Full Title of article:
A Research Agenda for the Relationships between Culture and Knowledge Management.
Author: William R. King
Type of paper: A research agenda for analyzing the impact of culture to KM practices.
Audience: academic
This paper address the various concepts and levels of culture that are useful to research and practice in KM. The paper shows how national culture and organization culture affect the way people practice KM. The paper also discuss how KM impacts culture.
The main component of culture that this paper discuss is about national culture and organizational culture.
a. National Culture (NC)
What is NC?
This paper refers NC as 'The patters of enduring personality characteristics found among the population of nations'. Some of the themes of NC that the paper discuss are:
1. Uncertainty Avoidance : The degree to which individuals feels threatened by ambiguous situations by establishing formal rules and rejecting deviant ideas and behaviours.
2. Power of Distance: the power of influence that a subordinate perceives from a superior.
3. Masculinity/Femininity: Culture with high score in masculinity emphasize achievement, earnings, and assertiveness. Culture with high score in femininity favour personal goals, quality of life, and nurturance.
4. Individualism/Collectivism: It assess the the extend to which individuals' self-interest take priority over the concerns of the group.
How NC affect people do KM ?
National culture dominates the way people conduct knowledge management. The author thinks that if the organization culture is different that the national culture, eventually in the long run national culture will dominate they way the employee do KM.
b. Organizational Culture (OC)
What is OC ?
A single unified culture that exist in an organization.
How OC affect people do KM ?
1. Culture shapes assumptions about which knowledge is important.
2. Culture mediates the relationship between organizational and individual knowledge
3. Culture creates a context for social interaction.
4. Culture shapes processes for the creation and adoption of new knowledge.
5. Who owns the knowledge.
6. Culture create context for social interaction.
7. Culture shapes the processes for creation and adoption of new knowledge.
