Knowledge Driven Profit Improvement

This book presents an innovative and radically logical way of thinking about organizational knowledge and competition that centers on discipline, integration and focus. By tapping into the previously unrealized strengths that lie in all companies, the author suggests that it is possible for companies to move beyond informational chaos to create focused and enticing new opportunities. The 12 step method presented in the first five chapters show you how to take information from feedback from assessments, surveys and audits, convert it into usable knowledge and get bottom line improvements. The strategy expands the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) model into a Plan-Do-Knowledge-Act (PDKA) process. The case studies provided reinforce the principles and the theory behind them. Significant challenges face any organization intent on becoming world-class by managing knowledge effectively. They can be classified into four types: making use of your information by integrating it, organizing the different forms of information into a manageable framework, focusing equal attention on your strengths and your weaknesses, developing decision-making criteria based on key company drivers. The12 steps outlined in Knowledge-Driven Profit Improvement: Implementing Assessment Feedback Using PDKAction Theory will show you how to make your company into a world-class organization. Features Assists companies in becoming more competitive Serves as a guide for companies to use when taking their feedback from assessments, surveys, and audits, then integrating the feedback, and prioritizing it so that financial and operational improvements can be made Allows companies to use the information they have been accruing for years Helps companies establish better business priorities for the purpose of better planning Demonstrates the significance of improvements made by using the information gained from assessments Contents

This book presents an innovative and radically logical way of thinking about organizational knowledge and competition that centers on discipline, integration and focus. By tapping into the previously unrealized strengths that lie in all companies, the author suggests that it is possible for companies to move beyond informational chaos to create focused and enticing new opportunities. The 12 step method presented in the first five chapters show you how to take information from feedback from assessments, surveys and audits, convert it into usable knowledge and get bottom line improvements. The strategy expands the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) model into a Plan-Do-Knowledge-Act (PDKA) process. The case studies provided reinforce the principles and the theory behind them. Significant challenges face any organization intent on becoming world-class by managing knowledge effectively. They can be classified into four types: making use of your information by integrating it, organizing the different forms of information into a manageable framework, focusing equal attention on your strengths and your weaknesses, developing decision-making criteria based on key company drivers. The12 steps outlined in Knowledge-Driven Profit Improvement: Implementing Assessment Feedback Using PDKAction Theory will show you how to make your company into a world-class organization. Features Assists companies in becoming more competitive Serves as a guide for companies to use when taking their feedback from assessments, surveys, and audits, then integrating the feedback, and prioritizing it so that financial and operational improvements can be made Allows companies to use the information they have been accruing for years Helps companies establish better business priorities for the purpose of better planning Demonstrates the significance of improvements made by using the information gained from assessments.

Improving service and profits should be the constant aim of the operation side of any company. Beatriz Muñoz-Seca and Josep Riverola uncover the role of knowledge and problem solving as the cornerstones of the improvement process. They present the logic of the situation and show practical ways to implement the approach. Managing the knowledge process and involving the whole company in problem solving are the keys to success. Also the book presents and develops the concept of Problem Driven Management (PDM) as a new approach to Operations.

The goal of this book is to demonstrate to manufacturing, distributor, and service businesses that there are only seven critical business elements from which continuous improvement projects can be discovered, financially evaluated, and ranked before implementation. They are: Increase sales by increasing the percent of market coverage. Reduce expenses by reducing the percent of labor and non-labor expenses per sales dollar. Reduce lead times to reduce work-in-process inventory investment. Reduce setup costs to minimize product and component inventory investment. Maximize capital asset utilization percent. Minimize asset investment for invoice payment by controlling the collection period within the contracted time period. Maximize employee knowledge worker utilization by empowering them with financial and practical training related to these seven business elements. The information is uniquely organized so it can serve as a frequent reminder for both the experienced and inexperienced of the few principles and financially-based formulas that must be built into company culture if both customers and stockholders are to be satisfied. Project teams are shown how to discover and financially evaluate and rank a vast number of continuous improvement projects.

The primary purpose of this book is to enable you to implement a strategic KM program in your business and derive business results from it. The contents of this book are relevant to any business—manufacturing or service, and also in education, not-for-profit, government, and other types of organizations. This book is written for business leaders and executives. It is particularly addressed to CEOs and senior management to help them understand how they can use KM as a strategy to achieve their business objectives. For KM professionals, the objective of this book is to help them to implement KM with real business results. While this book talks about various concepts related to KM, everything contained in the book is based on first-hand experience of helping the implementation of these concepts at several companies with significant business results, including some Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) award winners. The book largely tells its story through real examples.

The contribution of culture to organizational performance is substantial and quantifiable. In The Culture Cycle, renowned thought leader James Heskett demonstrates how an effective culture can account for 20-30% of the differential in performance compared with "culturally unremarkable" competitors. Drawing on decades of field research and dozens of case studies, Heskett introduces a powerful conceptual framework for managing culture, and shows it at work in a real-world setting. Heskett's "culture cycle" identifies cause-and-effect relationships that are crucial to shaping effective cultures, and demonstrates how to calculate culture's economic value through "Four Rs": referrals, retention, returns to labor, and relationships. This book: Explains how culture evolves, can be shaped and sustained, and serve as the organization's "internal brand." Shows how culture can promote innovation and survival in tough times. Guides leaders in linking culture to strategy and managing forces that challenge it. Shows how to credibly quantify culture's impact on performance, productivity, and profits. Clarifies culture's unique role in mission-driven organizations. A follow-up to the classic Corporate Culture and Performance (authored by Heskett and John Kotter), this is the next indispensable book on organizational culture. "Heskett (emer., Harvard Business School) provides an exhaustive examination of corporate policies, practices, and behaviors in organizations." Summing Up: Recommended. Reprinted with permission from CHOICE, copyright by the American Library Association.

Knowledge management goes beyond data and information capture in computerized health records and ordering systems; it seeks to leverage the experiences of all who interact in healthcare to enhance care delivery, teamwork, and organizational learning. Knowledge management - if envisioned thoughtfully - takes a systemic approach to implementation that includes the embodiment of a learning culture. Knowledge is then used to support that culture and the knowledge workers within it to encourage them to share what they know, thusly enabling their peers, their organizations and ultimately their patients to benefit from their experience to proactively dismantle hierarchy and encourage sharing about what works, and what doesn’t to focus efforts on improvement. Knowledge Management in Healthcare draws on relevant business, clinical and health administration literature plus the analysis of discussions with a variety of clinical, administrative, leadership, patient and information experts. The result is a book that will inform thinking on knowledge access needs to mitigate potential failures, design lasting improvements and support the sharing of what is known to enable work towards attaining high reliability. It can be used as a general tool for leaders and individuals wishing to devise and implement a knowledge-sharing culture in their institution, design innovative activities supporting transparency and communication to strengthen existing programs intended to enhance knowledge sharing behaviours and contribute to high quality, safe care.