School of Management

MGMT311 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Trimester 2, 2013
COURSE OUTLINE
Names and Contact Details
Course Coordinator
Dr Sally Riad
Room:
RH 910, Rutherford House
Phone:
463 5079
Email:
Sally.Riad@vuw.ac.nz
Website: www.vuw.ac.nz/vms
Undergraduate Programme Manager
Garry Tansley
Room: RH 915
Phone: 463 6968
Email: Garry.Tansley@vuw.ac.nz

Administrator
Misa Ito
Room: RH1022, 10th floor reception,
Phone: 463 5397
Email: misa.ito@vuw.ac.nz

Trimester Dates
Teaching Period: Monday 15 July Friday 18 October
Study Period: Monday 21 October Thursday 24 October
Examination Period: Friday 25 October Saturday 16 November (inclusive)
Withdrawal from Course
1. Your fees will be refunded if you withdraw from this course on or before Friday 26 July
2013.
2. The standard last date for withdrawal from this course is Friday 27 September. After this
date, students forced to withdraw by circumstances beyond their control must apply for
permission on an Application for Associate Deans Permission to Withdraw Late including
supporting documentation. The application form is available from either of the Facultys
Student Customer Service Desks.
Class Times and Room Numbers
Lecture Room:
Day:
Time:

RH LT2
Mondays
1.40pm 3.30pm

Tutorial Signup Instructions

Tutorial signup is done through the online programme, S-Cube. You should already have been
notified by email about your sign-up to a tutorial:

Go to the signup website at https://signups.victoria.ac.nz and enter your SCS

username and password to log into the system.
Click on MGMT311 and follow the instructions.
If you have been unable to sign up by the end of the first week of the course please contact
the Programme Manager: Garry.Tansley@vuw.ac.nz

Course Delivery
The course is delivered through lectures and tutorials (see Annex A). Students are expected to
attend and participate in these sessions. Attendance at tutorials is part of the mandatory course
requirements (see later) and participation during tutorials is assessed (see Assessment and
Annex C).
Expected Workload
A total of 150 hours of work is expected from students in this course. This consists of 31 hours
of classes, approximately eight hours per week outside classes during teaching weeks spent
reading, studying and writing assignments, and a further 23 hours revising during the midtrimester break and study week.
Prescription
An examination of major themes in the strategic management of knowledge including building
and acquiring knowledge as well as transferring and transforming knowledge to enhance the
organisation's competitiveness. Issues related to different types of knowledge, where knowledge
resides in an organisation and how it can be managed are addressed. Relationships between
knowledge management and learning and innovation are also considered.
Course Learning Objectives
MGMT 311 has three learning objectives. The achievement of these will be evaluated through
the course assessments: tutorials, assignment and the final exam. By the end of this course,
students should be able to:
1. Appraise current thought on knowledge management in the light of contemporary debates on
knowledge productivity, strategic capability and organizational learning;
This will be assessed in tutorial participation, the assignment and the final exam.
2. Discuss theories of knowledge management relevant to current workplace practice;
This will be assessed in tutorial participation, the assignment and the final exam.
3. Apply the tools and techniques of knowledge management
This will be assessed in tutorial participation, the assignment and the final exam.
Course Content
Refer to Annex A for information about lectures, readings and tutorials.

Readings
The required textbook for this course is:
Jashapara, Ashok. (2011) Knowledge Management: An Integrated Approach. 2nd
Edition, Essex, UK: Prentice Hall.
Students will need this book across all lectures and have to bring its respective case to each
tutorial (see Annex A for details).
Assessment

Title
Individual Assignment

Weight
40%

Date
Thursday 22 August
by 10am

Tutorial Participation

10%

Throughout the course

(see Annex A)

Final Examination

50%

On or between 25 October and

16 November

TOTAL

100%

1. Individual assignment Analysis and report:

Strategic capabilities, intellectual capital and knowledge management strategy
Due: 10am Thursday 22 August
Marks: 40%
Length: 3000 words (excluding references)
Working from public sources only, you will choose a New Zealand organization to examine for
this assignment. Using the concepts covered in Weeks 1-4, you will:
-

analyse and assess the organizations strategic capabilities (with specific emphasis on
intellectual capital and knowledge-based resources and competencies)
design a knowledge management strategy that would support the organizations strategic
direction

Details of the full report will be posted on Blackboard and discussed in class. Assignments will
be marked according to assessment criteria based on MGMT311s learning objectives (page 2)
and as expressed in the marking sheet (that will also be posted on Blackboard).
Please read the sections below on handing in assignments, penalties and grading and read
the information on plagiarism available through the link on p. 7.
2. Tutorial participation (10%)
The cases for the tutorials and respective questions are in the course textbook.
Refer to Annex A for details.
Guidelines for tutorial participation are outlined in Annex C.

3. Examination
The exam is closed book and is 3 hours. It is worth 50% of the total marks available for this
course. It is based on a case study (or case studies) that will require you to draw on different
theories and frameworks covered in the course. It addresses all three learning objectives for this
course. All textbook chapters covered during the course are examinable.
Students who enrol in courses with examinations are obliged to attend an examination at the
University at any time during the formal examination period. The final examination for this
course will be scheduled at some time during the period:
Friday 25 October Saturday 16 November (inclusive)
Mandatory Course Requirements
In addition to obtaining an overall course mark of 50 or better, students must:
a. Attend a minimum of 6 out of the 7 tutorial sessions (only 1 session may be missed without
documented support). Tutorials are in weeks 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 & 10.
b. Handing in the assignment within the time allowed.
c. Obtaining at least 40 per cent of the final examination marks available.
If you cannot complete an assignment or sit a test or examination, refer to
www.victoria.ac.nz/home/study/exams-and-assessments/aegrotat
Referencing
There are many different styles of referencing and the Faculty of Commerce at VUW has
decided to make APA (American Psychological Association) referencing style the common
standard across the Faculty. The Commerce and Central Libraries hold the APA Style Guide.
You can also access the information from the online VUW library site.
Handing in Assignments
Assignments should be placed, in hard copy form, in the MGMT 311 box no. 25 on the
mezzanine floor of Rutherford House by the due time on the due date.
All assignments must include an Assignment Cover Sheet (see Annex B) stating your
name, the course name, tutors name, tutorial number and day/time, assignment name and
number, a word count and due date. You should also put page numbers on each page.
Students must:
- prepare two copies of each hand-in and keep the second copy for their own reference
- keep an electronic copy of their work archived in case the original assignment goes
missing
- keep the marked hard copy of their assignment after it is returned to them until the
grades are finalized at the end of the course
Failure to do so could jeopardise claims to your work and/or its grade in the rare cases
where your work goes astray.

Late assignments are to be handed in at Level 10 Reception, RH 1022 during Reception Desk
hours, 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday during term time. An Administrator or Duty
Receptionist will stamp the assignment with the date and time. Late assignments that do not
have the time and date and signed by the Administrator for the course or Duty Receptionist,
will incur late penalties from the time the Administrator receives it. Assignments left on the
Reception Counter, or slid under the door of the Reception office will also incur penalties from
the time and date they are recovered. Note that there is no provision to accept assignments on
weekends or public holidays.
Penalties
(i)
In fairness to other students, work submitted after any deadline will incur a penalty
for lateness. The penalty is 2 of the marks available (marks available means
what the assignment is worth i.e. 40% or 40 marks) for an assignment submitted
after the due time on the due date for each part day or day late. (For example if
an assignment is out of 40 and the assignment receives 50% then one day late
means the mark will be out of 38 and the student will receive 50% of 38).
Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays will be included when counting the
number of days late. Assignments received more than 7 days after the due date
will not be accepted and the student will automatically fail the Mandatory
Course Requirements.
(ii)
Course Outlines provide a signal to students of forthcoming workload, dates of
submission etc, and thus student study plans should take account of course requirements
across all courses. Consequently, workload issues related to other courses and
employment will not be accepted as reason for dispensation from mandatory
requirements or waiver of penalties. Extensions to submission deadlines for any
assigned work will only be granted in exceptional circumstances.
(iii) Students who are unable to comply with any of the mandatory requirements should make
a written application for an extension to the due date for submission of assigned work or
for waiver of a penalty, in advance, to the Undergraduate Programme Manager,
providing documentary evidence of the reasons of their circumstances. All such
applications must be made before the deadline and be accompanied by documentary
evidence, e.g. a medical certificate, or counsellors report clearly stating the degree of
impairment, and the dates the illness or event prevented you from undertaking your
academic studies. This can be applied retrospectively.
(iv)
In the event of unusual or unforeseeable circumstances (e.g. serious illness, family
bereavement or other exceptional events), that precludes an application in advance,
students should make contact with the Undergraduate Programme Manager as soon
as possible, and make application for waiver of a penalty as soon as practicable.
(v)
Word limits should be adhered to, especially so when they provide a guide to limiting
the students coverage of a topic and the intended assignment work load. You are
strongly advised to adhere to the word limit so as to keep your workload at a manageable
level. Any material that is above the word limit may not be taken into account by the
marker. Your marker will simply stop at the maximum words for the assignment and you
will receive the appropriate grade.
Every attempt is made to ensure that the marking is consistent across tutors and fair to students.
Students may ask for their written work to be remarked. A different tutor will do the remarking
and provide comments.

For marks: If the mark differs by 10% or less the two marks are averaged. If it exceeds 10%
then it is independently marked by a third marker and the average of the two closest marks is
taken.
For grades: If the grade differs by one grade then the highest grade is taken. If the grade differs
by more than one grade then the assignment is marked by a third marker and the average grade
is taken.
Experience from previous years is that almost all remarks are within 10% or one grade and
where there is a change in mark or grade, half the assignments go up and half go down.
Occasionally there is a significant shift in the mark or grade. Application for remarks must be
made within 5 days after the assignments are available. To apply for a remark, complete the
request for re-examination of assessed work form (posted on Blackboard) stating which sections
(criteria listed in the mark sheet) you wish re-examined. Write on why you think the mark does
not, in your view, fairly reflect the quality of your work. Hand this with your assignment into
the following place:
Pipitea Campus the Reception Desk on Level 10 Rutherford House where your assignment
will have the time, date and signature noted on the front cover by the person receiving it.
Allow a minimum of 5 days for remarks to be completed.
Use of Turnitin
Student work provided for assessment in this course may be checked for academic integrity by
the electronic search engine http://www.turnitin.com. Turnitin is an on-line plagiarism
prevention tool which compares submitted work with a very large database of existing material.
At the discretion of the Head of School, handwritten work may be copy-typed by the School and
submitted to Turnitin. A copy of submitted materials will be retained on behalf of the
University for detection of future plagiarism, but access to the full text of submissions will not
be made available to any other party.
Grading Guidelines
The following broad indicative characterisations of grade will apply in grading
assignments and the exam:
A+
excellent performance in all respects
A
excellent performance in almost all respects
Aexcellent performance in many respects
B+
very good, some aspects excellent
B, Bgood but not excellent performance
C+, C work satisfactory overall but inadequate in some respects
D
poor performance overall, some aspects adequate
E
well below the required standard
K
failure to achieve mandatory course requirements and have achieved at least an
average "C" across all the assessment
Class Representative
A class representative will be elected in the first class, and that persons name and contact
details made available to VUWSA, the course coordinator and the class. The class representative
provides a communication channel to liaise with the course coordinator on behalf of students.
Communication of Additional Information
Information on course-related matters will be announced in class and posted on the Blackboard
website at http://blackboard.vuw.ac.nz. It will be crucial for you to regularly check Blackboard
for messages, announcements and materials.

Email Contact
Students wishing to contact staff by email should follow these instructions:
Include the Course Code, your Name, your Student ID and the Topic in the subject area of the
email, e.g. MGMT311_Smith_Pauline_3000223344_Ass1 Query
Student feedback
Student feedback on University courses may be found at
www.cad.vuw.ac.nz/feedback/feedback_display.php
Link to general information
For general information about course-related matters, go to
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/vbs/studenthelp/general-course-information
Note to Students
Your assessed work may also be used for quality assurance purposes, such as to assess the level
of achievement of learning objectives as required for accreditation and academic audit. The
findings may be used to inform changes aimed at improving the quality of VBS programmes.
All material used for such processes will be treated as confidential, and the outcome will not
affect your grade for the course.
************************

ANNEX A: CONTENT OUTLINE FOR LECTURES AND TUTORIALS

Week

Lecture

15 July

Introduction to knowledge
management

Chapter 1

22 July

Core ideas in knowledge

management

Chapter 1 (cont.)
Chapter 2 (short parts)

29 July

Intellectual capital

Chapter 3

Tutorial 1 Case study: Infosys

5 Aug

Strategic management
perspectives on KM

Chapter 4

Tutorial 2 Case study: Unilever

12 Aug

Organisational learning

Chapter 5

Tutorial 3 Case study: Toyota

19 Aug

The learning organization

Chapter 6

BREAK

Textbook Reading

Tutorial

Week

Lecture

Textbook Reading

Tutorial

9 Sep

Knowledge management tools

Chapter 7

Tutorial 4 Case study: Royal Dutch Shell

16 Sep

Knowledge management systems Chapter 8

Tutorial 5 Case study: Tata Consultancy Services

23 Sep

Enabling knowledge contexts

and networks

Chapter 9

Tutorial 6 Case study: Fluor

10

30 Sep

Implementing knowledge
management

Chapter 10

Tutorial 7 Case study: Woods Bagot

11

7 Oct

Reflections on knowledge
management

Epilogue

12

14 Oct

Revision for exam

ANNEX B
Victoria Management School
MGMT 311 Individual Assignment Cover Sheet

Name:___________________ Student ID:__________________

Tutors Name: ___________________

Tutorial Number: ____

Tutorial Day: ___________________

Tutorial Time: ______________

Date Due: ____________

Date Submitted: ____________

I have read and understood the university policy on Academic Integrity and Plagiarism.
I declare this assignment is free from plagiarism.
Signed: ______________________________________________

Extension of the due date (if applicable)

Please attach a copy of the note authorising your extension.
Date extension applied for:________________________________
Extension granted until:___________________________________
Extension granted by:____________________________________

10

ANNEX C
Tutorial Guidelines

General information
Worth:
Weeks:
Signing up:

10% of final grade

3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 & 10
Refer to the earlier section on p. 2.

Each tutorial is based on a discussion of a case study that relates to the previous lecture content. The
cases for the tutorials and respective questions are in the course textbook. Refer to Annex A of the
Course Outline for details. You need to attend a minimum of 6 out of the 7 tutorial sessions (only 1
session may be missed without documented support).
Goals
The tutorials are designed to address the learning objectives for this course. Accordingly, students
are expected to:
Reflect on knowledge management in light of the lecture topic and case for that week;
Discuss theories of knowledge management and relevance to practice;
Apply the tools and techniques of knowledge management
Tutorials both support your learning through this course as well as contribute to assessment of your
learning (10%). Assessment is gauged through your oral participation in tutorial discussions (see
below).
Preparing for your tutorials

Attend the lectures and read the respective textbook sections covered
Read the case
Prepare your answers to the questions posed at the end of each case
Think beyond the questions to see if you have other comments or questions on the case based on
the topic covered that week.

Discussing your ideas during the tutorials

Be prepared (as above)

Arrive on time; tutorials run to a tight time schedule, so timeliness is crucial
Discuss your ideas with the rest of the class within the parameters set by the tutor for that
session
Tutors ensure that each student has the time and opportunity to discuss their ideas in class; if
you feel that you require more support in this regard, please discuss this with your tutor
Support others in the tutorial by ensuring that you allow them as much time and attention as you
would expect for yourself.

11

Feedback on your performance

Tutors will provide you with mid-term short feedback on your performance. This should affirm
your sense of your performance to date or it can serve as a wake-up call that you need to put more
effort into your tutorial contribution.
Assessment
MGMT 311 tutors will be using the following general guide to determine your tutorial
participation mark.

100% (10/10):
Frequent and consistent contributions which show an excellent understanding of the
case and makes significant reference to the course readings and beyond. Comments
demonstrate excellent interweaving of theory and practice.
75% (7.5/10):
Frequent and consistent contributions that show a good understanding of the case and
that make reference to the course readings. Comments demonstrate good interweaving
of theory and practice.
50% (5/10):
Sporadic contributions to class/group discussion; comments show some understanding
of the case but make little to no reference to the course readings.
25% (2.5/10):
Attendance; but with negligible contribution to class/group discussion.

0% (0/10): Insufficient attendance.

12