Knowledge Base 104 !

The findings indicate that a knowledge base can be used to gather information and is a way for front-line staff to inform themselves on operational working structures. Knowledge bases are units of information collected on a central platform for every employee to use and contribute to. Wikipedia, for example, is a public knowledge base, and follows the same principles as the organisations’ knowledge bases.

Newsletters and the intranet are supporting tools for combining knowledge and enabling employees to contribute together towards the organisation’s overall goals. Holtzhausen (2002) describes knowledge bases as being necessary for staff to take responsibility and participate in greater outcomes. Furthermore, knowledge bases are essential for Habermas’ (1989) public sphere, in which society (in this case, employees) can meet and discuss matters. Habermas’ public sphere, however, is centred around the idea that everyone who joins is granted equal status by their fellows and grants them equal status in turn. This idea seems difficult to translate into the organisational world. Road shows for example might be excellent for getting employees together, but, in order to speak up, staff need to be confident, extroverted, and reassured that their comments will not be sanctioned.

Organisation One singles out two-way communication as its explicit goal in introducing social media internally. They want to create a space for employees to share personal interests. Although the management want a business focus using internal social media, the tool can be used for both purposes. A space like this created with the new internal social media tool could also be used to create a knowledge base, which is shaped by employees for employees. It is suggested that this may allow employees to see the big picture of the organisation and enable them to provide more meaningful input. Knowledge bases can help employees to collaborate and gain independence by learning about the workplace.

A growing knowledge base can also be used to spread power and responsibility. Remtulla (2007) argues that such bases redefine the approach to democracy and need to be nurtured. From an organisational perspective, knowledge bases are designed to save money in the long run. The question then emerges whether a single knowledge base can serve two purposes, reducing costs and empowering employees. This discussion leads back to Hazarika’s (2013) work – the understanding of workplace democracy as a conflict between employer and employees. Organisation Two has a great example of the uniting of employers’ and employees’ interests over social media.

“… a conversation last week around ‘what to do with old IT equipment?’ and the communities help surface some of what we already do and remind people what they should do when they don’t need their computer anymore. It is been group led rather than you having to drive it all and other people can come in and add five sentences.” (FG5)

This example illustrates the benefit that social media and knowledge bases can have in the workplace. In this case employees solved a problem (what do to with old IT equipment) by collaboration. The internal social media platform, which enables employees to speak up if they have something to contribute simultaneously saving the organisation time and therefore money, because all staff can see answers online and they do not have to ask, in this case, the IT department for advice.

In summary, knowledge bases are collections of information from different sources that can empower staff to better understand the workplace and gain an overall picture of the organisation. Knowledge bases are good arenas in which employees can take responsibility and participate in a way that goes beyond their general responsibilities. Organisation Two provided an example of the use of this method, but, at the time of the study, the shared knowledge focuses solely on administrative tasks. Nevertheless, this demonstrates the potential that knowledge bases have, a potential that can be developed further with the development of networked communication tools within the workplace.

In conclusion, this section discussed general communication tools, internal social media, and knowledge bases. General communication tools such as email and face- to-face communication are used to manage the workplace. Both organisations have developed coping mechanisms, such as email templates, in order to deal with the high volume of emails. Such mechanisms were identified as not supportive for a democratic environment. Furthermore, while face-to-face communication provides an opportunity for staff to engage, employees need to be free of consequences if

they are to truly do so. Internal social media was described as a two-way communication tool which may encourage dialogue. However, it is merely a tool and mimics the underpinning organisational culture. Hence, internal social media can be used to change the corporate environment into a more democratic space or to mimic the already-existing hierarchical order. As for the third topic, knowledge bases, they are online libraries written by staff for the purpose of sharing knowledge. They provide an element of empowerment and contribute some of the prerequisites of workplace democracy. They can be facilitated on social platforms.