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

Sandra M<strong>of</strong>fett, Rodney McAdam and Paul Humphreys
discussed (Davenport and Prusak, 1998; M<strong>of</strong>fett et al., 2009). A simple google search (accessed 5 th
June 2011) linking <strong>the</strong> words ‘teamwork’ and ‘knowledge management’ returned 4,880,000 results,
this figure confirms <strong>the</strong> growing interest in employee collaboration for knowledge sharing and work
operations.
8. Discussion
The results <strong>of</strong> FA in this paper support a number <strong>of</strong> key issues for KM as identified in <strong>the</strong> literature.
The first point to note is <strong>the</strong> close relationship between Organisation Culture and People. A number
<strong>of</strong> factors within <strong>the</strong>se two categories are similar highlighting <strong>the</strong> fact that people tend to work for an
organisation that projects a culture which conforms to <strong>the</strong>ir mindset (Davenport and Prusak, 1998). In
addition, <strong>the</strong> findings show that human intervention is an all-pervasive, essential element <strong>of</strong> KM,
irrelevant <strong>of</strong> organisation size; this is supportive <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> work <strong>of</strong> Corso et al., (2003) and Beijerse
(2000). Teamworking and employee emancipation have been identified as necessary elements for
KM success, where active collaborative practice is evident, employee value is also strong. Finally,
quality <strong>of</strong> life is important to employees who work in SMEs while those within larger organizations
relish confidence in <strong>the</strong> company and <strong>the</strong> roles <strong>the</strong>y play. This finding is supportive <strong>of</strong> Demerest,
(1997) who stated that many companies successful at KM implementation <strong>of</strong>fer both personal and
career rewards to employees.
This paper has not surprisingly identified a strong link between Technical Climate and Technology.
SMEs are undertaking a technical presence for knowledge discovery, thus hinting that gaps exist in
current data/information provision (M<strong>of</strong>fett et al., 2003, 2009). Across all organisations training in <strong>the</strong>
realms <strong>of</strong> technological systems and tools is at <strong>the</strong> forefront <strong>of</strong> business improvement. This may be
supportive <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fact that more web-based platforms for technological systems are being adopted,
utilising both internal and external resources. System standardisation will lead to better KM within and
between organizations, facilitating information flow.
Current practice on information flow, adoption and utilisation is an issue for SMEs to consider. While
SMEs are focused on information application, results from <strong>the</strong> technology section indicate that this
may be a fruitless exercise if <strong>the</strong> correct information is not available within <strong>the</strong> organisation. Offsey,
(1997) has classified this syndrome as ‘inf<strong>of</strong>amine’. Perceived lack <strong>of</strong> information causes SMEs to
duplicate and re-invent information that may be readily available elsewhere. This point is supported
by <strong>the</strong> fact that smaller organisations view technology as an enabler for knowledge capture while
larger organisations use systems to enhance employee confidence and job capability.
All organisations are concerned with information flow and utilization. They also express concern with
information overload, or ‘infoglut’ (Offsey, 1997). One contributor to this may be <strong>the</strong> adoption <strong>of</strong> webbased
platforms; <strong>the</strong> Internet has been <strong>the</strong> cause <strong>of</strong> extensive information exchange. Bair, (1997)
outlines how KM can reduce this problem by stating, ‘what we see are organisations that are overfed
with information coming in through e-mail, intranets and <strong>the</strong> Internet, yet under-nourished in terms <strong>of</strong>
information <strong>the</strong>y really require. KM aims to capture <strong>the</strong> knowledge that employees really need in a
central repository and filter out <strong>the</strong> surplus’.
9. Conclusion
The aim <strong>of</strong> this paper was to ascertain effects <strong>of</strong> KM adoption in SME and larger companies,
presenting <strong>the</strong> results <strong>of</strong> empirical research undertaken in 2009 with 588 UK companies. Literature
research identified a number <strong>of</strong> factors to be considered when incorporating KM into organisations.
Five overarching <strong>the</strong>mes were utilised, two <strong>of</strong> which relate to <strong>the</strong> infrastructure <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> organisation in
terms <strong>of</strong> culture and technical infrastructure (Organisation Climate, Technical Climate) while three
relate to process-orientated activity for information management, technology application and human
expertise. Data collected was analysed, following datascale testing for accuracy and validity, with
computational techniques such as descriptives and Factor Analysis.
The main conclusion from this paper is that SMEs do not suffer from innate limitations when trying to
apply KM. Based on <strong>the</strong> results <strong>of</strong> FA it can be stated that KM elements, as represented by <strong>the</strong>
MeCTIP model, are applicable to all organizations irrelevant <strong>of</strong> size and it is <strong>the</strong> approaches to
implementation that vary. Similar findings have been recorded by Beijerse, (2000), Corso et al.,
(2003) and Wong and Aspinwall (2005). Thus, KM <strong>the</strong>ory and practice, as represented by <strong>the</strong> MeCTIP
model, presents an opportunity for SMEs to improve and develop using existing resources.
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