Governance of

Strategies to Manage
Organizational
Knowledge:
A Mechanism to Oversee
Knowledge Needs

3/3/16

Case Presentation
by:
Aashish Kumar

Case Introduction
This case study contributes new research that examines the role of
governance in the effective delivery of strategies to manage
organizational knowledge.
KM processes comprise the methods employed in the acquisition,
distribution, and utilization of knowledge in the organization.
KM governance does not design the strategy to manage organizational
knowledge. Governance manages risk to ensure the delivery of
anticipated benefits in an ongoing process that must be quality assured
& meet goals and strategic objectives.
Recent international corporate scandals including Barings Bank in the
UK, Enron
in the United States, and HIH in Australia, to name only a few have
highlighted the
importance of governance in organizations.
The governance process provides a context for the analysis of the
ongoing
development of strategies to manage organizational knowledge and the
evaluation of the
effectiveness of those strategies.

Organizational Background
The STDO was established in 1974 through the merger of the Australian
Operations
Scientific Service, the Services in-house Research and Development
(R&D) units
and the Science Branch of the Department of Operations.
The mission of the STDO is to ensure the expert, independent, and
innovative application of science
and technology
Size, Distribution
& to Australia and to
Australian national interests.
Resources
The STDO is currently a multisite
organization with a corporate office at
Operations headquarters in Canberra.
STDO reorganized its laboratory structure around three core businesses.
These are technological platforms(material sciences, structures,
propulsion, and aerodynamics), electronic systems (systems technologies
and military operations in the air, land, and sea environments), and
information systems (development of intelligence, surveillance, and similar
systems).
The STDO is engaged in a range of research and development activities for
its
customers.

Staffing & Structure

The STDO employs approximately 2,100 people of whom 75% are research
active
and are supported by the other 25% of the staff. Innovation is the prime
focus and sharing
of knowledge to facilitate innovation is essential.
It has a federal structure where each core business or division operates as a
self-sufficient entity responsible and reporting to STDO headquarters in
Canberra.
There are three silos of research operations. Each silo has several operating
divisions known as Research Area Capabilities(RACs). Each of these RACs
conducts independent research activity.
Each research activity is a separate entity contributing to the aims and
objectives of the organization as a whole, but without duplication of activity

Work Structure
The research conducted by the STDO is structured on a task or project
basis. Thus
each research undertaking is within the task structure.
This task structure is how funding is achieved and is also how resources
are allocated for staffing, travel, conference attendance, and other
research-related activity. This constitutes 75% of the workforce.
The remaining 25% of STDO is essentially administration and support staff
whose work conforms to the norms of the Commonwealth public service.
Tasks are assigned a customer sponsor and a customer desk officer.
The customer sponsor is ultimately responsible for the task and is the
person who gives permission for the task to move forward.
The desk officer, who is someone generally at a lower level, is the person
to whom the STDO people working on the task report to on a day-to-day
basis.