**3.2 The roles and functions of the agents involved**

People are at the heart of KCM processes (Collison & Parcell, 2003; Firestone, 2008; Gorelick, Milton & April, 2004; Milton, 2005; Petrides & Nguyen, 2006; Wiig, 2004), just as they are in any intervention that takes place within the organisational setting.

Usually all the functions related to information, contents, documentation, publications databases and organisational relations, among others, are associated with KCM. The functions, jobs and responsibilities that are usually associated with the people linked to KCM are as follows (Dalkir, 2005):


In any event, there is little consensus on who should be in charge of KCM in an organisation or the profile these individuals should have (Al-Hawamdeh, 2003). Rodríguez-Gómez (2009) identify several key personnel categories more or less intensely involved in KCM processes (Dalkir, 2005; Davenport & Prusak, 2001; Frappaolo, 2006; Gorelick, Milton & April, 2004; Liebowitz, 1999; Milton, 2005):


demands and needs of the organisation and its environment; the involvement of personnel in the design and development of the process; and the communication to and awareness-

People are at the heart of KCM processes (Collison & Parcell, 2003; Firestone, 2008; Gorelick, Milton & April, 2004; Milton, 2005; Petrides & Nguyen, 2006; Wiig, 2004), just as they are in

Usually all the functions related to information, contents, documentation, publications databases and organisational relations, among others, are associated with KCM. The functions, jobs and responsibilities that are usually associated with the people linked to

Designing information systems (design, evaluation and selection of contents, indexing

Managing information systems (maintenance of integrity, quality and value of the data,

In any event, there is little consensus on who should be in charge of KCM in an organisation or the profile these individuals should have (Al-Hawamdeh, 2003). Rodríguez-Gómez (2009) identify several key personnel categories more or less intensely involved in KCM processes (Dalkir, 2005; Davenport & Prusak, 2001; Frappaolo, 2006; Gorelick, Milton & April, 2004;

 **Knowledge-oriented personnel**: This includes all individuals who are part of the organisation and create, share, investigate and use knowledge fundamental in the

 **Knowledge management workers – experts – or knowledge engineers**: This includes the members of the organisation who are capable of identifying and extracting knowledge from the people who possess it and of organising, storing and updating it. **Administrators of knowledge projects**: This includes people who are in charge of specific projects and must therefore have knowledge of the sphere of the project and understand how the people working on it are, think and act. They perform jobs like: "developing the project objectives, setting up and administering work teams, determining and administering the client expectations, supervising budgets and project programmes, and identifying and resolving problems in the projects" (Davenport & Prusak, 2001, p. 129) **Knowledge analyst**: This is the person in charge of gathering, organising and disseminating the knowledge, usually on demand. He or she is in charge of analysing

 **Knowledge manager**: This is usually a coordinator of the knowledge processes and is thus appropriate in organisations with the need for several groups of people to

raising of the members of the organisation, including many other factors.

any intervention that takes place within the organisational setting.

and representation of knowledge, structure of databases, etc.).

Managing information resources to support organisational actions.

Designing and producing information services and products.

functioning of the organisation in their day-to-day jobs.

participate in the knowledge management processes.

Acting as information agencies (information management consultants).

Maintaining client relations with information systems and technologies.

updating and improvements of the system, etc.).

Providing intelligence on the competition.

 Acting as knowledge journalists. Acting as KCM policy analysts.

Liebowitz, 1999; Milton, 2005):

and storing good practices.

**3.2 The roles and functions of the agents involved** 

KCM are as follows (Dalkir, 2005):

Training.


Some of these categories of KCM professionals are part of what De Tena (2004) calls the "core team" (see Table 3).

"While the knowledge worker is any member of the organisation involved in a knowledgeintensive job, the knowledge professional is one who serves as a bridge between the knowledge workers and the decision-makers. These people have the competences needed to deal with the organisational knowledge and promote KM within the organisation" (Al-Hawamdeh, 2003, p. 181).

According to the majority of authors (CEN, 2004; Dalkir, 2005; Gallego & Ongallo, 2004; Gorelick, Milton & April, 2004; Milton, 2005), the basic KCM team would include four people who would focus on KCM more or less exclusively and intensely according to the resources available.


Table 3. Functions of the "core team" (De Tena, 2004, p. 169)

Agents and Processes in Knowledge Creation

of the processes involved (see Figure 2).

Muñoz, 2011, p.169-170):

**5. Results** 

and Management in Educational Organisations 343

3. People in KCM, particularly their competences, motivations, attitudes, beliefs and values: If knowledge is personal and sticky, it is crucial to motivate and encourage the members of the organisation to share, use and create it on a regular basis. KCM is impossible if people do not value the importance of knowledge, are unwilling to share

The analysis and validation of the data obtained from the participants and institutional managers of the fourteen CoPs analysed, as well as the contributions from the numerous experts invited to participate in the discussion groups on the study, enable us to present a proposal for

The smooth functioning of online KCM requires the involvement of at least five agents with specified functions, profiles, spaces for participation and roles. What is more, we should consider the fact that online KCM entails different stages of planning, development and dissemination, and in this sense, the participation of any given agent can be related to each

In the case of the ACCELERA KCM model, the agents involved in the design and development of any process are the following (Rodríguez-Gómez, Armengol, Fuentes &

 **Institutional Manager (IM).** This is the person who takes the decision to offer, provide, suggest and even impose a way of working focused on KCM. They prescribe what the goals and objectives to be achieved are, and they assign the Network Director to design

 **Network Director (D).** They suggest to institutions that they participate in the online KCM for organisational and institutional improvement. They must provide answers to these organisations' specific requests based on initial diagnostics that end up in specific proposals for personalised, well-coordinated interventions based on the leadership position they hold. This person is in charge of planning and supervising the development of the intervention and the functioning of the network. Sometimes they may also hold the intellectual rights to the platform which is used to support the development of the network. **ICT Facilitator (IT).** This person takes all the steps needed to ensure that the support tool used is ready to go for the participants. They take part in the design of simple interaction tools that are user-friendly, functional and practical, according to the standards of usability, accessibility and security, always focusing on the user. Once the design has been made, they must ensure its execution and the administration of the network by ensuring its functioning, supporting the participants, following up and providing technical maintenance of the network, working in close cooperation with the network moderators and creating, if needed, technical guides, while also participating in establishing quality criteria (relevance, focus, precision, exhaustiveness, reliability, punctuality, detail, format

and create knowledge or do not have the competences needed to so do.

KCM processes and agents based on CoPs and on the ACCELERA model for KCM.

and supervise the KCM network in the institution that they run.

and comprehensibility) for more effective, efficient communication.

 **Network Moderator (NM).** This person starts forums of debate or other activities which can be conducted online, guides the process, intervenes if the debate becomes complicated or does not happen, orders the information and synthesises the knowledge that is generated and proposes outside content to feed the debate if needed. They also play a key role in motivating the participants and promoting the socialisation and
