Knowledge Management in Business Schools

Abstract

Business schools have been using information for years to improve the efficiency of academic services and effectiveness of academic programs. As more trustees, administrators, faculty, parents, students have begun to seek better outcomes, not surprisingly these schools are investing in technology. But these schools are finding that technology implementation does not necessarily improve decision-making nor does it necessarily improve outcomes and decision-making. This paves the way to recognise the urgent need for Knowledge Management (KM) which is a key asset.A big and major crucial feature of business schools is that they are made up of a number of nested systems. In analytical terms, this can also be described as levels or units. These levels range from faculty, student, research, administration, academics and placement. The reports in business schools are numerous as the requirement of reports from level to level is difficult. Analytical needs differ, but are present at every level of the system. A robust KM system must reflect the information needs of all levels. In particular, data must be gathered at all levels to the user in a fine-grained manner. This paper explores the application KM to business schools and in particular in support of the sharing of knowledge resources. This paper considers the critical role played by the "sharing of knowledge resources" in one of top business schools, Test Business School — TBS (pseudonym is used to mask the institution name) in India.