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In the new global economy, knowledge is recognised as one of the most valuable organisational assets and an important competitive advantage. Therefore organisations need to concede that knowledge sharing is imperative in order to survive and compete effectively in the global economy. This study examined the extent to which culture impacted the effectiveness of knowledge sharing in an organisation. There were four dimensions of culture identified that influence knowledge sharing namely individualism/collectivism, power distance, masculinity/feminity and uncertainty avoidance. This research was quantitative in nature. A web based questionnaire was administered to a sample of 96 respondents in top and middle management by means of convenience sampling. The findings in this study indicate that age, gender and work experience have no influence on the impact of culture on knowledge sharing. It was further found that three out of the four cultural dimensions impacted knowledge sharing positively. They were low individualism and high collectivism, low power distance and low masculinity and high feminity. The fourth cultural dimension uncertainty avoidance was found to be high indicating a negative impact on knowledge sharing. Recommendations for future research include a larger sample size for a more comprehensive study, a comparative study with other chrome manufacturing operations and identifying the necessary tools required to reduce high uncertainty avoidance cultures. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

No / This paper reviews and analyses the literature on knowledge sharing in a university setting with the aim of identifying and understanding the determinants of knowledge sharing culture, research trends, theories, and future research opportunities for knowledge sharing in higher education institutions (HEIs). Findings suggest that there is disproportionately little knowledge sharing research in HEIs compared to the commercial sector. The review reveals that existing research on HEIs does not consider the determinants of knowledge sharing culture in a comprehensive manner. Research on knowledge sharing in commercial and HEIs in developing economies like Africa, the Middle East and South America is found to be limited. The review shows that future research should consider cultural and behavioural factors at different levels, that is, individual, national, professional teams, language issues and trust that might impact knowledge sharing practices among faculty members in HEIs in developing economies.

Studies in recent years have revealed that use of ICT can significantly impact knowledge sharing in organizations by enhancing the knowledge sharing process, reducing knowledge sharing barriers, and introducing technology barriers. While this has been identified in many studies and a significant research has been carried out to identify knowledge sharing barriers, there exists a considerable dearth of research when the question of ‘which knowledge sharing barriers can ICT reduce and how?’ is posed. This thesis aims to address this question by studying the case of an organization using ICT for knowledge sharing. The study was carried out using questionnaire and interview findings and results showed that if ICT is effectively used, a number of knowledge sharing barriers - in addition to time and space barriers - can be successfully reduced. Organizational and individual knowledge sharing barriers saw most reduction by ICT while technology barriers did not see any reduction by use of ICT alone. This is in coherence with different studies that use of ICT for knowledge sharing introduces its own technology barriers. However the results show that if employees are tech-savvy and management considerably supports employee involvement in the process of design and deployment of ICT enabled knowledge sharing, technology barriers can also be greatly reduced and even entirely eliminated.

Abstract Date: January 17, 2013 Level: Bachelor thesis in business administration, 15 ECTS Institution: School of Sustainable Development of Society and Technology, Mälardalen University Authors: AZIZ Najibullah, GLEESON Darren and KASHIF Muhammad 28th August 1980, 29th November 1977, 22nd July 1984 Tutor: Eva Maaninen-Olsson Keywords: Knowledge, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, Factors Affecting Knowledge Sharing Research Question: What hinders or enables knowledge sharing in Swedish-based multi-national corporations from a cultural, motivational and trust perspective? Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the barriers and enablers of knowledge sharing within multi-national corporations. Method: The research method chosen to fulfill the purpose of the thesis is a qualitative approach. In order to achieve the purpose both primary and secondary data was sought. In accordance with the qualitative approach, interviews have been carried out with senior managers in ABB, Bombardier, Ericsson and Siemens. Data collected from these interviews represents the primary data. Secondary data has been gathered from company websites. Conclusion: The results from the studied multi-national organizations suggest that knowledge sharing culture is influenced by communication, rules, regulations and routines (sub-factors of culture). This study shows that communication, rules, regulations and routines are enablers of knowledge sharing in the organizations. However, language and technology (sub-factors of culture) as collaborative tools are proven to be problematic; consequently creating hindrances to knowledge sharing. When it comes to motivational factors (rewards, power and reciprocity), this thesis shows that none of the studied companies offer rewards for knowledge sharing. This confirms the controversy connected with rewards which can either enable or cause hindrance to knowledge sharing. Reciprocity seems to enable knowledge sharing in the studied organizations whereas power remains controversial. The existence of power can either be a barrier or an enabler for knowledge sharing depending on the individual’s perception of power. This thesis also shows that the existence of trust enables knowledge sharing between employees, but the difficulties of building this trust is akey problem for management.

This research investigated which combination of factors had a positive and significant impact on knowledge sharing within an organisation. By finding this combination it will allow organisations to prioritise resources to specific factors that are seen to positively affect knowledge sharing. One hundred and seventy nine employees of a prominent South African company gave an indication into which factors in combination would provide a model that best predicts a positive impact on knowledge sharing. Statistical testing carried out on the resulting data gave an indication of the best fitting model. It was found that three of the four identified factors contributed 62% to the overall positive effect on knowledge sharing when measured together. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This research considers one of the most important of resources - knowledge. There is a widespread view that knowledge is important to organizations and this has led to the study of knowledge management. There are a plethora of definitions of knowledge and knowledge management, but knowledge sharing is recognised as being of fundamental importance. The literature shows the success of knowledge sharing is not only affected by factors including culture, management, technology, processes and structure but, more importantly, it is affected by how these factors interact and fit together. However there is little literature on alignment or strategic fit in knowledge sharing. This research adds to the literature by investigating the enablers and constraints of knowledge sharing and the possible effects of alignment. An interpretive approach using case studies triangulated with a survey is adopted, involving semi-structured interviews with 23 people across five organizations. The findings suggest that significant top management support and a strategy for knowledge sharing are necessary precursors of effective knowledge sharing. In the organizations which lacked this, there is little to encourage people to share and almost none of these organizations measured well on any aspect of knowledge sharing. There are widely varying uses of technology, but many are aimed at sharing data or information. Fewer uses of technology are geared to enabling or encouraging the communication necessary for knowledge sharing. The lack of senior management support may prevent any significant internal or external alignment so a possible approach to strategic fit for knowledge sharing is that strategy has to come first (and the management support that goes with it) and that this should lead to the embedding of the necessary behaviours for knowledge sharing. Only after this are processes and technology able to support knowledge sharing.

With the advancement of technology, knowledge management (KM) has become more and more important in research and practice. In the research of KM, researchers believe that organizations are abundant in knowledge, and the sharing of knowledge can utilize knowledge well. Therefore, how to share knowledge stored in organizations and individuals is the most important issue. Recently, firms take outside resources as potential sources of firm-addressable knowledge. By interacting with customers constantly, firms can get lots of valuable information and knowledge, such as market information, professional experiments and communication skills. Our research selects knowledge intensive service firms as the subject of research and tries to understand the processes of interorganizational knowledge sharing within the development of the information project. First, from literature review we found that knowledge sharing is affected by four factors: project¡¦s background, characteristics of organizations, characteristics of knowledge, and characteristics of tasks. Because the processes of knowledge sharing are dynamic and complex processes, and there is no a well-defined framework, this research is an explorative research, using qualitative research method to carry out this research. This research uses multi-case research method to collect data from individual interviews and official documents. To analyze the data, we choose grounded theory as an analysis method to induce an explanative framework from our data. This research analyzes data from two aspects: affecting factors and stages of the project, trying to understand the factors affecting cross-organization knowledge sharing method and the progress of knowledge sharing in different stages of the project. We also found that information department will change the processes of knowledge sharing and two variations are found. Finally, this research concludes that the information department plays the very important role as a mediator for knowledge sharing, and firms can adopt it when there is a knowledge gap between firms and their clients.

This thesis study explores the existing knowledge management and sharing practices in donor organizations, particularly working in the developing countries. The potentional of knowledge management and sharing to facilitate development organizations in carrying out development work has been recognised in the literature. Literature presented mix of critique and appreciation to the existing efforts of donor agencies. Knowledge sharing platforms revolves around the country initiatives and donor agencies like UNDP and World Bank which are proactive in establishing these platforms for partner organizations. This research contributes practical insight to the question of delivery of these platforms, through an empirical investigation based on the development professionals' experiences. As earlier research shows enormous amount of literature on individual, team and organizational level knowledge sharing, this study sets prime focus on community level or external knowledge sharing, an area where there exist a dearth of emperical research or contributing literature on examing the role of sharing initiatives and possible contribution in improving risk management in development projects. Literature shows the potential of knowledge management and sharing practices, as their possible contribution in the global development practices and in bridging gap between North-South stakeholders. However, cultural, technological, organizational and individual level issues escalate with external level of knowledge sharing and thesis rightly, identifies success factors from the literature alongwith their viability from the professionals. It is even more inadequate when it comes to projects of donor organizations in under developed and developing countries. With 80% of documented failure rates of knowledge sharing systems, external knowledge sharing with partner organizations or network organizations is really not adequate and do not have supporting culture. As this whole process of sharing knowledge, heavily relies on the perceived motivation and willingness to share, study has tried to identify the challenges facing wider use of these sharing systems. Study also contributes with suggestions for knowledge management and sharing system developers, policy and decision makers and system users, to improve the overall contribution of knowledge sharing in better risk management. Apart from the cultural barriers, there are technical and policy level issues which need more concerted efforts to improve the use of these sharing systems by various organizations and individuals. / House No. 174-A, St. 61, I-8/3, Islamabad, Pakistan Contact: +92-336-5666065, Email: noman-1985@hotmail.com

The integration of knowledge management strategies within Multinational Corporationsundergoing mergers and acquisitions poses a critical challenge, impacting operationalefficiency. The failure to effectively spread knowledge across merged entities risks financiallosses and compromises firm-specific advantages. Complexities such as geographicaldistance, environmental factors, and organizational practices challenge collaboration andknowledge transfer. In addition, diverse internal barriers affect organizational knowledgesharing. The method was formed as a case study, exploring WSP's Swedish subsidiaryregarding its knowledge management and knowledge sharing strategies. 16 semi- andunstructured interviews were conducted to investigate how managers and employees engagein knowledge processes. The research design allows for an in-depth understanding of thephenomenon within a real-world setting. The result highlights centralized decision-makingand communication within WSP to align the subsidiaries towards a shared culture, referred toas One WSP. Clear routines and processes support organizational learning and knowledgesharing processes to ensure cultural alignment within WSP. Managers foster knowledgesharing through open discussions, lectures, and tandem arrangements. Despite the efforts,employees perceive barriers such as limited internal time, motivation, and language to hinderknowledge sharing. Employees seek transparency regarding decision-making and increasedinternal time devoted to knowledge sharing, emphasizing the need for organizationallearning.