Chapter 4

Developing and
Sustaining a Knowledge
Culture

1
 Introduction

• A major goal of knowledge management is

to encourage a knowledge culture: where
everyone recognizes and accepts
knowledge sharing as a desirable behavior
• Knowledge management is strongly
influenced by the culture which operates in
an organization

2
 Organizational Cultures (1/2)

• The collective perceptions, beliefs and

values of employees in the workplace
• The culture is learned from stories,
observations and experiences in the
workplace
• Strongly influence retention and productivity

3
 Organizational Cultures (2/2)

• Cultural influences include:

– Past patterns and history
– Teamwork
– Climate and morale
– Information flows across the community
– Supervision quality
– Leadership
– Workplace interactions

4
 Effective Knowledge Cultures (1/2)

• Open and communicative

• Encourage sharing
• Tolerant
• Collaborative
• Trusting

5
 Effective Knowledge Cultures (2/2)

• People are more important than systems

• Public encouragement of knowledge sharing
• Advocacy and support for good knowledge
practice
• Values adopted by all staff members

6
 Knowledge culture enablers (1/4)

Core values
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Interaction
• Innovation
• Adaptation
• Learning orientation
• Trust
• Sharing and valuing of knowledge

7
 Knowledge culture enablers (2/4)

Structural support
• Organizational structure
• Transparent decision making
• Information access
• Problem solving
• Communication channels
• Human resource management

8
 Knowledge culture enablers (3/4)

Enacted Values
• Models
• Leaders
• Opportunities to collaborate
• Encouragement to collaborate

9
 Knowledge culture enablers (4/4)

Interaction with colleagues

• Quality of interaction
• Focus of interaction
• Mentorship
• Team behavior

10
 Reviewing the Existing Knowledge
Culture (1/6)

• Organizational diagnosis: existing

organizational patterns, attitudes, processes
and behaviors
• Draws on many sources of evidence
• Help to clarify areas which challenge
effective change and development

11
 Reviewing the Existing Knowledge
Culture (2/6)

• Diagnostic focuses:
– Organizational context
– Key people
– Knowledge philosophy
– Knowledge definition
– Knowledge sharing
– Knowledge cohesion
– Knowledge conflict

12
 Reviewing the Existing Knowledge
Culture (4/6)

Organizational Level
Cultural evidence Diagnostic approaches
Values Surveys
Philosophy Comparisons
Structure Trends analysis
Messages benchmarking
Systems
 Reviewing the Existing Knowledge
Culture (5/6)

Group Level
Cultural evidence Diagnostic approaches
Knowledge sharing Case studies
Values Focus groups
Experiences Action research
Knowledge sources Observation
Conflict Comparative outcomes
Competition
Collaboration
Reviewing the Existing Knowledge
Culture (6/6)

Individual level
Cultural evidence Diagnostic approaches
Stories Case histories
Values Interviews
Priorities Observation
Experiences
Knowledge sharing
practices
 Planning for Knowledge Culture
Enhancement (1/2)

1. Identify key goals to be achieved

2. Identify key sponsors / main clients of the
intervention
3. Identify the scope of the process
4. Identify major contributors
5. Gather background information
6. Review the existing organizational context /
culture
16
 Planning for Knowledge Culture
Enhancement (2/2)

7. Determine key developmental objectives

8. Identify tasks and activities
9. Identify potential contributors and assign
roles and responsibilities
10. Plan for communication and marketing
11. Plan for evaluation
12. Prepare timelines and commitments

17
 Implementing Knowledge Culture
Enhancement Programs

• Communicate the program intentions and

ongoing progress
• Pilot test
• Accommodate difference
• Encourage knowledge champions
• Share user success stories
• Promote awareness of the process and
outcomes
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 Communities of practice (CoP)

• Clarify the domain and contribution of

members
• Identify potential members
• Assist key members with workload support
• Enable opportunities to interact
• Consider appointing a broker to help CoP
management

19
 Concluding Points

• Knowledge cultures constantly evolve

• The development of an effective knowledge
community requires dedicated and ongoing
support
• Knowledge culture development is complex
and links to many different
organizational/work roles

20
 Today’s focus questions:

• What are some of the main features of

effective knowledge cultures?
• What factors enable effective knowledge
cultures?
• How can knowledge cultures be enhanced?

– Lecture reference: Debowski, Chapter 4

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