Dynamic knowledge management strategy development in international non-governmental organisations

Abstract

Knowledge management strategies are important for firms' competitive positioning. This paper examines how knowledge management codification and personalization strategies are developed in response to environmental and organizational dynamics in an international non-governmental organisation. A longitudinal case study of the organisation's strategic reformulation of its KM strategy over a 2.5 period is drawn upon. The research examines how pressures in the firm's operating environment led to the organisation identifying the need to leverage the value of local contextual knowledge. Subsequent reformulation required the organisation to change its strategic mix of codification and personalization over time. Although efforts were focused on increasing personalization, developments were supported through codification demonstrating the a symbiotic, mutually supporting relationship between the strategies. The strategic reformulation involved processes of reflection, repackaging and support activities.

The role of information systems and knowledge codification for service provision strategies

“…The original article by Hansen et al (1999) proposed a static optimal 80:20 position between codification and personalisation strategies requiring one strategy to be dominant. More recent research has found the strategies complementing each other with neither predominant (Mukherji, 2005) and highly correlated, suggesting a mutually reinforcing relationship (Kumar and Ganesh, 2011; Walsh and Lannon, In Press). Such findings have led researchers to question the 80:20 split, instead arguing that the two strategies have a symbiotic relationship, each receiving benefit from the other, neither being predominant (Venkitachalam and Willmott, 2013; Jaismuddin et al , 2005) and that to take a more dynamics perspective allows both strategies to be enhanced (Scheepers et al , 2004).…”

“…As discussed in the previous section existing studies have identified that service process codification using ICTs can support either standardisation or customisation (Sundbo, 1994; Monnoyer, 2003; Rust and Miu, 2006; Rust and Huang, 2014) which are being squeezed (Sundbo, 2002) in response to customer needs and cost-efficiency. All three service strategies are supported by ICTs and knowledge management strategies (Hansen et al , 1999) which can dynamically change (Scheepers et al , 2004; Venkitachalam and Willmott, 2013; Walsh and Lannon, In Press). Consequently, as the literature indicated that the underlying service strategy also changes, to achieve a balance between standardisation and customisation through modularity (Nordin et al , 2011; Olivia and Kallenberg, 2003; Sundbo, 2002) design principles from knowledge management strategies can be usefully drawn upon and integrated into service design.…”

“…Previous service deign research has considered blueprinting (Shostack, 1984; Bitner et al , 2008) and mapping service encounters over time (Zomerdijk and Voss, 2010; Gupta et al , 2016). As the designs of KM strategies are increasingly being viewed in dynamic rather than static terms (Venkitachalam and Willmott, 2013; Venkitachalam and Busch, 2012; Scheepers et al , 2004; Walsh and Lannon, In Press) our propositions examine potential trajectories for service firms over time. The codifiability of knowledge changes over time (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Boisot, 1998) and ICTs are designed to codify knowledge in different forms (Hansen et al , 1999) and manage the transition between those forms (Scheepers et al , 2004).…”

Knowledge management strategies and organizational improvisation: what changed after the emergence of technological turbulence caused by artificial intelligence?

“…This provides increased access to the organization's explicit knowledge and allows articulating an organizational response in real time (Belkhodja and Daghfous, 2021; Kianto et al. , 2019; Walsh and Lannon, 2020). Nevertheless, technological turbulence has been generically addressed thus fur, and this explains the lack of studies specifically exploring the effects of turbulence caused by AI.…”

“…However, the debate over knowledge management strategies and improvisation remained in the pre-digital era: even recent studies continue to focus on the tacit and explicit knowledge that people generate and use, without acknowledging the changes emerging with the digital era. In general, mainstream research continues to show that knowledge strategies favor improvisation (Belkhodja and Daghfous, 2021; Mamédio et al , 2022; Walsh and Lannon, 2020). However, preliminary evidence argues otherwise, indicating that technological turbulence generated by AI increases knowledge concealment (Arias-Pérez and Vélez-Jaramillo, 2021).…”