Knowledge Management_HW1

Ernst And Yound Case Study

Question #1: What are potential ways forward to overcome the problem of an ageing workforce at Ernst and Young?

Answer: Managing workforce in all companies is not an easy task. If you have an ageing work force, managing them and maintaining their knowledge is increasingly difficult. One way to make sure that your workforce is up to date is by introducing new technologies into your firm. For example, if the former employees of Ernst and Yound who were known as "Boomerangs" didn't have facebook then it would have been very difficult for Helen Wash to contact those former employees. So by keeping your workforce up to date with current technologies, you can get rid of losing important people in your firm.

Question #2: How would you codify critical knowledge of clients and industries currently being lost when employees retire?

Answer: Documenting knowledge is one of the best ways to manage knowledge. Whether the knowledge is about clients or industries. Writing down the knowledge and storing it is one of the best ways to keep your knowledge managed because knowledge can be lost or altered otherwise. Chinese Whispers is a proof of what happens to knowledge if you don't write it down and store it.

Question #3: What are the strength and pitfalls of using social networking sites such as Facebook for Ernst and Young?

Answer: Using social networking site such as Facebook can enhance the working environment by connecting the employees together. It can also be useful to contact employees once they are absent or when they are no longer employees. Contacting your former employees is very important, because sometimes your former employees are the only ones who can solve your problems. Their experience in your firm can save you big troubles. But on the other hand using a social networking site such as Facebook for Ernst and Young can distract employees and slow down the work flow within the firm.