Company A - Good KM Hotel

Company B - Bad KM Hotel

People, process, and technology elements are in place to enable everyone to conveniently Share, Innovate, Reuse, Collaborate, and Learn (for the benefit of the  HC, guest and employees)

People, process, and technology elements are not in place they are scattered (or insular / fragmented / work in silos) and thus do not enable everyone to conveniently Share, Innovate, Reuse, Collaborate, and Learn

A single global platform is available, with access to community sites, websites, team sites, content repositories, and collaboration tools

No single global platform is available, with access to community sites, websites, team sites, content repositories, and collaboration tools, but few or a couple of platforms (software / technologies tool) are available as standalone (non-integrated) tools. 

Everyone can interact with the platform in the ways they prefer, including entirely by email, mobile client, desktop client, web browser, RSS feed, etc.

Interaction and use of (if available at all) platform would be limited (to perhaps desktop) to only one channel and interaction will be inconvenient because of non-integration (standalone tools / systems .

A unique global, cross-functional community is available for each major specialty, role, and focus area, with a site, a calendar, frequent events, useful news and content, and active discussions

No cross-functional community is available for each major specialty, role, and focus area, with a site, a calendar, frequent events, useful news and content. Since KM is managed on a “by chance” (by accident) basis (associates of that HC will work side by side and in isolation because they are unaware or believe they are not concerned / not their responsibility).

Everyone belongs to at least one community, including the one most closely aligned to their work, and pays attention to the community's discussions and activities

Everyone is busy with his own job (task) is not sharing and exchanging ideas (knowledge) because there is no community and hence there are not discussions and activities.

Anyone needing help, to answer a question or request, content, an expert, or information on what the HC has done and can do can post in a community discussion board or the Enterprise Social Network (ESN) and receive a helpful reply within 24 hours

Anyone needing help, an answer to question, content, an expert, or information on what the firm has done will struggle to find answers and solutions. Initially employees will try to find the required knowledge in their (friends) network (not colleagues within the HC). If colleagues are contacted and ask for help the may explain one of the following (no reply, sorry don’t know, oh that you can ask the other department or I am not sure I come back to you …after which you not her from him / her again…etc.). There is no supporting infrastructure where you could post or inquire for help.

Everyone can easily find, follow, be made aware of, and share what is going on in the ESN, activity stream, blogosphere, content repositories, etc.

Everyone struggles to find or be made aware of, and share what is going on since there is no supporting infrastructure like ESN, activity stream, blogosphere, content repositories, etc…..

People are recognized, rewarded, and promoted if they Share, Ask, Find, Answer, Recognize, Inform, and Suggest, and leaders set a good example by doing so themselves

Since there is no KM structure and encouragement, hence no recognition, reward, and encouragement for sharing, asking, finding, answers and solutions that would help the company to perform better (efficient)

What one part of the firm knows, the rest of the HC knows; different parts of the firm routinely work together; ideas are solicited and implemented; high levels of trust and transparency exist; leadership engages with all levels of the firm's members; people work out loud and interact with people they didn't know before; and individuals learn effectively.

What one part of the firm knows stay there in isolation (silo), the HC and its employees are not tuned an encouraged to work routinely together; generate ideas. Trust and engagement levels are very low. There is no culture of collaboration and learning from each other.

Decisions are made quickly and effectively, it's easy to find information and resources, open communications are made frequently and widely, redundant effort is avoided, mistakes are not repeated, scarce expertise is made widely available, clients see how knowledge is used for their benefit, sales and delivery are accelerated, innovation and growth are stimulated, morale is high, and the firm's reputation is strong; as a result, the firm thrives

Decisions are made wrongly (because of bad or incomplete knowledge /data) and inefficiently. Associates struggle through labors process to find information and resources. Communications is difficult and limited, mistakes are repeated, expertise is hard to find, clients experience in-efficiently and service delay because of lacking KM (and unconducive work culture); sales and service delivery are slow and cumbersome, the firm’s processes, services (product) and growth froze in time (many years ago). morale is low. The firm's reputation is scrambling; and as a result the firm is just surviving from day to day.

Enterprise Social Networks: Vision

There is one (and only one) global network for all people in the organization.

There is none (or a couple) of global networks for various people/levels in the organization.

There is one (and only one) group for every subject of importance to the organization, its businesses, and its people, and each one of these groups has 200 or more members

There are no groups since the firms focus in absence of infrastructure and culture.

Everyone belongs to at least one group (including the one most relevant to their work), and possibly other groups.

There are no groups since the firms focus in absence of infrastructure and KM culture.

Group members pay attention to the discussions, either by setting email notifications for the group, checking regularly, or other effective methods.

There are no (or few) discussions because there are no groups since the firm lacks focus infrastructure.

Whenever a group member sees a question or a request for a resource to which they can respond with assistance, they do so.

There are no (or few) questions or requests because there are no groups since the firm lacks focus infrastructure.

All group admins actively monitor their groups to ensure that all questions receive an answer within 24 hours.

In absence of infrastructure and groups no monitor and answer.

When other channels (e.g., email), are used to share, ask, or find, those who receive these messages redirect them to the most relevant communities.

In absence of infrastructure and groups no (limited) communication

When someone takes the time to share useful information, they receive positive response in the form of likes, replies, and praise.

In absence of infrastructure and groups no (limited) culture of sharing and subsequently likes or praise.

People post in public groups in the ESN whenever possible, and only use private groups for truly private interactions.

There is no infrastructure and hence no culture of posting.

Leaders routinely post, reply, like, and praise in the ESN, and don't just use it for formal communications or events.

 Leaders do not post, reply, like, praise or communicate formally since the infrastructure is not available.

*The above is an adoption of Garfield (2015 ) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-vision-how-knowledge-management-should-work-stan-garfield/ vision how KM should work turned into tale of the “A the good KM hotel” and the “B the bad KM hotel”.