CORPORATE UNIVERSITIES AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

One key principle of knowledge management is that that success is inan organizations through the improvement ofprocesses and the tacklingofchallenging issues. Knowledge Management achieves this through the integration of many different and often highly specialized context-specific strands of expertise and experience. There are four components of the phenomena, Knowledge, people, Process, and technology. Corporate universities are based off this concept as they manage knowledge that comes from educational suppliers or create knowledge centers themselves. These concepts provide an evaluation basis for the two corporations, Walt Disney Company and Toyota, and their respective learning institutions. The term has seen widespread usage today and its implementation as well. The present day business world has seen corporations face a number of challenges as they try to stay afloat and keep up to the ever rising demands of consumers.

They also haveto face out competitions as well. In retaliation to all this pressure, corporations have invested on knowledge management and knowledge is now considered an indispensable asset in modern corporations. The management of knowledge involves four aspects;knowledge itself, people, the process, and technology. Knowledge management accomplishes this throw the integration of many different and often highly specialized context-specific strands of expertise and experience. 1 There are four key components of knowledge management. They include the following; Knowledge: Knowledge is an essential part of KM. without having knowledge to manage, there can be no KM. According to Omotayo2,knowledge refers to a collection or body or information. For example, ICT facilitates Knowledge Management activities through codification of knowledge and its dissemination through the internet.

Nevertheless, as Sun and Scott point out, putting a technology based Knowledge Management system does not assure that people utilize it, taking into account socio-cultural factors do which inhibit the dissemination of knowledge does. Additionally, corporate universities are the natural location for the management and production of knowledge contrary to ‘conventional’ universities which are based on the production, preservation and dissemination of knowledge. Corporate university A corporate university is an educational center that is used by its parent organization as a tool designed to assist in the achievement of the mission, conducting activities and cultivating individual and organizational learning, knowledge and wisdom. 4This definition shows that a corporate university has to link the organization’s strategic plan to the undertakings of the corporate university.

To keep up with the demands, Walt Disney created a professional Development program. The Walt Disney University program was also set up for the purpose of improving management and planning training. This evident from the very first programs that were offered in the Disney University program. They included; operational planning and management training, which Patton identifies were in high demand and the cooperation noticed a business opportunity through the creation of a school to offer them. 6 This shows that there was a gap in the management of people and their training as well that Disney had identified and wanted to fill. According toStansbie et al, a positive internship in an institution usually leads to student retention. 7 Additionally, students who have a positive relationship with an institution usually leads to a commitment in the hospitality industry.

Loyalty amongst employeeshas been realized through the University program. A study carried out by Murphy showed that the satisfaction was high in amongst students Walt Disney University program. 8 The bridging of cultural gap The Disney university program also helps in bridging the cultural gap that is present in the hospitality industry. Reason for set up One of the main factors that contributed to Toyota having educational institutes was to provide students with quality education since they are trained in automotive technology. For instance, in a Toyota Technical Training Institute that was set up in Bangalore, one is able to observe the clear objectives of the company in having educational institutes. One of the agendas is to ensure that a student is well familiarized with how the Toyota production system takes place.

This plays a crucial role once they are employed by the company. The corporate universities also serve the purpose of integrating other relevant technological fields to the motor company. 13 Employees are also given the duty of solving tasks from the view point of management. This plays a crucial role in improving the problem-solving skills of the students. Moreover, it helps in motivating them to be more innovative while executing their line of work. Toyota Training Institutes also help in making students more efficient in their line of work once they are employed by the company. During the training course which takes place approximately three years, students are exposed to the practical, theoretical and physical training of the production process. The process also incorporates knowledge management it considers knowledge, people, and process.

The people are the interns and the process is the internship which offers the students experiential knowledge. Socio-cultural factors are also considered which might hinder the dissemination of information. The investment of Toyota in Toyota University is also worthwhile, as it satisfies the concept of knowledge management and corporate universities. The educational centers have led to the creation of safe and outstanding products and services that meet the diverse needs of majority of the customers. , and Scott Paquette. "Knowledge management: An introduction. " Journal of Digital Media Management 2, no. Desouza, Kevin C. , and Scott Paquette. John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Liker, Jeffrey, and Gary L. Convis.  The Toyota way to lean leadership: Achieving and sustaining excellence through leadership development. McGraw-Hill Education, 2011.  (2013), “Internship design and its impact on student satisfaction and intrinsic motivation”, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, Vol.