The second facet of KMSA is the alignment between KM and IS strategy. Jashapara (2004) stated that KM strategies need to be developed in consultation and partnership with both IS strategy and HR department. However, many organizations are still misleading the relationship between technology and knowledge (Spiegler, 2003). In practice, it is not enough to consider KM as an isolated construct, but effective management of knowledge should be based on sound information management (Nelson and Middleton, 2003). In fact, the focus on knowledge and its management has led to an increased attention towards IT as one of the most important sources of competitive advantages (Johannessen et al., 2000). The role of IT in KM is a vital consideration for any company wishing to exploit emerging technologies to manage their knowledge assets
and a critical success factor in the development of an effective KM system (Egbu and Botterill, 2002). KMIS-SA can then be defined as:
The degree to which IS/IT resources (technological infrastructure, computer system applications, and organizational information) are influence, leverage and execute knowledge strategic choices to manage the organizational knowledge gaps or surpluses and permit knowledge to flow effectively.
The relationship between KM and IT has been approached from the capabilities of IT infrastructure and from the processes of KM (Okunoye, 2003). Junnarkar and Brown (1997) discussed the role of IT in KM as a mechanism to facilitate knowledge creation and transfer. This role lies in the new IT capabilities to support communication and collaboration in order to enable collaborative learning (Alavi and Leidner, 1999). IT is also capable to radically change the production and distribution of products and services, thereby bringing about fundamental socioeconomic changes (Sage and Rouse, 1999). According to Manasco, (1996), the critical role of IT lies in the ability to support communication, collaboration, and search for knowledge and information dynamically instead of just getting information from static repositories of best practices. Studies by
American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) (1996, 1997) consider technology as a significant enabler for KM and organizations embarking on KM initiatives must establish a suitable IT infrastructure in order to successfully accomplish the goals of the organization.
IT and its supportive strategy should be aligned and integrated with the organization’s knowledge strategy and to attempt to combine IT with the organizational structure, business process, organization culture and human factors. As a result of this integration, KM initiative can provide better services to the customers, leveraging knowledge for innovation and empowering employees through the exchange of knowledge with others in the business environment (Hlupic, et al., 2002). Bloodgood and Salisbury (2001) have assessed the degree of fit between IT and KM strategy. They mentioned that certain uses of IT may be more common for certain types of KM strategies than others. They have identified two types of KM strategies: knowledge transfer strategy and knowledge creation strategy. They argued that IT can support knowledge transfer strategy in leveraging their knowledge assets, and knowledge creation strategy in creating knowledge network and enabling communication between those who need the knowledge and those who have it. In addition, many researches agreed on the IT support for
codification and personalization KM strategy (McMahon, et al., 20004; Kankanhalli et al., 2003).
There have been some attempts to show a direct relationship between effective information management, KM practices and corporate performance (Marchand, et al., 2000). Blumentrit and Johnston, (1999) argued that well-organized information management and KM are seen to be complementary with both required to operate effectively to ensure adequate supply of both “old and new knowledge”. However, IT should be understood less in its capacity to store explicit information and more in its potential to aid collaboration and co-operation between people to enhance the tacit
knowledge (Egbu and Botterill, 2002). Thus IT has a supporting role, not the main role, in a KM program (Carvalha and Ferrira, 2001). The increasing capabilities of IT which look promising for facilitating KM process and program can certainly support just some aspects of KM. Bloodgood and Salisbury (2001) demonstrated that the misuse or misalignment of IT with the KM strategy can lead to adverse effects on the organization. For examples, tacit knowledge may be neglected by an organization as a result of the overemphasizing on digitalization of explicit knowledge (Johannessen et al., 2000).This could have a negative impact on the organization’s ability to create and maintain sustainable competitive advantages.
While numerous research works have been done in integrating IT with the business strategy, few attempts were done in discussing and exploring the relationship between IT and KM. Most of the published research work develop recommendations for successful KM, or discuss the technological tools available for supporting the management of the tacit or explicit knowledge without an empirical basis (Gottschalk, 2001). Table (2.2) shows a summary of some of these studies on the support of IT for KM. Although the studies of Willcocks, et al., (2003) and Okunoye, (2003) have investigated the relationship between IT and KM as they discussed the integration between IT outsourcing and KM, they did not derive a detailed model or framework for the IT/KM integration which can be employed for the purpose of this study.
Table 2.2: A summary of some studies on IT support to KM
Study Aim and objective of study IT support and role for KM
(Egbu and Botterill, 2002)
Explore the role of IT for KM in the construction industry.
IT for acquiring, developing and applying knowledge. Such as the conventional technologies and the Radical IT.
(Gottschalk, 2001)
Investigate the use of information technology to support inter-organizational knowledge management at the Norwegian law firms
IT support for inter-organizational knowledge management.
IT support firm cooperation IT support of knowledge cooperation
(McMahon et al., 2004)
Explore the application of KM in engineering by considering approaches to KM in light of the distinction between personalization and codification.
IT for personalization IT for codification
(Bloodgood and Salisbury, 2001)
Discuss issues that should be addresses when using information technology to implement general knowledge management strategies in support of strategic change.
IT for codify knowledge IT for create networks
(Borghoff and Pareschi, 1997)
A selection of papers from the First Conference on Practical Applications of KM Knowledge-orientation information technology • Process management • Corporate Memories • Information Filtering (Kankanhalli et al., 2003)
Investigates the role of IT in successful KM initiatives
IT support codification approaches IT support personalization approach