In the current global market, knowledge is viewed as a source of competitive advantage. In particular, it has become a crucial factor for Multinational Corporations (MNCs). MNCs are searching for appropriate ways to manage and use their knowledge effectively and efficiently. Their challenge is how to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and maximise the value from all available knowledge assets. In response to this, MNCs use Knowledge Management Systems (KMSs) for sharing, utilising and integrating knowledge as well as supporting Decision-making Processes. Therefore, the primary concern of this research is to examine knowledge sharing by using KMSs to support decision-making processes in MNCs. The study extends the existing literature on KMSs, knowledge sharing, and decision-making processes by proposing and empirically testing a new conceptual model in MNCs. For this purpose, a mixed-methods approach has been designed, combining semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire to collect data from MNCs participants from Europe and the Middle-East. In the first phase of this study, 42 semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants from 32 different MNCs in 12 countries to explore the main factors affecting knowledge sharing by using KMSs to support decision-making processes. A conceptual framework comprising four core dimensions was developed using thematic analysis. In the first dimension, Knowledge Management Systems, three themes were identified: technology acceptance, communication tools, and KMSs usage. In the second dimension, Knowledge Sharing Practices, the three themes were: content, willingness to share, and external factors. In Culture, the themes were: national culture, organisational culture, and information technology culture. In the fourth dimension, Decision-making Processes, extent of analysis and speed of decision-making were identified. This study went a step further than merely identifying the factors that affect KS. A conceptual model and twelve hypotheses were developed based on the findings of the thematic analysis, literature review, and the research objectives. The new model comprises seven constructs: organisational culture, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of using KMSs, KMSs usage, knowledge sharing, decision-making processes and organisational effectiveness. A survey was conducted to collect data on participants’ perceptions to test the model. Responses from 221 KMSs users were analysed. Structural equation modelling was conducted to test the hypothesised relationships. The results revealed that all hypotheses are statistically significant. KMSs usage and organisational culture have a positive and significant impact on knowledge sharing, with organisational culture having the largest impact. KMSs usage, knowledge sharing and organisational culture have a significant effect on decision-making processes; knowledge sharing has the biggest impact, followed by KMSs usage, and a marginally positive impact of organisational culture. Moreover, perceived ease of use has a strong and positive significant impact on the perceived usefulness of KMSs. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and organisational culture have a positive and significant effect on KMSs usage, with organisational culture having the largest impact. Finally, organisational culture, decision-making processes and perceived usefulness have a positive and significant impact on organisational effectiveness, but decision-making processes have the biggest impact. This study has practical implications for different stakeholders in MNCs, including managers, decision makers, KMSs designers, IT specialists, and consultants, in linking KMSs usage and knowledge sharing with decision-making processes and organisational effectiveness, and by focusing on organisational culture in knowledge management.

The construction industry is the largest industry in the world and operates in knowledge-based project organisations. The success of projects relies on the management of both tacit and explicit knowledge. This situation calls for a method for disseminating tacit knowledge from individuals to achieve higher performance and success value in construction projects. For the purpose, this study first articulates the problems of knowledge management in the construction industry. Then, by reviewing some knowledge engineering and management literatures, this research sets a theoretical foundation of knowledge management in the construction industry. A questionnaire survey was used to investigate and examine the current situation of knowledge management in UK and China construction industry. The result of frequency analysis and nonparametric test analysis provides the perceptions on the importance of knowledge transfer, the implementation of knowledge transfer, the resources of knowledge, and barriers for tacit knowledge transfer. From the literature review, this study proposes a tacit knowledge transfer process framework (3I) and identifies a series of factors correlated with effectiveness of knowledge transfer. This thesis also identifies four main independent variables - organsiational culture, organizational structure, IT technology and No-IT technology, and investigates the relationship between organisational elements with these factors and the performance of knowledge transfer. The findings are based on three case studies and responses of questionnaire survey and interviews. The results reveal that there are significant relationships between some of the variables and either the creation of knowledge assets or performance of knowledge transfer. Therefore, it is necessary for construction organsiations to consider these elements in developing and implementing a knowledge management strategy/system in a construction organisation. This study proposes a practical methodology to transfer knowledge by using an integrated system (TKTMS). The TKTMS can be an effective tool for all project members to transfer tacit knowledge across firms' boundaries and accelerate the speed of knowledge creation, share and transfer in the construction industry. The integration of the function model (IDEF0) with the information model (IDEF1) is applied to understand the necessary function/information for consideration in the 3I model and implement TKTMS.

The goal of this diploma thesis is to translate theoretical concepts of knowledge management into the context of providing end user support by the service desk. It strives to define specifics caused by globalized and outsourced way of providing customer service. The thesis extends the traditional interpretation of knowledge management in this field by setting up a balanced view regarding both explicit and tacit knowledge and considers also appropriate tools and methods for its efficient creation, maintenance and sharing. Final part contains a case study, showing those applied concepts in practice of a company. The thesis is concluded by a set of generally usable recommendations for more effective management of customer support knowledge.

The thesis deals with the issue of the knowledge management and its principles. The introduction of thesis is addressed to theoretical basics of the knowledge management that is followed by the practical part. The theoretical part provides the starting point for the proposal and applications of system for the chosen company. The main aim of the practical part was to form the application for management of projects and the repository of the knowledge of the chosen company. This aim should be followed by increasing of the work efficiency and enhancing of the access to the information. The resulting application will be set up into the company workings.

Over the last two decades the role of knowledge in organizations has attracted considerable attention from organizational practice and academia (Beamish & Armistead, 2001; Blackler, Reed, & Whitaker, 1993; Grant, 1996; Jasimuddin, 2006; Nonaka, 1994). A broad research community has emerged around with about 40 peer-reviewed journals (Serenko & Bontis, 2013a, 2013b; Serenko, Bontis, Booker, Sadeddin, & Hardie, 2010) which has attracted scholars from fields such as management, information management and library sciences, psychology and organizational studies, sociology and computer sciences as well as engineering and philosophy (Baskerville & Dulipovici, 2006; Gu, 2004; Lee & Chen, 2012; Martin, 2008; Venzin, Von Krogh, & Roos, 1998; Wallace, Van Fleet, & Downs, 2011). The assessment of the KM field ranges from suggestions that KM is in a state of "pre-science" with different paradigms and disagreement about fundamentals in the field (Hazlett, McAdam, & Gallagher, 2005) while others see a ‘healthy arena with a strong foundation in multiple theories and clear direction for future work (Baskerville & Dulipovici, 2006).

<p>The aim of this study was to determine whether or not knowledge was shared and created in the library of the University of the Western Cape (UWC). The study adopted the SECI model of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) as its theoretical framework. The service delivery points at the UWC library are as follows:&nbsp / Circulation section, which deals with walk-in&nbsp / users. These are users who, on a daily basis borrow books from and return books to the library. This section normally deals with queries such as users whose library cards are&nbsp / blocked due to outstanding library fines. It comprises front - desk staff, shelf attendants and inter-library loan staff members.&nbsp / Staff members working in the information section (IS)&nbsp / are referred to as faculty librarians (FAC/L&rsquo / s), who are regarded as section heads and liaise with faculties on campus on a regular basis. The information section deals with walk-in&nbsp / users on a daily basis.&nbsp / The other sections, namely cataloguing, acquisition and periodicals, provide mostly &lsquo / behind the scenes&rsquo / services, but their work is of such a nature that&nbsp / users have no access to their sections due to the strict policy with regard to areas of the library in which staff are working with new books and journals. Books and journals that are&nbsp / not on the cataloguing system are kept in the acquisitions and cataloguing section. This also has a significant impact on service delivery in the library. These sections have to&nbsp / ensure that books and journals are processed, in order for users to get access to these resources. This study attempted to answer the following research questions&nbsp / Is there&nbsp / evidence of knowledge sharing and creation in the UWC library? If so, what practices currently exist?&nbsp / How do staff share and create knowledge for service delivery not with general&nbsp / library users, but within and between the acquisitions, cataloguing and information sections?</p>

Two of the most important issues in knowledge age are knowledge management and innovation. Companies that is able to control knowledge, able to develop the ability of innovation. Therefore, understand how to acquire, encode, diffuse, storage knowledge, and how to match knowledge and management system, is very important for organizations. Knowledge workers are the most important carrier of knowledge. They are the one who actually learn, share, use, and create knowledge. Thus, understand and pay attention to knowledge worker and the management of knowledge worker should be considered one part of knowledge management. Moreover, knowledge management should match corporation¡¦s competitive strategy. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the relationship among organizational characteristics, knowledge management, strategy of knowledge management, organizational innovation, and consider the influence of the strategy of knowledge management and organizational characters to knowledge management and organizational innovation. The results of the research indicate that: The lifecycle of a company has significant difference on organizational innovation. The scale of a company has also significant difference on organizational innovation. In addition to difference analysis, relation analysis indicates that ¡§connect performance and reward¡¨, ¡¨improve knowledge which is already there¡¨, ¡§leadership of knowledge¡¨, ¡§institutionalize the measurement of knowledge¡¨, ¡§organic organization structure¡¨, and ¡§culture of learning¡¨ has significant influence on organizational innovation. As the result, the suggestions are: companies should develop their manager¡¦s ability of leadership of knowledge; connect performance and reward; improve knowledge which is already there; institutionalize the measurement of knowledge; establish organic organization structure; and create the culture of learning.

KM is the process of creating value from the intangible assets of an enterprise. It deals with how best to leverage knowledge internally in the enterprise (in its individual employees, and the knowledge that gets built into its structures and systems) and externally to the customers and stakeholders. As KM initiatives, projects and systems are just beginning to appear in organisations, there is little research and empirical field data to guide the successful development and implementation of such systems or to guide the expectations of the potential benefits of such systems. In addition, about 84 per cent of KM programmes failed or exerted no significant impact on the adopting organisations worldwide due to inability to consider many critical factors that contribute to the success of KM project implementation. Hence, this study is an exploratory investigation into the KM implementation based on an integrated approach. This includes: (1) a comprehensive review of the relevant literature; (2) a comprehensive analysis of secondary case studies of KM implementations in 90 organisations presented in the literature, in order to arrive at the most critical factors of KM implementation and their degree of criticality; (3) exploratory global survey of 92 organisations in 23 countries that have already implemented or are in the process of implementing KM; (4) in-depth case studies of four leading organisations to understand how KM implementation processes and the critical factors identified are being addressed. Based on the empirical findings of the study, 28 critical factors were identified that must be carefully considered in the KM implementation to achieve a successful project. Moreover, the study proposes an integrated model for effective KM implementation which contains essential elements that contribute to project success.

<p>The aim of this study was to determine whether or not knowledge was shared and created in the library of the University of the Western Cape (UWC). The study adopted the SECI model of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) as its theoretical framework. The service delivery points at the UWC library are as follows:&nbsp / Circulation section, which deals with walk-in&nbsp / users. These are users who, on a daily basis borrow books from and return books to the library. This section normally deals with queries such as users whose library cards are&nbsp / blocked due to outstanding library fines. It comprises front - desk staff, shelf attendants and inter-library loan staff members.&nbsp / Staff members working in the information section (IS)&nbsp / are referred to as faculty librarians (FAC/L&rsquo / s), who are regarded as section heads and liaise with faculties on campus on a regular basis. The information section deals with walk-in&nbsp / users on a daily basis.&nbsp / The other sections, namely cataloguing, acquisition and periodicals, provide mostly &lsquo / behind the scenes&rsquo / services, but their work is of such a nature that&nbsp / users have no access to their sections due to the strict policy with regard to areas of the library in which staff are working with new books and journals. Books and journals that are&nbsp / not on the cataloguing system are kept in the acquisitions and cataloguing section. This also has a significant impact on service delivery in the library. These sections have to&nbsp / ensure that books and journals are processed, in order for users to get access to these resources. This study attempted to answer the following research questions&nbsp / Is there&nbsp / evidence of knowledge sharing and creation in the UWC library? If so, what practices currently exist?&nbsp / How do staff share and create knowledge for service delivery not with general&nbsp / library users, but within and between the acquisitions, cataloguing and information sections?</p>

This thesis focuses on pre-conditions for organisations to implement knowledge management systems (KMS). Prior research suggests knowledge management (KM) is a capability and, as such, organisations need to know if they are ready to embark on KM initiatives that develop this capability. The findings of my research contend that measuring readiness is a prerequisite for implementing KMS holistically. I argue that effective KMS integrates the creation, mobilisation and diffusion stages of the knowledge life-cycle. Therefore, a system for gauging organisational readiness for KMS necessitates understanding the organisation’s inclination to create, mobilise and diffuse knowledge. Drawing from Socio-Technical Systems (STS) Theory, this study uses three dimensions, Infrastructure, Knowledge Structure and Knowledge Culture, to gauge each stage of the knowledge life-cycle. This study develops an instrument – the Knowledge Implementation Assessment Tool (KIAT) – to assess an organisation’s readiness for KMS. An organisation’s readiness can be said to increase as the measure on each dimension increases. In addition, this study found that structurally diverse Communities For Performance are needed to leverage Communities Of Practice in delivering direct business results, and that the implementation of KMS must be governed within and by cross-functional business processes. The knowledge-based theory of the firm and the knowledge life-cycle theory provide a conceptual understanding that managing the creation, mobilisation and diffusion of knowledge can yield competitive advantage. Based on these theories, an in-depth case study was conducted in Schlumberger’s technical service delivery process. The study analysed the implementation and the use of InTouch, Schlumberger’s KMS. The case study was conducted using an Abductive research strategy. The Means-End Chain approach and its laddering technique were used to collect and analyse data to establish 35 attributes vital for the implementation of an effective KMS – one that brings beneficial results. These attributes form the basis for creating the readiness assessment instrument – KIAT. A KMS implementation affects the social and technical aspects of an organisation. This study categorised the attributes along the three STS dimensions. The basis of the categorisation was the fit between each attribute and an STS dimension. The result is an assessment instrument to measure organisational readiness. The instrument, KIAT, consists of 50 factors to measure organisational readiness along the three STS dimensions for the creation, mobilisation and diffusion of knowledge. KIAT is operationalised in three organisational cases in different industries and processes. This allowed the instrument to be refined and led to the development of procedures to apply KIAT. The cases suggest that KIAT provides useful insights to discover or confirm KMS readiness where a cross-functional business process is the unit of analysis. The research contributes to research methodology in the KM field, as it is the first to use the Means-End Chain approach into knowledge management research by representing a hierarchy of organisational goals in a knowledge management initiative. For practitioners, my research makes two contributions. One, the KIAT readiness assessment instrument to diagnose their organisational readiness and take informed decisions. Two, the understanding of Communities For Performance. This study points the way for further research. This includes directions to explore the relationship between the levels of readiness and the effectiveness of KMS implementation, the relationship between organisations’ experience and their readiness, and the relationship between the dynamics of the KIAT Factors and organisational learning.