The present-day dynamic work environment has forced organizations to think of a new tool that could help them survive. Knowledge management is certainly one such tool that has the potential to address the issues in the modern work environment. As per the knowledge-based view of the organizations, intellectual resources are certainly the prime organizational assets that foster competitive advantage. It is a fact that the firms that can well manage these knowledge resources can earn benefits including better customer service, reduced costs, better decision-making, improved corporate agility, and more. There are many success stories on organizational knowledge management but then there is also mention of different challenges otherwise faced when engaging in knowledge management activities. The challenges that are being spoken about are keeping people motivated, measuring knowledge contribution, and much more. All of these challenges hint towards the fact that organizational culture has something to do with knowledge management. As is known, organizational culture is all about the collection of values, expectations as well as practices that are effective in guiding and informing the actions of all of the team members. It can be better explained as the collection of various traits that make a specific company what it is today. Organizational culture is developed through means of consistent as well as authentic behaviors, not policy documents. This is something that affects almost all of the different aspects of a business starting from punctuality to contract terms and employee benefits. The culture of a business can either catalyze success or undermine success. Thus, it has to be found out how organizational culture is linked with knowledge management. Both that is organizational culture and knowledge management are important terms and need much exploration when investigating the workplace environment. The link between these two factors if understood well can help many employers to avoid committing mistakes that often lead to the failed attempt of practicing knowledge management activities at firms.
The research question that will be addressed in the paper is as given below:
RQ: What are the various impacts of different organizational cultures on knowledge management practices?
This research question will help understand the terms organizational culture and knowledge management better and thereafter the link between the two established as well. The variables here are organizational culture and knowledge management practices—the former being the independent variable and the latter the dependent one.
As per the research done by Isensee et al. (2020), organizational culture is something that is a determinant of the success or failure of the business operations of an organization. The culture of an organization outlines a rule and with rules here it is meant principles, symbols, communication, values, and more. Lubis and Hanum (2020) agree to this and add that organizational culture is nothing but shared values and associated norms. It means that an effective organizational culture is simply the employees being active in every activity of the organization. It is argued by Hardcopf, Liu, and Shah (2021), that organizational culture cannot be fixed. The author believes at times such as in economic crises or other crises, organizations are required to re-adjust their culture. Aranki, Suifan, and Sweis (2019) think that organizational culture gets reflected in the way people of an organization perform tasks, set goals, and thereafter administer the required resources to accomplish these goals. As per Arif, Zainudin, H.K., and Hamid (2019), organizational culture is a central term that is linked with various factors such as leadership, knowledge management, communication, job satisfaction, and more.
As per Ode and Ayavoo (2020), the concept, as well as the terminology of KM, emerged within the management consulting community. It was when the Internet arose that the workforce had a realization of the significance of the intranet. Intranet turned out to be one of the wonderful tools with which making information accessible became easy. They were quick to realize that in developing the tools and techniques including dashboards, expertise locators, and best practices databases, they had become experts in a whole new product. It was required that the new product be given a name and thus it was termed knowledge management. Thereafter the consulting organizations made it quick to disseminate the various principles and associated techniques of KM to different organizations. The firms thought that knowledge management is needed as it certainly boosts the efficiency of the decision-making ability of any firm. Li et al. (2020) agrees to the significance of knowledge management and add that KM is nothing but a discipline that promotes an unified approach for identification, capture, evaluation, retrieval as well as sharing of information assets of a company. These assets being talked about include databases, policies, documents, and procedures. Mahrinasari et al. (2021) believe that KM has all potential to bring in enhancements in organizational performances by explicitly designing as well as implementing tools, cultures, structures and other such processes. It is opined by Dei and van der Walt (2020), KM is the management of corporate knowledge that can bring improvement in various organizational activities. This cannot be said to be a new concept as organizations are putting in much efforts to harness both their internal processes as well as resources resulting in different movements. Knowledge is certainly the fundamental factor and successful application of the same is of much help to the organizations to deliver creative products and associated services. Cabrilo and Leung (2019) suggest that there is nothing as such defined knowledge management practice but rather different organizations have their way to handle knowledge management. The requirement of the organizations has much to do with the framing of knowledge management practices. Knowledge sharing needs to be made convenient for the employees and the non-technical ones within an organization (Razzaq et al. 2018). This is being mentioned as proper knowledge management is something that can help ensure all of the workforce gets to access information easily. KM should not be directed towards technical or non-technical staff but should be for all. Knowledge management has various dimensions such as knowledge creation, knowledge capture, knowledge storage, knowledge organization, knowledge application, and lastly knowledge dissemination. It is added that KM is not a fragmented process but is rather a continuous one and that it results in knowledge increase following a cyclical process. Kanwal et al. (2018), this has turned out to be one of the prime sources of competitiveness in the background of the dynamic work environment of the present times. It has much to do with the culture at the organization and thus there is a need to be specific about the best practice within the organization regarding KM.
As per Abdi et al. (2018), organizational culture is something that could affect knowledge management in four varied ways. The four varied ways as per the authors are supposed culture indicating the most significant type of knowledge, culture is taken to be interpersonal and the organizational relations are the mediator variable, culture is the thing that is responsible to set the scene and lastly, culture formulates the required processes for production as well as a selection of modern knowledge. Abubakar et al. (2019), opines that culture certainly impacts behaviors that are linked to knowledge, groups, various departments within an organization, people, and the organization as a whole. This also has a crucial influence on determining when, where, and with whom the knowledge needs to be shared or exchanged. Abualoush, Bataineh, and Alrowwad (2018) feel that organizational culture is one of the main factors or rather the ultimate influential factor in the context of knowledge management. Antunes and Pinheiro (2020), agree with this and say that one of the common factors that affect the dissemination of knowledge within an organization is its culture. Adding to the significance of organizational culture Castaneda, Manrique, and Cuellar (2018), says that five unique components are needed to be addressed by organizations when it comes to organizational culture—purpose, effective communication, good leadership, and ownership. It is to be noted that all of the five different elements that have been mentioned here have some sort of link with KM. For instance, if Purpose is considered then it can be said that almost every organization has a percentage of young professionals who are enthusiastic to take part in problem-solving but often have a shallow understanding of the “why” part of the situation. This “why” part of the situation can be addressed only if the organizations have a proper process of KM. The young professionals need to be engaged in the process and given all information that is needed to understand the problematic situation. KM stands for dissemination of information and thus the organizational culture should be such that appropriate knowledge is provided to the ones in need of the same. Organizations that are having a culture supporting only one-way communication or top-down communication cannot excel in the realms of KM. There have to be two-way efforts put in to complete the cyclic process of KM. As per Mardani et al. (2018), in the present-day turbulent economic environment, innovation is a key to attaining a competitive advantage. Innovation is taken to be as continuous process of learning, searching as well as exploring that gives into the development of new products, new techniques, different forms of organizations and gradually help organizations to venture into new markets. But the growing dynamism in businesses requires that innovation be looked through a new lens. Davila, Varvakis, and North (2019), suggest that this is where the importance of knowledge management comes in. The capabilities of the firm to come up with innovations are wholly dependent on the way KM is done. Hislop, Bosua, and Helms (2018) agreed that KM is one of the main factors contributing to gaining sustained innovation that again leads to sustainable competitive advantage. Al-Kurdi, El-Haddadeh, and Eldabi (2020) opined that organizational culture is highly entangled with KM as, without appropriate culture in place, organizations cannot ensure that KM practices are well implemented. The relationship between KM and organizational culture is indivisible and that organizations those have been successful in KMS implementation agreed to the fact that inherent culture is the critical factor behind their success. It has also been stated that a culture encouraging knowledge sharing and openness is in all ways more conducive in the context of the implementation of KM. Liebowitz (2019), has been also suggested that organizational learning failures are something much affected by the absence of communication between the various cultures within a firm. Organizational culture has been found to have a positive effect on organizational learning and thus this as well as some link with KM. KM is taken to be a transformational tool or organizational change that has all potential to facilitate management in creating a learning organizational culture. The learning capabilities of an organization have a critical task in bringing innovations. KM is closely linked to the organization’s learning initiatives and one of the reasons behind this is that process involved has a high degree of parallelism. Efficient culture has been defined as a culture that highlights the exchange of knowledge, trust in the interactions being done, and also creativity. Without an appropriate knowledge management practice in place, it cannot be ensured that people be motivated to share knowledge. It is always that positive objective and motivation for interchanging knowledge positively affect knowledge management while on the other hand negative struggle and reluctance to share knowledge are the factors adversely affecting knowledge management. Bolisani and Bratianu (2018), say that to manage knowledge properly, the culture of the organization needs to be taken into account and its status be evaluated as well. Organizational culture is said to form a complex part of the values and associated beliefs of the employees and these are the values that affect their attitudes and influence their behavior at the workplace. With poor culture in place, the employees of the organization tend to get acquainted with existing organizational practices and thus are least interested in innovation or creative thinking. This certainly means that there is no such need for knowledge management as without yearning to innovate what will KM be used for! In all ways there is a direct link amid knowledge management and organizational culture, thus to achieve the goals of proper knowledge management there is a need to provide necessary training and skills. Thus, organizational culture is always bringing in some improvements of support KM. It can be even said this way that without appropriate organizational culture, it is impossible to implement KM practices.
Rehman, Mohamed, and Ayoup (2019) suggested that KM capabilities take into account three different interrelated processes that are knowledge acquisition, knowledge conversion, and lastly knowledge application. KM capabilities have been further defined to be the knowledge management process that not just develops but also uses knowledge within a firm. It is through the means of knowledge management that knowledge is made visible and a knowledge-intensive culture is developed. Time and again, acquisition, identification, development, diffusion, usage, and repository of knowledge have been defined as the core KM processes. It has also been argued by Bolisani and Bratianu (2018), that knowledge exploration, as well as exploitation, are the essential objectives of KM. Be it IT-based KM, human-resource-related KM, or process-based KM, the link to organizational culture cannot be denied. Having understood the significance of KM it can be said that organizational culture needs to be kept a check on to ensure that KM is done in a better way. Liebowitz (2019), says that organizational culture affects not just sharing knowledge but also other aspects such as methods of searching, sorts of desired knowledge, and the different types of interactions among the employees. It also impacts the choice of technology, knowledge management evolution, knowledge migration within a firm, leaders’ roles, and much more. Knowledge is still being informally managed in organizations as the human factor is being focused on more rather than the development of robust databases.
The authors have talked about organizational culture and knowledge management and tried explaining the link between the two but hardly any of the studies have mapped various types of organizational culture to knowledge management practices. There is four main organizational culture that are adhocracy culture, clan culture, market culture and hierarchy culture. All of these cultures are different and thus need to be considered individually when deciding on the link between organizational culture and KM (Tian et al 2018). It has to be understood that different cultures are to be evaluated in a different way when it is about KM. Often it has been seen that ignoring the different organizational cultures at their firms, organizations start with their venture of implementing KM. This is certainly not acceptable and fails in the implementation of knowledge management practices. Apart from this KM practices are often copied from different organizations as there is a lack of awareness amongst people that every company has to come up with its practice depending on the organizational culture. The link between organizational culture and KM is not defined and requires proper highlighting. The organizations have to be made aware of the fact that different organizational cultures need to implement KM practices as is best suited to them (Ahmad and Karim 2019). Certainly, they can compare and contrast the KM practices already in the market but these should be used only if it fits the purpose of the organization. If it is found to be a misfit, organizations are to come up with proper customizations and ensure that their effort to put in the best measures in the context of the development of KM practices becomes successful. Knowledge management has to be understood in terms of various factors that are associated with it such as innovation, organizational culture, organizational learning, and more. The various impacts of organizational culture on KM can be well understood only if the various types of organizational culture be understood well (Ahmad and Karim 2019). The solution to the unsuccessful attempts of implementation of knowledge management practices can be a proper mapping of various organizational types to knowledge management.
In this stage of the research, it is clear that organizational culture has many links with KM but then still much has to be explored in terms of how different organizational cultures are linked to KM. The best organizational culture that supports fostering of KM can also be known if the problem is solved. The demands of different types of organizational culture are different and thus it is obvious that KM practices will also be unique. There has to be a specific way to address the KM practices-related issues and this also needs to be figured out. The main problem is a mismatch of organizational types and KM practices (Liebowitz 2019). This needs to be solved by figuring out the measures that can be taken and how organizations can integrate the KM practices into the organizational cultures. KM cannot be compromised, in any way and thus the organizational culture requires to be evaluated. Many organizations are confused when it comes to knowledge management and thus there is a need to be more specific about how organizational culture influences KM practices. A prime element of knowledge management is the creation of new knowledge within a firm thus promoting continued existence as well as value to stakeholders (Rehman, Mohamed, and Ayoup 2019). The various initiatives of knowledge management are also accomplished by making intellectual capital available to others. The creation of knowledge is generally accomplished by four different modes that are socialization, internalization, combination, and lastly externalization. Culture has to have a vital role to play in the accomplishment of knowledge management. Thus, the main problem is to find out how the mapping can be done between the various available types of organizational culture and KM practices. Culture in all ways is one of the most critical factors to KM but there is still no such proper evaluation done on the same. Thus, much has to be explored in this context and a proper solution is found.
Impacts of organizational culture on knowledge management depend on the type of culture and thus much has to be figured out. The problem stands that most of the organizations are not aware of the fact as to which knowledge management practice needs to be embraced by them or implementing which knowledge management practice will help them in their mission of growth (Tian et al. 2018). Thus, here the impacts of various organizational culture on knowledge management needs to be figured out. With the impacts being specifically directed to a single type of organizational culture, the organizations will be better able to understand what measures need to be taken to bring in the required knowledge management changes in the organization. The positives and negatives of the organizational culture when it comes to knowledge management practices will be known and this will help the firms in taking better decisions as to why it should go for specific practice of knowledge management.
The best solution to the problem is that some of the main organizational cultures be identified and thereafter concerning these or the characteristics of these, knowledge management practices be developed or drafted. Then again, not just the organizational structures but the organizational culture change also impact knowledge management. There is a need to be specific with the type of knowledge management practices and how this can be integrated with the organizational culture (Castaneda, Manrique, and Cuellar 2018). The only solution is to create knowledge, acquire knowledge, focus on the reuse of knowledge, and so on. The organizational culture types need to be considered specific because researchers have found that there are major differences amid smaller and larger companies in terms of factors guiding knowledge management processes. Changing the culture of the company is difficult when the company is small in size and often is the reason for the failure of change attempts. The culture of any company is the prime element of a business and it in all ways impacts the way a specific firm works. How customers are rendered service depends on the culture of the company. In small firms influencing culture is less challenging as compared to that in large firms (Hislop, Bosua, and Helms 2018). Thus, it can be said that company culture also has some major links with the size of the same and in this research, as everything related to company culture has to be considered, this factor as well needs to be taken into account. It adds to the already existing problem that is finding a proper knowledge management practice for a specific organization. In all ways, this needs to be taken care of that the factor of organizational culture is highly linked to knowledge management practices (Castaneda, Manrique, and Cuellar 2018). There is also a need to be specific about the type of organizational culture mainly the prerequisites of the organizational culture before going on to decide on the knowledge practices.
(Source: as created by author)
Organizational culture can certainly be considered as a new management tool that is used in influencing and supervising employees. Managers can certainly manipulate the different forms of organization and bring in changes in the values to come up with desired behaviors. Organizational culture gives shape to the assumptions around what actually knowledge is and which knowledge is worth handling (Al-Kurdi, El-Haddadeh, and Eldabi 2020). Culture is the only thing that mediates relationships existing amidst individual and organizational knowledge. Without appropriate culture in place there will be no scope for social interaction and the absence of this will mean that effectiveness of the organization will get decreased. Sharing of knowledge requires human interaction that is an exchange of ideas and openness.
Therefore, going as per the conceptual map there is a need to be specific with the prerequisites of the different organizational cultures and then go on to decide which of the best practices of knowledge management best suits the situation. The impact of organizational culture has been well understood from the data provided throughout the research and thereafter the conclusion was drawn that organizational culture cannot be considered in general rather it has to be seen that types of organizational culture be mapped to knowledge management practices.
Conclusion
From the discussion done, it can be determined that organizational culture has much to do with knowledge management practices. There are various impacts of organizational culture on knowledge management practices such as if adhocracy culture is considered then it can be expected that knowledge management practice is well included. The reason is, culture is based on the capability to acclimate to quickly changing conditions. This type of culture is attributed to flexibility, empowerment of employees, and emphasizes individual initiative. Thus, in this case, implementation of knowledge management practices will be easy as compared to that in different cultures which follow certain stereotypes. Cultural changes can be initiated easily in firms that follow adhocracy culture and thus knowledge management is also easy to be practiced. The larger companies have more embedded structures and this can also be the reason for cutting two ways when trying to bring in a change in the existing culture.
The research done clearly states the problem and also suggests the solution but still better results could have been obtained if primary data be included. Primary data could have been collected using surveys and interviews and much better ideas be obtained about organizational culture and knowledge management practices. This is the only limitation of the study as it is known that a balance between primary and secondary data could have provided better results. Thus, to address the limitation of the study it needs to be ensured that some primary data be gathered using online surveys. Comparing and contrasting secondary and primary data will be of much help to address the research questions in a better way. It is for sure that organizational culture has a link with knowledge management practices and thus some people from the different organizations could be surveyed to understand their conception regarding knowledge management practices.
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