Information and Knowledge Management using ArcGIS ModelBuilder

Magdeline Mashilo and Tiko Iyamu
groups instead of the university’s interest. Culture was a barrier to knowledge sharing because by
people resisting change as other employees of different races continued to be disadvantaged. Staff
with expertise in the different departments within the university sometimes intimidated new staff with
their capabilities and knowledge.
Job security
Experts within departments were insecure about their job for the future. They believed that vigorous
younger employees would take over their jobs and they might be forced to take early retirement. They
were not prepared for that.
The behaviour of some of the managers was influenced by their racial and cultural affiliations. Many
employees could get away with so many things including manipulating the system, which their nonwhite
counterparts could not get away with.
Technology
Knowledge sharing reduces the inefficiencies of searching the World Wide Web and retrieving on-line
information. University intranet had a quick link to activities and processes for easy access. As a
result, processes and activities were linked to be informative. These documents informed employees
on how to perform their individual and group functions. Other staff members needed someone to take
them through the process. Employees used intranet or internet to convey information to fellow
colleagues including students.
Through technology, knowledge sharing becomes the key to successful collaborative work and early
intervention to help students and employees including the academic staff to execute their
assignments and tasks. ZU depended on technology to facilitate services to its clients to produce
excellent results. Students were encouraged to take computer literacy courses to enable them to
access electronic resources. These resources were readily available.
Documentation
Documents in the department have been replaced overpowered by the use of electronic resources,
such as emails, telephones and face book. Recently at ZU communication between a lecturer and
students is done via face book. The library has introduced e-communication for to the librarians. Most
of the time information is not documented.
The next section presents the interpretation of the case study.
5. Interpretation of the results from the case studies
The results from the case study, Cheetah University of Technology (CUT) were interpreted. The
interpretation focuses on the factors which influence knowledge sharing at the university. These
factors (context, awareness, value, content, experiment, repository and change) as depicted in Figure
1 below are described as follows:
Context
Knowledge was defined, acquired, shared and applied in the context of the departments, divisions
and the university at large. However, some of the employees acquired knowledge which was not
necessary to perform their tasks. Even though some of these employees tried to share the
knowledge, colleagues could often not relate to it, therefore, it was sometimes misinterpreted.
Awareness
The lack of trust in the CUT and job insecurity ZU were caused by ignorance. Since the new
dispensation, no employees have lost their jobs, and no students or staff has been harmed. Yet,
these factors continue to derail sharing of knowledge and information.
Organisational Value
346