Idea and Problem Clarification
Problems that confront people and organisations can come in a variety of forms and many offer little indication as to their nature and cause let alone solution. A production team for instance, that simply cannot make necessary targets, may appear to be doing everything right yet somehow more must be done. A company that wishes to develop its services may be unable to see a way forward that can be designed and managed methodically. A potential merger with everything going for it may hide a simple issue that may sink the whole initiative. At a different level, a person may simply wish to choose a holiday that will relax and prepare the individual for some future effort but may not know how to go about making the best choice.
A Knowledge Study method can shed light on a problem or new idea, offer knowledge based options and generally clarify problems and ideas in a methodical way.
Problems and Knowledge
It is valid to ask whether the solution to a problem or exploration of an idea is all about knowledge. The answer is probably not but the knowledge component of situations is often a significant factor. To clarify the knowledge component, even though other issues may be left unattended initially, will shed light on the problem and help to move much closer to a resolution. Another point is that to focus on knowledge initially, provides a starting place where a problem can be addressed with sound method.
Typical Applications
A problem can be thought of as something that is preventing transition from a current state to a desired state. Several thought examples are listed below to give the idea of where a knowledge study approach to problem and idea clarification may prove useful.
The Health Service
The health service may wish to provide better health care for patients. This would be a massive problem definition but nevertheless, one that would certainly be assisted by a knowledge study. For instance, some things that would need to be known if one knew how to provide better health care for patients would be the current state of health care and what would constitute improvement. The study would need to set boundaries such as what things are actually health care and what health issues are not part of care. Even this brief consideration reveals enormous complexity. The value of the knowledge study is to be able to isolate the knowledge components and focus on method that will explore expert level knowledge in this area. Value is also there in the form of the necessity to be clear and unambiguous about what terms for knowledge actually mean and what knowledge is involved.
Industries and Organisations
Many industries and organisations face cutbacks from time to time. Even cutbacks in military personnel in a non wartime environment can give rise to problems. How is it possible to maintain the knowledge necessary to rapidly move to a war footing if very many new recruits must be brought into what has become a relatively small organisation? How can an officer be aware of and learn his or her full range of duties and responsibilities if there are few colleagues of similar grade to consult and all of those in post are very busy? Knowledge study methods would be very appropriate in these cases but the problems themselves are very large. However, these are not the only problems that may be encountered in a military environment. For instance one may wish to consider how to establish effective air defences around a location designated to be at risk from air strike. The problem may be how to protect the area but the knowledge focused question may be, ‘what knowledge is needed in order to know how to establish effective air defences for a given geographical area?’.
Disaster Charity
A disaster charity may be concerned about the problems associated with the rapid mobilisation of appropriate aid following a disaster. Again another very large problem but the same organisation may be faced with the problem of how to continue to attract donations when there is no disaster to create public sympathy. Appropriately drafted knowledge focused questions could lead to effective knowledge studies and therefore problem clarification in either of these areas.
The Game of Rugby League may have identified that a large problem that seems to be preventing progress and development of the game is the lack of suitable qualified and experienced coaches. However, it may be that there is not a shortage of coaches in the game. An appropriate knowledge focused question may be ‘what knowledge is needed in order to know how to coach a rugby league team to the highest international standards?’.
All of these examples could easily translate into a business environment and indeed many more can be thought of. This exercise was simply to provide a flavour for the issue of appropriate applications.
Expectations from Problem or Idea Focused Knowledge Study
Some, and maybe even most, of the useful deliverables could arise during the study rather than at the end after analysis. In certain cases, there may be no need to proceed with analysis because the study process itself may have delivered everything that is required. So what sort of things may be revealed during the study?
- Discussion about the precise wording of the study question may reveal that the problem itself has been thought of incorrectly up to that time.
- A piece of strategic knowledge may be identified that covers an area that was never considered explicitly before.
- Critical knowledge is identified that is poorly understood in house.
- A knowledge area associated with the heart of the current problem is explicitly identified.
- Knowledge dependencies across the problem domain show that a solution to the problem may involve interdisciplinary cooperation.
The list is intended only to show the sort of issues that may arise during the knowledge study process. It is generally unwise to terminate the study when or if a single revelation could be expected to lead to immediate progress. There may be more than one factor at work or the current revelation may not be the main issue and further study may expose this. Interesting revelations should not be allowed to distract the domain experts and the knowledge study expert will need to ensure the work continues to apply methodology correctly.
If the study is to be completed with an analysis then this process can be expected to deliver additional items that may contribute to the resolution of the problem or clarification of the idea.
- The identification of knowledge risk and problem areas within the problem domain:
- Recommendations to protect and develop the knowledge domain:
- Other recommendations derived from the study:
- A complete Knowledge Structure Map of the knowledge area for future reference and planning if an idea is to be developed:
- An individual study support tool to help disseminate knowledge about the knowledge domain to any staff concerned:
It is not possible to be more specific in making claims about the benefits of a knowledge study in the context of specific problems or ideas because each study is likely to reveal unique elements. However, it is still valid to ask if the study can be expected to deliver a solution to a problem.
The answer to this must be evasive because the study would not set out to solve the problem, simply to clarify it. It is reasonable to have strong expectations that the knowledge study would indeed clarify the problem. It is reasonable to expect that this clarification would help those concerned take a significant step towards problem resolution. It is possible that the steps taken towards problem resolution would be enough to trigger an actual solution to the problem in many cases.