Knowledge management was rapidly becoming the dominant approach for capturing, organizing, accessing, and utilizing organizations knowledge assets. The impact of knowledge management in terms of performance improvement and related benefits is so clear...
Knowledge management was rapidly becoming the dominant approach for capturing, organizing, accessing, and utilizing organizations knowledge assets. The impact of knowledge management in terms of performance improvement and related benefits is so clear and plentiful. So, there is an increasing emphasis on the importance of knowledge management in both the private and public sectors.
The main purpose of this study is to analyze how organizational culture, structure, and information technology influence on knowledge management capabilities in public organizations. To achieve the objectives of this study a comprehensive review of the literature was conducted, starting with the epistemology of knowledge, organizational culture, strucure and information technology references. Also, a quantitative approach was utilized. This study surveyed public and private employees in order to investigate the sectoral differences in practices of knowledge management. To enhance understanding of the organizational factors affecting knowledge management in public organizations and private organizations, survey questionnaires were sent to employees in five national government agencies and five private firms in South Korea to elicit their opinions on how organizational culuture, structure, and information technology influence knowledge management capabilities. The data used in this study were collected from self-administered questionnaires during the period of August 2002.
This study explores how three organizational factors as independent variables influence four knowledge management activities(knowledge acquisition, knowledge accumulation, knowledge sharing, knowledge utilization) in public and private organizations. These three variables are organizational culture (visions and goals, trust, and social networks), organizational structure (centralization, formalization, and performance- based reward systems), and information technology (infrastructure and application, and end-user focus).
Scholars indicate that organizational culture is central to an organization's ability to manage its knowledge more effectively. Three components of organizational culture receiving consistent attention related to effective knowledge management include clear organizational vision and goals, trust and social network.
The present study includes three variables of organizational structure dimension, including centralization, formalization, and performance- based reward systems. Organizational structure has often had the unintended consequence of inhibiting collaboration and sharing of knowledge across internal organizational boundaries.
Another important variable related to organizational structure dimension in which this study is interested is a performance-based reward system. Organizational reward systems can determine how knowledge is accessed and how it flows in organizations.
Scholars also emphasize information technology infrastructure as one of the crucial elements of the linkage of information and knowledge integration in organizations. In order to build knowledge sharing capabilities, the organization must develop a comprehensive infrastructure that facilitates the various types of knowledge and communication. Another important component of information technology related to knowledge sharing is the level of end-user focus of information system development. In order to improve knowledge management capabilities in organizations, information systems and software should be developed to promote easy use and application by end-users.
The self-administered survey instrument was designed to elicit information on employee perceptions of organizational culture, structure, information technology, and four knowledge management activities, as well as demographic information. To assess the validity of our research model, measures of the three sub-dimensions of organizational structure (centralization, formalization, and reward systems), three sub-dimensions of culture (visions and goals, trust, and social network), and two sub-dimensions of information technology (infrastructure and application, and end-user focus) were developed. Multiple-item measures were used for all of the variables to improve the reliability and validity of the measures.
Coefficient alpha reliability estimates for all of the variables were arranged from .75 (formalization) to .93 (visions and objectives). A factor analysis indicated that the items designed to measure the three organization dimensions and the four knowledge management activities. The factor loadings of all of these items support the use of these items as indicators of the underlying constructs they were designed to measure. The demographic information questions included in the survey were gender, age, years of work, job category and position.
The study results evince that visions and goals, social networks, centralization, performance-based reward systems, information technology infrastructure & application, and end-user focus are all significant variables affecting knowledge management capabilities in government agencies. And social networks, centralization, performance-based reward systems, information technology infrastructure & application, and end-user focus are all significant variables affecting knowledge management capabilities in private firms. But trust and formalization are not significant variables affecting knowledge management activities in public and private sectors. The "visions & goals" variable is distinguished as an important factor affecting knowledge management activities in public sector employees.
The data strongly suggest that executive leaders, public managers, and managers of government need to acknowledge these factors when addressing the issues of effective knowledge management and capabilities of knowledge management for government service.
The findings also suggest several strategies for consideration by government agencies interested in enhancing employee's capabilities of knowledge management. The first consists of conducting employee assessments regarding internal and external social networks. The employee assessments should focus on communications, contacts, and interactions among employees and among work divisions and agencies. Performing such assessments can be the first step in giving employees the perception that their departments are interested in their network environment, informal networks, communication flow among teams, and access to information among divisions, all of which are significantly associated with knowledge sharing and utilizing capabilities. Managers and supervisors should also develop a plan of action to share organization's visions and goals. And executive leaders and managers should develop incentive and reward systems for recognizing fairly excellent employees.
The study results show that organizational investment on information technology infrastructure and knowledge management information systems is an important factor affecting knowledge sharing capabilities through employees' usage of these information systems. Accordingly, executive leaders and managers need to create workforce technology environments in which individual employees perceive a supportive interest in their knowledge management capabilities. Another important implication of the study results is that public organizations will receive the long-term benefit of improved employee capabilities of knowledge sharing & utilizing from emphasizing the end-user focus of information technology systems. A participatory design approach can increase the end-user focus on application, as well as enhance acceptance of the system by end-users.
All of these suggestions for improving the knowledge management capabilities of employees in government require organization leaders to commit to promoting informal and formal human networks, and knowledge-oriented management practices.
An assessment of the validity of the findings presented in this study would be especially valuable. But several limitations to this research should be noted. The measures used here were perceptual rather than objective; a more complete analysis would require additional data from interviews of employees and longitudinal studies of the dynamics and patterns of knowledge management activities through government transformation.