KM Self-assessment
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Definition
KM Self-assessment is The process of conducting an assessment of knowledge management maturity within the own organization and by its own staff
Summary
A Self-Assessment is a valuable tool to help determine the current KM capability in an organization and to assist in identifying KM areas for future improvement, thus providing the basis for the formulation of KM strategies and policies. IAEA has developed a self-assessment tool adaptable to the type of the organization in form of a practical tool.
Description
A Self-Assessment is a valuable tool to help determine the current KM capability in an organization and to assist in identifying KM areas for future improvement, thus providing the basis for the formulation of KM strategies and policies. It may be initially performed when exploring the possibility of introducing the KM concepts, methodologies and tools, or as an ongoing continous effort to verify the improvements of the KM system and the KM maturity level of the organization.
The IAEA has produced a self-assessment questionnaire which is adaptable to different organization types, and provides an Excel-spreadsheet to conduct the self-assessment in groups and to evaluate the results of the assessment in a graphical form.
The self-assessment is performed in relation to the key elements in KM. These key elements may vary according to the type of the organization. Indeed, a preliminary stage previous to conducting the self-assessment may be necessary in order to adapt the self-assessment questions to the specific situation and needs of the organization. For this purpose, an organization planning to conduct a self-assessment should consider requesting help from IAEA, e.g. in form of an assist mission. The process for required to initiate this can be found in Ref. [1].
The self-assessment may be performed on different organizational levels. When considering the implementation of a KM system in the organization, the targeted audience will primarily consist of high and upper level management. Self-assessments may also be conducted on unit levels, particularly for recurrent self-assessments with the aim of improving KM performance.
The self-assessment questionnaire is best used in a group or workshop environment and can be completed by collecting responses from a number of people who are knowledgeable with regards to the organization’s activities and future goals.
Example
Examples of the self-assessment questionnaire have been published [1], [2] or will be published in the organization-specific publications. The example from [1] is shown here:
References
[1] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Planning and Execution of Knowledge Management Assist Missions For Nuclear Organizations, IAEA- TECDOC-1586, IAEA, Vienna (2008)
[2] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Knowledge Management for Nuclear Research and Development Organizations, IAEA- TECDOC-1675, IAEA, Vienna (2012)
