In today's information and technology-driven markets, knowledge has an important role to play in gaining and maintaining competitive advantage and improving organizational performance. Since knowledge is the most important competitive advantage tool, effective management of knowledge will increase organizational performance. The knowledge management process is a process that includes activities related to the systematic acquisition, transformation, use, and protection of knowledge in order to better achieve organizational goals. This process develops depending on technology, culture, organizational structure, and human factors. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of knowledge management on organizational learning for 650 academicians working at universities in Istanbul. As a result of the structural equation model, a positive 68.1% increasing relationship was determined between the knowledge management and organizational learning.
TopIntroduction
Today, knowledge is recognized as an important organizational and individual asset. For this reason, individual and organizational learning, which are ways of acquiring knowledge, are becoming increasingly important. In business and organizational life, especially with the effect of globalization and competition, information is used effectively in the production of products and services (Nouri et al., 2017:195). In this context, it has emerged as a necessity to know the methods of accessing information and integrating information with activities in order for the organization to survive and compete. The phrase “knowledge is power” refers to an understanding that brings the individual to the forefront today, as well as an understanding that realizes the acquisition, sharing, transfer and effective use of knowledge for organizations through appropriate channels. In an organization, knowledge obtained from the internal and external environment is the common value of that organization and needs to be shared (Yang, 2011:17). Shared knowledge creates individual and organizational synergy that will lead the organization to success and creates the idea that knowledge is the common property and/or value of the organization.
Today's organizations' constant need for information and the necessity to use information in their activities have led to the emergence of knowledge and information-based practices such as knowledge management, information management, document management and organizational learning (Ainissyifa, 2012:81). Identifying, obtaining, processing, storing and sharing information related to activities and using it in organizational activities is possible through the conscious and programmed implementation of knowledge management (Cheng et al., 2017:179). For organizations, knowing where knowledge is located is of little use; knowledge becomes a valuable company asset only when it can be accessed. As the level of accessibility increases, the value of information undoubtedly increases at the same rate (Donate & Pablo, 2015:364).
Through the act of learning, which is one of the ways of accessing knowledge, both individuals and organizations make efforts to obtain the necessary knowledge for their activities. As the world changes rapidly, the level of uncertainty increases at the same rate. Past experience is therefore often not reliable enough for decision-making. Continuous learning is needed to anticipate and respond to changes and achieve efficiencies (Watanabe & Senoo, 2011:112). For this reason, it is a natural necessity for organizations to become learning organizations and to make organizational learning an organizational policy (Thambi & O'Toole, 2012:94). In this context, a learning organization is a knowledge-based organization that adapts all its elements and possibilities to the changing environmental conditions it is in, obtains the necessary information in various ways and disseminates it within the organization within a system, and uses the information effectively and efficiently in its activities (Stylianou & Savva, 2016:1517).