Implementing Knowledge Management in Organizations: Ways to Encourage Team Members to Share Knowledge

Knowledge is a philosophical concept defined by a Greek philosopher, Plato, as a belief supported by an explanation (Blair, 2002). Under the context of knowledge-view of an organization, the definition suggests that knowledge comes from a firm's increased ability to make use and sense of available information to create value for the shareholders (Leiponen, 2006). There has been a significant growth in the knowledge-based era, which suggests that generating and retention of knowledge can have positive effects on the firm's performance (Di Mattia & Scott, 1999). To manage this intangible asset to leverage firms for benefits is considered to be its core capability.

Knowledge management (KM) has been aimed at capturing, integrating and using existing organizational knowledge and consequently creating a knowledge asset that can be a source of sustained competitive advantage in the long run (Brooking, 1999; Havens & Knapp, 1999). The literature has divided knowledge into two major categories depending upon its nature to be codified for the use in a KM system. The structured and systematic knowledge that can be described in formal language and easily communicated and shared through formal means qualify for the explicit knowledge type (Elizabeth, 2001). It has been established that such knowledge is easy to codify in the form of databases and is seen as a base resource because of its inherent nature of easy imitation by other organizations. The other form of knowledge which has gained tremendous importance is the automatic collective behavior and is called tacit knowledge (Richard et al, 2001). Tacit knowledge, according to Sajjad et al (2005), comprises of mental models, values, beliefs, assumptions and perceptions which are deeply entranced into the intellectual capital of an organization. And it has been suggested that tacit knowledge is faced with an apparent challenges such as the feature of inimitability that make it a source of sustained competitive advantage also makes it hard to capture and share within the organization to gain the potential benefits. Any organization should not only look at the 'best practices' in the field but should customize each approach to its own unique culture and requirements to be able to successfully use KM.

In my own view, for an organization to share knowledge more effectively, it needs to leverage the Communities of Practice (CoPs) within its organization. Brooke Manville, Director of Knowledge Management at McKinsey & Co., defines communities of practice as groups of people who are informally bound to one another by exposure to a common class of problems. These groups share their learning and knowledge resources continuously and informally amongst each other for mutual benefit. They will brainstorm for new ideas, or to solve any problems arise in the organizations. Every organization has to have groups like these, which are typically loosely structured, decentralized, fluid, and built on personal relationships. These CoPs are perfectly positioned to support knowledge management efforts. They are continuously capturing and sharing relevant knowledge with each other. Often, though, the knowledge captured is not directed towards a business objective and isn’t codified or validated in any formal capacity. Nor is the knowledge stored in a format that enables easy retrieval. An organization can leverage these CoPs to further its KM objectives by stepping back and creating a list of priorities for what types of knowledge to capture and share. These priorities should directly map to the organization’s business goals and should represent what the organization needs to know to be more successful in the marketplace both at the organization and at the individual level.

Once the business priorities have been identified, existing CoPs should be approached to more formally capture and roll out these organizational learning in a piecemeal fashion using the intranet. If there aren’t any communities of practice naturally aligned to the business priorities, then new ones should be organized. Some large organizations with a history of knowledge management successes have already structured their communities of practice to do this for them on a regular, focused basis. All these while of studying in MMU, I found this as an important aspect to be applied when studying for exams or doing assignments in groups. The results of doing the assignments in groups by having discussion and such tend to be more effective rather than doing the assignments alone. Same goes while I studied for exams, I will have a better understanding on the subject when we had study groups rather than I studied alone.

Other than applying the CoPs, there are a few other theories that can motivate workers in organizations to share knowledge among each other. One of the theories is the reward incentives. There are many sorts of rewards such as financial bonuses, recognition, or fully sponsored vacations by the manager. Financial reward somehow is seen as the most fundamental applied performance practice in any organizations and the most powerful source of knowledge and information sharing. People would tend to share what they know if they are given rewards such as that. People also tend to seek some sense of recognition in their organizations. They want to be known for what they have given. I have seen many cases like these in many companies. For example, my mother worked in the Ministry of Health for years. She told me that usually when there is a new freshly graduated students work there, they tend to not share their ideas or knowledge with colleagues afraid that once they have given out their knowledge, they would have nothing advantage on them. They are afraid of the risk of other people gets the name from their knowledge. But, when offered bonuses or financial rewards for new ideas or any tasks given, they would used and applied all the knowledge they have to have the best outcome and to get the rewards offered.

There are also a theory from Maslow called Maslow’s Needs Theory. There are five stages in the hierarchy of needs according to Maslow’s and they start from physiological needs, to safety needs, to needs of belongingness, to needs of self-esteem, and the needs for self-actualization. At the stage of belongingness, people would tend to share their knowledge and experiences to be part of the group, to share common interest between them, and to feel part of them. Sharing of knowledge at that stage can be in terms of formal (meetings, discussion at workplace) or informal (chatting, going out together). However, through informal, people will tend to share more rather than formal. This is because they feel comfortable towards each other at that time and would share more. When I am doing my assignments in groups, I would prefer to get to know the people in the group better and to do the discussion outside campus or anywhere else that we are comfortable with so that the sharing process would be easier and at the same time, new ideas will be easier to be created. Other than the theories, trust is also one very important aspect to be looked into in the process of sharing knowledge in the organizations. Based on trust, people will absolutely share their knowledge without hesitation. I have a group of friends who will share any information they know depending on whether they are close with the other person or not. For example, if she is with her best friends, she will talk a lot about everything that she knows, but not with her regular friends in campus. This is because of trust. People would tend to share more when they trust each other.

References:

1. http://www.wikipedia.com/

2. chapter 4 in lecture notes

3. Veneeva, V. (2006). How Important Is Knowledge Management For Businesses. Retrieved June 28, 2006, from online database.

4. McShane, S. L., & Glinow, V. (4th Ed.). (2007). Organizational Behavior. McGraw Hill International Edition.