Title: A methodology to manage intra-organisational knowledge sharing
Abstract: In the 1990s, the level of research into knowledge management increased greatly.
Nowadays, knowledge is widely regarded as the key competitive resource, more
significant even than traditional factors of production such as land, labour and capital.
Hitherto there have been four main thrusts to knowledge research: (1) theoretical
research: emphasising the epistemology of knowledge, (2) measurement-oriented
research: measuring the stock of intellectual assets, (3) technology-oriented research:
employing information management systems to increase the efficiency of knowledge
workers, and ( 4) organisational research: investigating such knowledge processes in
terms of organisational learning and knowledge flow.
Organisational knowledge research centres on the investigation of two key problems:
how knowledge is created and how knowledge is shared. This research focuses on
knowledge sharing and specifically on identifying the most effective means for intraorganisational
knowledge sharing. A management framework and methodology have
been developed and embodied as tools for enabling companies to effectively leverage
their critical knowledge resources across multiple organisational units with the aim of
enhancing and sustaining their competitive advantage in the marketplace. This
research is motivated by: (1) the fact that hitherto there has been no theoretically
sound managerial frame ork that integrates the diverse and yet inter-related theories
of knowledge, and more importantly, (2) the need for a practical conceptual tool to
help practitioners put their knowledge-sharing strategies into operation in order to
realise the benefits of managing knowledge.
The novelties of this research are twofold. Firstly, a new holistic management
framework- the Knowledge Sharing Management Framework (KSMF)- has been
developed to integrate theories of organisational learning and cognition,
communication and media selection, culture and motivation, organisational structure,
information management and knowledge networks. This new holistic framework
establishes knowledge-based competitive advantage as the conceptual foundation for justifying the value of a knowledge sharing initiative. It consists of a five-stage
process model (adoption, adaptation, absorption, integration and dissemination) and
four generic knowledge-sharing strategies (concentrating on sharing channels,
organisational infrastructure, human factors and technology provision). Secondly,
knowledge research has, on the whole, moved from investigating 'what' knowledge is
to investigating 'why' and 'how' it should be shared. This work contributes to the
next phase of knowledge management development by designing a new methodology
_the Knowledge Sharing Management Methodology (KSMM)- as a practical 'howto'
guide for practitioners. This novel methodology establishes the crucial link
between strategic and operational level decision-making by examining an
organisation's current knowledge sharing practice from a business process
perspective. The KSMM provides a structured method of identifying areas of an
organisation's knowledge sharing practice for improvement so that managers can
have a tool for guiding them when putting knowledge strategies into practice.
The application of the KSMM is demonstrated by means of two case studies. These
take the form of collaborations with industrial partners in the manufacturing
engineering sector. In these, the firms' current organisational knowledge sharing
practices were systematically examined in order to investigate the enablers and
blockers influencing knowledge sharing between organisational units, and t~ identify
areas for improvement. These two case studies provided empirical evidence for
researching the multi-faceted and 'sticky' nature of organisational knowledge sharing
and for identifying the key factors for success in its management.
Key words: Knowledge management, knowledge sharing, knowledge process,
organisational learning, intellectual assets, methodology
Publication Year: 2003
Publication Date: 2003-05-27
Language: en
Type: dissertation
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