Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Josune Sáenz, Nekane Aramburu and Carlos E. Blanco
Never<strong>the</strong>less, early literature on knowledge management shows a clear prevalence <strong>of</strong> ICT-related
initiatives. In a survey reported by Swan et al. in 2001, it was proven that <strong>the</strong> dominant discourse in
this domain was not related to <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> people in organizations, but to technologies that facilitate <strong>the</strong>
acquisition, codification and exploitation <strong>of</strong> knowledge. As Allee points out (2003), “Companies need
an integrated technology foundation that will allow people to document <strong>the</strong>ir work and processes,
build learning modules, develop specialized portals, create shared files and content, manage <strong>the</strong>ir email,
and locate both internal and exteneral resources” (p. 89).
Knowledge repositories provide <strong>the</strong> vehicle for collecting and methodically integrating core knowledge
components from <strong>the</strong> organization into a single unified system which can be searched in many
different ways. They act as a link between users and core knowledge, operating as a single point <strong>of</strong>
entry to help people find relevant information from many different organizational sources (Debowski,
2006). Thanks to <strong>the</strong>m, employees may discover many colleagues working on similar projects and,
subsequently, collaboration among <strong>the</strong>m may emerge. Actually, knowledge repositories can
encourage new connections in <strong>the</strong> organization and be <strong>the</strong> source <strong>of</strong> new ideas. In <strong>the</strong> same vein,
intranets allow employees to have access to a wide array <strong>of</strong> documents, data bases, news and useful
links that may help <strong>the</strong>m to boost <strong>the</strong>ir creativity or to manage <strong>the</strong>ir projects more efficiently.
Moreover, o<strong>the</strong>r ICT-based mechanisms, such as blogs and on-line discussion forums, help people
share <strong>the</strong>ir thoughts, opinions and viewpoints on a variety <strong>of</strong> topics in a quick and agile way.
Questions and answers can be cross-indexed and archived, which helps to build a knowledge
network among participating members (Dalkir, 2005).
Hence, considering <strong>the</strong> prominent role that ICT-based mechanisms could play in facilitating
knowledge sharing and <strong>the</strong> relevance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> latter in <strong>the</strong> generation <strong>of</strong> new knowledge and
subsequent innovation (see <strong>the</strong> Introduction section), <strong>the</strong> following hypo<strong>the</strong>ses have been formulated:
H1: ICT-based knowledge sharing mechanisms (i.e. knowledge repositories,
intranets, blogs and on-line discussion forums) exert a positive influence on:
H1a: The generation <strong>of</strong> new ideas.
H1b: Innovation project management.
However, although ICT-based practices could help in <strong>the</strong> exchange and assimilation <strong>of</strong> explicit
knowledge (i.e. internalization and combination processes), <strong>the</strong>y leave aside “social construction”
(Berger and Luckmann, 1966) and <strong>the</strong> organizational learning processes underlying socialization. As
Allee describes (2003), “in all types <strong>of</strong> knowledge work, even where technology is very helpful, people
require conversation, experimentation and experiences shared with o<strong>the</strong>r people who do what <strong>the</strong>y
do” (p. 113). This brings us to personal interaction-based (or people-focused) knowledge sharing
initiatives.
Within this group, communities <strong>of</strong> practice are <strong>of</strong> special relevance (Dalkir, 2005; Saint-Onge and
Wallace, 2003). They refer to a group or network <strong>of</strong> individuals who share a concern, a set <strong>of</strong>
problems or a passion about a topic, and who expand <strong>the</strong>ir knowledge and expertise in this area by
interacting with each o<strong>the</strong>r on an ongoing basis (Wenger et al., 2002). Along <strong>the</strong>se lines, “<strong>the</strong> critical
component <strong>of</strong> a community lies in <strong>the</strong> sharing <strong>of</strong> common work problems between members, a
membership that sees <strong>the</strong> clear benefits <strong>of</strong> sharing knowledge among <strong>the</strong>mselves” (Dalkir, 2005,
p.123).Therefore, communities <strong>of</strong> practice are a vehicle for increasing knowledge creation as well as
for expanding <strong>the</strong> extent and accelerating <strong>the</strong> speed at which knowledge is exchanged across <strong>the</strong>
organization (Saint-Onge and Wallace, 2003, p.12).
Coaching, mentoring and employee functional rotation also facilitate personal interaction-based
knowledge sharing and learning processes. In particular, <strong>the</strong>y are used to allow <strong>the</strong> transmission <strong>of</strong>
knowledge that is grounded on experience (i.e. tacit knowledge). According to action learning <strong>the</strong>ory
(Revans, 1983), individuals learn through experience within a social context. This type <strong>of</strong> experiencegrounded
learning is quite difficult to transmit to o<strong>the</strong>rs because <strong>of</strong> its tacit nature. For this reason, a
social context is needed to allow this transmission. As work-based learning <strong>the</strong>ory maintains (Raelin,
2000), individuals learn in <strong>the</strong>ir work environment, which constitutes <strong>the</strong> immediate social context in
which <strong>the</strong>y gain experience. In this context, individuals not only gain experience, but also share it with
o<strong>the</strong>rs. Hence, socialization processes (i.e. tacit knowledge sharing) take place.
865