Presentation on the scholarly paper "Vicious and virtuous circles in the management of knowledge: The case of Infosys Technologies" made during KM technologies course. Original credits to Raghu Garud, Arun Kumaraswamy and MIS Quarterly

1. VICIOUS AND VIRTUOUS
CIRCLES IN THE
MANAGEMENT OF
KNOWLEDGE: THE CASE OF
INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES
Raghu Garud and Arun Kumaraswamy
MIS Quarterly 2005
K6213 Reading Topic
20-Sep-2011
Aravind Sesagiri Raamkumar
Nirmala Selvaraju

2. AGENDA
• Objective of the article
• Key KM topics
• Infosys trivia
• KM in Infosys
• Virtuous and Vicious Circles
• Conclusion
• Key takeaways from the article

3. Objective of the article
• To showcase the diverse and dynamic nature
of KM in an organization
– Through a longitudinal study conducted using a system
perspective approach
• To highlight virtuous and vicious circles
formed as a result of KM processes and the
strategies for steering away from virtuous
circles

4. Key KM Topics - Dynamics

5. Infosys Trivia
IndIa’s 2nd largest IT company
2004
• US 1 billion dollar company
• 23000 employees
• Global development centers
• NASDAQ listed
• 30 % growth YOY
• Asian and Global MAKE AWARD winner
Research group conducted 56 interviews over
a period of 3 years between 2001 and 2004
KM group were primarily selected for repeated interviews during the period

6. Philosophy of KM in Infosys
Motto - ”Learn once,use anywhere”
• Knowledge = Currency of new millennium
• Employees recruited with learnability skills
• One among the few companies in the world that values and
reports its human capital on its balance sheet
• Knowledge Maturity Model
• Asking Culture
• Rich Informal Social Networks

7. KM through the years in Infosys

8. Virtuous and Vicious Circles in totality
“The very same mutually causal processes that have the potential to generate a
virtuous circle can just as easily generate a vicious one”

9. Virtuous Circles
Individual Group
 Communities
 Reflect-in-action
 Different Epistomologies
 Learning-by-doing
 Shared Division of
 Single and Double Loop
Labour
learning
 Innovative Solutions
 Increased Contributions
 Collective Intelligence  Dynamic Balance
 Adaptive Structuration  Pre-defined templates
 Dynamic Capabilities
‘K’ Initiatives CMM

10. Vicious Circles
Market for Knowledge
o Extraneous contributions
o Less number of reviewers
o Information overload
Reduced Knowledge Re-
use Archetype Employees
o Too much of emphasis on
o Codification becomes
Knowledge Creation
counterproductive
o Knowledge reusability
o Abstract Knowledge
impaired

11. Vicious Circles can be inherent in KM
systems
• Vicarious effect between
1 levels
• Symbiotic relationships
2 across levels amplifies
process effects
• Impairing effects from
3 specific initiatives are not
immediately visible

12. Steering out of & around Vicious
Circles
Steering out of Vicious circles
 Deviation Amplifying feedback
• Identify and decoupling process (ex: KShop and
incentives scheme )
• Deviation counteracting feedbacks (ex: KM prime
and Knowledge Champions)
Steering around Vicious circles
• Awareness towards intangible effects of KM
• Distribution of roles & responsibilities between
Knowledge Managers within KM group
• Knowledge of diverse functions across the organization

13. Implications and Conclusion
• An organization’s knowledge system comprises mutually causal
processes that unfold at and across different organizational levels.
• These mutually causal processes generate opposing forces that
need to be balanced dynamically to generate a virtuous circle
• An organization’s knowledge system contains seeds of its own
destruction, as the very initiatives that the organization
undertakes to generate
• A virtuous circle have the potential to generate vicious circles as
well
• Knowledge managers must intervene processually to steer their
organization’s knowledge system around and out of vicious circles
that are bound to emerge

14. Key Takeaways from the article
• Unique in terms of its study method – systems perspective
and longitudinal study
• KM is an evolving process which needs constant monitoring
• Clear distinctions should be made between the objectives of
KM at individual, group and organisational levels
• Socio-psychological and Socio-technical effects need to be
taken into consideration
• Methodologies suggested by KM academicians and
practitioners need to be referred before starting a KM
implementation

15. QUESTIONS?

16. THANK YOU