Factors Affecting Knowledge Sharing At Al Ain Municipality: A Literature Review

Importance of the Study

Describe about the Research Project Al Ain Municipality for Development Agencies .

In the world which is powered by the information, the flow of knowledge defines the growth and sustainability of the society and a country at large. More competent the process of sharing knowledge present in a society better it become to achieve greater efficiency, performance, growth and stability. Sharing of knowledge open ups avenues for higher understanding and thus creation of further knowledge. Scholars have agreed that Knowledge Sharing (KS) in the public as well as the private sectors companies influence performance and efficiency (Lam, Wong, and Tong, 2015).

To ensure that the shift of employees at the Al Ain Municipality takes place from the attitude of hoarding knowledge to sharing it, it is important to understand the factors which affect and can be used to enhance knowledge sharing. KS necessitates the distribution of work -related experiences of different employees and collaboration among other employees and units in the company (Kim, Lee, and Olson, 2006).  

In this report we would comprehend the importance of the topic selected for the research and then would do systematic literature review. After that we would propose the theory for the research question and establish the specifications. Later the methodologies and approaches used for the research are discussed in this report. Further the results of research is explained in details along conclusions on the basis of the findings revealed in our research work.

As we understand the importance of KS we know how important it is to be able to manage the factors that influence an employee’s Knowledge Sharing Capabilities (KSC). Though, available literature on the topic has recognized several obstacles for KS, including knowledge tacitness, restricted absorptive ability, views of rivalry by knowledge suppliers and deficiency of faith among providers and receivers. As per few scholars, the factors influencing KS are categorized as; individual, organizational and technological (Sharma and Singh, 2013).

In the present research we are extensively studying the factors influencing the knowledge sharing among employees of AI Ain Municipality, for effective job performance. The idea behind selecting this research topic is to address the need of enhancing knowledge sharing by controlling the factors that influence it.

This literature review scrutinizes latest research work done in the field of Knowledge Sharing (KS), KS models, and KSC. The prime factors affecting the KS and KS in Al Ain Municipality will be analysed.

Literature Review

Barnard (2003) suggested that the Knowledge Sharing (KS) is the process of knowledge transferring from an employee to another within an organisation. Davenport and Prusak (1998) recognized knowledge sharing as an important processes of the overall Knowledge Management. The KS is possible by transfer of information and expertise among employees, groups, from one person to a group or other way round, between departments of a same company or even with other companies or public at large. Generally, within a company KS is done to ensure target is achieved for the company by smooth working of employees and departments. With the help of KS new ideas could be generated and this in turn helps in growth of new business prospects by socialization and learning procedure of knowledge sharing employees. Du, Ai, and Ren (2007), therefore summarised that the result of good KS would positively affect competitiveness and performance of a company on a long run.

To improve the understanding about the factors influencing KS in any organisation Knowledge Sharing Models are used. Nonaka and Takeuchi (1996) suggested SECI (Socialization, Externalization, Combination and Internalization) Model for KS. O’Dell and Grayson (1998) gave Model for Best Practice while Inkpen and Dinur (1998) recognised the Knowledge Transfer Model and Wang and Noe (2010) gave model for companies called Organizational Knowledge Sharing Model. Lodhi and Aziz (2007) gave a Culture Based Knowledge Sharing Model. In this research we would consider models given by Wang and Noe (2010) and Lodhi and Aziz (2007). As per the SECI Model (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1996) the Organisational Knowledge Sharing Model given by Wang and Noe (2010) which demonstrates fundamentals of KS in a company involving employees, groups and organisation. It also suggests two phases of KS, first the vertical phase where the change between explicit and tacit knowledge and second the horizontal in which the movement of knowledge from individuals to team and to organization takes place. It suggested that in KS the knowledge exchange transpire by socialization and grouping. In this way the tacit knowledge of a person or explicit knowledge is shared and becomes knowledge or the other party. As per Lodhi and Aziz (2007), then this knowledge could be externalized and internalized in employees as well as the organization. They also suggested a Culture Based Knowledge Sharing Model which was based on the assumption that for a company only source of knowledge is its employees. The main four factors affecting the KS as per this model are individual attitude, group attitude, communication channel and organizational policies. individual attitude is most important factor in being open to receiving and giving knowledge. People with positive attitude tend to share knowledge and thus knowledge could be shares in a group. These groups in turn could with its positive attitude share its knowledge with others. The communication channels play important role in this sharing of knowledge. Similarly, organizational policies could be made such that they support the KS as corporate culture.

Basics of Knowledge Sharing (KS)

Al Ain city Municipality is a government organisation essentially focused to function for the Al Ain Area. It establishes one of numerous divisions in the Municipal Affairs Authority. Area under its control are Al Ain City and the bordering suburbs. The municipality recognises its need for extensive improvement with the help of advance technologies, communications and information systems. It also works for the unceasing growth of its human capitals as it believes that to ensure rapid and quality services for the people of Al Ain City its employees play a major role. The organisation has vision to enable its employees to share knowledge and learn from each other’s knowledge, experiences and expertise so that the organisation can achieve its aim to serve the people of Al Ain with quality services. We would use Wang and Noe (2010) and Lodhi and Aziz (2007) to identify the factors which affect the KS in Al Ain Municipality.

The Knowledge Sharing Capabilities (KSC) play important role in determining the extent to which knowledge sharing is effectively possible in a company. The effective application and creation of knowledge in a company shows its commons over KSC of its employees. Yang and Chen (2007) suggested that KSC is different from KS. While KS is a process, KSC is ability to undertake KS process effectively for achievement of company goals.

Research procedure

To conduct our research, we prepared a plan which incorporates the following steps:

Reviewing and analyzing various literature present of the topics corresponding to our research like the knowledge sharing procedures, models present to determine factors affecting knowledge sharing in Al Ain Municipality, KSC od employees of Al Aim Municipality and impact of various influencing factors on those employees.

As we selected to study the factors influencing knowledge sharing among employees of Al Ain Municipality, for effective job performance, thus relevant information is collected to understand the effect of various factors, requirement of employees at Al Ain Municipality and KSC possessed by them.

To further clarify our findings, we would conduct interviews of the employees of Al Ain Municipality.

Then according to the findings of the interview and support of the literature review would be analyzed to come to the conclusion regarding the research topic.

The main objective of this research is to understand the factors influencing knowledge sharing among employees of Al Ain Municipality, for effective job performance. Therefore, for our primary research we have devised the following questionnaire which would be emailed to employees of Al Ain Municipality chosen as the respondents for this survey.

	Questions	Choices
Non-technical factors
	Individual Factors
Q.1	Do you believe the saying knowledge increases by sharing?	•Yes •No
Q.2	Are you aware that by way of KS you can achieve insight into other person’s knowledge and expertise?	•Yes •No
Q.3	Do you believe that by sharing your experiences and expertise you might lose your position as knowledge holder?	•Yes •No
Q.4	Do you think that by sharing knowledge you might be left behind in competition with other employees and departments?	•Yes •No
Q.5	Do you think by sharing knowledge your job satisfaction would gain a boast?	•Yes •No
	Organisational Factors
Q.6	Does your managers encourage you for KS?	•Yes •No
Q.7	Do you feel rewarded for sharing your knowledge?	•Yes •No
Q.8	Do you have a mentor to help you with KS?	•Yes •No
Q.9	Do you think the KS should be part of work process?	•Yes •No
	Cultural factors
Q.10	Do you get enough social opportunities to share knowledge?	•Yes •No
Q.11	Do you have solidarity to do effective KS?	•Yes •No
Q.12	Does sharing of knowledge affect the improvement of job you do?	•Yes •No
Technical Factors
	Communication Factors
Q.13	Do you find face to face interaction effective for KS?	•Yes •No
Q.14	Do you think the KS activity in your office has reciprocity?	•Yes •No
Q.15	Do you get acknowledgement for the KS?	•Yes •No
	Technical Infrastructure Factors
Q.16	Is there sufficient IT infrastructure to support KS in your office?	•Yes •No
Q.17	Is present Information Technologies at Municipality office useful for effective KS?	•Yes •No
Q.18	Do you use the present technologies to create effective knowledge sharing?	•Yes •No
Q.19	Give your views on KS in relation to your job profile?
Q.20	How greater level of knowledge increase your motivation and performance at work?

Knowledge Sharing Model

The focus of this primary research would be to take the views of the 50 employees of the Al Ain Municipality randomly selected as the respondents. The responses were collected via email and the purpose of this survey was explicitly mention. Also the confidentiality of the employees and their responses is strictly maintained (Noor and Salim, 2011).

The secondary research would be done through literature review. The existing literature would be explored to make meaningful inferences.

Time Period	Action Items
Week 1 or W1	Identify the research area & Formulate the research problem
Week 2 or W2	Determine the specific research objectives for the research
Week 3 or W3	Design the primary research and design the survey
Week 4 or W4	Collect the data from the primary research Analysis of the data collected from the primary research
Week 5 or W5	Analysis of the data collected from the secondary research
Week 6 or W6	Inferences from the primary research data and secondary research data Conclusions and Report

The expected results for this research are the achievement of the research objectives through primary and secondary research. The respondents are the permanent employees of Al Ain Municipality. Out of 50 employees contacted, at least 90% should be able to timely send response for the questionnaire. Analysis of the results (for one of the similar research) showed that out of 43, 40 people believed that by encouraging knowledge at workplace their performance could be improved. Also the Al Ain Municipality’s technical and organisation support influencing the KS among its employees was found to be appreciated by the employees. The key issues raised was lack of reward system for sharing knowledge and acknowledgement. The 60% of the employees felt their position in office could be threatened by competitors if they lose valuable information. Some of the concern was also on the reciprocity of KS in office.

Likewise, the secondary research should be highly informative and successful. There are extensiveve researches done to establish that the factors that influence KS in an organisation, which helps in motivating employees to perform better.

Conclusion

We can conclude this research for Factors influencing knowledge sharing among employees for effective job performance for the Al Ain Municipality by the following recommendations:

KS is an important part for the growth and development of employees and as Al Ain Municipality is basically a service based organisation, its success depends on its employee’s performance.

The higher the power of knowledge shared by its employees the better would be their performance.

The basic infrastructure, culture and organisation support is present in Al Ain Municipality to encourage KS.

The KSC of individual employees can be enhanced by introducing reward and recognition based incentives for effective KS.

Schemes like award for best practical knowledge ideas shared by employees could be introduced to encourage KSC.

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Davenport, T.H. and Prusak, L. (2000) Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. 2nd edn. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

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