Knowledge Management in Saudi Arabia - Research Proposal Example

PRОРОSАL FОR РНD IN MАNАGEMЕNT Knowledge Management in Saudi Arabia: A Study of Saudi Aramco Company Introduction There is no universally agreed definition of the term knowledge management (KM) due the multidisciplinary background of KM researchers. Nonetheless, Mohamed, Abuzaid and Benladen (2008, p. 3) attempt to define KM as the process of capturing, codifying, categorising, storing and sharing knowledge. Similarly, Hoffmann et al. (2008, p. 202) review a number of definitions used by different authors: Robbins (2003, p. 375) defined KM as the process of distributing an organisation’s collective wisdom in such a way that the relevant information gets to the intended people at the right time; and Luthans (2005, p. 38) defined KM as the development of tools, systems, processes, cultures and structures explicitly to add value to the creation, sharing and utilisation of knowledge that is critical for making organisational decisions. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2004) defines KM simply as how fast an organisation can track, evaluate, share and utilise intangible resources such as employees’ capacity to think fast during a crisis. Looking at all the above definitions, it is important to note that KM is about ensuring that an organisation continually gathers information, processes it and stores it to ensure that it is available to the management for the purpose of making decisions. How an organisation organises its KM process therefore determines the kind of decisions that it is likely to make and this ultimately determines how productive the organisation becomes. Against this background information, the intended study aims to investigate the KM process at the Saudi Aramco Company. A study by Khursani, Bazuhair and Khan (2011) revealed that the selected company has adopted a number of measures to transform its corporate culture by making use of concepts dubbed 3Ts: Talent, Teams, and Technology. The study will therefore use these concepts to evaluate Saudi Aramco’s KM process. The proposal is divided into sections. The first section will state the aims and objectives of the intended investigation. Since it is already known that Saudi Aramco has KM a process in place, the study will aim to evaluate the suitability and effectiveness of the KM process with reference to the goal and objectives of company as well as its vision for the future. The aims and objectives are followed by a review of literature about the KM process in general and in regard to Saudi Arabia in particular. Specifically, given that Saudi Arabia is a developing country, it will be important to assess how the Saudi Aramco is coping with the process since generally there is a technological gap between developing countries and the developed ones. Aims and objectives of research The key aims and objectives of the research are to evaluate the suitability and effectiveness of KM at Saudi Aramco Company. The aims are broken down as follows: 1. To determine how suitable the KM process is to the company’s setting The research will seek to determine the relationship between the information needs of the company and the KM system that it has in place. For instance, does the system boost Saudi Aramco’s organisational effectiveness? Has the system been beneficial in ensuring that the organisation meets its objective and goals as well as vision? 2. To determine how effective the KM system is For instance, the research will seek to determine how the 3T approach to KM as used by Saudi Aramco helps the organisation to fulfil its aims and objectives. Sample research areas that need to be touched on include whether the 3T approach helps to develop talent; whether it enhances the creation of and development of teams in the organisation; and whether the organisation has adequate technology to anchor the KM system. 3. Are there any challenges to facilitating the KM system? It is known for instance that Saudi Arabia is a developing country and as such it faces many challenges when it comes to technology adoption as opposed to the situation in developed countries. It will therefore be worthwhile to unravel any challenges that Saudi Aramco Company faces with its system and how it is able to go about them. Literature review Knowledge management has become a pervasive topic in management. The increase in KM practice awareness can be attributed to the concentrated and planned efforts by many organisations to implement KM (Snyder & Wilson 2000, p. 527). The significance of knowledge management stems from the fact that the wealth of a nation (and any organisation) no longer depends on its capacity to obtain and transform raw materials, but in the abilities and intellect of the people in the nation or organisation and the skills with which organisations tap and expand those abilities (Mohamed, Abuzaid & Benladen 2008, p. 3). Knowledge management is also important because with the current turbulent business environment, companies need to introduce strategies that can enable them to survive. Companies also need to adapt to changes in the external business environment and introduce changes in the internal environment in regard to innovation, increasing productivity and hence competitiveness, personnel training, enhancing flexibility, enhancing success and business performance (Jelenic 2011, p. 33; Shanks & Tay 2001, p. 721; Chesebrough 2006, p. 2). Knowledge management ensures that an organisation continually collects information, processes it and stores it so that it is available and utilisable as soon as the organisation’s management needs it as a basis for sound decision making (Hoffmann et al. 2008, p. 203). Organisational scholars pinpoint two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge and tacit knowledge (DeTienne & Jensen 2001, p. 202). Explicit knowledge refers to knowledge that is easy to share such as information recorded in an employee manual and which can be easily understood by any person reading it. Tacit knowledge on the other hand refers to the knowledge that is housed in employees’ understanding and deep mind (DeTienne & Jensen 2001, p. 202). Organisations need KM for instance, to create opportunities for their employees to use tacit knowledge so as attract and maintain a talented, trustworthy and prolific workforce (Smith 2001, p. 311). In the current information economy in which organisations operate, the intangible resources that organisations possess are significant resources that add value to what organisations do (Jelenic 2011, p. 33; Alhamoudi 2010, p. 4). Magd and Hamza (2012, p. 119) suggest that the management of knowledge has become imperative in today’s business environment since the implementation of KM tends to offer benefits such as a better way to organise existing corporate knowledge, making the individuals in the organisation more effective when it comes to sharing explicit knowledge, and providing new techniques to unravel tacit knowledge. This leads to raising strategic awareness within an organisation, improving the process of managing knowledge in the organisation, minimising operational costs through the usage of an effective model to blend KM and quality verification, improving leadership and thus achieving organisational effectiveness (Magd & Hamza 2012, p. 119). Because most organisations are viewed through knowledge management, there is a challenge to develop an adequate system of knowledge management in firms (Jelenic 2011, p. 33). According to Magd and Hamza (2012, p. 119), an effective KM system should enable a firm to convert its learning capacities as well as core competencies into competitive advantage. It should also facilitate acquisition of explicit and tacit knowledge by enabling people to acquire skills necessary to support adoption, application of knowledge with reference to apply knowledge in practical use, sharing of knowledge by establishing a sharing culture and disseminating the knowledge to members within the organisation, storage, and so forth. In addition, an effective KM system should promote skills acquisition, assimilation and transformation of knowledge, as well as the capacity to utilise and exploit knowledge (Jelenic 2011, p. 36). It is estimated that in about five years, approximately 40 per cent of Saudi Aramco’s workforce will be of age below 30 (Khursani, Bazuhair & Khan 2011). These are ‘Generation Y’ people who have never known life without computers (Khursani, Bazuhair & Khan 2011). Their productivity will therefore be shaped by KM processes or systems that are in place presently. Contribution to knowledge The proposed research will make a great contribution towards the knowledge that exists about KM, especially in a Saudi Arabia which is a developing country. If it is determined that the KM system at Saudi Aramco is suitable and effective, this will form a basis for research on whether such a model can be adopted in similar organisations and especially those that operate within developing country settings. Any weaknesses or challenges faced with adoption of the model will also be relevant for correcting such KM systems at Saudi Aramco and other organisations in future. Overall, the proposed study will give an insight into how a KM system works in a large organisation in country whose culture is far distinct from the cultures of western countries where KM is well embedded. Methodology The research design will be largely derived from Yin (2003).The multiple-case design will be adopted, with qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. Questionnaires will be distributed to approximately 100 employees of different ranks working with Saudi Aramco. Semi-structured personal interviews will also be conducted with managers at different levels in the same organisation. References Alhamoudi, S 2010, ‘Strategic knowledge management system in public sector in Saudi Arabia: An adaptation of the Balanced Scorecard’, PhD thesis, University of Portsmouth, viewed 14 April 2013, Chesebrough, D E 2006, ‘Knowledge management a tool for SMEs to enhance competitiveness’, CACCI Journal, Vol. 1, pp. 1-12, viewed 14 April 2013, DeTienne, K B & Jensen, R J 2001, ‘Intranets and business model innovation: Managing innovation in the virtual organization’, in Malhotra, Y (ed), Knowledge management and business model innovation, Idea Group Inc. New York. Chapter XII, pp. 198-215. Hoffmann, E C, Farrell, D, Lilford, N & Ellis, M 2008, Operations and management principles for contact centres, Juta and Company Ltd, Johannesburg. Jelenic, D 2011, ‘The importance of knowledge management in organizations – with emphasis on the balanced scorecard learning and growth perspective’, Management, Knowledge and Learning International Conference 2011, viewed 12 April 2013, Khursani,S A, Bazuhair, O S & Khan, MR 2011, ‘Strategy for rapid transformation of Saudi Arabia by leveraging intellectual capital and knowledge management’, Saudi Aramco Journal of Technology, viewed 12 April 2013, Magd, H & Hamza, S 2012, ‘A proposed knowledge management system in SOFCON: Saudi Arabia perspectives’, Nang Yan Business Journal – 1.1, pp. 119-128, viewed 13 April 2013, http://www.hkbc.edu.hk/web/cht/nang_yan_business_journal/Nang%20Yan%20Business%20Journal/2-07-Hesham.pdf Mohamed, A H, Abuzaid, R A S & Benladen, R M 2008, ‘Opportunities and challenges of the knowledge management approach to e-learning: A case study in Al-Bayan Model School for Girls, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’, The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 1-11, viewed 12 April 2013, OECD 2004, ‘The significance of knowledge management in the business sector’, Policy Brief, July 2004, viewed 14 April 2013, Shanks, G & Tay, E 2001, ‘The role of knowledge management in moving to a customer-focused organisation’, Global Co-Operation in the New Millennium: The 9th European Conference on Information Systems Bled, Slovenia, June 27-29, 2001, pp. 721-729, viewed 14 April 2013, Smith, E A 2001, ‘The role of tacit and explicit knowledge in the workplace’, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 311 – 321, viewed 14 April 2013, Snyder, CA & Wilson, L T 2000, ‘Implementing knowledge management: Issues for managers’ in Khosrowpour, M (ed), Challenges of Information Technology Management in the 21st Century: [proceedings of The] 2000 Information Resources Management Association - International Conference, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, May 21-24, 2000, 20th ed., Idea Group Inc (IGI), New York, pp. 527-544. Yin, R K 2003, Applications of case study research, 2nd ed., SAGE, London. Read More