1. Sharpening the Winning Edge:
Leveraging Knowledge
to
Become A Learning Organization
 ASHWANI BHARDWAJ
 G RAVITEJA
 ASHWANI TYAGI
 AARUNI FAUZDAR
1

2. Agenda
 What are Learning Organizations?
 Culture of Learning Vs Learning to build Culture
 How does “knowledge” help ?
 Survey`s Findings.
 CASE STUDY
 ROADMAP
 CONCLUSUON
2

3. A Learning Organization
“Organization where people continually
expand their capacity to create the result
they trully desire, where new and
expansive patterns of thinking are
nurtured, where collective aspiration is set
free, and where people are continually
learning how learn together” –Peter Senge
3

4. The Learning Organization
 Encourages Continuous Learning
 Promotes Access to Learning
 Maximizes Information Sharing
 Increases Flexible Access to Training
 Works Efficiently Using Interactive
Relationships
 Sees the Big Picture
 Shares a Common Vision
4

5. Tacit versus Explicit Knowledge
Characteristic Tacit Explicit
Nature Personal, context specific Can be codified and explicated
Formalization Difficult to formalize, record, encode, or articulate Can be codified and transmitted in a systematic
and formal language
Development process Trial and error encountered in practice Explication of tacit understanding and
interpretation of information
Location People’s mind Documents, databases, web pages, e-mails,
charts, etc.
Conversion process Converted to explicit through externalization that is Converted back to tacit through understanding and
often driven by metaphors and analogy absorption
IT support Hard to manage, share, or support with IT Well supported by existing IT
Medium needed Needs a rich communication medium Can be transferred through conventional electronic
channel
5

6. Why people do not share what they
Solutions
know? Causes Cultural Rewards
Knowledge hoarding is considered a source of job 
security
Fear of not getting credit and suspicion  
Loss of ownership of expertise 
Fear of making mistakes  
Lack of comprehension of value of possessed 
knowledge
Lack of knowledge sharing mechanisms 
Lack of time to share insights, knowledge, “war stories” 
and experiences
Unwillingness to use existing technology to share  
knowledge
6

7. The Self-Design Strategy
Laying the Foundation
Acquiring Implementing
Knowledge and
Designing
Assessing
Diagnosing Valuing
7

8. Organization Learning:
An Integrative Framework
Organization Learning Knowledge Management Competitive
Strategy
Organization Organization Organization Organization
Characteristics Learning Processes Knowledge Performance
Structure Discovery Tacit
Information Invention Explicit
Systems Production
HR Practices Generalization
Culture
Leadership 8

9. Stage 3
Pilots and
KM Stage 5
Initiatives
Institutionalize
Stage 1
KM
Getting
Started Stage 4
Stage 2 Expand
and
Explore and
Support
Experiment
9

10. KM Benefits
10

11. Shift from Instructor-Led Training to
eLearning
11
(IDC, 2001)

12. KM: Dimensions
12

13. Individual Dimension
 Give individuals the time to learn.
 See the distribution of work from the lens of development and
learning. Do not ask simply, Who can get the job done? Ask Who
can get the job done and learn along the way?
 Assess performance with a view to learning and development too –
Ask both What has the individual done? and What has the individual
learned? Give weight to both in any formal or informal assessment.
 Select and develop for competencies that support a learning
organization – active listening, mentoring, coaching, etc, and focus
management and leadership development accordingly.
13

14.  Give managers the time to function as
learning coaches.
 Create incentives and rewards for individual
learning.
 Create incentives and rewards for managers
as learning coaches.
14

15. TEAM DIMENSION
•Support diversity of viewpoints (challenge the
accepted wisdom – inform strategy with
debate).
• Encourage dialogue as a standard for group
conversations and deliberations.
• Focus on building a learning culture within
teams, especially the executive team.
15

16. TEAM DIMENSION
 Get senior executives to embrace the ideal of a learning
organization.
 See learning as connected to the strategic future of the
organization: Where do we have to be in five years and how do we
have to develop people now to get there?
 Ask What does the organization need to know that it does not
know? What are its areas of crucial ignorance? Note, these areas
of ignorance could include itself. It is unwise to assume that
organization is self-aware.
 See such processes as strategic planning, environment scanning,
foresighting, and organizational culture assessment as learning
processes. Distribute the knowledge across the organization so
that individuals and teams can learn about the organization
16

17.  Review the organizational culture particularly with a view to
describing its learning capacity, focusing on individuals, groups,
and the organization itself – an organizational learning
diagnostic. Share it across the organization so that individuals
and teams can learn.
 Focus on the learning culture of the executive team.
 Develop executives to exemplify the desired learning culture.
 Give executives the time to learn.
 Reward executives who learn and who promote learning.
 Prepare a strategy for building the learning organization and
see its implementation as an exercise in change leadership and
organizational learning.
17

18. Key Learning
 All types of cultures can be leveraged for learning
 Stage in the organizational life determines culture and learning
 Doing cultures succeed in the short run
 Learning cultures last in the long run
 Learning is yet to be a ‘structured’ as a business driver
 Business case for learning is yet to be powerfully built by L&D / HR
 Bandwagon mindset dilutes the case for serious learning programs
 Learning and Doing feed on each other.
 Culture must fit learning objectives, else it can hinder
18

19. Culture of Learning Vs Learning for Culture
 Organizations are usually caught between the two :
 You need a supportive culture to encourage learning
 You need a learning orientation to create a culture
 Successful leaders find a way to break this vicious cycle
Learning is useless without doing.
Doing well is impossible without effective learning
19

20. Stimulate Learning
 Horizon award scheme- Increase of prize
money
 Encouraging young executives to pursue
certified course in project management by
reducing eligibility from 7 to 5 years.
20

21. Shared visions
Shared Vision
evolves
Personal 1
Personal 2
Personal 3
21

22. CASE STUDY
22

23. TATA STEEL
“Tata Steel enters the new millennium with the
confidence of learning and knowledge based
organization…..”
Head Knowledge Management,
Tata Steel.
23

24. 24

25. 25

26. Stakeholders in KM at
TATA Steel
 Senior Management
 Officers
 Employees (Supervisors & Workmen)
 Customers
 Suppliers
 Experts (In & outside company)
26

27. Knowledge Transfer at
TATA Steel
 Opportunity of knowledge transfer
 Day-to-day operation
 Learning from failure
 Published Papers by employees (National and
International publications)
 Task Force/Consultant/Technical Groups
 Engineering Project
 Knowledge Sharing across the value chain.
 Knowledge generated through Suggestions,
Small Group Activity, etc.
27

28. Knowledge Transfer at
TATA Steel
 Instruments of Knowledge Transfer
 Knowledge Contribution by an individual
 Ask Author
 Ask Expert
 Knowledge Usage
 Communities of Practice
 Content Management
 Involving shop-floor employees in KM
28

29. AWARDS & ACCOLADES
 TATA STEEL- Winner of MAKE ASIA 2003 AW
 TATA STEEL- Winner of MAKE ASIA 2004 Awa
 TATA STEEL- Winner of the first Indian
MAKE Award, 2005
 TATA STEEL- Ranked as no.1 in
2006,Indian MAKE Survey
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30. ROAD MAP FOR
NTPC
30

31. Why Knowledge Management
for NTPC
NTPC’s Knowledge Management imperatives are derived from its Strategic
Objectives and HR vision of becoming a “Learning Organization”
Strategic Objectives Knowledge Management Imperatives
Plan and expeditiously
Improve engineering and project construction lead
implement power
projects
time past knowledge and experience
Operate power
Reduce operations and maintenance costs and
stations economically
and efficiently
improve work practices by sharing ideas
Diversify and grow Capture external knowledge and leverage
into new areas experiential knowledge for commercial purposes
31

32. NTPC has accumulated a VAST KNOWLEDGE BASE across all its value
chain elements…
New Capacity Power
Planning Engineering Collection
Creation Generation
• Government • Feasibility reports • Project planning • Operations and • Billing and
Key liaison • Plant configuration • Project execution dispatch collection
• Strategy design System • Project • Maintenance • Tariff setting
Business
Formulation engineering commissioning • Procurement and filing
Processes • Quality control
• Annual plans • Inventory
and • New business • Technical
management
Activities development
evaluation of
vendors
• Explicit and • Cost engineering • Package wise • Operating and • Regulatory
tacit for feasibility project execution Maintenance guidelines
stakeholder reports activities procedures • Customer
requirements • Product • Activity • Troubleshooting requirements
• Regulatory specifications dependence- serial
Residing requirements • Detailed vs parallel
Knowledge engineering civil • Timelines for
Base in plans, mechanical, each activity; key
NTPC electrical, C&I milestones
(examples) • Quality tests and • Testing and
clearance points schedules
for QA • Commissioning
schedules
32

33. Present Set-up in NTPC
 Online: i) KM portal on CC Intranet
ii) Engineer’s Forum
iii) ERP KM Implementation in progress
iv) IPON Launched
 Team Events like NOCET, PC, QC, Business minds
 In-House journals like Horizon, Power Scan
 Reports: Project completion Reports, Case studies
 Mentoring & Reverse Mentoring, Technical and
managerial training.
33

34. Characteristics to be
Adopted
34

35. Characteristics Description
Exhibits top-level
commitment to learning  Ensures that resources and facilities for self-development will be available to
employees – including resources outside of formal classroom training, such as
coaching, mentoring, feedback and counseling.
Commitment from the top of the organization sends signals to employees that
organization highly values learning
Fosters continuous
Organization allows staff to question current and past assumptions, unlearn
learning, unlearning and
relearning outdated techniques and relearn latest processes and systems
 Leaders do not “cling” to old techniques
Practices workplace Organization allows employees to proactively identify problems and take steps
democracy
to solve them
Leaders recognize that leadership does not involve monopolization, but rather
liberation
Undertakes environmental
monitoring Organization studies customers, suppliers, competitors, government policies,
technology producers and economic conditions to assess their implications on
the organization’s current and future business
35

36. Characteristics Description
Utilises Information technology as an
enabling tool  Utilizes user-friendly information systems to capture, store
and share knowledge throughout the organization
 Groups of employees share knowledge, skills and experiences
Encourages team learning with each other
 Team environments stimulate new perspectives and
innovations
Translates training and learning into  Managers monitor effectiveness of training and learning by
practice assessing employee’s degree of application of new techniques
and methods
 Organization measures individual or team performance and
rewards them accordingly based upon performance through
the reward schemes presented below :-
Ties rewards to performance
- Bonuses
- Promotion
- Profit sharing schemes
- Rewards for development of special skills
36

37. CONCLUSION
“the journey of miles start with
the advancement of a step”
37

38. Thank you for your kind participation.
ANY QUERIES PLEASE…
38

39. To fulfill its objective of becoming a “Learning organisation”, we are developing an
integrated Knowledge Management System
NTPC’s Knowledge Management System would focus on three critical
aspects
Description
• Subscription/membership to domain
External specific industry reports
Knowledge • Subscription/membership to domain
specific technology journals
• Capturing trends in the external
environment (international and national)
NTPC
Internal • Capturing and assimilating explicit and
Knowledge
Knowledge tacit knowledge residing within NTPC
Management • Making the captured knowledge
System
available to employees for re-use
• Updating internal knowledge
• Chat
Collaborative •
Message boards
Tools • Polls
39

40. The Knowledge Management System would be driven by the KM process
Initial Identify knowledge Identify domain leaders Identify affinity group
Decisions domains in NTPC for each domain members
What knowledge does Who will lead the Who will actively structure and
NTPC have? knowledge domain? contribute to the knowledge
base?
Initiate the Internal KM process
Knowledge Update - Affinity
groups and users contribute to
knowledge database
Categorise knowledge
User Affinity
• Approach, Tools, Templates,
Groups
Guiding Principles, Best
Practices etc.
Access knowledge Knowledge
Management
User Process
Domain Leaders and Affinity Group
Upload knowledge on the Identify and assimilate
network; create knowledge knowledge elements for each
catalogues category and submit
40

41. KM process steps will comprise assimilation of knowledge from various locations and
uploading on the KM intranet for dissemination
1 Identify and
CKO appoint domain
leaders
2 6 7 8
Identify and Capture Classify knowledge,
Domain Submit documents for
appoint affinity knowledge create categories
Leaders uploading the
groups at each from all – Location wise
knowledge intranet
plant locations – Type of knowledge
3 5
Affinity Seek and Assimilate Electronically submit
Groups knowledge in the captured knowledge to
(at respective domains domain leaders
plants)
4 10
Submit knowledge Users download
Employees capture documents to knowledge
(at plants) affinity groups in their documents at all
respective locations locations
IT Deptt. Set up company wide 9
Upload documents on
/Core Team intranet and KM Structure the database
the intranet
(at CC) application
41

42. Case Examples: Global Utility companies are becoming learning organisationsCompanies
Case Study: KM in Utility by
adopting Knowledge Management Systems
Global Utility Company KM Initiative Benefits
Set up an enterprise wide • Improved access to drawings
integrated document and engineering information
management system across resulting in reduced engineering
geographies lead-times
• Improved information sharing
Set up an enterprise wide across 20,000 users
KM system to become a • Efficient decision making
learning organisation processes
Set up a KM system in the • Sharing maintenance best
drilling and refining practices across refineries
businesses across • Reduced costs by $ 2 bn over the
geographies last 7 years
• Reduced cycle time by 12% - 20%
Implemented a KM • Improved productivity through
British system to manage efficient re-use of knowledge
documents and drawings • Timely sharing of information
Petroleum
across various oilfields across geographies
42
Source: A.T. Kearney Research

43. The Knowledge Management System would provide several benefits to the
organisation
 Develop NTPC into a learning organisation by creating a culture of
knowledge sharing
 Build an environment of trust and openness
 Prevent “re-inventing the wheel” – reduce employee effort to seek
knowledge and experience
 Improve efficiency – employees spend more time in analysing rather than
in searching for information
 Reduce leadtime in business processes and day-to-day activities
 Reduce cost through sharing of ideas and best practices across plants
 Capitalise on external knowledge for identifying revenue enhancement
opportunities for NTPC
43

44. Q&A
44

45. 45

46. The knowledge management process
Demonstrat
Stor e Value
Acquire e Deplo
Add y
Valu
e Clients
Provide Infrastructure
Learn
Input
E&Y teams
07/05/09 LEADING INNOVATION

47. Present Status of NTPC
 ERP implementation – In Progress
 Idea Portal of NTPC(IPON) Launched.
 Presently Knowledge acquisition and creation
phase is going on.
 Engineer’s Forum implemented.
47

48. Knowledge Tools
 KWeb (Knowledge Web)
 Internal sites
 External sites
 CBK (Center for Business Knowledge)
 Self-serve knowledge environment
 Assisted research environment
 Provides knowledge-sharing solutions
48

49. EY Home Page
49

50. 50

51. Learning Tools
 EY Learning
Connection (for all
employees)
 EY Learning Content
Repository (for
trainers)
51

52. Learning Portal
52

53.  THE SURVEY SHOULD COVER THE FOLLOWING
ASPECTS. 1. The present status of NTPC as a
learning organisation. 2.Whether the organisation
stimutates learning. 3. If ,yes, in what sense? How it
is effective and what is the improvement or
advantage it gives to the organisation to have edge
over others. 4. If ,no, then where to attack and what
strategy to be adopted. 5. Road map to achieve the
target.
53

54. CHALLENGES
 Capture and Structure Knowledge
 Create Knowledge Sharing
Environment and IT Enablers
 Disseminate and Apply
Knowledge
54

55. NTPC has accumulated a vast knowledgebase across all its value chain elements…
New Capacity Power Generation
Planning Engineering Collection
Creation and Dispatch
Key Business • Government • Feasibility reports • Project planning • Operations and • Billing and
Processes liaison • Plant configuration • Project execution dispatch collection
• Strategy design; package • Project commissioning • Maintenance • Tariff setting
and • Procurement
Formulation definition and filing
Activities • Annual plans • System engineering • Inventory
• New business • Quality control management
development • Technical evaluation
of vendors
• Explicit and tacit • Cost engineering for • Package wise project • Operating and • Regulatory
Residing
stakeholder feasibility reports execution activities Maintenance guidelines
Knowledge requirements • Plant Performance • Activity dependence- procedures • Customer
Base in • Regulatory specifications serial vs parallel • Troubleshooting requirements
NTPC requirements • Product specifications • Timelines for each
(examples) • Detailed engineering activity; key
plan of civil, milestones
mechanical and • Testing and schedules
electrical • Commissioning
• Quality tests and schedules
clearance points for
QA
55

56. There are significant challenges for NTPC to effectively manage its accumulated knowledge
base
Steps in Knowledge Management
Create Knowledge Sharing Disseminate and Apply
Capture and Structure Knowledge
Environment and IT Enablers Knowledge
 Learning and experiences are not captured  Lack of enabling IT systems to  Knowledge and experience
and summarized; referring to past enable speedy retrieval of resides with individuals;
documents makes re-use of past knowledge across levels, sharing is relationship based
experiences cumbersome functions and geographies
 Project completion reports
 Conversion of past documents
 Tacit knowledge residing with individuals that capture the learning of
from hard formats into soft
is not documented formats requires significant effort each project are not
• Experiences of addressing various adequately shared across
Key Challenges
stakeholders interests (government  Inadequate communication across plants
agencies, NGOs etc.) for project functions inhibits knowledge
sharing  Past documents (proposals,
approvals have not been documented
project reports etc.) are stored
 No processes to create awareness
 Inadequate communication across manually or on local PCs
about the existing knowledge base
functions, levels and geographies inhibits across functions and geographies making it difficult for them to
knowledge updation be shared across the
 No recognition and rewards for functions, levels and
 No formal process for classification and contributions to knowledge
geographies
codification of knowledge resulting in management
difficulties in knowledge retrieval
 Past knowledge not adequately used to
develop and update methodologies and
guidelines for improving work efficiency
56
Source: Cross functional interviews with NTPC employees; A.T. Kearney assessment

57. Why Knowledge Management for
NTPC
NTPC’s Knowledge Management imperatives are derived from its Strategic Objectives
and HR vision of becoming a “Learning Organisation”
Strategic Objectives Knowledge Management Imperatives
Plan and expeditiously Improve engineering and project construction lead
implement power time and reduce cost through efficient re-use of past
projects knowledge and experience
Operate power Reduce operations and maintenance costs and
stations economically improve work practices by sharing ideas and best
and efficiently practices across plants
Capture external knowledge of regulatory
Diversify and grow environment, competitive environment , leverage
into new areas
experiential knowledge for commercial purposes
57

58. NTPC’s Knowledge Management imperatives are derived from its Strategic Objectives
and HR vision of becoming a “Learning Organisation”
Process of creating, structuring and leveraging collective know-
Knowledge Management how, experience and wisdom of an organization to improve
business performance
Why Knowledge Management for
NTPC
Strategic Objectives Knowledge Management Imperatives
Plan and expeditiously Improve engineering and project construction lead
implement power time and reduce cost through efficient re-use of past
projects knowledge and experience
Operate power Reduce operations and maintenance costs and
stations economically improve work practices by sharing ideas and best
and efficiently practices across plants
Capture external knowledge of regulatory
Diversify and grow environment, competitive environment , leverage
into new areas
experiential knowledge for commercial purposes
58

59. 59