Knowledge management for the South African Department of Defence

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this research is to respond to the limited stock of knowledge about military Knowledge Management (KM) and specifically South African Department of Defence (SA DOD) KM. A world in the knowledge era, struggling with data/information saturation, requires KM as an advantage driver and multiplier. The SA DOD is still entrenched in the information era, practising information management as a primary enabler for decision-making, action, effects and advantage. The SA DOD does not seem interested in KM as a primary advantage driver.The research problem and aim of this dissertation are to clarify the extent to which coherent and integrated KM will be beneficial to the SA DOD and what SA DOD KM fundamentals are. The research scope is inclusive of a broad literature review and documents analysis of both the published material on USA military KM and SA DOD legislation and policy, supplemented with questionnaires to a selected sample of SA DOD senior managers.The researcher has a relativist worldview (ontological assumption), calibrated with a constructivist paradigm, favouring a qualitative research methodology and case study research approach/design that will render the rich description of the phenomenon using techniques such as questionnaires and document analysis. A deductive reasoning approach and case study research design was used to structure the research. Document analysis was the primary research method. The secondary research method was questionnaire data collection and analysis to provide insight into the level of interest in KM by the SA DOD and possibly supporting evidence to the findings of the document analysis. The combination of the research philosophy, methodology, design, and methods assisted the researcher in the quest to extract new meaning and propose new solutions for consideration by the SA DOD.A universal definition void for knowledge and KM remains a practical challenge for organisations and a major obstacle to coherence and integration. Literature and business recognise the importance of KM as an advantage multiplier. Even military organisations such as the United States of America (USA) military recognise the importance if KM. The USA military is currently a military KM leader. In contrast, the SA DOD does not recognise the advent of the knowledge era and the importance of KM yet. The SA DOD's disinterest in KM is based principally on the analysis of legislative, policy and doctrine voids; leadership aspects; information era entrenchment; various levels of misunderstanding; KM policy and doctrine vacuum; and extensive construct dissonance. It is imperative that the SA DOD adopt knowledge era thinking and practice supporting survival and advantage. As a lead department in RSA securing national security, the SA DOD should lead the RSA government in a transition to the knowledge era and KM.Knowledge and KM are fundamental to organisational survival, gaining and sustaining advantage and as enablers to decisions, actions and effects. Public service organisations', such as the SA DOD, KM motives are typically related to effectiveness and efficiency, economies and risk mitigation.To cope with a world saturated by ubiquitous knowledge continuum artefacts, complexity, and discontinuous change; and fundamental to the decision, action, effect enablers and advantagea KM Capability (KMC) and coherent and integrated KM are recommended by this dissertation for the SA DOD (and probably the entire SA government).SA DOD knowledge is defined by this dissertation as evolving meaning in the form of intellectual capital (IC) that capacitate understanding, decision-making, action, effect and advantage. SA DOD KM is defined by this dissertation as the integrated process transforming organisational IC into evolving meaning to capacitate understanding, decision-making, action, effect and advantage. These definitions are fundamental to a future SA DOD KMC and KM.The dissertation proposes the expansion of KM to Knowledge Continuum Management; within the framework of acknowledging knowledge as a continuum and supporting the continuous requirement for integrated management of divergent approaches, processes and enablers. The dissertation argues for the review of current legislation and the Defence Review 2015 for alignment with the knowledge era. The dissertation argues further for coherent use of constructs such as leadership, IC, capstone military knowledge categories, types of SA DOD knowledge, KM leadership philosophy, and a knowledge continuum (amongst others). Recognition is required for the time-value of the knowledge continuum artefacts, discrepancies in SA DOD policy, doctrine and existing military capability expressions and knowledge security (amongst several others). This should illustrate the importance of knowledge and KM and to recommend possible solutions to a future SA DOD KMC and KM implementation.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University