Knowledge Management Enablers within an IT Department

Abstract

In today’s competitive global economy, characterized by shorter product lifecycles, increased employee turnover and ubiquitous information technologies, an organization’s ability to manage knowledge may be the only remaining source of competitive advantage (Drucker, 1995, 1999; Kogut & Zander, 1992; Nonaka, 1994; Winter, 1987). Even though a number of researchers have outlined the importance of adopting knowledge management (KM) practices and many organizations have given lip service to the term, there is still some ambiguity concerning what KM actually is (Malhotra, 2000b), and little attention has been paid to factors that enable effective KM to occur (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). This research uses technical and human-centric approaches combined with Holsapple and Joshi’s (1998, 2001) Kentucky Initiative to investigate KM within an information technology (IT) department. Based on our case study, modifications to Holsapple and Joshi’s architecture of a KM episode, a model of execution of knowledge manipulation activities and a model outlining factors enabling effective KM are proposed.