An Integrated View of Knowledge Management Enablers, Process and Organizational Performance In Malaysian Enterprises
ABSTRACT
The objective of this study is to examine and analyse the relevance to and use of knowledge management in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. This will entail an examination and an analysis of the relationship between "knowledge management enablers", the "knowledge creation process" (for which, see Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995, and Nonaka and Konno, 1998), organizational creativity and organizational performance in such Malaysian enterprises. The model on which this research study is based comes from the work of Lee and Choi (2003), although Strategy as Plan has been introduced as a new construct. There are two ways in which this dissertation is intended to offer a contribution to the academic literature on knowledge management. Firstly, there has been a lack of research into the integrated theory of knowledge management in Malaysian enterprises. Secondly, there has been little study of Strategy as Plan as a concept in a knowledge management framework.
It is hoped that this study can contributed to knowledge in both these respects.The inclusion of the concept of Strategy as Plan addresses a gap in the research literature that is concerned with knowledge management. Further, the imperatives of globalization mean that it is generally accepted that it is imperative for business organizations, particularly SMEs, to improve their performance, through knowledge management, in what has become a global knowledge economy. In fact, this feature provides both the background to and the rationale for this study.
The results of the research findings are summarized below:-
Firstly, the four knowledge management enablers, learning, T-Shaped skills, IT-support and Strategy as Plan, are positively related to the knowledge creation process.
Secondly, the knowledge creation process and organizational creativity are positively related.
Thirdly, organizational creativity and organizational performance are positively related.
This research study demonstrates the importance of the knowledge creation process. It helps to demonstrate that knowledge management enablers, including learning, T-Shaped skills, IT-support and Strategy as Plan, can promote organizational creativity and thus organizational performance. Further, the findings on the new factor, Strategy as Plan, show that it is positively related to knowledge creation. Strategy as Plan can therefore be regarded as an integral part of knowledge creation. This reaffirms Glueck's (1980) views of strategy as " a unified, comprehensive, and integrated plan...designed to ensure that the basic objectives of the enterprise are achieved". Therefore it can be argued that the best path for Malaysian SMEs to achieve organizational performance is through organizational creativity achieved through a knowledge creation process that involves knowledge enablers.
Reference
Tan, T. S. (2010) An Integrated view of Knowledge Management Enablers, Process and Organizational Performance In Malaysian Enterprises, Doctor of Business Administration thesis, University of Newcastle, Australia.
