Creating a knowledge sharing culture (Chapter 11) - Essay Example

The chapter, ‘Creating a knowledge sharing culture’ is highly relevant in the contemporary environment of cut throat business. The chapter discusses knowledge management which has become a key element for competitive advantage. The knowledge management is broadly defined as the managerial leadership initiative to exploit explicit and tacit knowledge within and outside a business unit. The knowledge is described as the competency of human resource to use the information judiciously and expertly for optimal performance outcome of the individual and organization.

Thus, information and knowledge are categorized as different elements that need to be strategically aligned and correlated to provide organizations with competitive advantage. While the explicit knowledge is one that can be easily transmitted, the tacit knowledge focuses on experience and values that are accrued over time. The chapter emphasizes four major parameters of knowledge management: top team support and strategic focus; enabling mechanisms; innovation and continuous improvement; and commitment at individual and organizational level.

The team thrives on sharing of knowledge and encourages proactive participation of the members to improve and improvise the performance. The workforce is provided with the facilitating platform of continuous learning through system resources and external exigencies that help it to create benchmark for improved outcome. The managerial leadership also ensures that testing new approaches is encouraged and sharing of responsibilities is intrinsically linked to teamwork. Through rewards and merits, the individuals and teams are motivated to strive for higher productivity.

The chapter asserts that a ‘sharing culture’ greatly supports knowledge management. Organization culture can primarily be expressed as the shared vision and collective goals of the organization. The leadership within the organization becomes highly relevant because it promotes shared vision through collective decision making, inspiring the workforce for improved performance outcome. It also helps create an environment of learning and innovation that empowers workers to make decisions on informed choices.

Thus, an organizational culture that promotes collective decision making through shared learning is highly successful. It facilitates easy adaptability to changing equations thereby, empowering the workforce and the leaders to recognize the wide scope of emerging opportunities.Another important issue that it incorporates is its inherent tendency to recognize the potential within its workforce and use them as human capital to exploit the challenges of the times. The shared learning, regular feedback and leadership initiatives in encouraging training and development for personal and professional growth become important ingredients of knowledge management.

Information provides wide ranging knowledge about the existing and emerging paradigms of the business world which may have considerable impact on the organizational performance outcomes. The knowledge management through effective communication becomes important part of and intrinsic part of developing processes within and outside the organizational capabilities. Thus, the culture that is linked to creative input and stresses the need for continuous learning process becomes the vital facilitating agent for gaining leverage.

Reference Chapter 11. Creating a knowledge sharing culture.