MECH9002 | Knowledge Management at ACME Aero Repairs

5) How is this KM system managing knowledge (a) for the individual technician and (b) for the organisation? How would you classify the knowledge that is being managed? (Drawing a diagram of the overall knowledge cycle described in the case will be of help in answering this; show all the actions in the cycle).

6) Make four suggestions on how ACME Aero Repairs might develop their KM System?

7) A competitor, Lingus Air Maintenance, has recently made a bid for the company and the company directors of ACME Aero Repairs appear to be happy to sell the business subject to approval of the shareholders. What kind of challenges do you think that such action might cause for the order entry/KM system currently in use? How would you propose the company deal with such challenges to minimise overall disruption on the company and its customers?

Answer:

1. Reasons to consider the new system as successful KM system

The new KM system that ACME Aero repairs have implemented for checking the information about the entire organization and its working, it has been found that the system had proven to be extremely useful [1]. In several cases where a minimum change could have not made much difference in immediate time span, but would have created a larger problem in the future; the system tends to gather information about them all.

For every specific problem that the organization faces, even if it is a minor one, the system generates plausible advices that would work for the benefit of the company altogether. There have also been incidences where the organization’s previous human analysis of the minor issues have failed to acknowledge any peril regarding the particular matter, but the new KM system have successfully escalated the issues even if they are minor providing plausible solutions [2]. In addition, it requires a solid reason to override the solution that the system provides. Therefore, it is feasible to say that the KM system that ACME has implemented is successful in its operations.

2. Evidence of single or double loop learning in the case study

The KM system that ACME had implemented is an entirely computer-based system. The authority clearly specifies that it would not solely be based on the computerized KM System but will also implement personal discretion while taking decision against any suggestion that the system provides. Therefore, it is a decision that is not solely driven by a unit proposal but goes deeply into the root cause of the issue as generated by the computerized system and provides feedback for it by looking into the past actions [3]. The managers and frontline of the engineers are of the opinion that it might lead into making a mistake if the traditional methods in the business process were changed overnight. Thus, they collectively decided that any decision would be made by combining self-knowledge with that of the system.

3. Diagram stating the steps engineers in ACME Aero Repairs follow to take decisions

Figure 1: Steps for Decision-Making at ACME Aero Repairs

(Source: Created by the Author)

4. Knowledge Management of KM system for:

4.1. An individual technician

The KM system successfully detects the any minor issue that has an ability to create problem in the organization. Starting from trivial problems found in a flickering bulb of the aircraft to further major problems that can arise if the situation is neglected [4]. This system suggests remedial measures that often involve the changing of the entire process. This can be problematic as the solutions may be difficult for an individual technician. There have been incidences noticed in the organization due to this computerized KM system which has reduced airplane bookings of several customers causing further problems for the technicians to handle the situation. It is the viewpoint of these technicians, especially the authorized engineers that only the computerized KM system cannot be entrusted entirely [5]. These engineers, who have been in the authority of making decisions based on the KM system, first takes regards of these issues and their solution raised by the system and then taken own discretion into account for implementing these to the organization. However, if a decision by the system is disregarded, there must be a rational reason to be provided in justification to the system. Therefore, for an individual technician, the new KM system is helpful as well as problematic since it is time consuming.

4.2. The organization

The KM system has its merits as well as demerits in serving the ACME Aero Repairs. The company is heavily benefitted and it has been a remedying approach to implement the KM system in the business process. The organization has faced a situation due to this system where once the automated process had cancelled 18 out of the 200 reservation because they found inconveniences in the bookings. Thus, the company had to go through a distinct amount of issues to solve the matter as a whole [6]. The system also happens to generate more than 300 alerts every day for any trivial issue or minor recommendations and conflict warning it finds while passing through the entire business process of the organization. It has been found after estimating the entire business process that the impact that this KM system has on the safety critical issues and the serious errors are commendable. The error reduction in these cases has seen a reduction range ranging from 55 per cent to 75 per cent as a whole. Thus, the system has only been beneficial from the perspective of the organization.

Figure 2: Working cycle of the KM System

(Source: Created by the Author)

5. Classification of the Knowledge Management in the case study

According to the given case study, the Knowledge management can be classified into the following division:

• Knowledge Discovery Systems:The KM system skillfully detects even the slightest disruption in the business process and technical systems.
• Knowledge Capture Systems:The issues that may seem trivial to the entire organization and may be overlooked by human processes, this computerized KM system effectively captures the minute issues in the system and reports effectively [7].
• Knowledge Sharing Systems:It has also been reported that the system also happens to generate more than 300 alerts every day for any trivial issue or minor recommendations and conflict warning it finds while passing through the entire business process of the organization.
• Knowledge Application Systems:The integrated computerized KM system successfully suggests remedial solutions for each problem it detects, which normally includes changing the entire issue generating complication [8].

6. Four suggestions to see how ACME Aero Repairs might develop their KM System

The following are the suggestions that ACME Aero Repairs might use to further develop their KM system:

• The organization should include a provision in the system that helps in rating the detected issues on the basis of their severity.
• The recommendation based on these issues must not be drastic like, changing the entire system [9]. In addition to this, the system should only suggest remedial measures to severe issues.
• The front-line engineers are expected to feed in the knowledge in the KM system that alerts should be sent to all the people involved in the business based on the issue severity as well as according to the department that the issue is based on [10].
• The KM system should be modified not to generate cancellation of customer booking all at once but to notify them about the inconveniences that is occurring due to these issues.

7. Lingus Air Maintenance

7.1. Challenges of the latest actions on the current KM systems

The current KM system would have several challenges if the system is sold to Lingus Air Maintenance for managing the knowledge for the organization. The challenges are listed as below:

• Since, Lingus is a competitor and overall the KM system has only been beneficial to the organization lest few minor obligations; the competitor would get benefitted by the system leaving a manual knowledge management system for ACME.
• ACME would not be notified further for even the minor issues in the system. This would further become problematic as there could be further major issues if the minor ones are neglected [11].

7.2. Dealing with the challenges to minimize overall disruption

The way by which these challenges could be dealt with can either be not selling the KM system to the competitors at all or by substituting it with a better Knowledge management system [12].

References

[1]J. Bansal and V. Kumar, "Knowledge Management as Strategic Tool for Group of Institutions: A Modular Approach to Library Knowledge Management System", Journal of Knowledge & Communication Management, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 82, 2014.

[2]J. Liebowitz, Successes and failures of knowledge management. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 2016.

[3]H. Lin, "Examining the factors influencing knowledge management system adoption and continuance intention", Knowledge Management Research & Practice, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 389-404, 2013.

[4]I. Saad, C. Rosenthal-Sabroux and F. Gargouri, Information systems for knowledge management. London, UK: ISTE, 2014.

[5]S. Hawamdeh, Knowledge management. New Jersey: World Scientific Pub., 2015.

[6] Laudon, Kenneth C., and Jane P. Laudon. Management information system. Pearson Education India, 2016.

[7] Noboa, Homero L., Kirk H. Drees, and Michael Wenzel. "Automated fault detection and diagnostics in a building management system." U.S. Patent No. 9,606,520. 28 Mar. 2017.

[8] Geisler, Eliezer, and Nilmini Wickramasinghe. Principles of Knowledge Management: Theory, Practice, and Cases: Theory, Practice, and Cases. Routledge, 2015.

[9] Girard, John, and J. Girard. "Defining knowledge management: Toward an applied compendium." Online Journal of Applied Knowledge Management 3.1 (2015): 1-20.

[10] García-Holgado, Alicia, et al. "Analysis and improvement of knowledge management processes in organizations using the business process model notation." Annual Conference of the Global Innovation and Knowledge Academy. Springer, Cham, 2015.

[11] Capilla, Rafael, et al. "10 years of software architecture knowledge management: Practice and future." Journal of Systems and Software 116 (2016): 191-205.

[12] Meihami, Bahram, and Hussein Meihami. "Knowledge Management a way to gain a competitive advantage in firms (evidence of manufacturing companies)." International letters of social and humanistic sciences 3 (2014): 80-91.