Knowledge Management: A Framework

for building a Knowledge Sharing Culture

by

Palvinderjit Kaur

April 2007

UCTI Working Paper

WP-07-04
 Knowledge Management: A Framework for building a
Knowledge Sharing Culture
Palvinderjit Kaur
Asia Pacific University College of Technology & Innovation
Technology Park Malaysia
Bukit Jalil, 5700 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
April 2007

palvin@apiit.edu.my

Abstract
Knowledge management has now become the ultimate goal and business strategy in
many organisations to gain the competitive edge. Knowledge is known to be the most
powerful and intellectual asset in organisation which require managing and sharing
capabilities. Organisations will be able to upgrade their position by becoming
knowledge intensive organisations if they start valuing knowledge and use it as a
powerful tool to meet business challenges.
Knowledge repository implementation will add value to the success of knowledge
management by providing a new platform for continuous learning process. The process
of creating, managing and storing knowledge requires a new shift that now focuses on
knowledge sharing to leverage the organisational capital asset which is the knowledge.
The entire concept of knowledge management will not work if a knowledge sharing
culture is not established. This paper describes concepts such as the 3C‟s and CoPs
which need to be incorporated to guarantee the success of knowledge management.
By examining the application of models and frameworks for knowledge management a
framework for a building knowledge sharing culture is recommended. No knowledge
can be managed if sharing capabilities are not supported with the cultural and
technological shifts. With this understanding, the framework includes 5 key enablers
which are simplified and presented as a checklist to guide organisational interest in
implementing knowledge management. Methods which can be adopted to encourage
the success of the recommended framework are then discussed.
Knowledge management with the strong support of a knowledge sharing culture will
raise any organisation to a new level for meeting business challenges This can be
achieved with the creation of knowledge repositories and generating knowledge
workers as part of their business strategy.
Keywords: Knowledge management, knowledge sharing, models, framework and key
enablers.
is also about the sharing element that is the
1. Introduction most important aspect that is still difficult to be
Organisations in today‟s world are viewing a established and achieved by organisations. The
new business strategy which includes reason for this is that knowledge is known to
knowledge management as their ultimate goal be the most powerful asset to an individual.
for competition advantage and success factors. Authors such as Koulopoulas and Frappaolo
According to the Head of Knowledge (1999) and Polanyi (1964) highlight that the
Management in Hindustan Lever Limited, only irreplaceable capital organisations possess
“knowledge management refers to all is their knowledge.
systematic activities for the creation and
sharing of knowledge that connect people to Regardless of the fact that knowledge is either
people and people to information” (Murty, explicit or tacit, it is important to be shared and
2004). improved continuously. Churman (1971)
mentions that knowledge is a collection of
Knowledge management is not just about information that resides in the person‟s mind.
capturing and disseminating knowledge but it

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Knowledge Management: A Framework for Building a Knowledge Sharing Culture
2. Knowledge
It is true, explicit knowledge can be easily
stored compared to tacit knowledge. Explicit
knowledge concentrates on formal and
systematic documentation that is made public
to all domain users (Conway and Silgar, 2003)
but it is the tacit knowledge which evolves
from experience and intuition which is not
being shared and explored (Cornell et al,
2003). It is now incredibly important for
organisations to value and manage both the
explicit and the tacit knowledge and should
seek ways creating, storing, finding and
acquiring this knowledge with the model
suggested by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995).
This model allows conceptualisation of
knowledge which is crucial as it is known as
“justified belief and commitment based on the
individual capacity to take the effective action”
stated by Alavi and Leider (2001).
In addition Davenport and Prusak (1998)
noted that organisations should view
knowledge as a “fluid mix of frame
experiences, values, contextual information
and expert insight that provides a framework
for evaluating and incorporating new
experiences and information”. Therefore
organisations should focus on sharing their
knowledge especially using documentation and
repositories. The knowledge should include
tacit knowledge from business processes,
routines and norms which encapsulate the
application of best practices to become
knowledge intensive organisation as suggested
by Malhotra (2004).
2.1 Knowledge Intensive
Organisation
“A knowledge intensive organisation relies on
human capital and knowledge as being a
source of competitive advantage, where
knowledge has more importance than other
inputs such as physical or financial capital”
(Starbuck, 1992). Knowledge is an intangible
resource for an organisation (Svieby, 1977),
utilising this resource becomes the source of
innovation and strategic renewal for the
success criteria of knowledge sharing.
Nonaka and Takeuchi‟s model can be used to
focus on the creation of knowledge, known as
the Knowledge Value (KnoVa) (Tissen, et al,
2000) to start the knowledge sharing culture.
David Owens, Vice President of Knowledge
Management at Unisys Corp quoted “Only 2%
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of information gets written down and the rest
is in people‟s heads” (Hickins, 1999). He is
concerned as he believes that the need to create
a knowledge intensive organisation becomes
crucial because the organisation‟s risk will
include the loss of knowledge when an
employee leaves the organisation. Therefore
the individual should be allowed and
encouraged to share knowledge. Knowledge
storing and sharing should be supported with
repositories that can be accessed by all
employees suggested by Brown and Woodland
(1999).
Swart (2003) defines “knowledge intensive
organisations in terms of their emphasis on the
nature and quality of their highly skilled
human capital. In addition, work processes that
create market value through knowledge and
the deployment of the knowledge involving
innovation, initiative and competence should
be built into the organisation”.
Therefore it becomes extremely important for
the survival of any organisation to be
knowledge intensive with the establishment of
knowledge repositories that can be shared by
the employees in the organisation.
2.2 Knowledge Repositories
The relationship between data, information and
knowledge is important to be understood
(Furlong, 2001). Data are raw facts such as
figures that can be stored easily. The data
becomes information when the human mind
interprets the combination of data in a more
meaningful format, such as a report. As
information resides in human minds it will
become knowledge only when more and more
valuable ideas, insights and interpretations are
created, stored and shared. This is only
possible if knowledge repositories are created
as discussed by Marchand (2000) and Stewart
(1999).
Authors such as Davenport and Marchand
(2000), Bukowitz and Williamns (1999),
Davenport and Prusak (2000), Stewart (1999),
Nonaka and Takeuchi (1999) and Koulopoulos
and Frappaolo (1999) all state that knowledge
repositories are “a set of knowledge categories,
the location of the knowledge and in some
cases its condition and value”. (Davenport
T.H, 1999)
Therefore organisations should make these
knowledge repositories accessible using
knowledge maps or expertise directories to
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Knowledge Management: A Framework for Building a Knowledge Sharing Culture
enhance knowledge sharing capabilities. The
Knowledge Life Cycle model can be used for
knowledge creation and is good for
identification of tacit and explicit knowledge
(Polanyi, 1997).
Based on a review of the ABCs of Knowledge
Management compiled by Santosus and
Surmacs in 2001 “explicit knowledge consists
of anything that can be documented, achieved
and codified often with the help of Information
Technology (IT) but it is harder to grasp the
concept of tacit knowledge the know-how
contained in people‟s heads”. The challenges
are to create knowledge repositories that will
recognise, generate, manage and share tacit
knowledge. This will provide an excellent
solution for competitive edge within the
organisation ensuring that best practices and
knowledge are safe and will be just one click
away.
2.3 Importance of Knowledge
Management
In a nutshell, organisations needs to recognise
the power of knowledge management as it is a
way to obtain the most valuable intellectual
assets as confirmed by Santosus and Surmacs
(2001). The advantages of knowledge
management that they identify are:
1. The fostering of “innovation by
encouraging the free flow of ideas”.
2. Improvement in “customer service by
streamlining response times”.
3. Boosting revenue by getting products
or services to market faster.
4. Enhancing “employee retention” rates
by recognising “the value of
employees‟ knowledge and rewarding
them for it”.
5. “Streamlining operations and
reducing costs by eliminating
redundant or unnecessary processes”.
The same review was supported by
Robert.E.Cole (2002) by the claims that
organisations will benefit in areas such as
globalisation, global integration, increased
growth and scope and networking, as
employees will be able to manage, share and
retain their knowledge. This becomes possible
with knowledge repositories and Information
Technology which allows collaboration and
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sharing to work with the power of the internet
and networking.
One clear discovery is that if organisations are
not moving forward to knowledge
management then they will face some of the
following warning signs that are not healthy
for their business‟ success.
The warning signs are:
1. Repetition of mistakes.
2. Duplication of work.
3. Failure to share good ideas.
4. Loss of competitive position in the
market place.
5. Inefficiencies in launching new
technology.
It becomes equally reflective that with the
incorporation of knowledge management,
warning signs can be reduced and
organisations should obtain benefits such as
having a dynamic and ever growing number of
activities and knowledge that can be freely
shared if knowledge sharing culture is
cultivated in their organisation.
3. Knowledge Sharing
Hjelmsoe (2003) stated that “knowledge
management is 5% technology and 95%
management”. The prime aim of “knowledge
sharing is to share and enrich organisational
knowledge by cultivating the culture of sharing
at the individual level right up to management
level” (Gurteen, 1999).
Knowledge management includes sets of
principles, processes, organisation structures
and technology applications which are required
to be shared and leveraged if the sharing
culture is cultivated. Webster‟s New Collegiate
Dictionary (Gurteen, 1999) defined culture as
“the integrated pattern of human behaviour
that includes thought, speech, action, and
artefacts and depends upon man's capacity for
learning and transmitting knowledge”. This
culture (Gurteen, 1999) should be transparent
in organisation and the establishment of
community of practices should be formed
(Amin, et.al,.20001).
Research was conducted in Sugar Land Texas,
USA, where a team was set up with common
or community goals to a problem solving
situation. The team was reported to be highly
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Knowledge Management: A Framework for Building a Knowledge Sharing Culture
motivated and was experiencing a new
situation where multiple ideas, expertise and
skills was seen being discussed and shared
among the team members to decide on the
suggested solution to the problem domain.
The team was also reported to be
collaborating, pooling and disseminating their
collective experiences using the knowledge
repositories made available. It is noted that the
knowledge sharing process will not only
encouraged the team member but will lead the
organisation to become knowledge learning
organisation.
Senge (1999) suggests that “the rate at which
organisations learn may become the only
sustainable source of competitive advantage”.
Generative learning or double loop learning
(Argyris, 1997) can be applied by
organisations where any experiences or
feedback that had improved from the existing
knowledge is made compulsory to be stored in
knowledge repositories. This application will
encourage continuous learning and will be the
base for ongoing examination which can be
part of evaluation and measurement process.
This is required for the benchmarking and
checking the optimisation of the knowledge
and the way the organisation goes about using
the knowledge for defining and solving
problems.
As many organisations are rigorously
adopting knowledge management with the best
people producing and applying the best
technology, using the best product or service,
seems to be more effective with the cultural
shift and the creation of Communities of
Practice (CoPs) within the knowledge sharing
domain.
3.1 Communities of Practices
(CoPs)
Communities of Practice (CoPs) are workers
or experts who share and utilise their
knowledge assets. Wenger (2004) defines
“CoPs as groups of people who share a passion
for something that they know how to do (tacit
knowledge) and who interact regularly in order
to learn to do it better”. CoPs are “practitioner
who use knowledge in their activities and are
in the best position to manage and share the
knowledge” (Wenger, 2004).
A survey was conducted by the author in 2005
using Global shared service centre with IT
excellence and one University College in
Malaysia as sample case study to define the
impact of CoPs. Three key elements suggested
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by Wenger (2004) were used in the survey.
The elements are:
1. Domain – Task, team and area of
“knowledge” to be explored.
2. Community – “group of people for
whom the domain is relevant, the
quality of the relationships among
members and the definition of the
boundary between inside and outside
of the community”.
3. Practice – “body of knowledge,
methods, tools, stories, cases and
documents which members share and
develop”.
From the survey conducted with 50
participants, more than 80% were interested in
establishing CoPs in their organisation as it
was not formally done and highlighted that the
concept had started but needs improvement
especially for the knowledge repositories as it
lacked the technological and cultural
establishment which were not fully formalised
and supported by management.
Therefore senior management involvement is
important in the creation of CoPs and the
sharing of knowledge should be value as one
of the business strategy and communicated to
all employees. Denning (2004) supported his
claim by stating that with CoPs established in
organisations, it increases sharing of common
interest or passion in an area of competence
which results in a continuous learning effort.
Opinion leaders who believe in practices and
behaviour should be appointed to the CoPs to
lead the sharing and management of the
knowledge (Cheng, 2002) because knowledge
is power for organisations in today‟s world.
3.2 Why share knowledge?
Generally, organisations do realise the need for
knowledge sharing. Gurteen (1999) believes
that if an organisation does not cultivate a
knowledge sharing culture then it will face the
following difficulties:
1. Intangible products such as ideas,
processes, and information will take
“a growing share of global trade from
the traditional, tangible goods of the
manufacturing economy”.
2. There will be an increasing turnover
of staff.” People don‟t take a job for
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Knowledge Management: A Framework for Building a Knowledge Sharing Culture
life any more. When someone leaves
an organisation their knowledge
walks out of door with them”.
3. An organisation will not know what it
knows. “Large global or even small
geographically dispersed organisation
does not know what they know.
Expertise learnt and applied in one
part of the organisation is not
leveraged in another”.
4. There will be accelerated change in
technology, business and social needs
which will get unnoticed if not being
shared.
Organisations that have successfully
implemented knowledge sharing are Ernst and
Young, Anderson Consulting, IBM and British
Petroleum. For the global shared service centre
used in the survey it was suggested that they
follow in the footsteps of the successful
organisations, meanwhile for the university
college the example of Czeh University that
implemented knowledge sharing in their
academic community should be seen as a good
example (Cesh et.al.,2003).
These successful organisations explained that
with the use of technology, such as telephone,
e-mail, video conferencing and the internet,
knowledge can then be easily shared regardless
of the place and time dimension. It will be a
tremendous effort for organisations to analyse
how and why people do not want to share
knowledge. This lack of willingness to share
has become the drawback for knowledge
management success.
3.3 Why people do not want to
share knowledge?
Analysis by Skyrme (2002) highlighted that
companies should analyse reasons why
knowledge sharing is not taking place in their
organisation. The following list highlights the
key issues identified:
1. Knowledge is power therefore
employees are worried about
losing their job security.
2. People feel superior therefore
they do not want to learn from
others.
3. Not realising the power of useful
knowledge because unaware of
sharing of best practices.
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4. People feels that the effort of
sharing knowledge required trust
and support that might not be
encouraged and recognised by
the organisation.
5. Lack of time as people feel it
takes more work to create and
store knowledge. It feels like an
additional task besides their
existing duties.
6. Fear of “inadequate technology,
internal competition and top
down decision making” barriers.
One of the solutions to overcome the above
problems is to apply the 3C‟s of the knowledge
sharing concept.
3.4 The 3C’s of Knowledge
Sharing
The 3C‟s of knowledge sharing suggested by
Skyrme in 2002 is an application and proven
theory that organisations should be applied to
initialise the effort of knowledge management:
1. Culture change – “the way we do
things here”
Organisations should carry out a culture
audit through questionnaires and
interviews to solve the issue pointed out
by Skyrme in section 3.3.
For example, Siemens incorporated an
audit culture and built their CoPs with a
rewards scheme to encourage the
knowledge sharing capabilities.
2. Challenging through Collaboration
and Competition
By applying competition in a healthy way
Skyrme‟s first four key issues can be
improved. This can be achieved through
the implementation of peer reviews;
continuous benchmarking of internal
processes and functions. Standards of
measurement need to be reviewed and
benchmarked for leveraging learning and
sharing within the organisation.
3. Commitment
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Knowledge Management: A Framework for Building a Knowledge Sharing Culture
One of the most important aspects of
knowledge sharing is commitment and
this should start right with a management
motivation scheme.
Rewarding systems and a development
programme should be in place. Groupware
functions and application details confirm
that the 3C‟s would increase
communication, collaboration and
coordination (Chaffey, 1998).
3.5 The Knowledge Sharing
Culture
Knowledge sharing strategy application is
important to encourage “people to work
together effectively” (Skyrme, 2002). This
strategy implementation will allow and direct
any organisation to achieve the “ultimate goal
of knowledge management” that is to increase
sharing of knowledge and productivity of its
employees.
The knowledge sharing strategy (Gurteen,
1999) includes:
Rewarding To encourage “knowledge
knowledge sharing, an ideas database
sharing should be created and people
should be paid for their
contributions, regardless of
quality whether the ideas are
brought to fruition or plain
crazy”.
Motivating Knowledge sharing should be
knowledge part of personal interest as
sharing knowledge sharing is power. To
make “knowledge sharing a
reality sharing individual
knowledge helps them do their
jobs more effectively, helps
them retain their jobs, helps
them in their personal
development and career
progression; rewards them for
getting things done” and brings
more personal recognition.
“By sharing your knowledge,
you gain more then you lose.
Sharing knowledge is a
synergistic process, you get
more out than you put in,
collaboration is important.
Knowledge sharing is not only
about sharing great ideas but
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it‟s about improving the way
things get done by sharing the
little things”. (Gurteen, 1999)
Making it Knowledge sharing starts at
happen individual, department, team or
organisation level with the
concept of CoPs.
Fundamentally, “sharing is
about being more open” in the
workplace and the relationship
with others.
The role of Technology plays a crucial
technology transformational role as it
encourages collaboration and
sharing of knowledge globally
with the usage of internet,
intranet and groupware systems.
Together with the knowledge sharing strategy
identified above, organisations can apply the
following 7 steps/incentives for sharing
suggested by Skyrme (2002) to enhance the
knowledge sharing strategy.
1. Hire people who will share – Texas
Instruments started having interactive
interviews at their recruiting process.
2. Develop trust – a professional code of
conduct was used by all employees at
Buckman Laboratories.
3. Vary motivations – “Gemini and
Ernst & Young applied incentives at
three levels. A solid business case for
senior executives; relevant benefits
for departments” and incentive should
be provided to the employee with
positive behaviours and results.
4. Show public recognition – “Harris has
a “wall of fame” gallery of employees
who have excelled at work”,
meanwhile McDonalds and Kentucky
Fried Chicken fast food restaurants
display the employee of the month.
5. Reorganise for sharing – “Northrop
Grumman uses integrated product
teams backed with mentoring
programme”.
6. Create communities – “The World
Bank uses electronic bulletin boards”,
which focus on relevant topics and
increases the use globally on topics
that the CoPs are sharing.
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Knowledge Management: A Framework for Building a Knowledge Sharing Culture
7. Develop leaders – “Capital One
formed a group from natural
knowledge champions to promote
knowledge sharing and develop
training”.
In total, knowledge management must connect
people to information across a broad spectrum
in the company. This connection includes
creating a knowledge sharing capability in
processes and encouraging people to share and
use technology to collaborate on global
knowledge repositories and hence successfully
allow them to contribute to an organisation‟s
strategic goals.
Increased productivity, accelerated learning
and faster decision making will be obtained
with the scheme of incentives and motivation.
To introduce knowledge management,
knowledge sharing culture need to be should
start at the individual level with the creation of
CoPs and application of popular knowledge
management models and frameworks.
4 Models and Frameworks
Knowledge management involves the creation
of value from an organisation‟s intangible
assets, therefore according to Alavi and Leider
(1999) “many organisations are developing
systems designed specifically to facilitate the
sharing and integration of knowledge”
(Montaano et al, 2004).
Venters (2001) highlighted that knowledge
management can be concluded and described
as the essence of knowledge as either “tacit” or
“explicit”. “Tacit knowledge is personal;
context specific and therefore hard to formalise
and communicate, meanwhile explicit or
codified knowledge refers to knowledge that is
transmittable in a formal and systematic
language” (Nonaka and Tackecuhi, 1995). The
model created by Nonaka and Takeuchi called
the “Knowledge Conversion” model or
“Knowledge Life Cycle” is an important key
element to knowledge sharing.
Organisational knowledge creation process is
based on a basic framework that contains two
dimensions. One is “epistemological that
explains that only individuals can create
knowledge therefore it is a process that
organisationally amplifies the knowledge
created by individuals and crystallises it and
another is the ontological that relates to the
interaction between tacit and explicit
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knowledge” Leverde (2000).This model is also
called the SECI process.
Knowledge includes both the tacit and explicit
knowledge and is stored and accomplished
through systems, structures and culture. The
four steps of the SECI process are described
below by KnowledgeBoard (2002).
Socialisation – is the “process that transfers
tacit knowledge from one person to tacit
knowledge of another person”. This can be
achieved through sharing experiences.
Externalisation – is the process of converting
tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge
amongst individuals within a group with
activities such as metaphors, hypotheses and
models.
Combination – Having completed the first
three steps, “explicit knowledge may then
combine through a process of systemising
concepts into a knowledge system or
repositories. This can be achieved by
individuals exchanging and combining
knowledge through media. The media are
documents, meetings, telephone conversations
and computerised communication networks.
Formal education and training programmes
also constitute this form of conversion”.
Internalisation – is the “process of
understanding and absorbing explicit
knowledge into tacit knowledge held by the
individual”. This can be done with activities
such as “learning by doing” and
“documentation read by individuals where the
ideas are combined with the tacit knowledge,
such as an individual possesses”.
Nonaka and Takeuchi (1999) also developed
the Five Phase model for knowledge
creation. The model is similar to SECI model
as describe below:
1. Sharing tacit knowledge – “tacit knowledge
held by individuals” combining experience and
best practice.
2. Creating concepts – this is the most
intensive phase. “Once a shared model is
formed in the field of interaction (tacit-
explicit), the self-organising team articulates
through continuous dialogue to form a
collective reflection” of the knowledge. The
process then verbalises the knowledge into
words and phrases which is then crystallised
into explicit concepts (externalisation).
3. Justifying concepts – determine if “the
newly created concepts are truly worthwhile
for the organisation and society”.
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Knowledge Management: A Framework for Building a Knowledge Sharing Culture
4. Building an archetype – converting the
justified concepts into “tangible or concrete
archetype”. “An archetype can be considered
as the prototype of new product development
process”.
5. Cross levelling of knowledge (spiral
process) –This interactive spiral process takes
place intra and inter organisationally to create
and grow knowledge as knowledge creation is
a never ending process. (Tannembaum and
Alliger, 2000)
Systematic combination of the aspects stated
below in the cross levelling in knowledge and
the interactive spiral process are important to
examine the effectiveness of knowledge
management implementation in any
organisation (Leverde, 2000).The aspects are:
Cross levelling of knowledge - (spiral
process):
1. Knowledge Sharing – is the “extent to
which people share their knowledge”.
2. Knowledge Accessibility – is the “extent
to which people have accesses to the
information they need to make decisions,
solve problems, and perform job tasks
and service customers”.
3. Knowledge Assimilation – is the “extent
to which people learn or assimilate the
knowledge they need to perform well”.
4. Knowledge Application– is the “extent to
which people apply and use knowledge to
effectively make decisions, solve
problems and service customers”.
Besides aspects above, Rastogi (2000) and
Leverde (2000) also suggested that
management should include the following set
of operations in their consideration for
knowledge management.
Identification – of the “knowledge required
for a competitively effective implementation of
the enterprise strategy”.
Mapping – “the existing and available
knowledge including expertise and skills”.
Capturing – “the existing knowledge through
its formalised representation”.
Acquiring – “the needed knowledge and
information including know-how”.
Storing – “the existing, acquired, and created
knowledge in properly indexed and interlinked
knowledge repositories”.
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Sharing – “knowledge through its automatic
access and distribution to users on the basis of
their needs and interests”.
Applying – “support of decisions, actions,
problem solving, providing job aids and
training”.
Creating (advanced stage by Knowledge
Management in firms) – “generating or
discovering new knowledge through Research
and Development, experimentation, lessons
learned, creative thinking and innovation”.
In relation to models and frameworks
availability within the discipline of knowledge
management, (Montano et al, 2004) suggested
that some of industry successful
implementation are important to be examined
to determine the models similarities and
differences to guide the recommendation to
build knowledge sharing culture framework.
The similarities of the models and framework
findings highlighted that Ernst & Young,
Knowledge Associates, Marquardt and O‟Dell
use a set of activities for knowledge
management where the emphasis is on a
knowledge cycle. This is inclusive of tasks
such as acquiring knowledge by Anderson
Consulting, Knowledge Associates and
Marquardt. American Management System,
Ernst and Young and O‟Dell state the first step
is to find knowledge and the collect the
combination of “tacit and explicit knowledge”.
The generation and creation of knowledge r
needs to be ongoing and continuous learning
process. It was analysed that that the same
models suggested by Nonaka and Takeuchi
(1995) with the application of five-phase
model of Tannembum and Alliger (2000) is
noted to be the most popular combination for
knowledge management application in many
organisations.
The difference is that Arthur Anderson
Consulting uses a hybrid collection of
frameworks such as knowledge cycle and
conversion of tacit and explicit knowledge but
firstly the model actually evaluates and defines
the role of knowledge before aligning to their
business strategy as defined by the steps of
Syrme (2000). As for Anderson Consulting.,
the strategy first is to identify processes,
cultural and technological aspects.
Conducive environment for knowledge sharing
will require crucial application of two major
elements which include the motivation and
recognition as the key success factors for
knowledge sharing and is suggested by
American Management System.
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Knowledge Management: A Framework for Building a Knowledge Sharing Culture
This can be confirmed with the establishment
of the intensification scheme and Community
of Practices (CoPs). Implementation of a
feedback mechanism in Arthur Anderson
Consulting prepared the organisations to create
an environment for continuous learning which
provided freedom to share and improve the
existing repositories. This knowledge has now
guided the framework for building the
knowledge sharing culture.
5. Recommendation for
building a knowledge-sharing
framework
From the preceding investigation of models
and frameworks, it can be seen that knowledge
management includes much more than a
knowledge cycle or tasks. Therefore the steps
that can be taken as a holistic view to create a
generic framework to build the knowledge
sharing culture will require the following:
1. Organisations should emphasise on
cultural aspects as claimed by Bob
Buckmans of Bukman Labs
(Montano,et,.al. 2004), who stated that
90% of knowledge management effort in
any organisation is cultural and this was
confirmed by Larry Bobbitt of Anderson
Consulting who explained that the first
step is to evaluate and define the role of
knowledge as this will takes up 80% of
the effort to perform the cultural shift.
This can be confirmed with the
establishment of the 3C‟s of Knowledge
Sharing and the steps suggested by
Skyrme (2000) to help build a knowledge
sharing culture. This will include the
analysis of the business strategy, how to
motivate employees with the
establishment of community of practices
(CoPs) as defined by Wenger (2004).
Continuous learning should be extended
to other groups to meet corporate
business strategy. (Senge, 1990).
2. The second step is to focus on
knowledge; this refers to the Nonaka and
Takeuchi Model (1995), the knowledge
life cycle or conversion. The
identification of tacit and explicit
knowledge should be identified for the
CoPs. The process of knowledge sharing
should start with creation, acquiring and
generating of new knowledge. As for the
continuous learning process, acquisition
Palvinderjit Kaur
WP-07-04
of old knowledge with the modification
on new knowledge must be placed and
stored using knowledge repositories in
the format of identified knowledge
categories or maps.
Individual level within the CoPs needs to
identify and select one leader who will be
called as opinion leader to guide and
influence the teams to share their
knowledge. To motivate the CoPs to
share knowledge, cultural audit and
rewarding schemes needs to be
communicated and integrated within the
organisation.
3. Technologies, methods and tools are
important in the effort to build and share
of knowledge and will include the
concept of Computer Supported
Cooperative Work. This concept will
assist in identifying the workflow of the
knowledge sharing, with the assistance of
technology that will allow the sharing and
dissemination of knowledge globally.
Accessibility to workflow, document
systems, real time collaborations, online
learning systems, portalisation and
custom web applications are some of the
technology enablers being utilised (Early
& Associates, 2005).
4. Establishing a framework should include
a measurement and feedback step as
suggested by Arthur Anderson
Consulting. Continuous learning will
involve the implementation of feedback
mechanisms to enable an iterative process
to focus on the key enablers that
(identified below).
6 Identification of Key
Enablers
The key enablers in this section are
recommended for any global shared service
centre, academic institute or any organisation
wishing to setup a knowledge sharing culture.
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Knowledge Management: A Framework for Building a Knowledge Sharing Culture
Framework for building Knowledge Sharing Culture
Knowledge Management
Cultural
Knowledge
Feedback
Knowledge
Sharing
Technology CoPs
1) Culture
The impact of culture was defined in the
recommendation of the 3C‟s and is seen to be
extremely crucial. It is the first alignment in
the organisation strategy. Organisations should
focus on the following cultural issues:
The employees understanding of
knowledge management and their value
asset that is their intellectual capital.
A review of the current workflow to
check if there is any information or
knowledge sharing capabilities in
existence. Interviewing personnel
especially middle management, who will
be identified as the opinion leaders.
A review to check if knowledge sharing
best practice is conducive for the case
study environment with the analysis of
management strategy and processes,
technology in the current situation.
Identification of the community of
practices (CoPs‟) to be used as the prime
source of users that will be piloted for
this framework utilisation.
Review of a questionnaire to allow the
community of practice (CoPs) to provide
their understanding and knowledge
awareness of knowledge management.
2) Knowledge Identification
The Nonaka and Takeuchi knowledge life
cycle model identified a number of core steps
that organisation can apply to pilot the
identification of knowledge:
Analysis of the report of opinion leaders
with regard to the community of practice
(CoPs) feedback. This can include the
warning signs such as duplication and
Palvinderjit Kaur
WP-07-04
waste of effort in performing the same
tasks that might not benefit the teams
because it is not captured or not being
collaborated.
Identification of the workflow to capture
the knowledge that is shared in the
community. This will include the
acquiring, finding and generation or
creation of knowledge that they can share
and document in knowledge repositories.
Mission and Vision plan statement should
include knowledge management is part of
their business strategy. Management
should create 3C‟s culture and
incorporate rewarding scheme.
3) Knowledge sharing and accessibility –
Community of Practices (CoPs)
The CoPs will be formed and the knowledge
sharing capabilities need to be established with
the following:
Granting access to the CoPs to access the
generic knowledge repositories using the
technology support.
Creation of workflow to pilot and to
identify how and who will be creating,
storing and generating knowledge. Spiral
process model can be utilised to ensure
collaboration effort and sharing takes
place using knowledge repositories.
Rewards and benefits used as motivation
factors using the 3C‟s plan.
4) Technology enabler
Technology is not a driver for knowledge
management but it is rather the cultural shift.
But it needs to be in place to allow the CoPs to
collaborate and share knowledge globally.
Organisations should review the following:
Installation of Computer Supported and
Cooperative systems (CSCW) such as
groupware systems that allow knowledge
to be shared regardless of the time and
place dimension..
All information and knowledge being
stored and delivered electronically using
the knowledge repositories.
A focus to monitor and to minimise
duplication and rework.
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Knowledge Management: A Framework for Building a Knowledge Sharing Culture
A focus on simplicity and ease of use
rather than complex functionality.
Avoiding the need to completely rebuild
sites as new technologies and
opportunities arise.
Ensuring the technology is reliable and
provides accessibility to the community
of practice to reuse and acquire
knowledge.
5) Feedback and Measurement
Feedback and measurement will be required to
test and manage the acceptance of the
knowledge being share. This is important also
to monitor the continuous learning process.
The following can be use as checklist:
Data collection and storage processes and
measurement plan and feedback will be
placed as a benchmark.
Information is classified and integrated
through common data definitions,
standards and naming conventions. These
should be discussed by the opinion
leader.
Maintenance review processes to ensure
the ongoing currency of the current web
presence and content being uploaded on
the intranet or website.
Planning and identifying requirements
and options for core training and skills
development in information management.
Conclusion
In conclusion, organisations should apply
knowledge management in their business
strategy to benefit from the creation of
knowledge, the powerful asset that should be
stored in repositories. In relation to this,
organisations would be able to develop
employees into knowledge workers who can
share their experiences to generate a bigger
pool of knowledge.
Models and frameworks discussion in this
paper provided a new direction for any
organisation to adopt the recommended
framework to start becoming knowledge
intensive organisation. The framework as it is
known is a recommendation for building
knowledge sharing culture because it
concentrates on shared knowledge which is
essential. The key enablers that are identified
are the most important aspects for
Palvinderjit Kaur
WP-07-04
benchmarking the establishment of knowledge
management in the organisation.
Organisations should start off with the review
of the 3C‟s and the implementation of 7 steps
or incentives to enhance and encourage
knowledge sharing to be cultivated in their
organisation with the concept of CoPs .
Therefore why wait, the framework for
building the knowledge sharing culture should
be adopted to obtain and manage the most
valuable intellectual asset (knowledge). By
adopting a knowledge sharing culture, the key
foundation for collaboration can be obtained
and will increase the advantages of the
organisation to gain a competitive edge.
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