As knowledge management becomes a critical factor in determining the competitiveness of an organization, researchers have recently increased their attention to Knowledge Sharing (KS) in the society. We should use the knowledge we accumulate from KS to...
As knowledge management becomes a critical factor in determining the competitiveness of an organization, researchers have recently increased their attention to Knowledge Sharing (KS) in the society. We should use the knowledge we accumulate from KS to strengthen the company’s competitive power. The knowledge contains both the individual employees’ level as well as the company’s. The effectiveness of KS is dependent on how this process is administered within the organization. Hence, it reflects each employee plays a role as an equipped knowledge-worker.
There has been many researches done on the KS in the different fields of work, yet there has been few research done to provide enough understanding for Knowledge Sharing in the secretarial positions.
Secretaries should also invest in improving the value of their positions and continue to make changes. As the need for better quality of knowledge increases, each employee should persistently build on their knowledge for better performance in their work. Employees working the daily routine without any knowledge sharing, there will be no growth in their work performance. By sharing and transferring the core knowledge as their key tasks, secretaries too can utilize the KS to the maximum level and provide satisfactory work performance and commitment with the organization. Utilizing KS in their work will turn them into a competitive knowledge-worker in the business world. For the efficiency of the secretarial work, to analyze the knowledge we gain should be the first priority. The analysis process takes place to make sure that we are ready to perform our tasks with proper knowledge as well as to provide quality information. This study is focused on finding the relation among the KS factors, KS level and the organizational commitment for the secretaries.
From reviewing various literatures and prior researches done on KS, the researcher was able to recognize the classification of KS factors according to the characteristics of different groups and organizations. For this study, selected KS factors were attributed solely to the KS among the secretaries.
The research model is designed in three parts: Individual Characteristics, Structural Factors, and Relational Factors. Individual characteristic is used to indicate the recognition of KS. Structural factors are composed of support from boss, support from the organization, and the KS culture. Relational factors are of trust and open communication.
An individual survey was collected and the survey participants were of the individuals who are currently working as secretaries in the vast area of Seoul and Kyunggido. A total of 152 surveys were collected from November 1^(st) through the 5^(th) of 2008 via mail, e-mail as well as on-site. Of 152, 150 of those questionnaires were analyzed by Window SPSS 14.0 and used for the statistical results.
On the supposition that each independent valuable is likely to affect KS, the researcher analyzed correlation KS level with organizational commitment.
The results of the study are as follows.
The result of the analysis supports the hypothesis, predicting that the trust of relational factors is positively related to the level of KS as well as the recognition of the individual characteristic.
The reason why the trust is to be found the most influential factor in the secretarial work is because secretaries are usually dependent on their employee’s in regards to handling the confidential information or documents within the organization. So the secretaries need to be more careful and more trustworthy to their employer when they are given each responsibility is assigned.
Once secretaries are perceived as dependable, they will continue to receive information through trusted KS and their performance will also improved by basing their experience in KS with their employers and their head officers.
The recognition of individual characteristics has its effect on knowledge sharing on its own. It can be interpreted that the individual level of recognition must be assumed for voluntarily KS. Without recognizing the value of core knowledge and information, just simple sharing cannot be considered a successful KS.
It is indicated that active knowledge sharing in organizations leads to successful knowledge management. There is a need which one must study to gain new knowledge about their own organization but the need also requires sharing that knowledge to expand the opportunity for growth.
Presently, we’re not in the era of shortage in knowledge but knowledge is overwhelmingly provided. Secretaries should actively acquire, accumulate, and supply essential knowledge as they are readily available. Secretaries should invest in their time to share the same vision and the goal of their employer to participate in the growth of the organization with active KS.
This study has following implication.
While most of the studies focused on secretary show that the support from the CEO in the company has the positive effect on the work attitude, of secretaries, this study gives an opportunity to consider that supervisory support also affects their performance through knowledge sharing. As the support from supervisory board grows, this wave of voluntary KS will continue to occur and stimulate the interdependent responsibilities among the employees, secretaries included.
There are also studies done on satisfactory communication within organizations and on conducting performance evaluations on employees and managers. But there has been relatively small number of research on knowledge sharing with organizational commitment. The researcher hope that this study will be a step forward in enhancing the organizational commitment to influence secretaries in fostering the KS for effective work performance. In addition, our finding advances this understanding of the employee’s knowledge sharing behaviors to equip our secretaries as knowledge-workers.