The meaning of knowledge waste is defined by Ferenhof (2011) as any failure in the process of knowledge conversion, better known as spiral of knowledge creation of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1997), which the waste is presented in the following ways: reinvention, lack of system discipline, underutilized people, scatter, hand-off, wishful thinking (Ferenhof, 2011).
This theme can be part of knowledge management audit. Wishful thinking would be a challenge when it comes to identifying indicators.
It should form a good KPI for organizations. But I did not come across any organization that is actively engaging this model. The closes was Microsoft, where we used to have the "front of the funnel" program that targeted the knowledge capturing - but not in a measurable metric way.
GK
http://gopalakrishna.palem.in/
Interesting topic. I believe as well knowledge creation and knowledge metrics are so important in knowledge management inside organizations we need to have the opposite metric, such as how much of knowledge we are loosing or how much knowledge is not well used. I'm interested.
From a knowledge representation point of view, it could be possible to develop metrics to measure this lost.
I have approached the topic from the angle of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM), specifically the ignorance matrix (Armour, 2000; Kerwin, 1993; Schamanek, 2012; UAHSC, 2012) . By extending the original domains of ignorance chart from four sectors to a 3x3 matrix personal memory gaps and losses can be distinguished and visualized in the same manner as the personal learning cycles. The approach results in seven potential wastes and resembles the Muda method introduced by Taiichi Ohno (2007) and successfully applied in Lean Operations Practices. The Muda (Japanese term for waste) method provides a common sense heuristic where the elimination or reduction of waste (assuming overall balance is maintained) is improving the overall status of the whole system. In the PKM context, the wastes manifest themselves in form of lost opportunities (time, money, status) or negatively impacted relationships and well-being.
Figure 9 in the paper (Making Sense of e-Skills at the Dawn of a New Personal Knowledge Management Paradigm) of the attached link depicts the extended nine-sector version with the Ignorance Matrix also showing the related learning cycles and associated wastes (pages 17-20).
A poster also shows my recent survey based on flickr images: "Who needs Personal Knowledge Management anyway and What for?"
Conference Paper Making Sense of e-Skills at the Dawn of a New Personal Knowl...
Conference Paper Who needs Personal Knowledge Management anyway and What for? (Poster)
I am not an expert like many who have answered you already, but i can see how knowledge is easily wasted across an organisation. There are two types of waste: waste by ignorance and waste by non-efficient utilisation. In the first instance, neither the individual nor the organisation (line manager for example) is knowledgeable of the skills, capabilities, talent and so on of the people who could use their IC. In the second case, closely related to the first, the individual is not enabled or allowed, in some cases, to make the best use of the knowledge. Both type of waste have a negative impact on performance (both financial and personal) and can also impact negatively on both the strength of the structural and relational dimension. I can see that states of affairs happening all the time in schools and universities, which are the types of organisations i know best. I wonder whether there is a branch of research which deals with knowledge taste management.
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