Effectiveness: External Knowledge Management On Primark (Case Study Sample)

EFFECTIVENESS: EXTERNAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ON PRIMARK
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EFFECTIVENESS: EXTERNAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ON PRIMARK
In the recent years, there has been an increasing trend of many companies around the world applying knowledge management (KM) systems in the organization and business structures (Novianto & Puspasari 2012). The researchers define KM system as a process that utilizes knowledge as means to reach process as well as product innovation, to make effective decisions, and to facilitate organizations to adopt to the changes in the market effectively. For instance, in the Primark Case, the KM system helped the organization's management to make effective decisions on how to manage the aftermath of the incidence that led to the death of more 1000 people. Specifically, the company's management decided to work with the local partners in the country to provide food aid and financial support to the victims of the accidents and their families. Thus, the act of establishing a framework to help the accident's victims as well as their families is a clear manifest that Primark was applying the KM system to respond to the pressure from the Bangladeshis and the international community on the catastrophic collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex. Incidentally, Abdullah et al. (2008) point out that implementation of the KM system in an organization requires three primary factors: knowledge organization, information technology, and knowledge worker. The factor of knowledge organization is associated with the readiness of a company's infrastructure to create or establish the KM system. Fundamentally, knowledge organization is responsible for managing the five KM unit roles: knowledge steward, knowledge information, knowledge analyst, knowledge manager, and the chief knowledge officer (Abdullah et al. 2008). On the other hand, the factor of knowledge worker relates to the different sources of knowledge, such as the innovative employee and customer service. Abdullah et al. (2008) explicate that this parameter contributes towards the addition or update of knowledge. In contrast, the factor of information technology mainly focuses on hastening, storing, managing, and searching knowledge processes (Oliveira & Martins 2011; Borghoff & Pareschi 2013).
Subsequently, a critical review of Primark's immediate response to the accident indicates that the company had reasonable knowledge organization about the implementation of a KM system. In other words, the organization's infrastructure had some degree of readiness in so far as the creation of a KM system is concerned. The justification of this argument is premised on the fact that Primark was capable of partnering with the locals in Bangladesh to provide the much needed financial and food aid support to the victims and the families of the victims. Ideally, if Primark had lacked some degree of knowledge organization or organizational infrastructure to establish a KM system following the accident, it would have been entirely impossible for the company to develop the mentioned local partnership. Nonetheless, it is critical to hasten to add that the fact that Primark engaged in a partnership arrangement with the locals is a clear indication that its knowledge organization was incomplete or inadequate at the time of the accident. In other words, if at all the company had sufficient knowledge organization; it would not have needed the help of the local partners in providing the victims and their families with food aid and financial support. Rather, the company would have single-handedly helped the victims and their families with seamless ease.
Moreover, as pointed out in the preceding discussion, knowledge organization handles the mentioned five KM unit roles. It is evident from the various activities that Primark has so far conducted in so far as the implementation of the KM is concerned that the organization has incorporated the five KM roles in its organizational structure. For instance, at the time the organization was providing financial support and food aid to the victims and families of the accident, it was committed to providing them with a long-term compensation. Furthermore, Primark has so far paid a total of $14 million in aid in both short-term and long-term compensation to the victims and their families of the Primark supplier, particularly New Wave Bottoms. As part of its commitment towards providing the victims and families long-term compensation, Primark launched the Pashe Achi project in 201 5with the aim of improving the self-confidence and capabilities of the most vulnerable recipients of its financial support with the objective of ensuring that they are capable of retaining access to, and control of, their financial compensation with a goal of supporting their well-being in a sustainable manner.
Clearly, the launch of the Pashe Achi project shows that Primark has a chief knowledge officer who ensures that the organization's KM operations with relation to providing long-term compensation to the victims and families are adequate. The project also indicates that the company has a knowledge manager who is responsible for coordinating the issues relating to the compensation of the victims and their families as well as the operationalization of the project.
Furthermore, the launch of the Pashe Achi project also signifies that Primark, a knowledge analyst who analyzed and developed the project for purposes of achieving the organization's objective of providing long-term compensation to the victims and families of their families. Primark's launch of the Pashe Achi project also reveals that the company has knowledge information to promote its KM activities as well as publish the KM result. Finally, the successful launch of the Pashe Achi project further represents that the organization has a knowledge steward who assisted the knowledge analyst and knowledge information to analyze develop the project and to conceptualize how the project's activities could be promoted and published for purposes of achieving the long-term compensation of the victims and their families. In a nutshell, Primark has actually managed and implemented it knowledge organization by putting in place the relevant mechanism that promot...