This paper focuses on the Knowledge Management (KM) practices in an oil company in Malaysia. The study aims to answer some of the research questions that need some concrete answers like: the perception of KM as perceived by the oil company being studied, the effectiveness of KM activities, sources of knowledge practices, the personnel that play the main role in KM initiatives, KM initiatives practiced in the concerned oil company and whether they measure the effectives of the Knowledge Management practices. This company was chosen because the review of literature revealed that , oil companies are prominent among the companies that have succeeded in implementing KM initiatives and programs. Such practices have proved effective in meeting the objective of managing knowledge for internal knowledge integration and external knowledge interfaces for operative and strategic effects. This research has found that Knowledge Management or initiatives practices in the oil company being studied are not limited to developing systems for storage and dissemination of tacit to explicit or recorded knowledge. It involves the process of continually creating new knowledge and making it accessible through the organization's knowledge base. New knowledge iscaptured and embodied quickly in new products and services, technologies and systems. Such initiatives and enablers aim at perpetuating changes within the organization and equips this oil company with competitive advantage.
Knowledge
is, in essence, the body of information such as facts, opinion,
ideas, theories, principles and models or frameworks (Ngeow
2003). KPMG Management Consulting (2000) has defined knowledge
as experience, procedures, statements, and concepts. According
to-Nonaka (2004) knowledge is, the commitment and belief
and more of a reaction that includes the unique experience
and knowledge present in the individual employee. He stresses
that it is this knowledge that must be made explicit for
new knowledge to be created. As new knowledge is being created,
it has to be managed. Thus, Knowledge Management should
be perceived as crucial to organizations as it helps to
integrate knowledge within an organization. It also protects
an organization from the loss of knowledge due to `workers
departure'. Most people perceive Knowledge Management as
the activities that involve capturing all the best practices
and knowledge that people possess and storing it in a computer
system in the hope that one day it will be useful. In reality,
Knowledge Management is the process of continually creating
new knowledge, disseminating it widely through the organization,
and embodying it quickly in new products and services, technologies
and systems, thus perpetuating changes within the organizations
(National Electronic Library for Health 2001).
In
matters relating to the development of knowledge, the Japanese
seemed not too hasty to follow the Western approach to Knowledge
Management. Japanese firms are reluctant to accept the Western
approach to Knowledge Management due to the fact that a
few influential individuals in Japan view knowledge differently
from the West. Companies in United States equate the creation
of knowledge with the development of databases. The Japanese
treats informal `on-the-job' knowledge—that ranges
from names of employees and their expertise, names of customers'
secretaries to best ways to overcome problem vendors—as
equally important. Similar information which are considered
"nuggets " but important information, are kept
in the minds of middle level managers. |
