Knowledge management : organisational culture and effective knowledge sharing

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 experts to less experienced employees before they leave the organisation. This study, conducted at a financial services organisation in South Africa, is based on qualitative research, which seeks to determine how knowledge is shared between novices and experts in a financial services organisation. This study aims to identify how employees currently share knowledge and to discover more effective knowledge sharing tools and methods that can foster effective knowledge sharing in the organisation. The main research question is: What is the effectiveness of existing knowledge sharing methods between experienced employees and new hires at a financial services organisation? The research question is answered through the questionnaires that were distributed and interviews that were conducted with the participants. The data collection was carried out based on an exploratory research design and a descriptive research method. The data analysis followed an inductive approach. Quantitative analysis using tables and graphs and qualitative analysis by means of themes were used to analyse the data collected. The findings reveal that most employees are not aware of the knowledge management or sharing strategy in their organisation owing to silos of organisational culture in the organisation. Knowledge sharing is not driven organisation-wide, and knowledge sharing tools are not managed effectively. Based on the study’s findings, an organisation-wide knowledge management and sharing strategy is essential. In addition, organisations should enable employees to share by providing more capacity dedicated to knowledge sharing.