Print version Recommend this page Press release
07/ 2005
Bonn, 17.02.2005
Companies (still) have trouble coming to terms with knowledge management!
One consequence of the dynamism of the markets and rapid technical progress is that knowledge within a company quickly goes out of date! Anyone wishing to be (and remain) innovative and com-petitive needs well qualified employees who not only have a wealth of knowledge but above all learn new things quickly and are prepared to pass on their knowledge to and exchange it with their col-leagues. German companies providing training therefore consider their own training to be "very important" in covering their future needs for knowledge. They also place, although not as commonly, value on "knowledge management", i.e. a systematic and targeted use, further development and ex-pansion of the knowledge available within a company as well as of knowledge which constantly has to be acquired. According to the companies themselves, this instrument, which enables the resource of "knowledge" to be dealt with better, has, in companies providing training, already been introduced at least partially in 48% of large companies, 37% of medium-sized enterprises and 28% of small firms. The possibilities of offering innovative information and communication technologies to expand knowledge within the framework of initial and continuing vocational education and training, for ex-ample via e-learning, networked workplaces, knowledge portals, learning platforms and such like re-main, however, far too under exploited. Apart from the classic internal and external seminars, only the internet, data bases and search engines are used to optimise company knowledge.
These are the results of a survey carried out by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) asking how companies react to the rapid depreciation of available knowledge and to the danger of deficits in qualifications. The idea was to find out whether the instruments of knowledge management and the possibilities of information and communication technologies were being used to build up knowledge in a targeted way and for a systematic expansion of knowledge and how this was achieved and evaluated. 01
Further results of the survey:
- When questioned, 60% of the companies of all sizes providing training agreed on the necessity of having their own training, however, the importance of continuing education and training in cover-ing their future needs for knowledge were less highly and above all differently valued. Only 36% of the small firms (fewer than 50 employees), 44% of the medium-sized enterprises (between 50 and 499 employees) and 57% of large companies (500 and more employees) considered this to be "very important" in this context.
- On the other hand, acquisition of knowledge at the workplace is, according to the view of all companies, gaining in importance. The most frequent expectation (37%) is that in-company learn-ing will in future be more closely integrated into work activities and business processes.
- Questioned about the right way to deal with information and knowledge, 36% of the companies surveyed saw the motivation for common acquisition and exchange of knowledge as "very impor-tant" aspects of in-company training work, 42% taking the same view about effective team work and social skills.
- Knowledge management is (not yet) recognised by those questioned as a tool for training work, by means of which knowledge which is available internally can be identified and (new) knowledge can be developed, expanded and used in a targeted way. At present they seem to view it far more as an instrument the handling of which requires special skills on the part of the employees.
For further results of the survey, see Information No. 27 of the Federal Institute for Vocational Educa-tion and Training (BIBB) "Reference Company System": "In-Company Training Work and Knowl-edge", available online under www.bibb.de/de/12366.htm
Hint
The topic of "knowledge management" is the main feature in the current edition 8/2004 of the magazine "LIMPACT (Leading Projects - Information Compact)", the information service of the project sponsor of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research's programme "Innovations in Initial and Continuing Training" (PT-IAW) at the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB). The magazine is available as a pdf document online under www.bibb.de/de/361.htm
