What do we know?

Citation

Chase, R.L. (2007), "What do we know?", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 11 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/jkm.2007.23011baa.001

What do we know?

What do we know?

The papers in this issue of the Journal of Knowledge Management cover a wide spectrum of KM research. Our knowledge of KM remains limited. For example, how does organizational culture affect knowledge management implementation? What are the links between collaborative knowledge sharing and organizational performance? And, what is (and is not) tacit knowledge? These are just a few of the issues addressed in this issue of JKM.

Zhiyi Ang and Peter Massingham have examined the possible affects that a national culture has on knowledge management within multinational companies (MNCs). Based on a literature review, the authors developed a conceptual framework to explore whether MNCs should standardize or adapt knowledge management practices. The key finding from this research is that the impact of national culture may be isolated at the process level, providing more flexibility and manageability.

Working in a similar research area, Adel Ismail Al-Alawi, Nayla Yousif Al-Marzooqi and Yasmeen Fraidoon Mohammed have investigated the role of organizational culture in knowledge sharing. Based on the results of a survey and a number of interviews with staff from various public and private sector organizations in Bahrain, the authors have concluded that trust, communication, information systems, reward systems and organizational structure are positively related to successful knowledge sharing in organizations.

Rodney McAdam, Bob Mason and Josephine McCrory have conducted an in-depth literature review of tacit knowledge to advance our understanding of the subject. The authors have found considerable disagreement in the literature over the definitions and role of tacit knowledge in management studies and in organizations. According to the authors, this disagreement reflects a lack of systematic research on tacit knowledge. The authors suggest a number of ways in which tacit knowledge can be developed at the individual, group and organizational level.

Angel Luis Meroño-Cerdan, Carolina Lopez-Nicolas and Ramón Sabater-Sánchez observe that after years of research, the strategic management literature is still unable to explain differences in company performance or to determine the sources of organizational success. In their attempt to find correlations between knowledge management and organizational performance, the authors have collected KM audit project data from ten firms each in Spain and Austria. The authors have developed a “map” for diagnosing the effects of a firm’s KM strategy. The map is a quick checklist that companies may use for determining and clarifying which knowledge approach they are focusing on, thus assisting in decision-making about KM strategy orientation.

The psychological contract of knowledge workers is the subject of an investigation by Wayne O’Donohue, Cathy Sheehan, Robert Hecker and Peter Holland. Specifically, the authors explore whether the concept of psychological contracts underpinned by relational/transactional exchanges provides an adequate description of knowledge workers’ contracts. The paper’s findings are based on interviews with ten scientists working at the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). Freedom to select the focus of work, autonomy to decide how to conduct the work, organizational resources to complete the task to a satisfactory standard, and the organization’s commitment to the development of knowledge as a value independent of business needs, were key expectations in the scientists’ psychological contract. This study lends support to calls in the psychological contract for the reconsideration of the cognitive-perceptual definition of the concept and its transactional/relational interpretative framework. Also, work ideologies may be significant in the psychological contract, particularly for professional employees.

Jen-te Yang has examined the impact of knowledge sharing on organizational learning and effectiveness within the hotel industry. He surveyed 499 staff working in nine international tourist hotels in Taiwan. This research confirms that enterprise-wide knowledge sharing influences organizational learning, especially in a business sector with a high staff turnover rate. It supports the view that if organizations do not implement processes for collecting and reusing employee tacit knowledge, then organizational learning and performance will be negatively affected.

The paper by Marina du Plessis provides an overview of generic KM critical success factors, in conjunction with a review of the factors that have been found to be critical in KM implementation journeys in selected South African companies. The author reports that most of these factors are very specific to the organizational context, and include the creation of a shared understanding of the concept of knowledge management, identifying the value of co-creation of the knowledge management strategy, and positioning of knowledge management as a strategic focus area in the organization. The author observes that factors that contribute to successful KM implementation are highly dependent on the environment and specific context, and can therefore not always be accurately predicted at the start of a KM endeavor.

An internal communications plan in support of KM implementation is essential but often overlooked, observes Kevin J. O’Sullivan. His paper focuses on communications strategies that may be adopted by organizations deploying KM, especially where resistance to the implementation may exist. Such resistance may be a result of specific issues, including trust, organizational culture and misunderstandings as to the nature of knowledge management and KM initiatives. The author proposes an internal communications plan that involves target audiences, timing strategies and possible media solutions.

Samuel Driessen, Willem-Olaf Huijsen and Marjan Grootveld discuss a framework for evaluating knowledge-mapping tools. At a theoretical level, this framework contributes to the research on knowledge mapping. At a practical level, the framework is designed to help companies gain insights into the elements of knowledge-mapping tools that they already possess, define requirements of the knowledge mapping tool they would like to use, and assess existing tools and compare them to each other. The proposed conceptual framework should provide new ways of working with knowledge mapping by articulating and visualizing relevant aspects of requirements and the tools.

Videoconferencing is becoming an invaluable tool for collaborative enterprise-wide knowledge sharing. Mark Wolfe’s paper reports on a project to measure the extent to which knowledge workers embedded in mediated workplace networks would adopt and then adapt small- and large-format videoconferencing to assist in knowledge creation and transfer. Four research teams across Canada participated in the study, using differing combinations of small-format (web camera units mounted on PCs), medium-format (large television monitors) and large-format (ceiling-mounted projectors and wall-sized imaging) videoconferencing equipment. The study participants reported that broadband videoconferencing enhanced work and knowledge processes, as well as enabling cross-fertilization of ideas. Some behavioral, organizational and technological barriers have been identified which need to be addressed to improve user participation.

Rory L.Chase