Knowledge Management Tata Steel (Page 2)

Abstract

In the late 1990s, Tata Steel began to introduce knowledge management initiatives in the company. It started with a small group of people from within the organization. The group formed a "knowledge repository", where all the employees shared their experiences and knowledge. One year after the knowledge repository was formed, the company formed "knowledge communities", which was a platform for like-minded people to meet and share their experiences. In 2001, Tata Steel developed a "KM index" to evaluate the performance of individual employee in the KM initiative. Later, it linked performance evaluation to KM and used a balanced scorecard to monitor the performance of individual employees, divisions, as well as the organization as a whole, in KM. All these initiatives of Tata Steel seem to have paid off; in early 2003, Tata Steel was recognized as one of Asia’s Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises. It was the only steel company in the world to have received the MAKE award.

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BACKGROUND NOTE contd...

Today, Tata Steel produces a wide range of products (Refer Exhibit I) including hot rolled/cold rolled (HR/CR) coils and sheets, tubes, construction bars, forging quality steel, rods, structurals, strips and bearings. It also manufactures material handling equipment, ferro alloys and other minerals, provides software for process controls, and also provides cargo-handling services.

By 2000, eight divisions of Tata Steel had been ISO-14001 certified; the divisions were the Noamundi Iron Operations, West Bokaro Collieries, Ferro Alloy Plant, Joda, Sukinda Chromite Mines, Joda East Iron Mines, Tubes Division, and Growth Shop & Steel Works. By early 2000, Tata Steel had completed four phases of its modernization program with an investment of about Rs. 60 billion.

The company spent Rs 4 billion on consultancy fee between 1990 and 2000. The fifth phase of the program commenced in April 2000. This phase focused on attracting, developing and retaining the company's most valuable asset, its people, under its Performance Ethic Program (Refer Exhibit III). In April 2000, Tata Steel commissioned its Cold Rolling Mill (CRM) plant at Jamshedpur. Together with its operational excellence drive, Tata Steel also focused on garnering more market share and on increasing revenues. ....

        Case Code   ITSY036
   Case Length    11 Pages
              Period    1990 - 2004
 Organization     Tata
        Pub Date     2004
Teaching Note    Available
     Countries    India
      Industry    Steel

Issues

• How the knowledge present within a system can be harnessed to yield major benefits to the organization as well as to the people within it.

• The importance of matching new initiatives with the behavioral and working motivations of people in order to obtain better acceptance of these initiatives and greater benefits.

1990s, Tata Steel, knowledge management, organization, knowledge repository, employees, shared, experiences, knowledge, knowledge communities, KM index, linked, performance evaluation, KM, balanced scorecard, Asia, Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises, MAKE.

Please note:

This case study was compiled from published sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. Nor is it a primary information source.