The Factors Affecting the Adoption of Knowledge Management in Organizations - Research Paper Example

University of MSc Management and Development of International Financial Systems Module: Techniques of Data Analysis for Financial Markets Assignment: Statistical Study To: From: Student Number Date: April 10, 2012 Statistical Research Study: The objective of the study is to determine the factors affecting the adoption of knowledge management in organizations Outline 1. Introduction 2. Objective 3. Demography 4. Organization culture 5. Information Technology 6. Reward 7. Knowledge leadership 8. Conclusion 9. 1. INTRODUCTION The dataset is collected from seventeen randomly selected government organizations in Kenya for purposes of Masters Degree study. This data is mainly qualitative rather than quantitative. The data is value labeled to enhance easy statistical analysis. This report presents data analysis, findings and discussion of the study with regards to the research objectives. The general objective of the study was to determine the factors affecting the adoption of knowledge management in organizations. The main purpose of this report is deemed to test the student’s basic statistical analysis skills and offer statistical practice for them using the dataset in SPSS. A great deal of culture and management are factors that influence the success of knowledge management. “To achieve successful knowledge management in an organization, it requires integration and balancing of leadership, organization, learning and technology” (Thecorner.org, 2006, para 1). A culture of organizational trust and fairness is a necessity for knowledge management in an organization. The culture of an organization varies greatly with geographical location and people. Knowledge management involves the dissemination of knowledge assets, collaboration, adding value to knowledge and enhancing knowledge sharing in organizations. The main reason for choosing this data is because knowledge management in organizations gives them an upper hand and an effective working by re-using and sharing information especially in the 2000’s. Knowledge management in organizations offers guidelines; hence avoiding errors and subsequently reducing costs. Moreover, knowledge management improves performance and relationships-internal and external-in public organizations. “Knowledge management facilitates participation in a society of knowledge and access to universal knowledge by everyone in order to have a sustainable human development” (UNESCO, 2005). The factors that affect knowledge management in an organization are management related. For instance, culture, organization and process are examples of knowledge management tools in an organization. Technology is a minor factor that is management related and is of less importance in this study. The up rise of information technology in this age has facilitated the transfer of information and hence knowledge sharing in organizations. 2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The study aims to empirically investigate the relationship between knowledge management as a dependent variable and five independent variables, namely integration and balancing of leadership, organization, learning and technology. This Study belongs to a stream of management research that investigates the determinants of knowledge management. 1- Investigate the differences in integration and balancing of leadership, organization, learning and technology between companies that use knowledge management as management tool. 2- Build a model to be used to explain the relationship between the dependent variable (knowledge management) and the independent variables (integration and balancing of leadership, organization, learning and technology) also this model will be helpful in prediction purposes. The Dependent and Independent Variables Dependent Variable The dependent variable reflects the knowledge management fee that company paid for implementation of program. Independent Variables The independent variables are: Integration and balancing of leadership Organization Learning Technology Data Analysis The researcher will employ the following statistical tools and tests: 1- Descriptive statistics. 2- Mann-Whitney test. 3- Correlation. 4- Regression. This statistics will be discussed in turn in the following sections. Descriptive statistics This section provides basic descriptive statistics about the variables under investigation. For each variable, the researcher divides the data according auditor type (Big 4 and Non-Big 4 auditor). The aim of exploring the data is identifying whether the data is normally distributed or not since this will has great impact in choosing the suitable tests. In general terms, there are two main statistical tests, namely parametric and non-parametric tests. The basic assumptions for parametric tests are (Field 2002): 1- Data is normally distributed. 2- Constant variance (Homogeneity of variance). 3- Interval data where the distance between points in a scale is equal. 4- The observations from different objects are independent. Consequently, any violation for these assumptions means that the researcher has to employ non-parametric test. Non-parametric tests have some advantages (Siegel and Castellan 1988): 1- It holds few assumptions regarding the data. 2- Their interpretation is more direct compared to parametric tests. 3- It is suitable in cases where the sample size is relatively small. The basic statistics for the dependent and independents variables are discussed in turn below. Knowledge sharing can be improved through a learning culture that insists on knowledge sharing or through acknowledgement of knowledge bearer’s efforts. Knowledge sharing can also be facilitated through a positive cultural environment such as humility and conformity. Knowledge management is an important aspect for organizations in terms of sharing and usage of resources and experiences. The pillars of knowledge management have been classified into four groups which include: Leadership, people and culture. Relevance to business. Measurement of knowledge management. Knowledge management processes and technology. (Hariharan & cellular, 2005, p 17). Alternatively, according to Stankosky, the four pillars of knowledge management are leadership or management, organization, learning and technology (Stankonsky, p 5, 2005). Both authors base their study mainly on culture, leadership and management related matters. Information technology is seen as a booster on knowledge management by both authors. In this report, we investigate the factors affecting knowledge management in organizations and are classified into the following variables: Knowledge leadership Rewards Information technology Organizational culture It is therefore of great significance in his report to give the significance and meanings of these variables. Knowledge leadership in this case indicates the participation of knowledge bearers in effecting knowledge management. It was measured through the concern of leaders in learning and encouraging others to seek knowledge. Secondly, the author also measured knowledge leadership through investigating the attitude of managers towards knowledge management. Other measures include; leaders’ devolution of leadership roles to others, promotion of team work and communities of practice by leaders. Rewards in this report are the monetary and non-monetary incentives of appreciating knowledge bearers who share knowledge in public organizations. Rewards involve compensation as par the application of knowledge disseminated and availability of enough incentives to motivate knowledge sharing. Measurement of rewards was done through asking the respondents if rewards are necessary to promote knowledge sharing. The difference between group and individuals was measured by the author to determine which is more recognized. Most researchers in this field have reported that rewards promote knowledge sharing and hence the author wishes to investigate. Information technology in this report indicates its effects on knowledge management and its role in capturing developing and distributing knowledge in public organizations. It measures reliability of information technology by the respondents. The development of information technology is trusted to have improved knowledge sharing by many researchers and subsequently in this report, the author wishes to investigate the same. The report investigates the level at which technology facilitates optimum communication and team work in public organization. Organization culture involves the level and enhancement of trust and team work in public organizations. The culture of organization in relation to knowledge management varies greatly in their approach. Most researchers investigating causes of failure in knowledge management have noted that the culture of an organization is the main hindrance to the success of knowledge management. The culture of organization is measured through communication of knowledge, ideas and experience in organizations i.e. through teamwork, idea generation, workshops, seminars, intranet, Newsletters, circulars, memos etc. Moreover, measurement is done through measuring the culture of trust, collaboration and team work. The linkert scale is used in this report to give values to the factors or variables to enhance a comparison of qualitative analysis in the dataset i.e. Linkert scale ratings are strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strongly agree: the values 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 are given values for strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strongly agree respectively. The author uses the existence of knowledge management in organizations as the dependent variable in the regression model. The researcher investigates the effect of IT and Culture (predictors) of the organization through determining if IT is a major determinant of success in knowledge management and determining if culture promotes team work and collaboration in public organizations. The respondents either agreed or disagreed on the effects of the two variables. The limitations of this research are that it does not exhaust all the factors that affect knowledge management in organizations today. It mainly concentrates in information technology, leadership, rewards and organizational culture leaving out other variables such as knowledge management process. Time constraint is another shortcoming in this research paper. Better results can be achieved with sufficient time to improve on the variables and to increase the sample size. Lastly, the research s limited to public organizations only; which leads to biased results. Extending the research to private organizations would give a better depiction. 3. DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION The demographic information considered in this study included the job position, age, level of education and duration of work at the organization. These are basic information that might have an influence on the response of the questions. Knowledge management has been greatly influenced by the IT through easy sharing. Age As observed in the research paper, of the 17 respondents, 41.2% percent were age bracket 31-35 years, 29.4% were age bracket 36-40 years, followed by 23.5% and 5% for both 26-30 and 41-45 years respectively as shown in table 1 and figure 1 below. Table 1: Age Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 26-30 years 4 23.5 23.5 23.5 31-35 years 7 41.2 41.2 64.7 36-40 years 5 29.4 29.4 94.1 41-45 years 1 5.9 5.9 100.0 Total 17 100.0 100.0 Figure 1: Age Education level The respondents were asked to state their educational level and 59% of the respondents in the collected data had a Masters degree, 35% had a First degree or its equivalent and 6% had Diploma as shown in figure 2 below. Figure 2: Education Level Work Unit Table 2: Division Division/unit Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Project and Program Development 2 11.8 11.8 11.8 Information Management 1 5.9 5.9 17.6 Human Resources and Administration 11 64.7 64.7 82.4 Internal Audit 2 11.8 11.8 94.1 Public Relations 1 5.9 5.9 100.0 Total 17 100.0 100.0 Figure 3: Work unit graphical representation In Figure 3 above the respondents was asked to indicate their Work Unit or division. 64.7% of the respondents were from Human Resources and Administration department, 11.8% were from Project and Program development and Internal Audit respectively and 5.9 % for Public relations and 5.9% for Information management department. Duration of work (Years) Figure 4: Duration of work The author observed in figure 4 above that 47% of the respondents had worked for 6-10 years, 29% for 16-20 years, 12% for 11-15 years and 12% for respondents between 16-20 years. Official job title Among the respodents th author found out that 9 are human resource officers; this is 60%. Other respodents were the assistant human resource officer, HR office assistant, a public relation officer, a system analyst, a support analyst and a senior internal auditor. Knowledge of management program The researcher found that knowledge of the management program existed in the majority of the organizations; 68.8% of the respondents agreed while 31.3% disagreed. It is quite evident from the descriptive statistics that most respondents in the organizations agree that their organizations posses knowledge management programs. Out of 17 respondents, 16 of them responded to this question. 11 of them confirmed presence of knowledge management program in their organization while 6 confirmed lack of it. Most respondents think it is necessary to have a formal knowledge management program for the following reasons: To streamline knowledge acquisation To help new workers to understand organisation culture and get assistance in carrying their duties Grouping people together 4. ORGANIZATION CULTURE Figure 5: Organization’s provision of communication ideas It was observed by the researcher in figure 5 above that 76.5% of the respondents were of the opinion that public organizations provide communication of ideas knowledge and experience while 23.5% said no. Among the methods used by those organisations which provide communication of ideas knowledge and experience are; encourage teamwork and idea generation meetings, workshops, open forums , seminars and presentations intranet Bulletin, Newsletters, Circulars, Memos and letters Organizations which do not provide communication of ideas, knowledge and experience indicated the following as the main reasons that hinder provision of knolwledge sharing in their organizations are; beaureaucracies set by management, lack of team work-gap between high level management and lower level management, employees lack of awareness of Knowledge Management. Culture of trust that favours knowledge sharing Figure 6: Culture of trust that favors knowledge sharing Using the linkert scale for analysis, it was observed that the culture of trust is established in those organizations that favors knowledge sharing. When the respondents were asked on their opinion on the statement that knowledge sharing develops Culture of trust; 47.1% agree, 17.6% disagree, 17.6% strongly agree, 11.8% neutral and 5.9% for strongly disagree. Culture of organization to foster collaboration and team work Figure 7: culture of organization to foster collaboration and team work It was observed in figure 7 above that the culture of the organization to foster collaboration and team work had been strongly established by 76.5% said Yes and 23.5% said NO. Creativity and taking initiative fostered at work place Figure 8: Creativity and taking initiative fostered at work place In figure 8 above the aspect of creativity and taking initiative fostered at work place was well organized by 68.8% agreed and 31.3% disagreed. The respondents those who disagreed explained that the management of the organizations preferred to have closed and rigid rules regarding creativity and taking initiatives in the work place. Many respondents also cited lack of delegation as a factor that hindered fostering creativity in organizations. Change considered at work place Figure 9: change considered at work place From the findings shown in figure 9, most of the respondents were in support of the changes considered at work place i.e. 82.4% agreed and 17.6% disagreed. Those respondents who viewed change not being natural and necessary cited that change is good in the work place but would be resented by employees and the requirements are stringent when making changes difficult. Culture of the organization Figure 10: culture of the organization From the findings shown in figure 10, indcate that the core culture of the organizations is that “knowledge is power”. 93.8 percent agreed that knowledge is power better describes the culture of the organization while only 6.3 percent cited that hoarding of knowledge is actively discouraged as a better describer of the culture of the organization. The following questions were asked to access the organizations culture towards knowledge system: • Does culture of organizations provide for the communication of ideas knowledge and experience? • Does culture of the organization foster collaboration and team working? • Is creativity and taking initiatives fostered at the work place? • Is change considered to be natural and necessary? In conclusion, those public organizations which have the culture to encourage and provide for the communication of ideas, Knowledge, and experiences among all employees throughout the organization also do the following: Foster collaboration and team working foster creativity and taking initiatives The reverse is also observed to be true i.e. those organizations that don't have the culture to encourage and provide for the communication of ideas, Knowledge and experiences don’t support those other factors as well. 5. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Technology uses to capture, develop and distribute knowledge Figure 11: Technology uses to capture, develop and distribute knowledge In figure 11 above the respondents were to choose the most commonly used technology to capture, develop and distribute knowledge. 37.5% for online information sources, 31.3% for CD-ROMS, 25.0% Intranet and 6.3% for Emails. Reliability of Technology Figure 12: Technology is realiable. From the findings the respondents were to rate the realiability of the technology 58.8% strongly agree, 35.3% agree and 5.9% strongly disagree. Technology availability to all users Figure 13: Technology available to all users In figure 13 above, technology was found to be available to all users by 88.2% agreed and 11.8% disagreed. The drawbacks given that hinder technology availability to all users are; cost, lack of skills, computer, power and unwillingness to adopt new technology. Technology favor optimum communication and team work Figure 14: Technology favor optimum communication In the findings showed in figure 14 above, technology favor optimum communication and team work in many organizations. 82.4% agreed to technology favoring optimum communication while 17.6% disagreed. Those who said agreed cited the following: technology creates teamwork and help disseminate information ease of communication quick response, sharing and information centralization fast and cheap spreading information wider and faster create teamwork through linking people in networks help create staff awareness on ongoing activities Those who disagreed cited that knowledge management was there even before IT but its better with IT now and information conversion to computer forms a huddle. Means of communication and team work Figure 15: Means of communication and team work From the findings in figure 15 above, for the means of communication and team work. 67 percent said inventions should be rewarded compared to 33 percent who recognize new ideas. Information as a major determinant of knowledge success Figure 16: Information as a major determination of knowledge From the findings in figure 16 above, information was found to be a major determinant of knowledge success and 88% agreed and 12% disagreed. An overwhelming number of respondents agree that the success of knowledge management implementation is facilitated by information technology. 6. REWARDS Rewards associated with knowledge sharing Figure 17: Reward associated with knowledge sharing From the finding in figure 17 above regarding rewards associated with knowledge sharing. Both monetary and Non monetary had a tie of 47.1%, and 41.2% for no rewards and 5.9% for both Non-monetary incentives and Monetary incentives. Compensation at par with my application of knowledge Figure 18: Compensation at par with my application of knowledge In figure 18 above, the respondents were to rate the compensation at par with my application of kowledge. 41.2% Neutral, 29.4% for agree, 17.6% for disagree and 11.8% for strongly disagree. Concern of sharing knowledge Figure 19: concern of sharing knowledge From the findings in figure 19 above concern of sharing of knowledge 87.5% said it is okey the more I share the more I get rewarded and 12.5% for it is costl, if I share my knowledge I may not be promoted. Incentive enough to motivate sharing of knowledge Figure 20: Incentive enough to motivate knowledge sharing From the findings in figure 20 above the respondents were to rate the incentive enough to motivate sharing knowledge as 64.3% for Yes and No for 35.7%. Some of methods suggested to motivate people include; increased reward in monetary values, recognize staff contribution in writing, create a condusive environment and groups. Group innovativeness is more recognized than individual Figure 21: group innovativeness is more recognised than individual It was observed tha group innovativeness is more recognised than individual innovativeness as 60% for Yes and No for 40% Rewards necessary for promoting knowledge sharing Figure 22: Rewards necessary for promoting knowledge sharing In the empirical findings shown in figure 22 above, rewards necessity for promoting knowledge sharing was well supported by 80% agreeing and 20% disagreeing. The respondents that said no argued that knowledge should be shared without rewards whatsoever. 7. KNOWLEDGE LEADERSHIP Responsibility of managing knowledge Figure 23: Responsibility of managing knowledge In figure 23 above, it was observed that the responsibility of managing knowledge was mainly for Human resources as 53%, 41% for it is everybody’s job while 6% for ICT department. Attitude of managers towards knowledge management Figure 24: Attitude of managers towards knowledge management In figure 24 above, the respondents were to rate the attitude of managers towards knowledge management. 58.8% for positive, 17.6% for both very positive and undecided and 5.9% for negative. Leaders are concerned with learning and encourage others to seek knowledge Figure 25: leaders are concerned with learning and encourage others to seek knowledge In figure 25 above, the respondents were to rate the level at which leader are concerned with learning and encourage others to seek knowledge 64.7% agree, 17.6% disagree, 11.8% neutral and 5.9% for strongly agree. Leaders promote team work Figure 26: Leaders promote team work and community practice From the empirical findings in the figure above, leaders promote team work and communities of practice to promote knowledge management 87.5% said yes and 12.5% for No. Leaders encourage others to take up leadership roles Figure 27: Leaders encourage others to take up leadership roles. In figure 27 above, the respondents were asked to ascertain if leaders do encourage others to take up leadership roles and 53.3% agreed and 46.7% disagreed. Those respondents who said yes explained that; field managers should share what they have learnt with others since we all have different perspective let all have shared roles in message transmission with many leaders more information will be transmitted wider by delegation, roles playing and team spirit Knowledge leadership in promoting knowledge sharing Figure 28: Knowledge leadership is necessary in promoting knowledge sharing It is observed in figure 28 above, that there was absolute need for proper leadership cretaria in order for efficient sharing of knowledge to prosper this was evident by 94.1 percent of the respondents agreed and 5.9 percent disagreed. Inferential statistics Model Summary Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate 1 .555a .308 .262 .376 a. Predictors: (Constant), Does culture of the organization foster collaboration and team working ANOVAb Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. 1 Regression .942 1 .942 6.677 .021a Residual 2.117 15 .141 Total 3.059 16 a. Predictors: (Constant), Does culture of the organization foster collaboration and team working b. Dependent Variable: Knowledge management program in the Organizations Regression in statistics is used to investigate the level of the effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable. It enables us to analyze and make comments regarding how independent variables predict an outcome of a dependent variable. For instance in this study, the regression analysis R2 = 0.308, indicating that 30.8% of the variance of knowledge management program in organizations is explained by culture of the organization. The ANOVA table shows that F (1, 15) = 6.667, p < 0.05, indicating that there is a regression relationship between the predictor variable and the dependent variable. Hence we reject the null hypothesis i.e. H0: the culture of the organization does not foster collaboration and team working. Model Summary Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate 1 .673a .453 .417 .334 a. Predictors: (Constant), Is Information technology a major determinant of Knowledge management success ANOVAb Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. 1 Regression 1.386 1 1.386 12.424 .003a Residual 1.673 15 .112 Total 3.059 16 a. Predictors: (Constant), Is Information technology a major determinant of Knowledge management success b. Dependent Variable: Knowledge management program in the Organizations The regression analysis R2 = 0.453, indicating that 45.3% of the variance of knowledge management program in organizations is explained by information technology of the organization. The ANOVA table shows that F (1, 15) = 12.424, p < 0.05, indicating that there is a regression relationship between the predictor variable and the dependent variable. Hence we reject the null hypothesis i.e. H0: information technology is not a major determinant of knowledge management success, and we accept the alternative hypothesis H1: Information technology is a major determinant of knowledge management success. 8. CONCLUSION The study indicates that the pillars of knowledge management-in this case; information technology, rewards, organization culture and knowledge leadership have an effect on knowledge management. These pillars facilitate the success of knowledge sharing and management through many means. The statistical analysis indicates that an organizations culture facilitates the success of knowledge management through encouraging collaboration and groups. Providing sufficient incentives for motivation of knowledge is also important in facilitating success of knowledge management in organizations. Lastly, knowledge leaders can significantly help in ensuring the success of knowledge management through promoting team work and group work in organizations. Referencing list Stankosky, M. ed., 2005. Creating the discipline of knowledge management. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. Hariharan, A. & Cellular, B. 2005. Critical success factors for knowledge management. KM Review, 8(2), p.16-19. Thecorner.org, 2006. Factors affecting knowledge management in schools. [online] Available at < http://www.thecorner.org/ict/km_in_school.htm> [accessed on April 9, 2012] Read More