Serious game: Knoco’s Bird Island, making the point for KM

Published date06 April 2017
Pages194-203
Date06 April 2017
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/WJSTSD-06-2016-0043
AuthorStephanie Barnes,Nick Milton
Subject MatterPublic policy & environmental management,Environmental technology & innovation
Serious game: Knocos Bird
Island, making the point for KM
Stephanie Barnes
Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting, Berlin, Germany, and
Nick Milton
Knoco, Bath, UK
Abstract
Purpose Knowledge management really does make a difference; it is not just an academic idea. There are
lots of case studies and examples of knowledge management activities having a significant impact on the
results of an organization, and some examples will be cited in the body of the paper. However, Knocos Bird
Island serious game is one of the quickest, easiest, and most enjoyable ways to make the point. The paper
aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach This paper will review how Knocos Bird Island serious game is played.
It will also discuss the results of over the almost 20 years that it has been played: what participants have
experienced, what has been learned, and most importantly, the data that have been collected that help prove
that sharing knowledge is a very powerful thing to do.
Findings By using threedifferent KM processes (afteraction reviews, peer assists,and best practice sharing)
results of the activitygo from abysmal to unbelievable,increasing by an average of 258 per cent,all because of
reflecting,sharing, and learning. Even if participants want to continueto be sceptical of the results that making
better use of their organizations knowledge can have and they think they can only attain a fraction of this,
10 per cent of the demonstrated result is still almost 26 per cent. Isnt that worth at least giving ita try?
Originality/value Knoco has been running their serious game for almost two decades and have the
data to prove it.
Keywords Innovation, Gamification, Knowledge management, Case study, Change management,
Serious game
Paper type Case study
1. Introduction
There are many case studies published that document the successes and failures of
knowledge management initiatives; one of the authors of this paper has been involved in
publishing nine of them in an earlier publication (Barnes, 2011). However, case studies take
time: time for the actual events to happen, time to document and make sense of those events.
At the beginning of a KM implementation it is often unknown if the events that will
comprise the case study will support or disprove the hypothesis that knowledge
management can help in a situation.
Additionally, in case studies it is difficult to isolate the impact of knowledge from other
things that may be happening within an organization. The longer the period of time
encapsulated in the case study, the more outside factors can influence the outcome.
Running a simulation can help address these issues because they are run over a few
hours, and can control variables more easily. As a reminder, serious games are simulations
of real-world events or processes designed for the purpose of solving a problem. Although
serious games can be entertaining, their main purpose is to train or educate users, though it
may have other purposes, such as marketing or advertisement(Anonymous, 2016).
Knocos Bird Island is such a game. In a period of two hours it takes participants from
sceptics or non-believers to KM proponents. By using childrens toys and a story to provide
context, the participants are led through a series of activities and knowledge management
processes to illustrate the value of using knowledge management within the organization.
Bird Islandwas developed at BritishPetroleum (BP) in the late1990s as a means of quickly
and easily demonstrating the valueof knowledge management. Instead of sitting in a lecture
World Journal of Science,
Technology and Sustainable
Development
Vol. 14 No. 2/3, 2017
pp. 194-203
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2042-5945
DOI 10.1108/WJSTSD-06-2016-0043
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5945.htm
194
WJSTSD
14,2/3

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