Factors that influence effective knowledge sharing between experts and novices in a South African financial services organisation

Abstract

In the knowledge economy, organisations rely on knowledge to improve and stay competitive in the industry. Knowledge exists both explicitly and tacitly and the challenge lies in transferring the tacit knowledge from expert employees to less experienced or newly employed employees before they leave the organisation. This study is based on qualitative research, which seeks to determine how knowledge is shared between novices or newly employed employees and experts in a financial services organisation. This study aims to find out how employees share knowledge currently, which includes the tools and methods that they use. In addition, this study aims to discover more effective knowledge sharing tools, methods and activities that can be used to share and transfer knowledge between experts and novices in the organisation. The main research question is: How could the knowledge transfer between experienced employees and new hires be improved at a financial services organisation? The research question is answered through the distribution of questionnaires to respondents and interviews conducted. The data collection was conducted based on an exploratory research design and descriptive research method. The data analysis followed an inductive approach. Quantitative analysis using tabulations and graphs and qualitative analysis by means of themes were used to analyse the data collected from the questionnaires and interviews. The responses that were gathered from the questionnaire and interviews reveal that most employees are not aware of knowledge sharing or knowledge management (KM) strategies. Furthermore, the knowledge sharing tools are not managed effectively. The results of the study reveal that knowledge sharing as a culture is not driven organisation-wide and knowledge is shared based on the preference and discretion of the employees or teams. There are silos of cultures in the organisation and there is no shared vision or KM or sharing strategy that is guiding employees’ behaviour. Based on the study, an organisation-wide KM and knowledge sharing strategy is essential. In addition, organisations should enable employees to share by providing more capacity dedicated to knowledge sharing and transfer.