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IBM’s Knowledge Management Proposal for the Ontario Ministry of Education

Executive Summary

In the early 2000s, the Ontario Ministry of Education contracted IBM in order to find a solution to its poor knowledge management. After having examined the organization thoroughly, IBM consultants found five drawbacks: “much of the ministries’ knowledge was tacit, documented knowledge was difficult to locate and share, there were significant cultural issues that inhibited knowledge sharing, EDU has a week knowledge-sharing infrastructure, and managers could not readily identify experts in relevant fields”. As a result, Kathryn Everest, a knowledge management consultant at IBM Canada, developed three options that would be beneficial to the organization and possibly resolve the problems mentioned above. They included document management, communities of practice, and the creation of an expert directory. After much time spent determining which option, or combination of options, would be most beneficial as well as the best implementation plan,

Issue Statement

International Business Machines (IBM) was founded in New York in 1911 through the merger of three smaller companies and has come to be one of the most profitable and internationally recognized “provider[s] of technology products, services and management consulting.” IBM Canada, headquartered in Markham, Ontario, is responsible for “marketing and service of IBM products” throughout the country. In 1999, IBM created its Knowledge and Organizational Forum, in which both private and public sector organizations come together in order to discuss and “conduct pragmatic research on the growing scope and impact of knowledge-related initiatives…” In the early 2000s, the Ontario Ministry of Education (EDU) contracted IBM to “provide an overview of current practices in knowledge management.” Kathryn

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