Knowledge sharing across cultures by esperanza huerta. Attitudes toward knowledge sharing have been shown to not only have a direct effect on knowledge sharing but also have an indirect effect on selfreported sharing behavior through positively influencing intentions to share e. To describe the race and culture specific attributes of. Purpose the purpose of this paper is to identify what factors impact employees online knowledge sharing in a crosscultural context. However, individual beliefs and behaviors might also be influenced and modified by individual cultural values. The reason is the fact that on the one hand freelancers work online.
Trends, issues and challenges in knowledge management and. Kyoto starts from the assumption that language reflects culture and that the linguistic encoding of knowledge and information is therefore culturally biased. To explore the process of knowledge sharing across cultural and linguistic boundaries, an ethnographic fieldwork technique was chosen. The use of knowledge management systems to share knowledge starts with people who are willing to share their knowledge. Knowledge sharing in selected municipalities of limpopo. Organizational practices that foster knowledge sharing. Breaking the barriers to knowledge sharing by cindy hubert and brittany lopez time and time again, apqs research in knowledge management km has proven that a knowledgesharing culture leads to increased productivity, improved cycle times for business processes, and innovation.
Many studies have examined the effect of organizational culture on knowledge sharing. Investigating the impact of social capital on knowledge management. Knowledge culture is one aspect of organizational culture. Creating a knowledge sharing culture providers edge.
Managing cultural diversity and the process of knowledge. How to implement knowledge sharing in the workplace. Assessing the role of culture in knowledge sharing paul h. Pdf cultural differences in knowledge sharing in virtual.
The knowledge advantage knowledge is pivotal for success across all sectors the crosssector significance of knowledge is clear from executives views on those factors vital to success. Building and sustaining a knowledgesharing culture at the. Knowledge sharing intention in the united states and china. Senoo, dai tokyo institute of technology in the global economy, innovations have become more important than ever. There are, however, some commonalities that are frequently seen across various. The development of multicultural competencies major objective to identify the competencies necessary for multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills secondary objectives 1. When doing business with other foreign countries, you could share past experiences with their culture and with this, negotiations and other business strategies could flow easier. Sep 22, 2016 first in a series of 50 knowledge management components slide 4 in km 102 culture and values. Since the biggest companies are the ones that can reach bigger markets across the world. Knowledge sharing is the easy passing of information for the greater good of an organization. Respondents rank knowledge as the top driver of success in pharmaceutical and health care 85%, banking and financial services 83%, and oil and gas 78%. Different things which are critical to effective knowledge sharing are trust, common languages and beliefs simonin, 1999. This general relationship varies little across cultures but more substantially between different domains of science and technology. Creating a knowledge management strategy this knowledge initiative is not a culture change project.
Research has shown that knowledge sharing and combination is positively related to reductions in production costs, faster. Although goals, incentives, and participation all play a signi. Knowledge management within an organization across cultural borders. Following this introduction, part two clarifies the concept of culture underpinning the paper.
Using a case study approach to compare and contrast the cultures and knowledge management approaches of two organizations, the study suggests ways in which organizational culture influences. In spite of the increased attention for the relationship between culture and knowledge. Knowledge management as an important tool in organisational management. Cultural influences on knowledge sharing through online.
On the influence of national culture on knowledge sharing jyvaskyla. Communicating across cultures is designed to help you meet the challenges of living in a world in which, increasingly, you will be asked to. A crosscultural study on knowledge sharing, journal of information and knowledge management, vol. Culture acts as an antecedent to knowledge sharing, for example, innovative, community, and bureaucratic cultures tend to have a positive effect on knowledge sharing behaviors. Determinants of knowledge sharing in a public sector. This is why embracing a knowledge sharing culture will help both organizations and employees grow and succeed together. On the influence of national culture on knowledge sharing. How you can shift from knowledge hoarding to knowledge sharing in your organization so the time comes to consider how you can implement a knowledge sharing culture technically. To begin to understand a culture, you need to understand all the experiences that guide its individual members through life. To understand the effects of cultural values, cultural effects at both the individual and country levels should be considered.
Ill include a deeper definition of knowledge management in order to help give a context for the issues of knowledge sharing. Pdf impacts of cultural differences on knowledge management. Why creating a knowledge sharing culture is key for growth. This study examines three keys aspects which include transfer knowledge process, culture influences and. At the start of the new millennium, the united nations designated 2001 the year of dialogue among civilizations. In this section ill describe the more practical elements of implementing a knowledge sharing solution.
There are many taxonomies that specify various kinds of knowledge. Becoming a knowledgesharing organization requires leadership that encourages needed changes in culture, provides supportive governance structures and financing, and encourages external partnerships, all to develop the disciplined practice of knowledge capture, learning, and sharing see box i. According to gurteen, the sharing of knowledge is crucial in business because the new knowledge leads to sustainable competitive. Building and sustaining a knowledge sharing culture at the mitre corporation jean tatalias director of knowledge services the mitre corporation when a patient talks to a surgeon, he wants to know how many operations like his the doctor has performed. Becoming a knowledgesharing organization knowledge sharing in action knowledgesharing is helping to scale up solutions for hivaids control in india indias national aids control organisation naco in india, hivaids is an enormous barrier to development, currently costing more than 100,000 lives per year. Christopher kayes the george washington university yoshitaka yamazaki international university of japan abstract at the heart of any successful crosscultural knowledge transfer effort lies an individual or group of individuals with the skills to manage a. These shared understandings consist of our norms, values, attitudes, beliefs and paradigms. How does cultural barriers affect its process of knowledge distribution. Pdf organizational practices that foster knowledge sharing. New social media have been rapidly spreading across the globe and gaining popularity in todays society. The paper also contributes that, in order for organisations to manage knowledge effectively.
To recognize cultural diversity that influences knowledge. Knowledge sharing depends on the habit and willingness of the knowledge worker to seek out andor be receptive to these knowledge sources. Parentchild play across cultures advancing play research s jaipaul l. The platform operates as a wiki system that multilingual and multicultural communities can use to agree on the meaning of terms in specific domains. On the other hand, cultural diversity may impede the sharing of knowledge. Hendriks nijmegen school of management university of nijmegen the netherlands email. The aim is to better comprehend potentialities and challenges when mncs draws on locals culture specific knowledge. Aug 07, 20 cultural knowledge is all we know that characterize a particular culture. We use the term knowledge sharing instead of the traditional knowledge management. While studies have shown that culture influences knowledge management and, in particular, knowledge sharing, there is little res earch on the broader aspects of the nature and means through which organizational culture influences the overall approach taken to knowledge management in a firm. Parentchild play across cultures advancing play research. Knowledge management within an organization across cultural. Communicating across cultures global studies and languages.
Despite its importance, it appears that knowledge sharing is the most neglected task in the south african local government sector. Pdf assessing the role of culture in knowledge sharing. We argue that there are important national cultural similarities and differences between the two countries that result in certain similarities and differences in individual knowledgesharing behaviour in chinese and russian organizations. We also test moderating factors in both levels in order to get the willingness to share their knowledge in the organization. Davidson in this article, the authors argue for a greater understanding of childrens play across cultures through better integration of scienti. To identify general global leadership competencies 2. Sharing of such knowledge is even more crucial and an important task for the survival of organisations. Knowledge creation and transfer in a crosscultural context. Have the senior executive and the leadership team communicate the vision widely and regularly.
Sep 30, 2014 in todays knowledgebased economy, most of the knowledgesharing studies have investigated the effects of cultural values at the national level. This study investigates the effect of the type of information to be disclosed, the possibility of sharing the information anonymously, and the obtainment of a reward in cash on willingness to share information. Part three discusses the literature on knowledge sharing through cops in. Investigating the impact of social capital on knowledge. Barriers in intercultural knowledge sharing community of knowledge. Data were collected from 41 indepth interviews with chinese and american employees who worked for a multinational fortune 100 company. While providing a common way of linking people together through knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes, a sense of belonging to a greater social network other than ones own local community is effectively created. The analysis of the interviews showed that cultural differences have an impact on knowledge management practices in construction but in different ways and. To help instill a knowledge sharing culture, create a vision of how things should work in the organization. We argue that there are important national cultural similarities and differences between the two countries that result in certain similarities and differences in individual knowledge sharing behaviour in chinese and russian organizations.
Guided by a social constructivist epistemology and foucauldian discourse theory, the findings suggest that we should pay more attention to the social practices by which knowledge. Dec 11, 2017 ways to create a knowledge sharing culture according to a survey conducted by we. When a potential client works with a law firm, she wants to know how many cases like hers. Useful guidance and recommendations for growing international companies as companies increase in scale and scope, the ability to communicate. This paper explores the topic of knowledge sharing through communities of practice with a specific focus on the intersections between multiple intraorganisational cultures. We find a small positive correlation between general attitudes towards science and general knowledge of scientific facts, after controlling for a range of possible confounding variables. The effects of individual and national cultures in knowledge sharing. The cultural challenges of managing global project teams. In opms case, this learning and knowledge sharing strategy lkss will fulfill the collaboration strategies of the communication and collaboration plan to bring about the cultural change described in the open culture plan.
The right culture, incentives, and so on must therefore be present. Creating a knowledge sharing culture culture, according to vijay sathe is the set of important understandings often unstated that members of a community share in common. Cultural influences on knowledge sharing through online communities of practice. Examples of cultural dimensions are individualismcollectivism, longterm relationship, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinityfeminity coined by hofstede. The impact of new social media on intercultural adaptation. Chapter for cross cultural perspectives on knowledge management. While these results support a model of core organizational practices that foster knowledge sharing and that are transferable across national cultures our findings also support the need for careful. Culture as an issue in knowledge sharing electronic journal of. The main objective of this paper is to examine african culture and values.
An adult canadian will never fully understand the experience of growing up an australian. Its very much important to share required knowledge with your coworkers. In this article ill talk about shifting from a knowledge hoarding culture to a knowledge sharing culture in your organization. Pdf the open talent economy is currently being developed, and a significant part. Primary data collection included observation, participation and semistructured interviews. In the rest of this section i will discuss the concepts of knowledge sharing according to the different types of knowledge. The impact of national culture factors on knowledge sharing has been largely neglected in the literature, and. A contribution to dialogue among civilizations ruth hayhoe, julia pan on. Mathematical information systems, masters thesis supervisors. Wei li holds a phd from the graduate school of library and information science at the university of illinois at urbanachampaign and a masters degree in. To create a knowledge sharing culture you need to encourage people to work together more effectively, to collaborate and to share ultimately to make organisational knowledge more productive. Specify how sharing, innovating, reusing, collaborating, and learning should be done.
Teachers develop an experiential understanding of multiple cultures as they gain awareness of their own cultural practices, values, and norms. It can include descriptions such as those known as cultural dimensions. Pdf virtual knowledge sharing in a crosscultural context. A major challenge for multinational companies is to motivate employees with different individual cultural characteristics and national cultures to share. Creating a knowledge sharing culture what then does it mean to create a knowledge sharing culture. Virtual knowledge sharing in a crosscultural context wei li abstract purpose the purpose of this paper is to identify what factors impact employees online knowledge sharing in a crosscultural context. Another major barrier to effective knowledge sharing was the incompatibility between the foreign and local cultures. The ongoing role of km is to develop an environment where people freely create, share, and use information and knowledge. Apr 12, 2015 some people object to sharing as they fear that if i share my piece of knowledge with everyone i will lose the xfactor of mine which actually keeps me always recognized by my management and. Cultural differences in knowledge sharing in virtual e nvironment. Designmethodologyapproach a qualitative research design was used. How to implement knowledge sharing so now that we know why knowledge sharing is necessary, lets discuss how to implement it in your workplace. Its just that our culture is in the way of what we want to do, so weve got to change the culture.
The effects of individual and national cultures in knowledge. Knowledge sharing the key to employee engagement what is knowledge sharing. Knowledge is regarded as an important resource for the survival of every organisation. In discussing african culture and values, we are not presupposing that all. Besides the influence of national cultures on knowledge sharing in a virtual environment, we have scrutinized this process also in a real environment. Online knowledge sharing in a multinational corporation. Why your organization should support a knowledge sharing. The system can be used by transnational groups in different languages and cultures with the same domain of interest. Experiential understanding of multiple cultures knowledge. The paper explores how locals span boundaries between corporate and local levels. Virtual knowledge sharing in a crosscultural context. Creating a knowledge sharing culture by david gurteen. Knowledge centered culture has been identified as an important antecedent to knowledge sharing in individuals with high levels of trust propensity. Besides the influence of national cultures on knowledge sharing in a virtual.
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