HR Professionals and the Law: The What, Why, and How of Awareness of Laws
Why HR Professionals Must be Aware of the Laws of the Land Like all entities, corporates are expected to function according to the laws of the land and they must also follow the various rules and regulations that are in vogue in the specific countries and regions in which they operate. In recent years, noncompliance […]
Special Training Programs
Most of training is either technical or behavioural in nature, but there are still other trainings that are neither. These fall under the ambit of special training programs and are conducted with an agenda of smoothening the work process within the organisation. Workforce diversity can be both positive and negative for the organisation. Positive in […]
Job Design – Meaning, Steps and its Benefits
Job design follows job analysis i.e. it is the next step after job analysis. It aims at outlining and organising tasks, duties and responsibilities into a single unit of work for the achievement of certain objectives. It also outlines the methods and relationships that are essential for the success of a certain job. In simpler […]
Role of Communication in Employee Relationship
A healthy employee relationship ensures a positive environment at work and also helps the employees to achieve their targets at a much faster rate. People are more focussed, can concentrate better in their assignments and hence the output increases. Employees are not engaged in constant fights, are eager to help each other and do not […]
Participation and Performance – Importance of Participation
The greatest and widely accepted benefit of participation is the increased work ownership of employee. An employee is better able to relate himself/herself with his or her work and this improves performance and efficiency at work. John Newstrom and Keith Davis worked extensively upon the subject. They identified three variables that lead to increased performance. […]
We are living in an information age that is characterized by increasing information about everything and anything available anywhere and everywhere. In this context, knowledge management has to be done in a structured and organized manner if redundancies and information overload are to be avoided.
The point here is that the internet has placed information at everyone’s disposal by the click of a mouse. Therefore, the key imperative is to ensure that the vast amount of information is used in a meaningful and organized manner. Otherwise, the risk of being stuck with unnecessary data and redundant information is high. This is the reason why many companies use the internet in a judicious and responsible manner.
For instance, it is common for organizations like 3M (the pioneer in KM) and Infosys to lay down clear and coherent policies about what information can be used from the internet and which information has to be sourced from specialized databases. This means that many of these organizations articulate how the internet can be used as a source of data.
The other reason why many companies are wary of using the internet for information is because of potential copyright issues that might result from using information that is not sourced from holders of the copyright.
This is also the reason why many American and European universities prohibit the use of sites like Wikipedia as sources of information and instead, ask the students to reference the knowledge from premier and academic databases like EBSCO, Emerald Insight, and JSTOR. Similarly, many investment banks and consultancies subscribe to the business databases like Reuters, Bloomberg, and Financial Times store, as these are valid and established sources of information.
The point here is that the internet is like a vast ocean where finding accurate data is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. This is the reason why many KM systems of consultancies, investment banks, and corporates explicitly prohibit their employees from relying too much on the internet for their data and knowledge needs.
By subscribing to premier databases like those that the ones listed above, these companies ensure that the data and the knowledge that they are using is reliable and accurate.
Moreover, the internet has also spawned file sharing and data sharing that is sometimes outside the purview of the existing laws. Therefore, apart from copyright issues, sourcing data from the open internet can also cause piracy charges to be leveled against the companies.
Having said that, it must be remembered that the internet has been a game changer for businesses and individuals as far as knowledge management is concerned. This can be seen in the way major media networks and newspapers often rely on the internet for information. Of course, media houses have dedicated fact checkers who verify the veracity of the information. The case of individuals is different, as they might not know that the statistics they quote and the data they use might not be reliable in the absence of validation and confirmation from independent fact checkers.
Further, even media-persons have been found to use data that is not reliable or inaccurate. The point we are trying to make here is that having a store of knowledge by itself is not enough.
One needs to watch out for accuracy and reliability. Especially when corporates have established KM systems, it is important to have gatekeepers who can vet the inflow of information and ensure that only reliable and accurate information is let into the KM system.
Finally, the issue of plagiarism is another factor why big companies hesitate to use the internet as a data source for their KM systems.
In other words, if the material taken from the internet is not cited and referenced properly, the charge of plagiarism can be leveled against whomever is using the data and this is something that any big corporate would like to avoid because of the potential for scandals.
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