Uncovering cultural perceptions and barriers during knowledge audit

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce and illustrate the importance of uncovering tacit perceptions during knowledge management (KM) audit, in order to identify cultural barriers that may interfere with KM initiatives. The goal of such KM initiatives is to leverage a firm's capacity to efficiently produce value from knowledge held by employees and embedded in processes. Current audit practices analyze the explicit information gained through interviews and questionnaires, focusing on the organization's culture, existing KM processes and the improved KM processes it wishes to implement. The paper seeks to suggest an approach for uncovering and analyzing tacit perceptions identified through interviews and discussions as an inherent part of KM audit.Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted during a KM audit in a large international software development organization. The research methodology was composed of two disciplines. The first, used for data collection, was a knowledge‐engineering and management methodology – the CommonKADS. The second, used for qualitative data analysis, was the grounded theory approach.FindingsThe KM activities currently taking place in the organization include creation, sharing, access, usage, and maintenance. In interviews and discussions, access was the most emphasized activity. The cultural barriers that were identified relate to the KM roles and responsibilities that occur in daily work. A business process analysis revealed different perspectives of KM from different stakeholders.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study are based on a large, multi‐located and highly distributed, yet single organization. Additional research needs to be conducted in order to further validate and generalize the findings.Practical implicationsThe principle of identifying tacit perceptions and cultural barriers illustrated in the study may be beneficial in any organization. Identifying the issues that need to be addressed before implementing a KM solution is critical for a successful implementation.Originality/valueThe paper introduces the concept of uncovering tacit perceptions in order to identify cultural barriers that may interfere with a KM initiative. For this purpose, an analysis method was developed and used during a KM audit. Using this audit practice prior to a KM project will enable a better understanding of the risks and challenges that need to be managed to ensure success.

Knowledge management and measurement: a critical review

“…This resistance is amplified by the fact that knowledge hoarding is not proscribed while knowledge sharing is mostly not recognised nor rewarded in today's organisations (Lam and Lambermont-Ford, 2010).In fact, in some cases knowledge exchange may be perceived negatively as wasting time in "chatting" (Davenport and Prusak, 2000). Those who are willing to share their knowledge may be inhibited by the lack of time needed to put it into a form suitable for sharing, unawareness of what knowledge needs to be shared (Levy et al, 2010), fear of publishing something confidential (Paroutis and Saleh, 2009), and the lack of an organisational culture and/or structure that fosters knowledge sharing (Ling, 2011).…”

El hombre detrás de la ley: acerca de la caracterización de Licurgo en la vida de Plutarco

“…La web 2.0 se caracteriza por la habilidad de las personas para colaborar e intercambiar información en línea (Cronin, 2009), representando un gran cambio en la manera en que los individuos se comunican y colaboran con otros (Cummings, Massey & Ramesh, 2009). Según Lazar (2007), la web 2.0 ofrece oportunidades reales de colaboración y comunicación. Y esta posibilidad de colaboración, como veremos más adelante, está ayudando a las empresas a crear un entorno que potencia más la colaboración, denominada por diversos autores (Coleman & Levine, 2008;Turban, Liang & Wu, 2011) como colaboración 2.0.…”

“…Este enfoque postula la prevalencia de procesos activos en la construcción del conocimiento, activando y potenciando el papel del alumno en la relación enseñanza-aprendizaje. Algo similar a lo que ocurre con la web 2.0, que se caracteriza por el aprendizaje social y la participación activa (Levy & Hadar, 2010). Existen experiencias de este tipo, como la de Wang y Zahadat (2009) en sus asignaturas sobre desarrollo de sitios web, que muestra como los estudiantes aprenden mejor las tecnologías 2.0, by doing, en el mismo sentido que el proverbio ya citado.…”

Knowledge Audit: Findings from the Energy Sector

“…According to Levy et al . (:114), knowledge audits are deemed as the ‘first critical step for implementing KM practices in organisations’. This is a view that is supported by Liebowitz et al .…”