Chapter 4 Developing and Sustaining a Knowledge Culture

1. Chapter 4Developing and Sustaining a Knowledge Culture

2. Introduction • A major goal of knowledge management is to encourage a knowledge culture: where everyone recognizes and accepts knowledge sharing as a desirable behavior • Knowledge management is strongly influenced by the culture which operates in an organization

3. Organizational Cultures(1/2) • The collective perceptions, beliefs and values of employees in the workplace • The culture is learned from stories, observations and experiences in the workplace • Strongly influence retention and productivity

4. Organizational Cultures (2/2) • Cultural influences include: • Past patterns and history • Teamwork • Climate and morale • Information flows across the community • Supervision quality • Leadership • Workplace interactions

5. Effective Knowledge Cultures (1/2) • Open and communicative • Encourage sharing • Tolerant • Collaborative • Trusting

6. Effective Knowledge Cultures (2/2) • People are more important than systems • Public encouragement of knowledge sharing • Advocacy and support for good knowledge practice • Values adopted by all staff members

7. Knowledge culture enablers (1/4) Core values • Collaboration • Communication • Interaction • Innovation • Adaptation • Learning orientation • Trust • Sharing and valuing of knowledge

8. Knowledge culture enablers (2/4) Structural support • Organizational structure • Transparent decision making • Information access • Problem solving • Communication channels • Human resource management

9. Knowledge culture enablers (3/4) Enacted Values • Models • Leaders • Opportunities to collaborate • Encouragement to collaborate

10. Knowledge culture enablers (4/4) Interaction with colleagues • Quality of interaction • Focus of interaction • Mentorship • Team behavior

11. Reviewing the Existing Knowledge Culture(1/6) • Organizational diagnosis: existing organizational patterns, attitudes, processes and behaviors • Draws on many sources of evidence • Helpto clarify areas which challenge effective change and development

12. Reviewing the Existing Knowledge Culture(2/6) • Diagnostic focuses: • Organizational context • Key people • Knowledge philosophy • Knowledge definition • Knowledge sharing • Knowledge cohesion • Knowledge conflict

13. Diagnostic approaches Cultural evidence Values Philosophy Structure Messages Systems Surveys Comparisons Trends analysis benchmarking Reviewing the Existing Knowledge Culture (4/6) Organizational Level

14. Reviewing the Existing Knowledge Culture (5/6) Group Level Cultural evidence Diagnostic approaches Knowledge sharing Values Experiences Knowledge sources Conflict Competition Collaboration Case studies Focus groups Action research Observation Comparative outcomes

15. Diagnostic approaches Stories Values Priorities Experiences Knowledge sharing practices Case histories Interviews Observation Reviewing the Existing Knowledge Culture (6/6) Individual level Cultural evidence

16. Planning for Knowledge Culture Enhancement(1/2) • Identify key goals to be achieved • Identify key sponsors / main clients of the intervention • Identify the scope of the process • Identify major contributors • Gather background information • Review the existing organizational context / culture

17. Planning for Knowledge Culture Enhancement (2/2) 7. Determine key developmental objectives • Identify tasks and activities • Identify potential contributors and assign roles and responsibilities • Plan for communication and marketing • Plan for evaluation • Prepare timelines and commitments

18. Implementing Knowledge Culture Enhancement Programs • Communicate the program intentions and ongoing progress • Pilot test • Accommodate difference • Encourage knowledge champions • Share user success stories • Promote awareness of the process and outcomes

19. Communities of practice (CoP) • Clarify the domain and contribution of members • Identify potential members • Assist key members with workload support • Enable opportunities to interact • Consider appointing a broker to help CoP management

20. Concluding Points • Knowledge cultures constantly evolve • The development of an effective knowledge community requires dedicated and ongoing support • Knowledge culture development is complex and links to many different organizational/work roles

21. Today’s focus questions: • What are some of the main features of effective knowledge cultures? • What factors enable effective knowledge cultures? • How can knowledge cultures be enhanced? • Lecture reference: Debowski, Chapter 4