Page 28 - DPSA_SDR Vol12 no1 A4.indd

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY

Serrat (2010) maintains that approaches to knowledge
harvesting generally entail seven steps, as is illustrated in
Figure 1 below:

Figure 1: Knowledge harvesting sub-processes
In brief, the knowledge harvesting process kicks off by An expertise locator not only allows an organisation to derive
identifying vital organisational know-how. This process is information pertaining to the demographics of specific
closely aligned to the second sub-process during which divisions, but also provides them with crucial information e.g.
individuals performing key tasks within an organisation are the number of years to retirement versus years of residence of
identified, as well as their specific know-how. The third sub- key individuals (Figure 2); the level of education of employees
process aims to elicit and capture the identified expertise of within a specific division (Figure 3); what the key skills are in
these key individuals. Subsequently this captured expertise a specific division (Figure 4); as well as which competencies
needs to be organised in such a way that allows other should be developed within the organisation.
individuals to apply the expertise to the same underlying 40
processes across the organisation. Next, the best means of 40 35
packaging the specific knowledge is pinpointed and applied. 35 30 33 30
Finally, it is essential to include a process during which 30 28
the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and 25
impact of this harvested knowledge is evaluated, after which
instruments can be developed to ensure that the needs of Years 20
targeted apprentices are met. 15
10
Knowledge harvesting in the South 5 0 4 3 2 1 1
African public sector 0 Person A Person B Person C Person D Person E Person F

Sum of Years to Retirement Sum of Years in Organisation
The South African public sector appears to be on diverse
levels of maturity when it comes to knowledge harvesting. This Figure 2: Expertise locator - Overview of retirement and tenure
article aims to draw attention to three knowledge-harvesting
techniques that have been implemented successfully within 40
some South African public sector entities: expertise locators, 35 37
social network analysis (SNA) and 3E interviews. 30 35 30
Expertise locators and SNA can be applied to address the 25 29
first two knowledge harvesting sub-processes identified by Number of Staff 20 23
Serrat (2010), which are focus and find, while 3E interviews 15
focus more on the third sub-process of extracting the correct 10
knowledge of identified experts. 5 6 2
0
Expertise locators

Certain South African public sectors have implemented
expertise locators with much success. Information in this Figure 3: Expertise locator - Overview of level of education
tool can be either captured manually or drawn directly from
Enterprise Resource Planning systems e.g. an SAP system,
which makes it fairly easy to maintain.
26 SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 12 No. 1 of 2018