Mark D. CHILDRESS
SAP AG, Walldorf, Germany
1. Introduction
Terminology management, like all management approaches, focuses on identifying the critical handoff points where the person-based, technical, and organisational processes do not work as expected. Determining which resources are required to solve certain problems is usually easy – getting and mobilizing those scarce resources is the hard part.
In the ongoing battle for resources, knowledge management (KM) offers useful insights when it comes to prioritising solutions. This paper is a brief summary of how an organisation can benefit from the practical application of KM theory to identify these critical points in its terminology management. The terminology manager will then find it easier to decide where to apply solutions.
2. Knowledge management and terminology management
Knowledge management in the most general sense is an organisational approach to generating value from intellectual and knowledge-based assets. Effective knowledge management supports innovation and optimises processes by explicitly supporting the exchange and comparison of information from related – and unrelated – branches of the same organisation. By nurturing the free flow of knowledge and making knowledge capture and distribution an integrated part of all processes and procedures, an organisation will reap benefits, sometimes unexpected ones, as ideas multiply and employees are rewarded for sharing their own knowledge with others.
Similarly, terminology management on the organisational level is the application of practical tasks carried out to standardise terminological information. Most organisations do not undertake terminology management for its own sake. The work is meant to add value to organisational information and describe shared concepts inside and outside of the organisation. Organisations will tend to standardise terminology, deliberately or unconsciously, in order to better achieve the organisational goals. It is of course far better to manage this activity rather than to let it take its own unplanned course.
Based on these definitions, terminology management can be described as a specialised form of knowledge management. It involves reviewing (capturing) the concepts (knowledge) created by individuals in an organisation and making these concepts available to others (distributing) by means of various delivery channels defined and supported by the organisation.
In turn, knowledge management fosters many different processes of knowledge creation, knowledge capture, and knowledge distribution throughout the organisation.
One important aspect thereof is the creation, review, and distribution of knowledge-rich terminology, which serves as the smallest unit of knowledge describing an individual concept. The linkage of concepts that results from an organisation’s collected terminology is the foundation upon which more knowledge is created, captured, and distributed to others.
2.1. Terminology creation as knowledge creation
Organisations do not create knowledge; people create knowledge. The organisation provides the environment in which knowledge finds its expression. Organisations can stifle knowledge creation, sometimes unintentionally, or they can intentionally nurture a culture in which it flourishes.
Thus the first step in terminology management is to coax or support the creation of terminology as a form of knowledge useful to others in an organisation. Especially in the early stages a great deal of the organisation’s terminology resides only in the heads of the employees. The organisation must ensure that all employees understand what terminology is and why standardised terminology is so important. Moreover, it must support terminologists trained in terminology creation and review in their special subject areas.
In a more practical vein this means:
• Defining what ‘terminology’ means for the organisation – what is a ‘term’, what is an ‘abbreviation’, and so on. The organisation then ensures that these broad definitions are clearly understood and available to all employees.
• Formulating specific terminology standards based on ISO standards for each language required by the organisation. These standards emphasize general standards applying to all languages and include specific exceptions and special standards tailored to the needs of each language.
• Providing terminology information and training based on roles in the organisation.
This includes general information for all employees and terminology management training for those working directly with terminology issues.
• Obtaining official support from management for these standards and policies, usually as part of overall quality management.
2.2. Terminology review as knowledge capture
Knowledge capture must cross the greatest mental gap. A veritable canyon lies between what the employee knows and the methods by means of which this knowledge is made understandable and repeatable to the rest of the organisation. Much personal knowledge remains unformulated because organisations directly or indirectly discourage their employees from sharing it, or at least do not actively encourage them.
The crux of terminology management is thus the review process. The organisation must provide systems and processes in order to document, standardise, test, and revise or reject the concepts and the related terms arising from terminology creation.
For the organisation this means:
• Teaching employees methods and theory in order to recognise and test the terminology concepts arising in specific subject areas.
• Providing tools for documenting terminology and ensuring a standardised workflow for review work. In best-case scenarios, such tools check documented terms for compliance with standards in order to save review time and costs.
• Defining or adapting standardised processes in order to ensure the employees have enough time to review terminology in addition to their standard duties.
2.3. Terminology delivery as knowledge distribution
Not only is it impossible for a single employee to personally share knowledge with everyone else in an organisation, even a small one – the employee is even less able to share knowledge on a personal basis with other employees in other organisations.
Therefore the organisation must provide formal, operational structures or tools, media, and methods for distributing knowledge.
Individuals may, of course, explain terms to individuals or small groups, but the ultimate goal of any terminology management strategy is to deliver a collection of standardised terminology to predefined user groups or roles.
Generally speaking, internal terminology delivery needs to be as real-time as possible for all employees – the quicker the terminology is standardised, and the quicker this is made available, the better. External terminology delivery may be real-time or somewhat further removed in real-time, depending on need.
The organisation must also determine access needs. Most roles will be interested in, and limited to, read-only access; others will be involved more or less in terminology creation and review activities. A special internal user group is responsible for the terminology review process. The employees in this group require direct editor access to the terminology itself and additional training in order to make the end terminological product benefit the organisation.
From a delivery-based viewpoint this means:
• Devising a strategy for operational access to and delivery of the terminology based on printed or electronic modes.
• Determining who needs access to the terminology at which stages (creation, review, and final), and to which degree (internal / organisational or external / public).
2.4. Continual process improvement
Knowledge management is a strategy of constant examination and improvement of processes. It is not enough to look at the knowledge processes once, make improvements once, and let it go at that. A great deal of activity remains bound up in monitoring the ever-changing organisational situation, gathering feedback, and striving for improvements. The organisation must provide for constant analysis of problems and for solving them by applying new tools and techniques.
Similarly, terminology management is not a perpetual motion machine with a self-repairing process flow. The knowledge management approach helps identify the factors in terminology management which would benefit the most by concentrating resources on problem solving.
Specifically, this means:
• Servicing and supporting the terminology management processes.
• Instituting a terminology management forum in which problems and issues are dealt with on an operational basis and which is responsible for a general review of all processes on a regular basis.
• Maintaining a steering committee of key managers and coordinators whose purpose is to ensure higher-level management support for special terminology projects and initiatives.
3. Conclusion
No one can avoid or afford to ignore terminology. Terminology is everywhere and the organisation will just have to accept that as a fact. Organisations thus need well-defined processes to deal with terminology issues, and to continuously monitor and improve them when necessary. This is a far better alternative than ad hoc procedures or random acts of terminology work.
Knowledge management is a practical, effective tool for pinpointing problem areas or recurring situations related to knowledge transfer. It pays to apply this viewpoint to existing formal or informal terminology management processes. The terminology manager will find it far easier to prioritise, to research specific problems, and to develop relevant solutions based on the resources at hand. The solution may be a tool development, changed steps in a process, or additional standards and training information made available to the individuals in the organisation. In some cases a solution solves multiple problems at a single stroke.
Neither knowledge management nor terminology management are magical cure-alls. Constant, open communication between all involved parties is essential.
Managerial buy-in and active support for problem-solving initiatives are also a deciding factor. But, applied correctly, both forms of management will go a long way towards improving the terminological health – and wealth – of any organisation.