Knowledge creation and transfer : implications for knowledge management in parliamentary service

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Knowledge based organisations must continually create, share, and capture knowledge inorder to improve performance. This demand for performance improvement has now alsoreached the public sector. The Parliamentary Service responded to this demand by contractingconsultants to design systems, policies and strategies in areas such as performancemanagement, information technology, human resource management, financial resourcemanagement, training and development.Against this background, a case study was conducted within the Parliamentary Service toexplore how organizational knowledge is created and transferred in practice. The theoreticallens for this case study is Nonaka's knowledge spiral, which puts emphasis on the creation,codification and diffusion of knowledge. The study explores processes and mechanisms ofcreating, transferring and capturing knowledge. This is done through the examination ofstrategies and systems for codifying tacit knowledge and storing that codified knowledge.Thereafter technological, cultural and organizational barriers that inhibit these efforts atsharing and storage of knowledge are identified. In the light of the above, implications formanaging organizational knowledge are outlined. Lastly recommendations are made on howtacit and explicit knowledge could be efficiently managed within the sections and divisions ofthe Parliamentary Service.Data was gathered through interviews, observation and an analysis of organizationaldocuments. These demonstrate that through the contracting of consultants and theinvolvement of internal stakeholders, parliamentary service has made remarkable progress increating, sharing, and codifying knowledge of the performance management system atindividual, group and organizational levels. This progress was made as the result of theinstitutionalization of a performance management forum, the use of workshops, the training oftrainers and staff, the publications of newsletters, the development of manuals and the writingand submission of reports.However, it was also found that there are certain technological, cultural and organizationalbarriers to effective knowledge management. These include the lack of electronic databases, aculture of hoarding knowledge and the fact that knowledge management roles are not assigned. Based on the analysis of these technological, cultural and organizational barriers the-- study makes six recommendations for the management of organizational knowledge withinthe parliamentary service. These recommendations deal with the following issues: Thecodification of tacit knowledge, the creation of a knowledge repository, the promotion of aknowledge sharing culture, the institutionalization of knowledge sharing incentives, theestablishment of a knowledge management unit, and the appointment of a chief knowledgeofficer.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University