In Search of Knowledge Management: An Autopsy Report of Management Text Books (Published)
This study is set to operate under the following research question: ‘How much Knowledge Management (KM) learning materials are incorporated in the academic text books of general management and strategic management?’ To investigate the issue this study applied Content Analysis (CA) technique. It carries out purposive sampling. 15-general management and 10 strategic management books (total 25 books) which are usually recommended by the teachers to the students of the universities and colleges are analysed. The content analysis technique is used to analyse the subject matters of the books. A coding sheet is prepared. It is divided into 325 boxes (25 books and 13 subjects of knowledge management, e.g. 25X13=325) to examine the KM learning materials if they are incorporated. The study finds, 17-books (68%) have addressed the issue of KM, while 8-books (32%) completely ignored the subject of KM. Further, the text books have covered the subjects like definition of knowledge/KM (25%), types of knowledge (15.63%), knowledge creation (10.94%), knowledge storage (9.38%), knowledge maintenance (7.81%), knowledge transfer (7.81%), use of knowledge (9.38%) and other KM subjects (14.06%). No book could address philosophical debates on the definition of knowledge, knowledge transfer mechanisms, barriers to knowledge transfer, duties and responsibilities of CKO and ethical issues in KM. It is recommended that more KM learning materials should be incorporated in the general management and strategic management text books. Further, the universities and colleges should incorporate KM as a separate module in their academic curriculum and syllabus. Future researchers may examine and analyse the contents of learning materials on KM incorporated in other management disciplines.
Keywords: General Management, Knowledge Management, Strategic Management