NASA, Xerox and Danone Case Studies (Essay Sample)

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NASA, Xerox and Danone Case Studies
Introduction
Management of information and knowledge in an organization is critical to promote success and achievement of objectives. Employees in organizations with proper management of knowledge have wide knowledge that fosters activities and performances. This is beneficial in creating competitive advantages such as through increased innovations, appropriate decisions, and high reputation among others. This paper will explore the cases of knowledge and information management in three organizations, namely: NASA, Xerox, and Danone. This will be achieved by examining the key issues, the importance of these issues, link to the topic and other cases, and the solutions supported in the existing literature.
NASA case study
Issues
The NASA is involved in operation of risky space technologies and experienced the Challenger Disaster in 1986 that led to death of the 7 astronauts (Martins, 2014 p. 16). Several issues emerge from this case regarding management of knowledge and information on the organization that led to launching of the space shuttle and hence the accident. The key issues in this case surround what, how and why it happened leading to the fatal accident. These include the misunderstanding of the risk involved among managers and varied information held by managers and engineers. The managers gave little attention to warnings of engineers and committed to launch the space shuttle at stipulated time (Martins, Thatcher & Gao, 2014 p.16). Decisions were also made based on the past successes rather that considering possible threats. Also, the managers made decisions, though lacked expertise on safety of the space shuttle.
Importance of issues
The issues raised above are of great importance in management of information and knowledge in an organization. Considering all concerns of an activity being undertaken is important to avoid escalations and commitments on events that could fail (Martins, Thatcher & Gao, 2014 p.19). If the information on concerns raised by engineers in the NASA was adequately considered, the managers could have postponed the launching in order to allow for fixation of the problems. It is also important for all people in an organization to be in same level of information and expertise in order to make most appropriate decision (Begona, 2008 p. 39). The experts such as engineers in the NASA organization would make important decisions rather than managers with low expertise and knowledge. Organizations also need to base decisions on the attributes of specific activities rather than successes in the past that could otherwise mislead in decision making processes.
Linking with the case study
The case of NASA is relevant to the study of management of information as well as knowledge in an organization since the issues involved are consequences of breakdown in sharing, interpretation, and use of information among varied groups of people (Martins, 2014 p. 13). The occurrence of the space shuttle accident was primarily contributed to poor management of information and knowledge that led to commitment to undertake the launch. There are knowledge boundaries created between managers and engineers that embrace similar information in different ways. Consequently, they act on the information differently that led to the escalation of the need to launch the space shuttle for purposes of meeting time pressures at the expense of safety issues (Martins, Thatcher & Gao, 2014 p.19). Due to this, rational decision was not attained on procession to the launching of the shuttle that was destined to fail according to view of experts.
Solution
The issues in the NASA case of managing information and expertise require solutions to avoid similar incidences from taking place in the future. This includes the abolition of knowledge and information boundaries to ensure all people have the necessary understanding of activities and concerns associated with the operations of the organization and hence attain common knowledge and perceptions (Martins, Thatcher & Gao, 2014 p.18). This is helpful in making rational decisions such as in complex and unique events. It is achievable through joint efforts of all parties involved in implementing specific tasks from inception to completion. The views of managers require the incorporation of the views of other people or experts to develop an effective and comprehensive perception to be followed by an organization (Begona, L. M. 2008, p. 85). Decisions should also not be based on earlier successes but rather by all concerns of the associated with specific activity involved.
Xerox case study
Issues
The management of knowledge and information in the Xerox Corporation has several issues that are evident in the practices undertaken by the company. These include the corporate culture of the Xerox Company that influences the flow of information and knowledge throughout the organization. The company applies a Taylorism culture that top-down hierarchical structure, instrumental relationships, formal rules and logics for cutting costs (Cox, 2014a p.23). The understanding of the nature of knowledge and how it could be shared among people such as technicians in the Xerox Company is observed in the case. The knowledge of technicians is perceived as about relationships, passion for machines, unwritten and could be told through stories, and involving physical knowledge (p.26). It is also local and about the social well being besides the tech. Other issues are on the forms of knowledge such as involving the enlightenment view or the postmodern perspective.
Importance
The above issues are important to an organization such as the Xerox that handles large information and knowledge. The corporate culture of organization is critical to the management of knowledge and therefore developing culture that recognize it is helpful to facilitate management practices (Earl, 2001 p.217). Organizations also need the understanding of the attributes of knowledge in order to develop means through which it flows to all necessary people. Also, the organizational knowledge varies from one firm to another and hence has various systems of sharing it based on the nature and multiple communities in an organization (Cox, 2014b p.41). The view of knowledge in company is also a determinant factor in the management practices. Some organizations could emphasize on enlightening workers while others adopt a postmodern view in their knowledge or information management.
Link with the case study
The case of Xerox Company is strongly linked to the practices of managing knowledge in an organization since it presents several attributes and practices useful in other companies. The case highlights the need to understand the features of the organizational knowledge to enable easy management (Choo, 2002, p.59). The attributes of knowledge useful to technicians in the Xerox Company are applicable in other companies such as the NASA and the Danone. For instance, the NASA Company could use the information on nature of the knowledge to enable development of practices that give recognition to engineers as sources of important information that help minimize space accidents. The case also emphasizes on the nature of organizational culture that determine the flow of knowledge in an organization (Cox, 2014b p. 38). This is applicable in the case of NASA where the management harboured appropriate flow and use of information provided by engineers concerning probable accidents.
Solution
The solutions to issues related to the information and knowledge management of the Xerox Corporation include the development of the Denver project done by Orr (Cox, 2014b 12). The project involved the use of radios for technicians for purposes of sharing knowledge and information. The radio offered two way communications and was always on for technicians to use. The radios were chosen in line with the nature of knowledge identified in the Xerox Company. Radios would benefit technicians through reduced isolation, increased moral support, better coordination and assistance in fixing problems among others (Cox, 2014a p. 50). However, the radios led to unforeseen outcomes of reducing the number of technicians and practices to cut down costs such as removal of some functions. The solution also suppressed diversity through standardized processes. The stories communicated through the radios also needed to be collected.
Danone case study
Issues
The knowledge management practices in the Danone Company reveal several issues of importance on the general topic. The company bases its practices on the value of trust that is desirable in organizations, especially by the stakeholders that create good relationships and reputation (Martins, 2014a p.7). Through trust the knowledge in the minds of employees could be harnessed for the benefit of an enterprise. Management of knowledge involves creation, access, representation, facilitation and transfer of the knowledge. The enablers of proper management of knowledge are outlined in the case and include the leadership, culture, technology, access, knowledge champions, access as well as learning culture to create competitive advantages (Martins, 2014a 11). The case also raises the need to cultivate networking attitude in an organization to promote sharing of knowledge. An organization could take advantage of creative networking to establish absorptive capacity and innovations that promote availability and use of knowledge.
Importance
The issues above are important in an organization that desires to attain success in managing knowledge to yield benefits. The issue of trust is of great importance to the sustainability of an organization through loyalty and support by stakeholders (Begona, 2008 p.81). The enablers of knowledge are useful for organizations to ...