enablers_and_barriers_to_effective_knowledge-libre
TRANSCRIPT
1
The success or failure of KM
programs depends on the presence
of numerous factors. Developing
the right human capital resources
(knowledge, skills, and abilities) and
providing the necessary instruments,
following systematic processes and
securing a healthy environment are
among the main requirements for
KM success. This brief assesses the
performance of KM programs in
Dubai’s public sector by identifying
drivers for and barriers to KM. It
applies a framework developed
by Holsapple and Joshi (2000) to
assess the extent to which the
current orientations and practices
of Dubai’s public organizations
efectively institutionalize KM. Policy
recommendations are directed to
heads or directors of KM in order to
identify and remedy weaknesses in
their current programs.
IntroductionKnowledge management has recently emerged as an important issue in the
search for more sustainable performance in public and private sector entities, as
well as in the development and growth of GCC societies as a whole. Economic
and institutional performance problems have triggered a serious debate about
the capacity of both government entities and private sector irms to develop,
incorporate and manage human capital resources in a more strategic and
sustainable manner. TGCC countries face additional problems, including the
development and employment of local talent, reliance on expatriate knowledge
and the potential for losing this knowledge when they exit local irms, and the
need to further develop efective institutions capable of serving the public.
Efective KM is necessary for realizing the potential of human capital for
sustainable performance in work organizations as well as in society at large.
Critical Factors for KM Success Knowledge Management is an ongoing, persistent, purposeful process that
enables organizations to create, select, organize, conserve, disseminate
and transfer knowledge to achieve strategic objectives. The success of KM
initiatives is strongly dependent on some critical factors that must exist within
the implementing organizations. A broad and growing body of literature has
identiied three broad sets of factors that directly and indirectly determine
the fate of a KM project. These are managerial inluences, resource inluences
and environmental inluences (Holsapple and Joshi 2000). Each of these main
factors, as demonstrated in Figure 1, is comprised of several components that
contribute to the overall KM process. The brief applies this framework to the
context of Dubai’s public sector.
Enablers and Barriers to Efective Knowledge Management: The Case of Dubai’s Public Sector1 By Mhamed Biygautane and Khalid Al-Yahya
Policy Brief No. 25 April 2011
1 This is the third in a series of policy briefs on knowledge management (KM). These briefs rely on
primary data that have been collected from the government of Dubai. First, semi-structured and
in-depth interviews were conducted in several major entities, including Dubai Electricity and Water
Authority (DEWA), Dubai Courts, Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), Roads and
Transportation Authority (RTA) and Dubai Police. Second, a comprehensive survey tool was developed
and administered to all government entities in Dubai, with a response rate of 66%, including those
which had been previously interviewed. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the irst time a study on
knowledge management of this magnitude has been conducted in Dubai and the UAE.
Organizations surveyed include the following: Community Development Authority, Dubai Customs,
The Executive Council, Knowledge and Human Development Authority, Dubai Courts, General Civil
Aviation Authority, Department of Finance, Dubai Police, Dubai Municipality, Public Prosecution,
Islamic Afairs and Charitable Activities Department, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
Road and Transportation Authority, Department of Economic Development, Financial Audit
Department, Hamdan Bin Mohammed E-university, Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for SME
Development, Dubai Ambulance, and Mohammed Bin Rashid Housing Establishment.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2
Source: Adapted from Hoisapple and Joshi 2000
Leadership
Organizational culture,
Trust, Governmental
Social and economic
Financial
Technological
Human
Managerial inluences
Resource Inluences Environmental Inluences
ControlCoordination
Figure 1: Factors Inluencing the Management of Knowledge
Critical Factors for KM Success Knowledge Management is an ongoing, persistent,
purposeful process that enables organizations to
create, select, organize, conserve, disseminate and
transfer knowledge to achieve strategic objectives.
The success of KM initiatives is strongly dependent
on some critical factors that must exist within the
implementing organizations. A broad and growing
body of literature has identiied three broad sets of
factors that directly and indirectly determine the fate
of a KM project. These are managerial inluences,
resource inluences and environmental inluences
(Holsapple and Joshi 2000). Each of these main
factors, as demonstrated in Figure 1, is comprised of
several components that contribute to the overall
KM process. The brief applies this framework to the
context of Dubai’s public sector.
Managerial InluencesManagerial inluences are the dynamic drivers
that fuel the implementation of KM within the
organization, and exercise the leading role during
the process. These inluences comprise three
elements, which difer in their importance and
functionality.
Leadership
A study conducted by Anantatmula (2008) inds
that selecting a capable KM leader is the irst step
organizations should take, even before putting
together a plan or strategy for a KM program. The
important role of the leader resides in obtaining
the necessary support from senior management,
and in constructing the human and technological
infrastructures needed for the KM project. Also,
the leader creates an atmosphere that empowers
and incentivizes individuals to share knowledge,
ensuring that required tools are available and
function according to the needs of the organization.
Survey data provides a clear image of the role
leadership plays in KM programs within Dubai’s
public sector. In our survey of Dubai’s public sector,
organizations were asked to specify whether they
have any of these elements in place. As Figure
2 shows, 47% of surveyed organizations do not
currently have a central unit for KM programs.
Also, 53% do not have chief KM oicers and 62%
do not have KM champions. Unfortunately, these
results show that government entities in Dubai are
not fully aware of the instrumental role leadership
plays in driving KM programs and establishing the
right environment that will allow them to function
efectively.
3
Note: Respondents were allowed to choose more than one answer.
Yes No, planned in next 3 years
Stronglyagree
Agree Neither Agreenor Disagree
Disagree StronglyDisagree
No
Figure 2: The Role of Leadership in Dubai’s KM Projects
Figure 3: Role of Managers in Coordiantion of KM Projects
Some organizations indicated in interviews that they
had clear direction guided by efective leadership. For
example, RTA has nine knowledge champions to lead
the implementation of knowledge sharing processes.
These champions integrate with the employees and
clarify the concept to them, facilitating knowledge
sharing and ensuring that the organization works
to make KM an integrative part of the organization.
Similarly, Dubai Courts have 11 administrative directors
who oversee progress of the KM programs and meet
annually to discuss their achievements and progress.
Coordination
Efective coordination streamlines processes and
establishes order among the diferent activities and
resources that are involved in the KM process. The
direct involvement of KM managers in this process is
vital. Managers’ spending more time disseminating
and facilitating the low of knowledge to staf creates
a platform whereby an organization’s members have
a clear view of the KM process. Moreover, this fosters
knowledge sharing and enables positive interaction
among managers and employees.
Central unit for K.M
Managers spend more time
disseminating info to staf
Managers facilitate low of info to staf
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
34%
18%
41%
20%18%
0.02%
24%
43%
21%
7%
0.02%
19%
33%
14%21% 18%
Central K.M. Oicer Knowledge champions
47%53%
62%
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Use of indicators to assess K.M
practices
Balance Scorecard
Written feedback on K.M
achievements
Comparison with other
organizations
No indicators in place
Figure 4: Assessment of KM Performance in Dubai’s Public Sector
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
14%
39%
27%
39%
16%
0.02%
As Figure 3 demonstrates, 43% of respondents
strongly agree that managers spend more time
disseminating knowledge among their staf, and
41% agree that managers also facilitate the low of
knowledge to their staf. This indicates that these
organizations have plans for coordination.
Control
Control addresses the need to ensure the availability
of knowledge resources in adequate quality and
quantity, as well as the necessary measures of
information security (Holsapple and Joshi 2000). KM
programs are responsible for creating knowledge that
is accurate, coherent and valid. Moreover, it should
be protected from loss and maintained in a way that
makes it accessible, yet protected from unauthorized
use.
Therefore, KM programs’ performance should be
continuously subjected to evaluation. Government
entities in Dubai use diferent instruments to
assess the performance of their KM programs.
Approximately 39% indicated that they use
international KM best practices’ indicators to assess
their practices and to compare between their
Stronglyagree
Agree Partially agree Do not agree
Figure 5: Perceived Dangers of Sharing Knowledge
Unauthorized access to
data by the public or others
Fear of job loss because of sharing
knowledge
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
11%
21%
31%
37%
11%
44%
27%
18%
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performance and that of other organizations.
Moreover, 27% of respondents rely on written
feedback on KM achievements, while only 14% use
balance scorecard for that purpose.
With regard to concerns about the willingness
to share knowledge, Figure 5 shows that 11% of
respondents strongly agree and 21% agree that
they were worried about losing their jobs as a
result of sharing knowledge. Likewise, 11% strongly
agree and 44% agree that they were worried about
unauthorized access to data by the public or other
competing organizations.
These results assure that the environment of these
organizations does not threaten the security of
employees if they share sensitive knowledge, but
they have not established the necessary instruments
to protect their data from unauthorized use.
Resource Inluences Successful implementation of KM initiatives requires
inancial and human capacities. These allow for
the establishment of the human, technological
and institutional capabilities necessary for the
KM program to successfully operate. Public
organizations should, therefore, assign a suicient
annual budget for KM, and since knowledge is
“a source locked in the human mind” (Kim and
Mauborgne 1998), it is imperative to create the
necessary conditions and incentivizing mechanisms
that will encourage individuals within an
organization to share their knowledge.
Financial resources
The advent of the global inancial crisis has
signiicantly afected the Government of Dubai,
resulting in cuts in government spending and a
reordering of its priorities. One of the crucial areas
afected by budget cuts is KM, potentially afecting
the overall performance and outcomes of its
programs. Interviews provided a clear image of the
KM budgetary issues that most public organizations
have faced since the start of the inancial crisis.
For example, half of the interviewed government
agencies stated that the budget they allocated for
KM programs was signiicantly cut due to budgetary
restrictions caused by the crisis. This limits their
capability to organize workshops, provide training
for their employees and even translate KM material
from English to Arabic.
Technological resources
After capturing and codifying data comes the task
of documenting and storing it. The availability of
the necessary technological instruments for this
purpose is an important element for the overall
success of KM programs.
Survey indings indicate that Dubai Government
entities rely on sophisticated IT systems to store the
captured knowledge. As Figure 6 demonstrates,
54% of respondents stated that they systematically
use data warehouse and data mining tools to foster
knowledge storing and sharing, 49% use Dubai
Government Intranet for knowledge sharing and
No No, planned for next 3 years
Rarely Occasionally Systematically
Figure 6: IT Systems for KM in Dubai’s Public Sector
Dubai Government intranet
Data warehouse/ data mining
Online collaboration tools
Lessons learned databases
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
30%24%
14%
2%5%
11%8%14%
5%0% 0%
24% 24% 24%
49% 47%
14%
54%
25%
11%
Note: Respondents were allowed to choose more than one answer.
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Very successful Successful Somewhat successful
Poorly utilized
Figure 7: Training Advances Staf Skills and Knowledge
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
17%
54%
27%
7%
communication, and 47% systematically use other
online collaboration tools. However, 38% do not
use “lessons’ learned databases,” which store the
experiences of employees and the ways in which they
solve problems they face at work.
In fact, the perception of KM in most organizations
is that KM is synonymous with Knowledge
Management Systems (KMS). Most employees have a
limited and narrow conception of KM, believing that
the implementation of state-of-the-art technological
systems to store knowledge is all what KM is about,
overlooking the other structural, cultural and
managerial elements without which any KM program
is likely to fail to bring the desired outcomes.
Human resources
The creation of an environment and mechanisms
that allow employees to easily share knowledge is
among the main drivers of successful KM programs.
On the question about HRD efectiveness, results
(Figure 7) indicate that 54% of respondents
consider the training and skill building provided
Yes, systematically
Yes, occasionally
No, planned for next 3 years
Yes, but rarely No
Figure 8: Techniques for Transferring Knowledge
Transfer of knowledge from more to less experienced
Shadowing employees
Formal trainings related to K.M
Informal traning related to K.M
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
12%
40%46%
27%
35%28%
20%
36%
7%12%
17%14%
5%
17%21%14%
22%15%
2%
12%
Note: Respondents were allowed to choose more than one answer.
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Sharing knowledge is not a criterion for
assesing performance
DGEP Monetary incentives
No incentives
Figure 9: Incentives for Sharing Knowledge within Organization
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
65%
34%25%
39%
Intr. Organizat. like UN.WB
Other Emriates’ govt entities
Dubai Govt. Excellence Program
Federal govt. entities
Dubai govt. entities
Note: Respondents were allowed to choose more than one answer.
by the organizations to be successful and 17% very
successful in enhancing staf skills, abilities and
knowledge.
To transfer and share knowledge, government
entities in Dubai, with varying degrees, experiment
with several techniques such as shadowing and,
to a lesser extent, formal and informal meetings to
secure the transfer and sharing of knowledge among
their employees. For example, Figure 8 shows that
46% of respondents seek to systematically transfer
knowledge from more to less experienced staf, while
40% use shadowing employees as a form of capturing
their tacit knowledge and beneiting from it.
However, only 27% and 12% respectively indicated
that they systematically organize formal and informal
trainings related to KM. In fact, the lack of awareness
of KM and its importance, which is one of the main
challenges that government entities face, can
be explained by this lack of suicient formal and
informal trainings.
As for providing adequate incentives to encourage
employees to share knowledge, survey data (Figure
9) shows that 39% of respondents conirm the
lack of incentives in place for sharing knowledge.
Figure 10: Governmental Inluences on KM Programs in Dubai
No inluence
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
46% 44%38%
2% 5%
38%
48%
71%
48%
36%
15%8%
14%
50%
58%
Some inluence Strong inluence
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More importantly, 65% of indicated that sharing
knowledge is not a criterion for assessing individual
performance of employees. The Dubai Government
Excellence Program (DGEP) seems to have a positive
inluence on employees’ sharing of knowledge, as
34% consider it a motivating factor. With regard to
monetary incentives, only 25% indicated their use as
motivation to share knowledge.
It is diicult to aspire for an efective KM program in
the absence of incentivizing mechanisms. Employees
will have no reason to share what they know if their
eforts are not appreciated and rewarded, especially
when this is accompanied by a fear of losing one’s job
if too much information is shared.
Environmental InluencesManagerial and resource inluences are internal
factors that afect the KM success. Environmental
inluences are, however, typically external and
not necessarily under the direct control of the
organization’s management. In the public sector,
political inluence and macro-institutional
arrangements can limit the scope of knowledge
sharing and put a ceiling on what can be shared, both
inside and outside of the organization. This is more
prevalent in the MENA region, where governments
are either very sensitive about sharing information
and knowledge or unable to do it because of poor
and fragmented inter-governmental systems.
The social and cultural environment in which an
organization operates is also an external factor
that can inluence knowledge sharing culture, as
illustrated below.
Governmental inluence
KM in Dubai’s public sector is subject to pressure
from various governmental bodies and programs.
Interestingly, as demonstrated in Figure 10, 58%
of respondents indicated that the DGEP was the
main driver for government entities to consider
KM programs. The same results are drawn from the
interviews with the organizations that started to
experiment with KM.
Seeking to strengthen cooperation and coordination
with other local and federal authorities also serves
as a driver to adopt KM systems. International
organizations do not seem to be signiicantly
inluential, as only 15% of respondents said their role
was strongly inluential and 38% said that they have
some inluence.
Very important Important Somewhat important
Not important at all
Figure 11: Important Factors for Improving KM Programs
High priority by top
management
involvement of the
staf
Rewards system for
sharing knowledge
Allocation of
suicient funds
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Note: Respondents were allowed to choose more than one answer.
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Other Important Factors Surveyed organizations were asked to indicate the
importance of some practices in improving the
performance of their KM programs. This shows a
clear image of what government entities in Dubai
should focus on in order to have a successful KM
program that meets their expectations. As Figure
11 demonstrates, respondents agree that allocation
of suicient funds, reward systems, involvement of
staf, and management support and commitment
were important requisites for KM systems to
succeed. In particular, direct involvement of staf in
implementing and running the KM projects scored
the highest, with 56%. Allocating suicient funds
(53%) and high priority given by top management
came second and third as important factors.
Challenges for Knowledge ManagementPeople, who constitute the main foundation of
Knowledge Management, are also the major
obstacles to its implementation. A signiicant corpus
of academic papers and consultancy irms’ reports
has addressed the challenges inhibiting knowledge
sharing in both public and private organizations.
Two key elements have been commonly identiied,
especially in the context of the Arab world:
organizational culture, and trust among individuals
and institutions. Each of these factors has signiicant
inluence on the adoption and sustainability of KM.
Organizational culture
Numerous studies have found that knowledge
and organizational culture are inextricably linked.
Culture shapes the understanding of knowledge
and its dissemination within the organizations and
groups of individuals. A cultural context that does
not emphasize the value of knowledge, or hinders its
utilization through greater participation in decision
making and vertical interaction among social and
organizational groups, will certainly have diiculties
in implementing KM programs and reaping their
beneits.
Government entities in Dubai struggle to provide
the appropriate stage for sharing knowledge sharing
and spreading awareness about its importance for
the individuals and the organizations as a whole.
Our interviews found that there was considerable
resistance from some groups towards of the idea
of KM on the one hand, and to share what they
know with others on the other. Figure 12 shows that
middle management, administrators and oicers
ranked highest as the main source of resistance
within government organizations by respectively
scoring 31% and 30%.
Moreover, 50% of respondents indicated that
comfort with the status quo and fear of the
unknown were major concerns that discourage
experimenting with new practices that have
uncertain outcomes. DEWA, KHDA and Dubai Courts
stated that they witnessed levels of resistance
Accounting/inance
H.R division
Performance managt division
Stratagy division
I.T division
Adminis-trators
Oicers Mid management
Senior staf
Figure 12: Groups that Resist KM and Knowledge Sharing
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
14%
9% 11%
18%
30% 30% 31%
25%
9%
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among their employees who were attached to and
defensive about old ways of doing things. Changing
their behavior and attitudes is thus a hindrance to
successful KM. Lastly, diferent cultural and linguistic
backgrounds of individuals within one organization,
which characterizes the workforce in GCC countries,
was cited by 38% of respondents as a challenge to
knowledge sharing.
Trust
Lack of trust among individuals, and between
employees and management, probably constitutes
the main obstacle to knowledge sharing. When
employees lack interpersonal trust, they refrain
from sharing what they know with each other,
drastically blocking the processes of KM. This
attitude is especially relevant for the Arab world,
where establishing trust and connections is the
irst step before engaging in any collaborative and
sustainable exchange.
Recommendations1. The vast majority of public organizations in
Dubai are not adequately aware of the vital
role leadership plays in KM projects. The lack
of efective leadership negatively afects the
adoption and success of KM as a pathway
to sustainable progress. Therefore, before
establishing a KM department or program,
government entities should select competent
leaders who genuinely believe in and
promote values and practices associated with
knowledge management, whether as heads of
organizations, as managers of central units for
KM, as knowledge champions, or as knowledge
oicers.
2. More involvement of managers in
disseminating and facilitating the low of
knowledge to staf is required to have better
performing KM programs. Currently, public
organizations in Dubai are aware of the
importance of this factor, but should invest
more time and eforts to encourage senior
management to interact more closely with staf
to share and disseminate knowledge.
3. In addition to the need to make KM a top
priority by management, staf should be
involved in all KM processes, with their
feedback taken into consideration. Eventually,
this will result in more cooperation among
top management and employees at the
organization, and will also lead to an
environment of collaboration and knowledge
sharing.
4. Mechanisms for assessing KM performance
should be established to measure whether
they deliver the desired outcomes, and to
identify any weaknesses or obstacles—
whether behavioral, organizational, or
technical. To that end, more focus should given
to qualitative methods to understand the
diverse and unique needs and motivations of
diferent staf, integrating them into assessing
the ways in which KM is conceptualized and
practiced.
5. Currently, government entities in Dubai are
not allocating suicient resources, tangible
and non-tangible, for KM programs. It is
crucial that government entities prioritize and
increase, rather than decrease, the annual
budget and other forms of support given to
KM programs.
6. Dubai government entities have implemented
advanced technological systems to store
created or captured explicit knowledge;
however, lessons’ learned from this study
establish that these instruments do not always
“unpack” the tacit knowledge embedded
within individuals. Therefore, it is imperative to
establish mechanisms that ensure the that the
“know-how” of employees is safely stored and
remains in the organization by focusing more
on developing and utilizing the human aspect
of KM processes.
7. Government entities should strongly
encourage their employees to share
knowledge by establishing the necessary
reward systems, both monetary and non-
monetary, and by considering the sharing
of knowledge as a criterion for assessing
employee performance. Moreover, it is
imperative to organize more frequent
formal and informal training sessions. This
will motivate them to contribute to the KM
program’s outcomes and become influential
players in the overall process, not only
in the implementation stage but also in
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analyzing problems affecting organizations
in managing knowledge and designing the
appropriate alternatives to address these
problems.
8. The training sessions that Dubai government
entities provide to their employees produced
positive results in improving the skills and
knowledge of employees. However, these
entities do not fully recognize and empower
their employees’ skills and experiences, thereby
risking the loss of these assets and their
potential beneits. Accordingly, it is highly
recommended that these entities should
identify and better utilize all the knowledge
and experience of their employees for the sake
of the institution, and also for the personal
development of individual employees.
9. It is very important to foster and nurture an
organizational culture that recognizes the
importance and value of knowledge and
its sharing. Therefore, leaders in the public
sector should invest their time, eforts and
resources in establishing a culture of trust
and cooperation among the employees that
promotes innovation and knowledge sharing.
This can lead to more trust, and eventually to
more engagement in collective knowledge
sharing.
References
Anantatmula, V. 2008. Leadership role in making effective use of KM. The VINE: Journal of Information and
Knowledge Management Systems 38 (4), 445-460.
Gonzalez, G., L. Karoly, L. Constant and H. Salem. 2008. Addressing human capital challenges: Assessing
the experiences of four countries in the Arab region. Research Brief: Rand-Qatar Policy Institute.
Holsapple, C. and K. Joshi. 2000. An investigation of factors that influence the management of knowledge in
organizations. Journal of Strategic Information Systems 9, 235-261.
Leonard, D. and L. Sensiper. 1998. The role of tacit knowledge in group innovation. California Management
Review.
Kim, W. and R. Mauborgne. 1998. Procedural justice, strategic decision making, and the knowledge
economy. Strategic Management Journal 19, 323-338.
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Mhamed Biygautane is a Research Associate at the Dubai School of Government, where he specializes in knowledge management, governance and public management.
Khalid Al-Yahya is an Assistant Professor at the Dubai School of Government, where he specializes in public management, political economy, organizational development and human capital utilization.
Editor: Stephen Brannon
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank and acknowledge the instrumental role of the following colleagues in providing invaluable contributions, inputs and assistance for this project:Alexander Blandl, Samar Farah, Sahar Sati Jawad and Jineesh M. Illath.
The views expressed in this policy brief are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the trustees, officers and other staff of the Dubai School of Government.
© 2011 Dubai School of Government
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