RESEARCH The purpose of this research is to understand how Web 2.

0 is being used and how the knowledge is being managed in organizations. The best primary source of information would be the people within these organizations who would be exposed to the tools and processes. However, there was an issue with directly asking an opinion on Knowledge Management process or Web 2.0 since it assumed that all employees would understand be aware of these specific topics. To work-around the problem, the research tried to gain an understanding of the typical tools and processes involved in gathering knowledge, the method by which knowledge was shared and exposure to specific tools like blogs and wikis. Senior management opinion was necessary to answer the broader question on strategy that organizations use for implementing the knowledge management system and how they viewed Web 2.0. The role of leadership and the importance of specific cultural aspects like trust in helping adoption was also explored via the research through senior managements opinion. Opinions from employees was used to build the foundation of the research whilst the senior managements opinion was necessary to address the strategic aspects associated with KM and Web 2.0. During the research process, a successful implementation of Web 2.0 in Knowledge Management was identified. This specific implementation is presented as a case study to illustrate the validity of the research findings. This research involved understanding the perception of employees on Knowledge Management and Web 2.0, the way they use it and adopt it and the role of senior management in designing or leading the adoption RESEARCH OBJECTIVES Knowledge management, as examined in the previous chapter has faced a lot of challenges in implementation. Web 2.0 being relatively new has its own set of gray areas. IT organizations operating in India have not been researched in depth with respect to the impact and issues faced in implementing a Knowledge Management program and adoption of Web 2.0. The purpose of this research is to initiate this examination and propose a framework for implementing a Knowledge Management program while adopting the best practices and philosophy of Web 2.0. Specifically, this research tries to answer following questions: Does the organizations stress on Knowledge Management Does the importance of KM vary with the size of the organization? How is Web 2.0 being perceived and utilized by organizations? Highlight the main points in implementation of successful KM programs and Web 2.0 initiatives. Understand if the Web 2.0 adoption was bottom-up or strategically implemented as a top-down program. Does the top management and leadership play a role in the adoption of Web 2.0 initiatives?

Identify if Web 2.0 will: Act as the new Knowledge Management system Complement existing KM systems OR Remain separate from existing KM systems Propose a framework for implementing a Web 2.0 based KM program.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The objective is to understand the adoption and impact of Web 2.0 in organizations. Since Web 2.0 is a new concept and at various stages of adoption understanding how employees are learning and using it was an important point to analyze. According to Collis and Hussey (2003), phenomology deals with the subjective state of the individual. Remenyi (1998) explained that a positivistic research is independent of and neither affects nor is affected by the subject of the research and the results can be generalized in a mathematical model. It includes aspects of identifying mathematical relationship (e.g.: if organizational size has an impact on KM activities) as well as subjective insights (e.g.: perception of KM as a means to make employees redundant). The research consisted of an online questionnaire for employees from various organizations with followup clarification email where necessary. Ideally, semi-structured interviews with each research participant would have yielded richer information necessary for a better qualitative research. However, due to time constraints, a questionnaire to general participants had to be used. According to Bell (2005), survey can be used to obtain information which can be analyzed and patterns can be extracted along with making comparisons. They are also a cost effective way of obtaining information. Surveys are good to find the what, where, when and how but not necessarily the why?. However, causal relationships are generally hard to identify through a survey (Bell, 2005). Semi-structured interviews lend themselves to this exploratory research (Saunders et al., 2003) According to Wass and Wells (1994), semi-structured interviews can be used to explain the themes that have emerged from the use of questionnaire. Hence, semi-structured interviews were held with two senior managers to gain a more in-depth and a broader perspective.