RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL PRACTICES AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SUCCESS

Abstract

This study seeks to answer the question as to why knowledge management (KM) initiatives adopted by organizations are not successful. By observing the fact that, employees are reluctant to engage in KM activities even if hard or the technological KM antecedents are appropriately in place, the above problem was conceptualized as the issue of the soft KM antecedents. Consequently, based on the existing literature, it is argued that, organizational practices (i.e. Teamwork, Rewards and Continuous Learning) positively influence employee propensity to engage in KM activities. The empirical survey was undertaken by using a sample of 207 individuals in Sri Lankan knowledge-based organizations. Data of the survey was analyzed with Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach. The result showed that all the selected organizational practices - practices of teamwork, rewards for KM, and continues learning - were positively related to the employee propensity to engage in KM activities. Accordingly, it is concluded that failure of organizations attempt to manage soft antecedents appropriately is the reason as to why the KM initiatives fail even if they manage technological antecedent well. This study illustrates implications for the HR pragmatists by providing basic guidelines to develop more appropriate organizational practices such as compensation practices which include KM related incentives, team-based job design approach and etc. that will help them in their journey towards managing the knowledge.