Positioning of Knowledge Management in the Organizational Structure
- Keren Trosler
- Nov 1, 2007
- 6 min read
The decision to establish an information management unit in an organization must be accompanied by several secondary decisions. The two most important ones relate to the management unit's central components: technology and people.
Selecting an appropriate technological system is important to ensure content is made available to service personnel quickly and simply. The second decision concerns the team that will maintain the system and be the driving force behind it. It's necessary to define the appropriate position of this newly established body within the complex organizational structure. The right positioning will help empower the management unit's operations and give the body endorsement from the appropriate authorities by placing it at the hub of activity. This article discusses various aspects related to the position of information management within the organizational structure. The issue is not so simple because the management unit sits at the interface between diverse professionals: the service provider population and headquarters professionals such as marketing personnel, engineers, project managers, product managers, and more.
The management unit is tasked with translating user needs to headquarters staff and vice versa—presenting organizational processes to service providers in a way that showcases the product to the customer. This translation is not simultaneous but is provided after processing and giving appropriate meaning to each population. Proximity to one population or another in the organizational structure can give it a relative advantage.
There are two fundamental types of information management units—centralized and decentralized. Positioning is only relevant when talking about a centralized management unit, where the unit is the sole body receiving information from all sources and the only one processing and distributing it to all consumers. In the case of a decentralized information management unit, different entities in the organization take responsibility for distributing some of the content. In this case, it's not a single body positioned under one department or division, but several entities belonging to multiple departments and divisions. In this review, we will focus only on the positioning of the centralized information management unit.
Similar to any knowledge management project, there are several options for positioning the information management team:
Customer Division (Head Office, Strategy Department, Organization and Methods)
Human Resources Division
Marketing Division
Core Division responsible for professional knowledge
Positioning the management unit in any organizational structure has advantages and disadvantages. The unit's positioning is derived from the positioning, and from this, additional roles it must fulfill are derived. The information management unit is a body serving service providers, and to perform its role optimally, it needs to enjoy maximum exposure to the right information at the right time. It needs to enjoy full cooperation from all relevant organizational bodies, transparency and visibility in the eyes of all organizational bodies, and be accepted as influential in organizational decision-making. The question arises: what is the optimal position to advance the goals of the information management unit in the organization? There is no single correct "textbook" answer. The appropriate position is derived from the roles of the management unit and the nature of its function in the organization. In this review, we will present several options.
Customer Service Division
Many information management units belong to the Customer Service Division in one way or another. Some belong to strategic bodies such as the Organization and Methods Department, Head Office Administration, or Planning Department. Some belong to the Head Office Administration, while others are positioned directly under the Customer Service Division.
Since one of the goals of the information management unit is to facilitate and streamline the work of service providers in the organization, there is logic in positioning it under the Customer Service Division. This positioning allows direct contact between information providers (such as marketing and operations departments) and the system's customers (various service representatives such as call centers, frontline staff, sales representatives, and branch clerks providing service). A continuous and good connection, free of unnecessary intermediaries, between the management unit and information providers is essential for performing the work.
Most management unit teams are recruited from within the service system. This is done to use their knowledge as service providers to present information optimally adapted to service representatives. A representative from the field knows the pains and difficulties that exist and is willing, in many cases, to offer solutions that will improve the situation. Working in a team that is connected to many factors allows for "leveraging" the knowledge embedded in it and combining it with a broad systemic view.
If it is decided to position the information management team under the Customer Service Division, it is important to maintain its autonomy; the management unit should be the sole distribution body, for which it must be involved in organizational processes from their inception, and not receive information about them like the rest of the division. For the management unit to translate headquarters' initiatives to the field, serve as a defense line and scrutinizing eye before publishing initiatives, and prevent errors and malfunctions, its status must be distinct within the division framework.
Human Resources Division
Sometimes, the knowledge management team in an organization is positioned within the Human Resources Division, making it seem natural to place the information management unit, as a knowledge management body, under this division. As responsible for, among other things, organizational communication and training and organizational development, the Human Resources Division deals with processes that surround the professional processes and does not engage in creating the professional processes themselves. Therefore, positioning the information management unit in this division might create distance from the "heart of professional activity" (information producers) in the organization on one hand, and from the service system (information consumers) on the other.
Marketing Division
As responsible for distributing content to service providers, positioning under the Marketing Division brings the management unit closer to headquarters and improves information flow. As a body that distributes information to the field, the management unit serves as a sort of thermometer regarding topics that the field knows and understands, versus topics where knowledge gaps exist. For this reason, the management unit is an important axis in planning and implementing training in the organization.
Without this "overview," the information management unit might concentrate on the division to which it is assigned and neglect other divisions. Under the Marketing Division, the management unit benefits from contact with most organizational units. Over time, team members become a body representing knowledge consumers to headquarters and an explanatory body from headquarters to field personnel. The source of this connecting ability lies in neutrality and seeing the big picture thanks to organizational positioning.
Some argue that this ability would be compromised if the information management unit were placed in one of the customer divisions, as this would cause the management unit to develop one-sided loyalty toward the division to which it is assigned.
As part of its role, the information management unit develops marketing and persuasion skills within the organization. The way the team publishes information affects how service providers receive the information. Under the Marketing Division, the information management unit enjoys high transparency toward all service bodies and can market the company's steps internally. Organizational affiliation to the Marketing Division allows for the presence of the interface between marketing bodies that conceive and plan marketing moves and the execution bodies that provide service to customers according to rules set by marketing.
Core Division Dealing with Professional Knowledge
There is another option for positioning the information management unit, under one of the core bodies that deals with professional knowledge (information providers - engineers, financial personnel, or professional doctrine writers). Suppose there is a single professional information owner. In that case, this solution is possible. It even has an advantage, for two main reasons: First, team members will likely come from within the core group dealing with professional knowledge, so its level of professionalism will be high; second, the ongoing interface for content transfer will allow updated and continuous information flow.
On the other hand, in cases where there are several professional knowledge sources, positioning the management unit under one of the information providers might cause a feeling, even if mistaken, of bias toward the "home" department, the department under which the team is positioned. Since the management unit needs to be (and be perceived as) a body focused on making information accessible in a way that improves service to the end customer, it cannot be suspected of responding to the needs of one department at the expense of another. The main efforts should concentrate on providing updated, focused information suitable for the representative's needs, and improving processes for the benefit of the service representative and the customer. Therefore, one should carefully consider whether the inherent advantages in this positioning outweigh the challenges in its implementation.
To achieve its goals and advantages, the information management team should be positioned in a supportive organizational structure, in a place that allows optimal connection with the relevant company bodies. There is no single correct answer regarding the appropriate positioning; the recommended location for the management unit depends on the assigned role and the nature of the body fulfilling the role. Sometimes, the team will move "homes" until the appropriate location for its activity is found optimally. Advance thinking, patience, and great flexibility along the way will make it easier to find the appropriate solution for the long term in each organization. Good luck.
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