Temtim Assefa, Monica Garfield, Million Meshesha Enabling Knowledge Sharing among Employees: the case in Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) By Temtim Assefa, Monica Garfield, Million Meshesha IT PhD, IS Track November 9, 2012

Presentation Agenda Background Research Problem Research Method Research Findings Proposed Solutions Implications for theory and practice

Background Today’s Economy Today’s Organizations knowledge based society dynamic and fast changing environment Today’s Organizations need to be adaptive knowledge is a key strategic resource

Knowledge as a Resource The Need for Knowledge to operate in today’s market creates a shared understanding among employees for achieving organization goals Increases employees and organizational intellectual capability for actions Increases organization capability to create new products and services Increases internal efficiency and reduces costs Increase customer relationship satisfaction

Challenges to Use Knowledge Many researches conducted how to promote knowledge sharing among employees but it is unresolved issue Much knowledge in the organization is not shared (Azudin et al, 2009) Research on knowledge sharing barriers is limited Further research is required to understand what hinders employees to share knowledge in the workplace

Research Problem Knowledge is social construct Factors that hinder or promote knowledge sharing are embedded with its context Researchers recommend more empirical case study researches in different contexts (Bechina and Bommen, 2006) Therefore What are the barriers of knowledge sharing in the workplace ? How those knowledge sharing barriers affect knowledge sharing process among employees

Research Method Exploratory case study research method was used to better understand knowledge sharing barriers in the work place (Yin, 2003) Use triangulated data sources to increase the validity of the research finding Concerned with analytical generalization rather than statistical generalizations Used to extend existing theories from empirical evidences

Cont’d … Data was collected through Interview, observation and document survey from March to September 2011 NIVO software was used for data organization and reduction Main themes of knowledge sharing barriers were identified Simple frequency tables were used to show the relative importance of knowledge sharing barriers

Research Context Financial transactions form the backbone of any country’s economy Promote savings and investments Commercial banks handle largest share CBE is a government bank with a share of more than 70% the banking service in the country It is also the first bank in the country CBE is selected for its unique feature among commercial banks in the country

Research Finding

Organizational Factors Responses % Information confidentiality 13 28.3 Low Appreciation for Knowledge Sharing 9 19.6 Lack of incentive 8 17.4 Time constraint 7 15.2 Top management resistance 6 13.0 Geographical distance 3 6.5 Total 46 100

Individual factors Knowledge hoarding 10 47.6 Self efficacy 8 38.1 Responses % Knowledge hoarding 10 47.6 Self efficacy 8 38.1 Personal relationship 3 14.3 Total 21 100.0

Technological Factors Responses % Lack of services 6 66.7 Lack of skills 3 33.3 Total 9 100.0

IT service “Although IT can do a lot for information sharing, it is not that much developed in the Bank. We cannot easily share data with other Units and branch offices. The available network infrastructure is not adequate and reliable.” Respondent “Even the top management members are not concerned about IT system. If they started today an IT based service like ATM, it may not function tomorrow. Instead of increasing customer satisfaction, IT becomes a cause of customer dissatisfaction.” Respondent

Proposed Solutions Barriers Proposed Solutions Organizational factors Creating a knowledge sharing vision Allocating incentive mechanisms Creating knowledge sharing culture Individual factors Training to share knowledge Establishing forums for social interactions such as knowledge sharing session Technological factors Establishing KMS (knowledge repository and expert yellow pages ) Establishing a Knowledge Center

Conclusion This study identified the main barriers for intervention to create a knowledge sharing culture in the study organization Most important factors in creating a successful KMS are not technology factors but are organizational and individual factors Knowledge sharing barriers hinder on the job learning, which is important to increase employees capability to perform their task CBE should focus on the creation of a knowledge sharing culture before they build a technology driven KMS Establishment of a KMS indicates organizational commitment to use knowledge as a resource

Conclusion Most important factor to create a successful KMS is not technology but organizational and individual factors Organizations should focus on creation of knowledge sharing culture before they build KMS Establishment of KMS indicates organizational commitment to use knowledge as a resource Knowledge sharing barriers hinder on job learning that is important to increase employees capability to perform their task The Study identified the main barriers for intervention to create a knowledge sharing culture in the study organizations

Further Research Further investigation is required whether organizational and individual factors continue to be the most important factors in an organization which has advanced a technology driven KMS The study is conducted on a single case, similar research should be conducted to make our research findings more generalizable for other organizations and countries with similar socioeconomic conditions It is recommended to test our model with quantitative research methods to quantify to what extent the identified variables explain the knowledge sharing barriers.

Thank You!