Dealing With The Social, Cultural And Human Factors Is One Of The Key Factors Fundamental To Success Of Any Knowledge Management Initiative. Essay

When reviewing the need for tacit knowledge in an initiative, the crucial focus here is the knowledge that an individual possess as a corporation cannot compel tacit knowledge away from of its employees it has to be given up. Grant (1996) clarifies this importance of this fundamental essence of this factor by stating that it is the tacitness that makes knowledge difficult to imitate and therefore an important organizational resource for sustaining competitive advantage. It is with an absence of this tacit knowledge that competitive advantage will not arise in an organization and thus will render any initiative worthless.
It is only with the codification of this personal and subjective data that initiatives can succeed. Al-Alawi et al. (2007) define the principal factors required for knowledge sharing success as;
 Trust
 Communication between staff
 Information systems
 Reward system
 Organization structure
These factors all positively transmit to knowledge sharing in organizations (Al-Alawi et al, 2007) and it is only with the inclusion of all of these that a successful knowledge management system can materialise within a company. This is additionally enforced by Wright’s (2004) examination that in order to encourage knowledge-sharing organizations they should design reward and recognition systems that stimulate sharing of all kinds; goals, tasks, vision as well as knowledge, in order for triumph in the scheme to transpire.
The reward system seems to be of testing consequence to the development initiative with the need to overcome the nature of knowledge “hoarding” done by individuals, which is the amassment of knowledge which they then protect. It may not be just motivation that may be the problem, it may in reality be far more deep rooted with members deciding to deliberately not share. “A knowledge management initiative will not get very far if – however actively you champion knowledge sharing – the existing...