Abstract
When a company encodes the creation and maintenance of knowledge into its values and behaviors in a way that supports continuous improvement and learning, they are truly knowledge-driven. These knowledge-driven organizations are proven to be better at making decisions. When companies make better and more transparent decisions, their employees are more engaged, and their customers are more successful. Ultimately, knowledge-driven cultures increase revenue, bring products to market more efficiently, streamline internal communications, and onboard new hires faster. The best companies in the world operate this way – learn how they do it.
TopBackground
Organizational culture has an impact on many outcomes within an organization, and the success of knowledge management initiatives is no exception (De Long & Fahey, 2000). Organizational culture has been defined as the values, views, and operations that are defined over time amongst a group (Schein, 2017). It influences the outcomes with the organization by defining acceptable practices, behaviors and conduct. For new processes to be adapted by the organization, they will either need to conform to the existing culture in place, or the culture will need to be adapted to accommodate the new process. The culture will shape how individuals create, use, and share knowledge (De Long & Fahey, 2000). In the case of knowledge management, a culture that supports knowledge-sharing and knowledge re-use will be required. Companies that have successfully implemented knowledge-sharing and other knowledge management practices see this as a critical way for their company to solve problems and reach their goals (McDermott & O’Dell, 2001). In a culture that prioritizes knowledge sharing, the opposite behavior, knowledge hoarding, is seen as a violation of the culture and is not tolerated (McDermott & O’Dell, 2001).
Key Terms in this Chapter
New Communication: This refers to new knowledge of which employees should be aware but on which they do not necessarily need to take any immediate action.
Evergreen Communication: Communications that are always relevant for employees to know but which are not necessarily new.
Urgent Communication: Important information that requires an action of employees, which may include HR-related updates like benefits selection, expense submissions, and event signups.
Hybrid Work: A flexible work arrangement in which some employees work at a central location or office, while others work remotely.
Remote Work: A work arrangement in which employees do not meet in a central place to work.
Asynchronous Communication: Intermittent communication that does not require, nor expect an immediate response.
Knowledge-Driven Culture: A culture as one that encodes the creation and maintenance of knowledge into its values and behaviors in a way that supports continuous improvement and learning, along with supportive notions of people, processes, and measurements.
Internal Communications: The process of keeping internal employees informed, connected, and engaged.
Knowledge Management: The organization, capture, use, and analysis of the impact of a group's collective knowledge. In the business world, the definition of knowledge management also includes the maintenance of a knowledge base or portal where specific knowledge related to the company is housed.