CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
According to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, India is a nation endowed with natural
and competitive advantage as also certain distinctive competencies. But these are
scattered in isolated pockets and the awareness on these is inadequate. During the last
century the worked has undergone a change form agricultural society, where natural
labour was the critical factor, to industrial society where the management of
technology, capital and labour provided the competitive advantage. In the 21st century,
a new society is emerging where knowledge is the primary production resource
instead of capital and labour. Efficient utilization of this existing knowledge can
create comprehensive wealth of the nation in the form of better health, education,
infrastructure and other social indicators. Such a knowledge society has two very
important components driven by societal transformation and wealth generation. The
societal transformation is built on education, healthcare, agriculture and governance.
These will have to lead to employment generation, high productivity and rural
prosperity.

The wealth generation is a very important task for the nation, which has to be
woven around national competencies. The task team has identified core areas that will
spearhead our march towards knowledge society. The areas are Information and
Communication

Technology,

Biotechnology,

Weather

forecasting,

Disaster

management. Tele-medicine and Tele-education, technologies to produce native

knowledge products, service sector and Infotainment which is the emerging area
resulting from convergence of information and entertainment. These core
technologies, fortunately, can be interwoven by IT. IT took of only due to enterprising
spirit of the young. This, there are multiple technologies and management structure
that have to work together to generate knowledge society.

NEED OF THE STUDY:

In the view of significant role of coal industry in national economy especially

in power and energy generation and the importance of knowledge management on
productivity and efficiency of the organization on, the present study is taken up.

Work is information based

Competitive advantage

Life long learning

Innovation

PCL is decreasing

Diversification.

Why do we need to manage knowledge? Ann Macintosh of the Artificial

Intelligence Applications Institute (University of Edinburgh) has written a position
paper on knowledge Asst. Manager that identifies some of the specific business
factors, including.
Market places are increasingly competitive and the rate of innovation is
rising.
Reductions in staffing create a need to replace informal knowledge with
formal methods.
Competitive pressures reduce the size of the work force that holds valuable
business knowledge.
The amount of time available to experience and acquire knowledge has
diminished.
Early retirements and increasing mobility of the work force lead to loss of
knowledge.
There is a need to manage the increasing complexity. As small operating
companies are trans-national sourcing operations.
Changes in strategic direction may result in the loss of knowledge in a specific area.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

The main objectives of the proposed study are to examine the various aspects
related to Knowledge Management programs in

The Singareni Collieries

Company Limited. The sub objectives of the study are.

To examine Knowledge Management programmes conducted in the
organization.
To study the various Knowledge Management methods and their relevance in
meeting Knowledge Management objectives.
To measure the Knowledge of employees by Knowledge Management
programmes in the organization.
To suggest

appropriate

measures

for

improving

effectiveness

of

Knowledge Management programmes in the organization.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

KM is a new word for the consumer in todays market. Prosumer recent
technology developments like Internet, e-mail and the web Microsofts hot mail
helped the sharing information through any web browser.
KM helps to share and peer. It helps to respond to customers creating new
markets, new product and dominating emergent technologies.
KM is a new word for the consumer in todays market. prosumer recent
technology developments like internet, e-mail and the web Microsofts hot mail
helped the sharing information through any wed browser.
KM helps to share and communicate with peers. It helps to respond to
customers creating new markets, new markets, and new products and dominating
emergent technologies.

It is a system to gather, organize, refine and distribute knowledge through the

business. Six top attributes are: Learn, Improve with use, anticipate, interactive,
remember and customize.
Learn. The more you use them, the smarter they get and the smarter you get,
too.
Improve with use. These products and services are enhanced rather than
depleted when used, and they grow up instead of being used up.
Anticipate. Knowing what you want, they recommend what you might want
next.
Interactive. There id two-way communication between you and them.
Remember. They record and recall past actions to develop a profile.
Customize. They offer unique configuration to your individual specifications
in real time at no additional cost.

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY:

According to Dawdoon and Phillp (2003) Knowledge management
(KM) is a newly emerging, interdisciplinary business model that has knowledge
within the framework of an organization as its focus. It is rooted in many disciplines
including business economics, psychology, and information management. It is the
ultimate competitive advantages for todays firm. Knowledge management involves
peoples, technology, and processes in overlapping parts. These areas have developed
perspectives on the workings of individual and systematic knowledge. KM embraces
these perspectives, but operates from the basic premise of the sticky nature of
knowledge.

METHODOLOGY:

The study of Knowledge Management in Kothagudem area of Singareni

Collieries Company Limited is made with the help of primary and Secondary Data.
Source of data:
The study is based on both primary and secondary data.
Primary Data:
Primary date is collected through a well-structured questionnaire circulated
among sample resplendence and through personnel interviews with them.
Personal discussions were held with the officials to elicit relevant
information for the purpose of the study.
Secondary Data:
Secondary data was some times collected from more than one source. This in
turn lacks uniformity, consistency and proper information. Suffers certain limitations
like incomplete and non-availability of certain records.
The secondary data is collected from the official records of the company.
The reports and Knowledge management material are collected from Human
Resource Department in Kothagudem.

SAMPLE DESIGN AND SIZE:

From Kothagudem area 50 samples have picked up on purposive sampling
basis to ensure fair representation of various categories of employees in both
underground and opencast mines categories.

LIMITATIONS:
1. The study is mainly based on Knowledge Management; it may not fulfil all the
Knowledge Management data at SCCL.
2. The time, which was available for research, was only seven weeks, which is not
sufficient for the study to collect more details.
3.

The total research mostly relied upon the data; information provided by the
employees and company and hence may be subjected to their bias.