Essay: Information and knowledge management policy in CellTech

MODULE TITLE:

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE COMMUNICATION INFORMATION AND BEHAVIOUR

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Working document for information and knowledge management policy in CellTech

Abstract

The biotechnology companies need to be more astute about R&D in context with technology and operational models. The company’s high efficiency is based on technology platform in which the research is carried out. Organisation to defend and improve their knowledge creation capabilities based on their organisational structure and culture. The proper balance between exploitation and exploration required for the Knowledge Management. Knowledge management is the balance process between activities within the organisation and understanding the knowledge management level of the competitor. Thus, a biotechnology company’s ability to prefer which knowledge expertise wisely and will have a large impact on the organization performance in terms of time to market, productivity and product quality. The environment of drug discovery and development has rendered innovative capabilities of a biotechnology company further uncertain since it is influenced by financing and competitive constraints requiring enormous R&D investments with uncertain pay-offs.

Introduction

Developing an information and knowledge management policy working document for CellTech. Knowledge management policy is important for the organisation to reach their desire goal. There are large numbers of knowledge management policy available in the market with different framework, but choosing best framework that suits Organisation. CellTech is one of the largest and growing organisations in biotechnology firms. It had various stages of development in the past. This working document will focus on five important frameworks. This framework analysed on various industries and produced good results in different environment. The frameworks that are applied at organisation as whole are, Mckinsey 7s for organisational issues, the cultural web framework for cultural issues in the organisation, SECI for processing knowledge. The frameworks that are applied on project level are, Boisot I-space and Kolb learning cycle

About CellTech

CellTech was founded in 1980 as UK’s first biotechnology company. By 1987, it had consolidated focus on the innovation and production of novel therapeutic products during this period it had a strong foundation of a contract manufacturing with generated the company’s revenue. Investors wanted increased in research productivity in its pipeline and the Share holders were unhappy because it had only one product in clinical trials. Our case study documents the decline of CellTech, its rebirth from near bankruptcy in 1990 and its successive ability to flourish to become the European Union’s eighth largest biotech firm in terms of market capitalization. In the start of 1990’s it begin to focus more on R&D for human consumption drugs. Contract manufacturing and development was made into a separate company known as CellTech biologics and CellTech therapeutics. CellTech therapeutics exclusively for research and development. In 1996 CellTech biologics was sold for 50 million pounds to the Swiss firm Alusuisse-Lonza. By the end of 1996 CellTech had a strong financial position in the United Kingdom biotech sector (Had a market capitalisation of over �362 million).

Knowledge Management:

Wiig (1993) proposed his Knowledge Management model with a principle which states that, knowledge can be useful if it is well organised.

Mckinsey 7s frame work.

What is the first thing that pops in your mind when you hear the term organisational modelling? A great many people refer to the classic phrase coined by the McKinsey organization. Organization to perform well, the Mckinsey 7s model needs all seven S elements to work together and mutually support. This model analyse the organisations current situation and future situation can be projected. Suggesting the issues needed to improve the performance to ensure effectiveness in the organisation work and reach the companies pooled goals.

It has been argued that strategic alliances may be the preferred choice of external technology acquisition over other modes of collaborations such as mergers & acquisitions as only desired resources are acquired (Das and Teng, 2000).

The McKinsey 7Ss model is one that can be applied to CellTech organizational issue. Inconsistency in an organisation can be identified between some of the elements and once the inconsistency is relieved the internal elements could be aligned.

Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation in a long term perspective to build and maintain competitive advantage.

Structure: Organised need of the business to be in a specific shape to dependent on their culture and objectives.

Systems: systems or internal processes to support organisation to run day-to-day procedures.

Shared Values:called “super ordinate goals” when the model was first developed, these are the core values of the company that are evidenced in the corporate culture and the general work ethic.

Staff: The assigned task which is given by the superior officer are carried out by a staff. The assigned task which is given by the superior officer are carried out by a staff.

Skills: Skills of the employees can determine the organisational growth and increase the knowledge asset for the organisation.

Style: All organisations have their own discrete culture and supervision style. Cultural style of the organisation and how key managers behave in achieving the organisations goal. Collaborators in CellTech play a major role. CellTech plays a safe game with collaborator. Although there now exists a body of work on external knowledge acquisition in the innovation literature, much of it tends to focus mainly on the scientific division of labour between major pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies, universities and public research institutes. (Henderson and Cockburn, 1996).

Kolb Learning Cycle

In CellTech according to Mckinsey 7s frame work “Hard” elements (Strategy, Structure and Systems) are consistent and aligned properly. Strategy is to focus more on product oriented research rather than technology oriented research. Their flatter structure in the organisation and review system support for projects support their strategic goal. The review system for individual project can further be strengthening by adding more experiential researches in the review panel. Skills, styles and staff are soft ‘S’ elements that affect CellTech. Their is no balance between exploration and exploitation. In the present satiation exploration dominates exploitation that this increases the probability of firm failure. This renewal occurred not by intensifying the firm’s focus on the exploitation of organizational knowledge, but rather by refocusing on exploration.

Hard Elements	Soft Elements
Strategy Structure Systems	Shared Values Skills Style Staff

Exploration is defined as “Innovation is essential to the competitive survival and lays the foundation of a biotechnology company’s strategy formulation in transforming knowledge-based assets into marketed products.” (Nicholls-Nixon and Woo, 2003;).

Exploitation is defined as ‘the use and development of things already known’ by Levinthal (1993).Exploitation is more faster and clear feedback than exploration and productivity of is more towards exploitation with positive results. Organisation success depends on the balance between exploration and exploitation can be defined as doing thing that we already know. In matured organizations exploitation and exploration tend to be balanced, but in the case of CellTech exploration tends to dominate exploitation. CellTech focused around a strategy which enabled the CellTech to escape the gravity of exploitation and move towards a model of financially successful exploration.

“Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand.”Putt’s Law

The Cultural Web

Whether one can experience the culture in organisation or not, you know that culture exists in the organisation. It moves around the organisation in air and pressure work that critically affects . success or failure of project can be found . The Cultural Web, in 1992 Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes developed the powerful tool known as cultural web. This provides approach for seem at your CellTech culture. Using it, assumptions and practices practice can be analysed , and it works inter related to each other.

Factors can analysis project wealth, It helps us look at the complete picture of the organisation .How is working, how isn’t working, and how needs to be changed.

The paradigm it is set of belief in the heart which reflects from the variety of discussion and which preserve the harmony of the organisation culture. The ‘petals’ are the expression of culture which is the outcome from the influence of the paradigm.

“A paradigm is a gathering of concepts, values, perceptions and practices shared by a people in an organisation, which forms a particular vision of reality that is the basis of the way a organisation manages itself.”(Capra 1997:6)

Routines, The way members behave towards each other in an organisation and thinks people do around the organisation in day today life.

Rituals Training programmes, promotion and assessment point imply the rituals of the organisation.

The stories are history about the organisation that is spoken by the insiders and outsiders. Mark the important events and personalities.

Symbolic characteristic of an organisation such as costumes, car, office layout, language and terminology commonly used.

The formalised controlled systems that measure and reward researchers. The system that monitors and highlights the importance in the an organisation.

Power structures Effective grouping of the managers in an organisation that constitutes power structures.

Organisational structure is likely to reflect flow of the power and the nature of the structure.

Issues that can be driven out from cultural web.

• Researchers lack in interdisciplinary capability which are essential for development of innovative drugs to be successful.
• Distinctive competencies among researchers are not beneficial organisational competency.
• Reorganation flatter structure for more interaction among the various research groups.
• Non Synchronisation between the new employees and old employees (old club) will not produce a effective organisation, their should be change in the system to organise people for social gathering and informal interaction for better understanding.
• Common language should be maintained by a staff for a effective communication. This helps in converting the tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge

“For new knowledge to be created and current knowledge to be integrated across the organization, there needs to be investment in a shared language amongst the individuals involved” (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995).

• Rapid learning tendency of staff need to be develop ed and tendency to maintain balance between exploration and exploitation.
• Motivation and assessing individual performance to upraise for his contribution.

These issues mounted because Scientists support for reorganisation was not to the full extend. Old club members found difficult in changing from technology research towards productive research and also the change in the disciplinary structure from hierarchy to flatter. The language and different mindsets of understanding between other disciplines teams.

Knowledge management approaches

CellTech can emphasize on two fundamental knowledge management approaches. To indentify what kind of knowledge does individual own and knowing the level of knowledge transfer occurs in an organisation can emphasize the tacit knowledge approach. Explicit knowledge approach emphasize on articulating individuals knowledge. “Knowledge Management is the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets” -meridith levinson

Tacit Knowledge Approach

Knowledge is personal in nature and it is difficult to extract. This implies that knowledge available in CellTech large but it is the form of tacit knowledge and remains within the individual in an organisation.

“People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge”, Ikujiro Nonaka(2005) . Managers in the organisation could identify those researchers who possess more tacit knowledge and arranging a meeting other knowledgeable individual to create new knowledge. Issues manager face in an organisation, finding out kind of knowledge does a individual possess. “If we only knew what we know, we could conquer the world.” (Hewlett-Packard, 1980s). Tacit knowledge, a unformed state of expression without a systematic language and which can’t be transferred in the form of data. Tacit Knowledge is more about actions, ideas, values and emotions. “Knowledge Management involves the identification and analysis of available and required knowledge assets and processes. So as to fulfil organizational objectives.” -dr. carl sveiby.

Advantages over CellTech with Tacit Knowledge Approach:

1. Comparatively simple and economical to begin.
2. Response from the employees increase for the recognition.
3. Likely to create interest in further knowledge management processes.
4. Less likely to leak to their competitors.

Disadvantages:

1. Knowledge claim by the individuals may not have.
2. Knowledge profiles need to be updated frequent.
3. Ability to transfer knowledge completely is a constrain.
4. Organization may lose individual tacit knowledge if people leave the organization.

Explicit Knowledge Approach

Knowledge that can be expressed and felt in the form of documentation, drawing or a model know as explicit knowledge. A formal state of expression with systematic language and which can be transferred in the form of data, scientific formulae and etc. If knowledge is explicit then creation of new knowledge can be more structure. Let us consider CDP 571 drug development an example. When a process of CDP 571 drug development in a systematic way then new team could easily reengineer of CDP 571 with improved and more efficient drug. Improved drug design methods meet the product expectations and delivery of project on time. The new manual would pass on to the next team and this process will not affect the movement of the resources.

Advantages over CellTech with Explicit Knowledge Approach:

1. Articulated knowledge can be moved instantly anywhere by information technologies.
2. Codified knowledge may be proactively disseminated to people who can use specific forms of knowledge.
3. Explicit Knowledge can be discussed, debated, and improved.
4. Knowledge deficiencies can be discovered in the organization.

Disadvantages:

1. To articulate their knowledge time and effort may require.
2. Difficult to maintain the common language articulation.
3. Data can be transferred easily to competitors.

SECI

Nonaka’s work indicates the knowledge creation central role of spiral in social process’, which he views as a key to the success of firms (Nonaka 1994).In Nonaka’s view that the firms development capability depends on the conversion process of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. These processes create new knowledge and improve the existing knowledge in the organisation. Nonaka sees transfer tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge or explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge involving a high degree of social interaction. The CellTech new management of paid particular attention to new knowledge managing exploration and exploitation of the existing knowledge derived from series of exploration activities by creating systems to administer drug discovery and development process. In CellTech the management organises both formal and informal meeting for the current projects and the hunt for new research ideas. The combination of the two categories makes it possible to conceptualize four conversion patterns. “Firm’s social system plays an important role in determining the speed and path of learning. “(Simon, 1991).

SECI Knowledge creation model is supported by ‘Ba’s which facilitate the knowledge conversion. Ba is the place where knowledge is created by means of interpreted information. “simply the transfer of knowledge from one person to another, the result of which enables the recipient to benefit from the collected wisdom of the more experienced members of an organization or group.” -Robert Villegas

A cyclical system that enablesan organization to efficiently achieve its objectives by having the ability to transform tacit and explicit learnings into habits, better planning, and execution.

Socialisation.
This process focuses on tacit individual totacit group for knowledge creation. When tacit knowledge goes beyond the boundary, then process of interactions creates new knowledge. A friendly environment creates a place for socialization.

Externalisation.
This process focuses ontacitgroup toexplicit group for knowledgecreation. The group of tacit knowledge creates new knowledge assets on the basis of agreeing in a group.

Combination.
This process focuses onexplicit group toexplicit individual for knowledgecreation. The combination itself defines grouping of different explicit knowledge to conclude an individual explicit knowledge.

Internalisation.
This process focuses onexplicit individual totacit individual for knowledgecreation.

Issues that can derived from CellTech based on SECI.

SECI can help CellTech for converting the tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge but their should be an expert system to monitor these process of documentation and its documents.

“Expert System gained a place on the list for the uniqueness of the semantic technology on which it based a complete offering of products for knowledge management tailored for the specific business needs and flexibility of the clients.” Hugh McKellar, KmWorld Editor in Chief KMWorld 2007 “100 Companies That Matter in Knowledge Management”

The evidence from SECI shows that the organisation is learning in accordance with Peter Senge’s Five Disciplines. According to Peter Senge’s Five Disciplines, organisation is a learning organisation if it satisfies all the five disciplines such as system thinking, Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Vision and Team Learning.

The organisations should learn from their successes and failures to obtain the companies goal. Success of the organisation to be exposed to increase further chance of success and failures should be taken for the creativeness of the organisation and an example for thing of what not to do. Lesson from past experience of failure to be taken into the organisation to ensure the failures of such kind doesn’t repeat it near future.

The Kolb Cycle or The Experiential Learning Cycle or The Learning Cycle.

The Kolb theory was developed for experiential learning. The cycle has distinct learning stylesof four different stages and the process can start at any stage but all stages must be executed in a sequential order for an effective learning to occur. The Experiential Learning Cycle propose that it is not enough to just have an industrial experience in command to learn but It is required to reflect on the experience to create generalisations and invented new idea which can then be applied to new situation. New project then be tested out in this learning.

The CellTech has vast experience in terms of organisation and resource. The Kolb Cycle can produce an effective environment if this cycle could be executed for each individual project.

Active Experimentation

Active experimentation is planning and trying out what you have learned from your past experience. In CellTech, taking up a new project based on their past experience.

Concrete Experience

The ‘Concrete Experience’ is the content derives from which the component ‘doing’ and having a real experience or learning from doing. Doing a clinical trial in an organisation for a discover of drug.

Reflective Observation

The Reflective Observation stage constituent major role in Kolb theory your analysis and judge results of clinical trial. Reviewing and reflecting on the experience about the clinical trial and documenting them.

Abstract Conceptualisation

Concluding the result from the reflective observation we could obtain the plan for next round of clinical trial. The Kolb Cycle is continues process and cycle carry on till the project attains the desire goal.

I-space

I-space is three dimensional information model. It helps in mapping information during a process. “Complex task to Recognizing and handling knowledge which consist in providing relevance and purpose to the available information.” (Boisot, 1998).

Social Learning Cycle (SLC) that uses the I-Space to model the dynamic flow of knowledge through a series of six phases.”Any knowledge representation can be mapped insidetheI-space through this system “(Boisotet al, 2000)

1. Scanning: New drug development project after approval from the review system with data or data from previous analysis of the project.
2. Codification – Identifying the problems for the project that arise and find more structured solution for the issues because knowledge is more codified.
3. Abstraction: Applying the codified solution in a different views where the knowledge codified and abstract.
4. Diffusion: The project executed at the target population.
5. Absorption: The review and analysing the project.
6. Impacting: Aftermath of project where knowledge is diffused and uncodified.

Issues in implementing I-space,

• If the scanning process doesn’t take place properly then the whole process may go wrong.
• Codification of data is difficult.
• Analysis of project should be done in a systematic way with help of expertise in research.
• Impacting of the project can be in both the way. If negative impact on a project, then share holders and collaborators will be the key issues.

Challenges in implementation an information and knowledge management policy.

• Organisational Culture.
• Management support / sponsorship.
• Ambiguity of Collaborator and shareholders.
• Representing business value.
• Change management implications.
• Keeping up with new technologies.
• Security Measures.
• Managers identifying tacit knowledge of a individual.

Conclusion

Considering the long term strategy of product development time line delivery could be achieved by implementing information and knowledge management policy effectively and indeed they are self evident. This is probably better done with Various frameworks have been applied for CellTech and achieved issues affecting the performance of the CellTech which could rectify in the long run business process and not regarded as problematic. Staff, structure and culture that affect the implementation of knowledge management policy to a greater extend. There should be a special team to monitor that this elements doesn’t affects the information and knowledge management policy in the long run.

Reference:

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