Knowledge Management: The Case of Xerox (Published)
Recently, the concept of knowledge has been universally recognized as a critical source of achieving competitive advantage for organizations and as an extremely important intangible asset. In today’s complex, ever-changing and competitive environment, organizations are challenged in order to successfully manage a wide range of fluctuations, to continuously innovate and deliver value to their customers. To achieve all of the above, they must be open to new ideas and develop a clear understanding of the ways in which knowledge is created, transferred and applied within organizations. Knowledge has been approached as the understanding of a subject or phenomenon, on a theoretical or practical basis. Knowledge management (KM) has been frequently used in recent years as a scientific term, while it has been applied to a range of activity sectors and disciplines. The purpose of KM is to manage, create and enhance the knowledge and intellectual assets of organizations. The effective use of KM can provide a number of benefits to organizations, such as enhancing the quality of services provided, increasing the response time developing innovations, offering above the norm customer value etc. The development of organizational knowledge must be sufficient, so that it can diffuse within the organization and applied where it is needed. Knowledge is increasingly recognized as a critical, strategic resource of organizations. In this paper, secondary data were utilized in order to adequately fulfill the set research objectives developed by the researcher, based on the critical evaluation of existing knowledge. Secondary data was used, while the case study research technique was utilized to develop valuable lessons for the organizations. The organization studied (XEROX) is a rare case of successful implementation of KM and was chosen for this reason. The research objective was to conceptually clarify the concept of KM, link it to organizational performance and provide suggestions in relation to strengthening KM and consolidating organizational processes of knowledge development and transfer.
Keywords: Knowledge, Knowledge Management, explicit knowledge, tacit knowledge
The Relationship between Board Members’ Knowledge and Organizational Performance of Private Commercial Banks in Nairobi County, Kenya (Published)
Many organizations are striving to enhance their organization performance by creating and commercializing knowledge in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Given the intensifying competitive environment, the critical determinant of organizational success is the effectiveness of board of directors. The purpose of the study was to establish the relationship between board members’ characteristics and organizational performance, drawing empirical lessons from private commercial banks in Nairobi County, Kenya. Based on the study, this paper examines the relationship between board members’ knowledge and organizational performance. The study employed a correlation research design. It targeted 207 senior management staff drawn from 28 private commercial banks within Nairobi County. Stratified and random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 103 senior management staff, representing 50% of the target population. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaire while secondary data was collected using documentary guided. Content validity index was used to test validity of research instruments whilst Cronbach alpha method was applied to test reliability of the research instruments. Correlation analysis was used to determine the nature of the relationship between variables. The study found no significant correlation between board members’ knowledge and organization performance. The study therefore adds new knowledge to the existing body of literature since the extant literature suggests that board members’ knowledge has a positive influence on organization performance. There is however need for further studies on the same to establish if the study findings hold.
Keywords: Influence Board Members, Kenya, Knowledge, Nairobi County, Organizational Performance, Private Commercial Banks
The Role of Knowledge Management Processes in Organizational Performance Applied Study in the Cement Company of “Ain Touta” (Published)
This research aims to identify the correlation and impact between knowledge management processes and organizational performance. To achieve this, it is relied on the key knowledge management processes, i.e., (knowledge diagnosis, acquisition, generation, storage, distribution and application). Organizational performance is expressed by the following focuses: (Growth and learning, internal processes, customer focus). The research was carried out at the Cement Company of “Ain Touta”, province of Batna, Algeria. The necessary data were obtained by a questionnaire prepared for this purpose. Many statistical methods were used, including Pearson correlation coefficient to measure the correlation between variables, T-test to determine the significance of this correlation, regression analysis, F-test to determine the significance of the regression equation, and R2 to explain the effect of independent variables on the dependent variable (organizational performance). The findings of the study are identical to the hypotheses. It is found that there are significant strong correlation and effect on all the focuses of knowledge management processes with the dependent variable “organizational performance”, through which a set of recommendations are presented.
Keywords: Information and Communication Technology, Knowledge, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management Processes, Organizational Performance