the hospitality industry, there is a need for the management of Domino Incorporated to formulate an employee training program. This will enable the firms employee to integrate changes occurring within the business environment. The effect of this is that employees operational skills will be improved and consequently, their operational efficiency and effectiveness. To effectively reduce the cost of employee training, the management of the organization should consider integrating information technology in its employee training program. Jelan (2007) argues that a knowledge management system helps to improve an employee training program by ensuring that all employees of the organization access the knowledge management system. In this case, Domino Incorporated should consider integrating the knowledge management system into the firms intranet system. This will benefit the organization in that the cost of employee training will be minimized.
Initially, the management of Domino Incorporation had a training program that involved outsourcing employees to training firms. The cost of outsourcing to these firms was high to the firm, and it led to a financial strain and inefficiencies in the operational processes of the firm. By adopting a knowledge management system, it will be possible for the management of Domino Incorporated to train all its employees simultaneously and at a minimal cost. In addition, incorporation of knowledge management system will enable Domino Incorporated attain a higher competitive advantage in its training since employee training will not be conducted in one centralized location. This means that there will be minimum disruptions in the operations of the firm.
A knowledge management software could also enable Domino incorporated attain a high competitive advantage, relative to its competitors. This is due to the fact that there will be minimal knowledge attrition within the organization as a result of effective knowledge circulation. A knowledge management system would also result into an increase in the ease of making adjustments to the organizations knowledge repositories. The implication is an updating of the circulated knowledge, culminating into effective knowledge retention amongst the employees.
Establishment of a knowledge centre
To effectively manage knowledge within the firm, the management of Domino Incorporation may need to develop a knowledge centre. Such a knowledge centre will enable the management to identify the various sources of knowledge that relevant to the organization. Through the knowledge centre, the management will be able to evaluate the knowledge that will contribute towards the attainment of a high competitive advantage by the organization. In order to ensure that the proposed knowledge centre is efficient and effective in its operations, Domino Incorporated could appoint a Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) to head this entity. In this case, the CKO would see to it that the employees of the organization appreciate the importance of knowledge within the firm through conduction of employee and management forums aimed at identifying their perception of knowledge.
In addition the integration of information technology into the proposed knowledge centre at Domino Incorporated would help to assure the effectiveness of its operations. This is due to the fact that information technology will enable the knowledge centre to integrate both the internal and external sources of knowledge. In addition, the knowledge centre will enable effective creation of knowledge that will benefit the organization. This is due to the fact the centre will incorporate employees and customers insights in form of comments during the process of transforming tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge.
According to Boyd (n.d), integration of both external and internal sources of knowledge in a firms knowledge centre enables the firm in question to develop a comprehensive knowledge base. With regard to knowledge evaluation, it is imperative that the management of Domino Incorporated conduct a continuous audit process of information in its possession. This way, the management shall be in a position to identify the knowledge that best suits the organization. Moreover, a knowledge centre could also enable the management to develop a centralized knowledge database that can be accessed by the organizations employees through the firms intranet system.
Conclusion
Although different authors provide diverse definitions to the term knowledge management, nonetheless it is important to recognize the role it plays within the setting of an organization. In this regard there is the possibility of firms utilizing knowledge of management as a strategic tool to enable them to gain a competitive advantage in their area of trade. This research study was concerned with the management of knowledge at an organization level. In this regard, the firm in question, Domino Hotel Incorporated has had its existing knowledge management process examined. Considering the competitive nature of the hospitality industry, it is paramount that firms develop a competitive advantage. The organisation that was the focus of this study has also been noted to have embraced knowledge management and the role it plays in helping an organization to attain a high competitive advantage. Increase in the level of knowledge within the organization results initial efficiency and effectiveness of the firms human resource owing to a firms enhanced intellectual capacity.
For knowledge to contribute towards the firms competitive advantage, it is important that the management at Domino Incorporated integrates the concept of knowledge management within its strategic management processes to enable the firm to identify, create and utilize knowledge appropriately within the organization. This calls for an adjustment of the organizations conventional knowledge management concepts. One of the ways to implement these changes is through the integration of information technology concepts. Through the use of wikis and blogs, the management will be able to effectively transfer knowledge within the organization. Wikis and blogs will also enable all the employees of the firm to access relevant knowledge efficiently. On the other hand, wikis will enable employees to share knowledge with their peers, and the management as well. Sharing of knowledge between employees of various departments will result in the creation of a good organizational culture.
By integrating the concept of customer focus within its knowledge management concepts, employees will be able to understand the needs of the customers. This will ensure that the employees focus on meeting the customers demands in the course of their activities. The integration of the CRM software within the firm will enhance employees knowledge of customers needs. Knowledge management within the organization can result into increased competitive advantage through creation of a knowledge centre that integrates both internal and external sources of knowledge, hence enabling the firm to establish a comprehensive knowledge base. This will enable the management to effectively create, evaluate and disseminate the relevant knowledge to all the employees.
References
Boyd, H. n.d. The role of knowledge centre in knowledge management: the failing of decentralized knowledge facilitation, choosing the opposite direction,[ On-line] Sydney: Prentice Hall Publishers. 2009. Web.
Durcikova, A. & Everard, A. (2004). Managing the corporate Zoo: a knowledge management perspective. The electronic journal of knowledge management, Vol. 2, No.1, pp.13-18.
Emily, T. 2001. The role of knowledge management in moving to a customer focused organization.[On-line] Victoria, Australia: University of Melbourne. 2009. Web.
Jelan, V. 2007.Employee training and development and the learning organization. Journal of economics and organization,[On-line] September 22, 4(2).pp.209-216. Web.
John, T. & Chen, S. 2001.The relationship between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. Journal of contemporary hospitality management. [On-line] July 22, 13(5), pp. 213-217. Web.
Kristina, G. 2001. Using social networks for knowledge management.[On- Line] Stockholm: Royal Institute of Technology. 2009. Web.
Lakshman, C. (2005). Top knowledge 55 Leadership. Journal of change management, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 429-446.
Mortein, T., Nitin, N. &Thomas, T. 2009. What is your knowledge management strategy: codification or personalization? (On-line). Massachusetts; Harvard Business review. Web.
Nonaka, I. (1991). The knowledge creating company. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 117.
ODell, C. & Grayson, C. J. (1998). If only we knew 87 what we know: identification of transfer of internal best practices. California Management Review, Vol. 40, No. 3.
Ponzi, L. J. & Koenig, M. (2002). Knowledge management: another management fad? Information Research, Vol. 8, No.1.
Ruggles, R. (1998). The state of the nation: knowledge management in practice. California Management Review, Vol. 40, No.3.
Skyme, D. J. (1998). Fact or fad? Ten shifts in 51 knowledge management. Knowledge Management Review, pp. 6-7.
Stewart, T. A., 1997, Intellectual capital-the new 43 wealth of organizations. New York: Doubleday.
Thomas, T.R. 2006. Strategic alliances and networks in supply chains: knowledge management and performance measurement.[e-book]Ohio: Ohio State University. 2009. Web.
Wilson, T. D. (2002). The nonsense of knowledge management. Information Research, Vol.8, No.1.
Order from us for quality, customized work in due time of your choice.