The Sixth International Conference on Knowledge Management at Khatam University

The 6th International Conference on Knowledge Management was held at Khatam University by the initiative of the Iranian Management Association and with the presence of national and international experts.

According to the website of Khatam University, the 6th International Conference on Knowledge Management with the knowledge capital approach was held on Wednesday, October 11, 2023, with the presence of experts in this field. This conference was hosted by Khatam University and held in the amphitheater of this university in Tehran.

The economy of the developed world is more dependent on intellectual and skill-oriented capitals than the production process

Dr. Majid Ghasemi, the president of Khatam University, who also chaired the policymaking council of this conference, in his speech entitled "The role of knowledge capital in the development of knowledge-based economy", emphasized: “Today, the rapid expansion of knowledge and increasing reliance on computers, big data analysis and automation have transformed the economy of the developed world into an economy that relies more on intellectual capital and skills than the production process.”

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Iranian Management Association mentioned that the knowledge-based economy is an economy that depends on human capitals and intangible assets. He further added: “The knowledge-based economy supports innovation, research and rapid technological progress and is stimulated by them.”

The CEO of Pasargad Bank discussed the effects of knowledge-based economy and digital economy on jobs and said: “The automation of processes, creation of new jobs due to the emergence and application of digital technologies, combination of work and skills, polarization of the labor market based on skills are amongst the effects of this type of economy on the job market.”

Referring to the concept of knowledge capital, Ghasemi listed the skills required for the knowledge-based and digital economy and added: “Basic digital literacy skills, digital skills for general human capitals, and digital skills for information and communication technology professions are among the necessary skills for the knowledge-based and digital economy.”

The essential work of knowledge management is culture building

 In the first part of this conference, Mohammad Taghi Taghavi Fard, a faculty member of Allameh Tabatabai University, in his speech entitled "The Role of Storytelling in the Development of Knowledge Communication", discussed the background of the concept of knowledge management and said: “Knowledge management is not a new concept and although it was proposed by a European accountant in 1970s, we have indications of knowledge management in our own religious teachings in Islam.”

He further added: “In addition, this topic has been discussed in our own culture; from Nasser Khosrow to Ferdowsi and Saadi, our prominent ancestors had views on the subject of knowledge publication and its management. However, like many other things, we have borrowed the concept of knowledge management from the West.”

This faculty member of Allameh Tabatabai University, while comparing the tangible and intangible assets of three prominent companies in the world namely Apple, Microsoft, and Google, reminded the role of knowledge management in the transformation that has taken place in these statistics. He also provided a definition of this term and said: “Knowledge management is a management that is based on knowledge, and its basic task is cultural creation, which is, of course, a very challenging task. The reason behind this difficulty is that knowledge management usually originates from our behavior outside the organization and cultural challenges usually prevent the successful implementation of knowledge management.”

According to Taghavi Fard, storytelling helps us easily communicate about what has been accomplished and what has been incomplete in the organization. This idea definitely needs to be culturally implemented as it is very difficult for many managers to both admit to their mistakes in management and publish them so that others can learn from those mistakes. Considering that, it is not easy to implement many knowledge management paradigms in our country.”

In any organizations, newcomers facilitate the knowledge transfer

Professor Andreas Brander, a university professor in Australia and an expert in the field of knowledge management, addressed the issue of knowledge acquisition and said: “Knowledge acquisition is a necessity not only for companies but also for all countries through which they manifest their abilities.”

Emphasizing on the significance of access to international knowledge sources, he also pointed to the basic steps in acquiring knowledge and added: "To acquire knowledge, we must strengthen our human capital as new people who enter the organization facilitate the transfer of knowledge."

Further, Amir Zakeri, a faculty member of the University of Science and Technology, in a speech entitled "Bottlenecks and misconceptions in the establishment of knowledge management in the country's organizations", emphasized: “Knowledge management should address roles, processes, technologies and the governance.”

It is not mandatory to only use a single software for knowledge management in the organization

Zakeri added: “Believing that there must be a single software for knowledge management in an organization is wrong. First of all, this issue is basically impossible as we are facing many kinds of technology in the field of technology; from software that help teamwork to those that are related to searching engines, especially those that are empowered with the help of artificial intelligence.”

Five main challenges of intellectual property evaluation

Hooman Mohammadpour, the lecturer and management consultant in this conference, in a speech entitled "Challenges and issues in identifying knowledge assets", while stating that knowledge management is a new issue and its history goes back to nearly 2 and a half decades ago, said: “Knowledge assets are one of those newly discussed concepts. In 2003, the discussion of knowledge capital was raised, and in 2007, we designed a national model for the evaluation of knowledge assets at the country level. The main question though is why we failed to implement it.”

He also added: “We have key challenges in our organizations that have caused this issue. Measuring the intellectual property is a very complex subject. We believe that the intellectual property is intangible and this means that we consider it as ‘knowledge’, while the components of intangible assets include more than organizational knowledge.”

This university lecturer named the 5 main challenges of intellectual property evaluation namely the lack of agreement on the definition of intellectual property, lack of sufficient data, lack of employee cooperation, and costs.

The knowledge capital includes structures, communications and human capitals

In the next part of the 6th International Conference on Knowledge Management, a specialized meeting entitled "The Presentation of Companies' Experiences on Knowledge Capitals" chaired by Dr. Azar Saemian, the scientific secretary of the conference,  was held with the presence of Nasser Babaei; the Deputy Managing Director of Pasargad Energy Development Company, Sajjad Keshavarzian; the Head of Knowledge Management of Nouri Petrochemical Company, Hajar Sedaghat; the Head of the knowledge management department of Hamrahe Avval company and Farshid Momeni Farahani; the Head of Education and Knowledge Management of Tehran Oil Refining Company.

At the beginning, Saemian considered knowledge capital to be a very valuable capital that includes the field of structures, communication and human capital. 77% of the growth rate of companies is based on these three factors. The World Bank has announced that the growth of the goals we are going to achieve by 2030 is for the next 80 years.

Supplying 4% of the country's electricity by the power plants under the management of Pasargad Energy Development Company

 After the first speech, Nasser Babaei; the deputy CEO of Pasargad Energy Development Company presented a report on the performance of this company in the field of knowledge management and said: “About 4% of the country's electricity is supplied by the power plants that were established with the investment of our company. The most advanced solar power plant in the country has also been launched by Pasargad Energy Development Company in Damghan. We are also the only private company that owns and operates an oil dock in Qeshm Island.”

Entry of 1.6 billion dollars of foreign exchange into the country with the export of light petrochemical products

Sajjad Keshavarzian, the head of knowledge management of Nouri Petrochemical Company, said: “60% of our products are exported, and we have imported 1.6 billion dollars of foreign currency into the country solely from this export last year.”

Hajar Sedaghat, the head of the knowledge management department of the Company, referred to the activity of about 2000 people in the headquarters department of this company and stated that everyone in the company cooperated with other members in order to smooth the development path of the company. The knowledge management team considered modeling and drawing knowledge maps, identifying gaps to improve roadmaps, implementing and monitoring performances and operational plans as the steps of knowledge management in their companies.

85 Iranian organizations follow the knowledge management strategies of Tehran Oil Refining Company

Farshid Momeni Farahani, the head of training and knowledge management of Tehran Oil Refining Company, while explaining the performance of this company, said: “Tehran Oil Refining Company brings and refines about 250 thousand barrels of crude oil from the Maron oil field. Currently, 85 Iranian organizations have modeled our knowledge management strategies.”

He mentioned good governance, knowledge engineers, developing critical knowledge management, dominance on using tools as needed as well as the implementation of knowledge management techniques among the strategic plans of the relevant organizations of this company.

At the end of this conference and after reading the final statement, the results of the evaluation of the companies applying for the 6th International Knowledge Management Award were announced and the winners of this course were introduced and honored.