Defining Knowledge Management
The importance of Knowledge Management to DHL will be evaluated in this report. Knowledge management refers to sharing, creating, using and handling knowledge. It explores the Importance of Knowledge Management to DHL. In further detail, knowledge management refers to the way of sharing, creating, using and handling knowledge and information of an organization in order help to make better use of knowledge and attain its organizational goals (Dalkir, 2017). Companies can make the best use of knowledge that makes the achievement of organizational goals easier. They can use the knowledge when it is needed, which assists intake effective decisions for a company and ensures the success of the business operations. Companies become capable of meetings their strategic requirements by utilizing the knowledge. Technology plays a significant role in knowledge management. Technology helps to tie together and utilize information from various weapons of a company.
Importance of Knowledge Management to DHL
Organizations have to adopt knowledge management to adapt to the competitive business world because it makes the use of significant knowledge easier by handling them methodically (Hislop, Bosua, and Helms, 2018). Companies become capable of strengthening their competitive advantages within the market they operate a business. One of the most renowned logistics companies, DHL also needs knowledge management to make its business operations more efficient. The company get the best method of storing important information about their company through utilizing knowledge management. Knowledge Management shows innovative ways of achieving the organizational goals of DHL that make the success achievement process of the company easier. Concepts of knowledge management help DHL to find out innovative ideas of enhancing the quality of their services that makes the company more successful. Importance of Knowledge Management to DHL has been analysed below:
Companies can cultivate needed knowledge for themselves through utilizing knowledge management: Companies must need various assets and knowledge to build up justifiable progress (Donate, and de Pablo, 2015). IT, finance, accounts, marketing, manufacturing, etcetera units require knowledge and knowledge management plays an outstanding role in enhancing the knowledge of the individual units, and DHL has all these units. DHL also needs to enhance the capabilities of its units, such as accounts, finance, sales and marketing, manufacturing and etcetera. Starting the practice of sharing, creating and analysing knowledge among employees will encourage them to achieve knowledge. Increased knowledge of employees is also helpful in fostering the growth of an organization.
Knowledge management can enhance employee consciousness within DHL: Employees’ consciousness is enhanced through knowledge management that makes them aware of their everyday jobs and actions (Omotayo, 2015). DHL should take significant initiatives to inform their employees about their actions and contributions toward the success of the company in order to enhance employee engagement. DHL can enable their employees in order to save time by utilizing knowledge management for the reason that it makes employees more responsible by informing them about the goals of the company and their contribution toward achieving the goals. Knowledge management can make employees more responsible after informing them about their contributions to the success of the company.
It can enhance the proficiency of an organization from all perspectives: By enhancing the proficiency of an organization, the better result of all operations can be ensured (Girard, and Girard, 2015). DHL can be capable of enhancing proficiency in all perspectives by adopting knowledge management in order to ensure better execution of their business if any business partners of the company leave them. If DHL does not take steps to enhance its proficiency, the business is affected largely because of deal cancellation with any key supplier.
Transferring knowledge becomes easier through knowledge management: Knowledge transfer becomes easier because companies preserve important information through knowledge management (Todorović et al., 2015). DHL can also make the knowledge transferring process easier with the help of knowledge management. By transferring knowledge among employees, companies can make sure that employees also share the knowledge with other employees when it is needed. Employees can enhance personal capabilities by receiving shared knowledge and helping their co-workers to enhance their capabilities by sharing knowledge with them which will make them capable of doing their work effectively in DHL (Rahman, 2018). As a result, DHL will be capable of delivering an outstanding customer experience by developing the quality of employees’ performances.
Risks can be minimized by utilizing knowledge management: Knowledge management assists companies in collecting significant information from both outside and inside of the company (Jennex, 2015). DHL can collect significant data from inside and outside of the company and preserve them to ensure the flow of information and utilization of the information when it is required. Importance of Knowledge Management to DHL showed that DHL can be capable of making effective decisions after evaluating the information they have collected through knowledge management. Since the information is authentic, DHL will be able to make outstanding decisions which will minimize the different types of risks. As a result, the company will get the best result from the decision.
Effective decisions can be made with the help of knowledge management: Through knowledge management, companies can preserve or manage important information about their company and they can utilize the information when it is needed (Mäntymäki, and Riemer, 2016). DHL can preserve important decisions related to their operations and keep them confidential by using knowledge management (Ochieng, 2016). Because of knowledge management, preserving past data has become so easy, and DHL can get the data while making any decision which will enhance the effectiveness of the decision because they can avoid the faults made by them in the past.
Influence of Knowledge Management in the decision-making of DHL:
Importance of Knowledge Management to DHL showed that the decision and policy-making of DHL have been influenced by knowledge management immensely. The influences knowledge management have on the policy and decision-making of DHL, have been demonstrated below:
DHL has made the decision to decrease reliance on third parties by increasing their own aptitudes: Organizations need to hire consultants from outside of the organization, which requires additional costs to pay the consultant, which can be decreased through utilizing knowledge management in practices. DHL has made the decision to reduce its reliance on third parties by utilizing knowledge management in the practices of the company (Persianov et al., 2019). If DHL hires consultants, they have to pay higher payments that will increase operational costs highly; therefore, they have made the decision to increase abilities by using their employee’s knowledge management, which will help the company to minimize the costs of hiring consultants. Knowledge management will raise the mindfulness skills of their employees that will help them to decrease dependence on the consultant of external sources.
DHL has made the decision to engage the employees in knowledge management to increase their mindfulness: Mindfulness is the skill that encourages employees to give better performance because it helps them to understand their contribution toward the success of the company; therefore, DHL has made the decision of engaging employees in KM (Mlambo, 2018). Knowledge management informs the employees about their contribution to achieving the organizational goals of DHL, which makes the more responsible for their work. After becoming aware of their contribution toward the success of the company, employees give their full effort to make DHL more profitable.
DHL ensured utilization of knowledge management to minimize risks: By making sure of the practice of knowledge management in the workplace, DHL has become able to minimize the different types of risks (Baxter, and Srisaeng, 2018). Employees find out the data on past history of DHL and become aware of the decisions that were made at that time. It makes them capable of taking the right decision, and it minimizes different kinds of risks by helping employees to take the right decisions.
DHL has made sure that knowledge management is used while making any decision: DHL employees can have a glance at the preserved past data while making any decisions that will increase the effectiveness of the decisions (Perenc, 2018). When employees make decisions on the basis of authentic data that help them to bring outstanding outcome for the company.
Effectiveness of knowledge management has influenced DHL to ensure the regular exercise of it: Significant data are preserved through knowledge management which is one of the major effectiveness of KM that has inspired DHL to ensure the regular exercise of it within their operations (Prange, Bruyaka, and Marmenout, 2018). It assists DHL in accessing the data quickly when they will need it. Employees of the company can access the data when they need it, and it saves their time accessing data for the reason that information is not allocated in the process of knowledge management. Employees of DHL make sure they exercise knowledge management in their regular work in order to finish their stuff inefficient way.
Effectiveness of Knowledge Management in regards to how DHL responded
Different types of risks are minimized through knowledge management: Employees of DHL can have a glance while making any significant decisions that help the company to minimize the different types of risks of their operations successfully (Loh et al., 2015). By finding out the preserved data, employees assess information when they make decisions on the basis of the data. It assists the employees of DHL in identifying the fault done by the company in the past time, and they become able to avoid the faults in the decision-making in the present and future. Knowledge management has helped the employees to assess the data and make efficient decisions that have minimized the risks which may create obstacles in the way of DHL’s success.
DHL has prevented their reliance on consultants outside of the company: Through utilizing knowledge management, DHL has prevented reliance on consultants outside of the company by making their employees more responsible through knowledge management (Jamil, 2019). It has made the employees more responsible by informing them about their role in attaining the goals of the company, which made them proactive. Employees give their full effort, which brings excellent results which is brought by hiring consultants from outside of the company.
The company have generated higher customers gratification: By capturing important information from both inside and outside sources of DHL, they have become capable of delivering an outstanding customers experience that helped the company to make customers highly gratified (Neacşu, and Bălăşescu, 2016). They can identify the problems faced by customers from outside sources through knowledge management and can take initiatives to prevent the problems. It makes customers highly gratified, and they maintain their loyalty to the company.
Expenses of DHL have been decreased: DHL has reduced employees’ work by establishing knowledge management in their company because they would give more effort in searching and managing data, and it makes employees satisfied (Chung, and Bowie, 2017). It makes employees happy with their company by understanding that the company value their effort and takes steps to reduce their pressure. As a result, employee retention of DHL increases and it saves their employee replacement expenses. By saving expenses through knowledge management, DHL increases their profitability.
By reducing the manual work of employees, DHL has saved valuable time for employees: By ensuring the practice of knowledge management, DHL has saved valuable work time for their employees (Havarangsi, 2018). Employees had to waste their time searching data if knowledge management was not allowed in DHL. Employees can access the preserved data anytime from anywhere, which saves their valuable time, and they can utilize the time for other important work. Employees get more time to do important work that helps them to increase the productivity of DHL.
Recommendations for DHL:
Firstly, DHL has to take steps after considering the political environment of those 220 host countries they have services, in order to adapt to the country’s political environment (Żurek, Ziółkowski, and Szkutnik-Rogoż, 2019). It will ensure that the government of the countries will not interfere in the business operations of DHL, and the company will be capable of operating its business with less complexity.
Secondly, DHL should focus on their marketing process because there are many people across the world who do not know about the company (Ramnath, 2017). The competitors of DHL conduct both traditional and digital marketing to increase their publicity. DHL should also conduct both traditional and digital marketing to increase its publicity across the world.
Thirdly, the company should focus on providing online services because the demand for online logistics services has increased greatly (Dhir, 2019). Customers will get the services of DHL anywhere, and they will not need to visit the offices of DHL; therefore, it will increase the sales of the company enormously at the present time.
Fourthly, DHL should carry on investing in the R&D sector to adopt new innovative services and keep them differentiated from its competitors (Polina, 2016). It will maintain the uniqueness of the services of DHL that will maintain their customers and furthermore attract more customers toward them.
Fifthly, the Company have to maintain all the rules and regulations of the host countries always, to execute business without having any penalty or compensation (deLange, 2016). By maintaining all the rules and regulations, DHL will be capable of maintaining its reputation across the world.
Finally, DHL has to arrange training and development programmes for their employees to enhance their capabilities. It will make them capable of developing the quality of their services because employees will be capable of delivering the best services to the customers. As a result, customers’ gratification will increase enormously, and DHL will be highly profitable.