Information Technology for Managers 2nd Edition By George Reynolds – Test Bank

Information Technology for Managers 2nd Edition By George Reynolds – Test Bank

CHAPTER 10— KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. _____ comprises a range of practices concerned with increasing awareness, fostering learning, speeding collaboration and innovation, and exchanging insights of individuals, teams, or entire organizations.
2. Knowledge management
3. Sales management
4. Resource management
5. Disaster management

ANS: A

RATIONALE: Knowledge management (KM) comprises a range of practices concerned with increasing awareness, fostering learning, speeding collaboration and innovation, and exchanging insights. It is used by organizations to enable individuals, teams, and entire organizations to collectively and systematically create, share, and apply knowledge in order to achieve their objectives.

2. Which of the following has caused organizations to establish knowledge management programs in their information technology (IT) or human resource management departments?
3. Normalization
4. Globalization
5. Amortization
6. Personalization

ANS: B

RATIONALE: Knowledge management (KM) comprises a range of practices concerned with increasing awareness, fostering learning, speeding collaboration and innovation, and exchanging insights. Globalization, the expansion of the services sector, and the emergence of new information technologies have caused many organizations to establish KM programs in their information technology or human resource management departments.

3. Identify the goal of knowledge management.
4. To enable easy access to business data and create efficient, streamlined work processes
5. To provide comparable performance of systems even as the volume of data handled increases
6. To decrease costs and improve customer service while reducing the overall investment in inventory at the same time
7. To improve the creation, retention, sharing, and reuse of an individual’s or a team’s knowledge

ANS: D

RATIONALE: Knowledge management (KM) comprises a range of practices concerned with increasing awareness, fostering learning, speeding collaboration and innovation, and exchanging insights. The goal of KM is to improve the creation, retention, sharing, and reuse of knowledge.

4. _____ is knowledge that is documented, stored, and codified—such as standard procedures, product formulas, customer contact lists, market research results, and patents.
5. Tacit knowledge
6. Explicit knowledge
7. Rootkit knowledge
8. Persistent knowledge

ANS: B

RATIONALE: An organization’s knowledge assets often are classified as either explicit or tacit. Explicit knowledge is knowledge that is documented, stored, and codified, such as standard procedures, product formulas, customer contact lists, market research results, and patents.

5. Which of the following is an example of explicit knowledge?
6. Juan learned to drive a car at the age of 16, and now he is a professional racer.
7. Shiera started playing the piano at the age of 7, and now she is a professional pianist.
8. Jordan, an executive chef in a five-star restaurant, uses a secret recipe book owned by the restaurant to prepare exotic dishes.
9. Tomm, a doctor, diagnoses a rare illness and prescribes a course of action to cure it.

ANS: C

RATIONALE: An organization’s knowledge assets often are classified as either explicit or tacit. Explicit knowledge is the knowledge that is documented, stored, and codified, such as standard procedures, product formulas, customer contact lists, market research results, and patents. Since Jordan uses the secret recipe book to cook exotic dishes, this is an example of explicit knowledge.

6. Kaia, a chemical engineering graduate, has documented all titration procedures in her project report. She refers to this report while performing titrations in her laboratory. This is an example of _____.
7. muted knowledge
8. implied knowledge
9. tacit knowledge
10. explicit knowledge

ANS: D

RATIONALE: An organization’s knowledge assets often are classified as either explicit or tacit. Explicit knowledge is the knowledge that is documented, stored, and codified, such as standard procedures, product formulas, customer contact lists, market research results, and patents. Since Kaia has documented the titration procedures, this is an example of explicit knowledge.

7. _____ knowledge is the know-how that someone has developed as a result of personal experience and it involves intangible factors such as beliefs, perspective, and a value system.
8. Tacit knowledge
9. Explicit knowledge
10. Rootkit knowledge
11. Lucent knowledge

ANS: A

RATIONALE: An organization’s knowledge assets often are classified as either explicit or tacit. Tacit knowledge is the know-how that someone has developed as a result of personal experience and it involves intangible factors such as beliefs, perspective, and a value system.

8. Which of the following is an example of tacit knowledge?
9. A teacher dictating the process of photosynthesis from a book to her students
10. The contacts of the logistics and network service providers of an organization
11. The list of electrical and electronics patents of scientists from South America.
12. An engineer drawing on past experience to simplify a piece of code

ANS: D

RATIONALE: An organization’s knowledge assets often are classified as either explicit or tacit. Tacit knowledge is the know-how that someone has developed as a result of personal experience and it involves intangible factors such as beliefs, perspective, and a value system.

9. Bella, an expert violinist, attended violin classes from the age of five. The knowledge that Bella possesses is an example of _____.
10. rootkit knowledge
11. lucent knowledge
12. tacit knowledge
13. explicit knowledge

ANS: C

RATIONALE: An organization’s knowledge assets often are classified as either explicit or tacit. Tacit knowledge is the know-how that someone has developed as a result of personal experience. It involves intangible factors such as beliefs, perspective, and a value system.

10. Which of the following statements is true of tacit knowledge?
11. It is difficult for others to copy.
12. It can be documented easily.
13. It is based on an existing theory.
14. It can be shared with others easily.

ANS: A

RATIONALE: Tacit knowledge is the know-how that someone has developed as a result of personal experience. Tacit knowledge is key to high performance and competitive advantage because it’s valuable and difficult for others to copy.

11. Which of the following statements is true of explicit knowledge?
12. It is documented, stored, and codified.
13. It cannot be shared with others easily.
14. It is difficult for others to copy.
15. It is developed as a result of personal experience.

ANS: A

RATIONALE: Explicit knowledge is knowledge that is documented, stored, and codified. Standard procedures, product formulas, customer contact lists, market research results, and patents are examples of explicit knowledge.

12. _____ involves a novice observing an expert executing his or her job to learn how he or she performs.
13. Joint problem solving
14. Shadowing
15. Overriding
16. Social network analysis

ANS: B

RATIONALE: Shadowing involves a novice observing an expert executing his or her job to learn how he or she performs. This technique often is used in the medical field to help young interns learn from experienced physicians.

13. Which of the following is an example of shadowing?
14. Two new recruits working on an automobile’s rear axle
15. Three young interns practicing under the guidance of an experienced surgeon
16. A novice and an expert working side-by-side on a new project
17. Four novice employees working on a client-specific application software

ANS: B

RATIONALE: A major goal of knowledge management is to somehow capture and document the valuable work-related tacit knowledge of others and to turn it into explicit knowledge that can be shared with others. Shadowing involves a novice observing an expert executing his or her job to learn how he or she performs.

14. Bob, a medical graduate, works as an apprentice under a chief orthopedist and gains knowledge on various orthopedic disorders and the ways to cure them. This is an example of _____.
15. shadowing
16. overriding
17. mirroring
18. outsourcing

ANS: A

RATIONALE: A major goal of knowledge management is to somehow capture and document the valuable work-related tacit knowledge of others and to turn it into explicit knowledge that can be shared with others. Shadowing involves a novice observing an expert executing his or her job to learn how he or she performs.

15. _____ is a process in which a novice and an expert work side-by-side to solve a problem so that the expert’s approach is slowly revealed to the observant novice.
16. Proportionate problem solving
17. Outsourcing
18. Shadowing
19. Joint problem solving

ANS: D

RATIONALE: A major goal of knowledge management is to somehow capture and document the valuable work-related tacit knowledge of others and to turn it into explicit knowledge that can be shared with others. Joint problem solving is a process in which a novice and an expert work side-by-side to solve a problem so that the expert’s approach is slowly revealed to the observant novice.

16. Which of the following is an example of joint problem solving?
17. Three young interns practicing under the guidance of an experienced dentist
18. A novice and an expert working side-by-side on a new project
19. Five new employees working on a Web-based project
20. A novice carpenter working under the supervision of a senior carpenter

ANS: B

RATIONALE: A major goal of knowledge management is to somehow capture and document the valuable work-related tacit knowledge of others and to turn it into explicit knowledge that can be shared with others. Joint problem solving is a process in which a novice and an expert work side-by-side to solve a problem so that the expert’s approach is slowly revealed to the observant novice.

17. Inessa works as a software engineer in Everett Corp., which develops cloud-based applications. She is an expert in coding and debugging. Cecilia, who recently joined the firm, is assigned to work side-by-side with Inessa on a debugging project so that she can observe and learn Inessa’s approaches and methods. This is an example of _____.
18. offshoring
19. outsourcing
20. joint problem solving
21. shadowing

ANS: C

RATIONALE: A major goal of knowledge management is to somehow capture and document the valuable work-related tacit knowledge of others and to turn it into explicit knowledge that can be shared with others. Joint problem solving is a process in which a novice and an expert work side-by-side to solve a problem so that the expert’s approach is slowly revealed to the observant novice.

18. Which of the following processes can be used to capture tacit knowledge?
19. Proportionate problem solving
20. Offshoring
21. Shadowing
22. Outsourcing

ANS: C

RATIONALE: A major goal of knowledge management is to somehow capture and document the valuable work-related tacit knowledge of others and to turn it into explicit knowledge that can be shared with others. Two processes are frequently used to capture tacit knowledge—shadowing and joint problem solving. Shadowing involves a novice observing an expert executing his job to learn how he performs. Joint problem solving is a process in which a novice and an expert work side-by-side to solve a problem so that the expert’s approach is slowly revealed to the observant novice.

19. Which of the following is true of knowledge management?
20. Organizations implement knowledge management projects to foster innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas.
21. Knowledge management enables users to gain administrator-level access to a computer without the end user’s consent or knowledge.
22. Knowledge management prevents computers from being controlled from one or more remote locations by hackers, without the knowledge or consent of their owners.
23. Organizations implement knowledge management to prevent fraudulent activities associated with computers and networks.

ANS: A

RATIONALE: Knowledge management (KM) comprises a range of practices concerned with increasing awareness, fostering learning, speeding collaboration and innovation, and exchanging insights. Organizations implement knowledge management projects to foster innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas. Organizations must continuously innovate to evolve, grow, and prosper. Organizations that fail to innovate will soon fall behind their competition.

20. Which of the following can result in effective knowledge management?
21. Developing separate processes for each employee that is structured to their knowledge and specific skills
22. Enabling employees to share and build on one another’s experience and expertise so that mistakes are not repeated
23. Using software to assist in the creation, analysis, and modification of the design of a component or product
24. Applying strict access controls, file and directory permissions, to protect data from disclosure or destruction

ANS: B

RATIONALE: Knowledge management (KM) comprises a range of practices concerned with increasing awareness, fostering learning, speeding collaboration and innovation, and exchanging insights. It is critical that an organization enable its employees to share and build on one another’s experience and expertise.

21. In order to evolve, grow, and prosper, an organization must _____.
22. foster innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas
23. refrain from employing young people
24. adhere to time-tested methods and concepts
25. avoid collaboration with contractors during the planning stage

ANS: A

RATIONALE: Organizations implement knowledge management projects to foster innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas. Organizations must continuously innovate to evolve, grow, and prosper. Organizations that fail to innovate will soon fall behind their competition.

22. Leveraging the expertise of people across an organization can help _____.
23. prevent new employees from innovating
24. prevent new employees from repeating some of the mistakes of others
25. avoid collaborations with contractors and suppliers
26. avoid the dissemination of tacit knowledge

ANS: B

RATIONALE: Leveraging the expertise of people across an organization can help prevent new employees from repeating some of the mistakes of others. Workers can share thoughts and experiences about what works well and what does not and new employees or employees moving into new positions are able to get up to speed more quickly.

23. Which of the following enables employees to deliver valuable results more quickly, improve their productivity, and get products and new ideas to market faster?
24. Adhering to time-tested methods and concepts
25. Preventing the dissemination of explicit knowledge
26. Avoiding collaboration among contractors, suppliers, and other business partners
27. Sharing experience and expertise of employees across an organization

ANS: D

RATIONALE: It is critical that an organization enable its employees to share and build on one another’s experience and expertise. Workers can share thoughts and experiences about what works well and what does not and new employees or employees moving into new positions are able to get up to speed more quickly. This enables employees to deliver valuable results more quickly, improve their productivity, and get products and new ideas to market faster.

24. Encouraging the free flow of ideas among employees, contractors, suppliers, and other business partners can lead to a(n) _____.
25. increase in revenue
26. decrease in revenue
27. increase in production costs
28. decrease in employee innovation

ANS: A

RATIONALE: Organizations must continuously innovate to evolve, grow, and prosper. Organizations that fail to innovate will soon fall behind their competition. Many organizations implement knowledge management projects to foster innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas among employees, contractors, suppliers, and other business partners. Such collaboration can lead to the discovery of a wealth of new opportunities, which, after evaluation and testing, may lead to an increase in revenue, a decrease in costs, or the creation of new products and services.

25. Which of the following can result in a significant damage to productivity and a decrease in the quality of service in an organization?
26. Fostering innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas
27. Collaborating with contractors during the planning stage
28. Permanent loss of expertise related to core operations
29. Leveraging the expertise of people across the organization

ANS: C

RATIONALE: Many organizations use knowledge management to capture the valuable expertise of their key individuals before it is lost forever. The permanent loss of expertise related to the core operations of an organization can result in a significant loss of productivity and a decrease in the quality of service.

26. Portical Inc., a leading electrical appliance manufacturing firm based in Canada, faced a severe financial crisis as 15 percent of its vital employees moved to different firms and 21 percent of its employees retired. It faced severe deficit in customer satisfaction, production rate, sales, and customer relationship. The new employees tried their best to overcome the deficit but were successful only to a small extent. Which of the following can be a reason for the issues faced by the firm?
27. Permanent loss of expertise of key individuals
28. Collaboration among contractors, suppliers, and other business partners
29. Leveraging the expertise of employees across the firm
30. Fostering innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas

ANS: A

RATIONALE: Many organizations use knowledge management to capture the valuable expertise of their key individuals before it is lost forever. The permanent loss of expertise related to the core operations of an organization can result in a significant loss of productivity and a decrease in the quality of service.

27. Defining how a knowledge management effort will support specific organizational goals and objectives will help a person _____.
28. prevent the permanent loss of expertise related to core operations
29. avoid leveraging the expertise of people across an organization
30. sell a project to others and elicit their support and enthusiasm
31. follow time-tested methods and concepts

ANS: C

RATIONALE: When starting a knowledge management (KM) effort, with any project, one must clearly define how that effort will support specific organizational goals and objectives, such as increasing revenue, reducing costs, improving customer service, or speeding up the time to bring a product to market. Doing so will help sell the project to others and elicit their support and enthusiasm and will determine if the project is worthwhile before the organization commits resources to it.

28. Which of the following is true of defining the efforts of knowledge management to support specific organizational goals and objectives?
29. It prevents the permanent loss of expertise related to core operations.
30. It determines whether a project is worthwhile before an organization commits resources to it.
31. It avoids leveraging the expertise of people across an organization.
32. It fosters individual innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas.

ANS: B

RATIONALE: When starting a knowledge management (KM) effort, with any project, one must clearly define how that effort will support specific organizational goals and objectives, such as increasing revenue, reducing costs, improving customer service, or speeding up the time to bring a product to market. Doing so will help sell the project to others and elicit their support and enthusiasm and will determine if the project is worthwhile before the organization commits resources to it.

29. A group of people, who have been informed about the knowledge management involved in an upcoming project, is enthusiastic about the project’s potential. Which of the following can improve the odds of the project’s success?
30. Defining a pilot project to address the business needs
31. Following time-tested methods and concepts
32. Preventing the dissemination of explicit knowledge
33. Avoiding collaboration among contractors, suppliers, and other business partners

ANS: A

RATIONALE: Defining a pilot project to address the business needs of a group of people who are informed about its knowledge management (KM) and are enthusiastic about its potential can improve its odds of success. Targeting such a group of users reduces the problem of trying to overcome skepticism and unwillingness to change.

30. Within the scope of an initial pilot project, an organization should _____.
31. sell the project to internal customers and elicit their support and enthusiasm
32. avoid leveraging the expertise of its people
33. encourage the dissemination of explicit knowledge
34. identify and prioritize tacit knowledge

ANS: D

RATIONALE: Not all tacit knowledge is equally valuable, and priorities must be set in terms of what knowledge individuals should go after. The intent of a knowledge management (KM) program is to identify, capture, and disseminate knowledge gems from a sea of information. Within the scope of the initial pilot project, an organization should identify and prioritize the tacit knowledge it wants to include in its KM system.

31. A(n) _____ is a group whose members share a common set of goals and interests and regularly engage in sharing and learning as they strive to meet those goals.
32. zero-based budgeting committee
33. through-the-line team
34. community of practice
35. above-the-line team

ANS: C

RATIONALE: A community of practice (CoP) is a group whose members share a common set of goals and interests and regularly engage in sharing and learning as they strive to meet those goals. A CoP develops around topics that are important to its members.

32. Which of the following is true of a community of practice (CoP)?
33. It develops around topics that are important to its members.
34. It integrates programs that manage a company’s vital business operations.
35. It plans and schedules production for a company and records actual production activities.
36. It manages fixed asset purchases and the depreciation of the assets.

ANS: A

RATIONALE: A community of practice (CoP) is a group whose members share a common set of goals and interests and regularly engage in sharing and learning as they strive to meet those goals. A CoP develops around topics that are important to its members.

33. Participation in a _____ is a means of developing new knowledge, stimulating innovation, or sharing existing tacit knowledge within an organization.
34. zero-based budgeting practice
35. meta-analysis
36. social network analysis
37. community of practice

ANS: D

RATIONALE: A community of practice (CoP) is a group whose members share a common set of goals and interests and regularly engage in sharing and learning as they strive to meet those goals. A CoP develops around topics that are important to its members. Participation in a CoP is a means of developing new knowledge, stimulating innovation, or sharing existing tacit knowledge within an organization.

34. Identify a true statement about an informal community of practice.
35. It’s members meet with little advanced planning.
36. It’s members meet on a regularly scheduled basis.
37. It’s members have a planned agenda.
38. It’s members have identified speakers.

ANS: A

RATIONALE: A community of practice (CoP) is a group whose members share a common set of goals and interests and regularly engage in sharing and learning as they strive to meet those goals. A CoP develops around topics that are important to its members. Members of an informal community of practice meet with little advanced planning or formality.

35. Which of the following is a technique to document and measure flows of information among individuals, workgroups, organizations, computers, Web sites, and other information sources?
36. Decision consequence analysis
37. Horizontal integration
38. Social network analysis
39. Vertical integration

ANS: C

RATIONALE: Social network analysis (SNA) is a technique to document and measure flows of information among individuals, workgroups, organizations, computers, Web sites, and other information sources. In analyzing social media communications from sources such as text, video, and chat as well as “likes” and “shares,” many experts agree that the most significant data isn’t the content itself, but rather the metadata that connects various pieces of content to form a complete picture.

36. The properties of a message and of its author on Facebook are examples of _____.
37. metadata
38. shadowing
39. tacit knowledge
40. metaheuristics

ANS: A

RATIONALE: Metadata is data that describes other data. For instance, metadata about social media use could relate to properties of the message (e.g., whether the message is comical, sarcastic, genuine, or phony) and of the author (e.g., sex, age, interests, political viewpoint, ideological beliefs, and degree of influence on the audience).

37. In analyzing social media communications from sources such as text, video, and chat, which of the following is considered the most significant data?
38. The content itself
39. Metadata
40. Schema
41. Macrodata

ANS: B

RATIONALE: Metadata is data that describes other data. In analyzing social media communications from sources such as text, video, and chat as well as “likes” and “shares,” many experts agree that the most significant data isn’t the content itself, but rather the metadata that connects various pieces of content to form a complete picture.

38. _____ connects various pieces of content to form a complete picture.
39. Metadata
40. Schema
41. Microdata
42. Macrodata

ANS: A

RATIONALE: Metadata is data that describes other data. In analyzing social media communications from sources such as text, video, and chat as well as “likes” and “shares,” many experts agree that the most significant data isn’t the content itself, but rather the metadata that connects various pieces of content to form a complete picture.

39. Which of the following is true of metadata?
40. Metadata enables analysts to make judgments about how to interpret and value the content of a message.
41. Metadata plans quality control activities such as product inspections and material certifications.
42. Metadata contains records of all financial transactions in the general ledger accounts of a company and generates financial statements for external reporting.
43. Metadata schedules production and monitors actual production activities.

ANS: A

RATIONALE: Metadata is data that describes other data. In analyzing social media communications from sources such as text, video, and chat as well as “likes” and “shares,” many experts agree that the most significant data isn’t the content itself, but rather the metadata that connects various pieces of content to form a complete picture. Metadata enables analysts to make judgments about how to interpret and value the content of a message.

40. _____ enables analysts to make judgments about how to interpret and value the content of a message.
41. Metadata
42. Microdata
43. Macrodata
44. Inlinedata

ANS: A

RATIONALE: Metadata is data that describes other data. In analyzing social media communications from sources such as text, video, and chat as well as “likes” and “shares,” many experts agree that the most significant data isn’t the content itself, but rather the metadata that connects various pieces of content to form a complete picture. Metadata enables analysts to make judgments about how to interpret and value the content of a message.