The readiness to set up and implement knowledge-sharing approaches

definitions. Readiness is understood differently by different people and different organisations. For instance, the general definition supplied in the existing literature uses the word ‘readiness’ as a necessary precondition for a person or an organisation to succeed in organisational change (Holt, 2000). Lacovou et al. (1995) define organisational readiness as “the availability of the needed organisational resources for adoption” (p.467). In the knowledge management literature, Jalaldeen et al. (2009) explain readiness to adopt knowledge management as the availability of physical and logical infrastructures in the organisation (organisational factors), and the willingness of the organisational members (individual factors) to adopt knowledge management. According to Jalaldeen et al. (2009), the word ‘readiness’ incorporates both attitudinal and physical attributes. Attitudinal elements include the level of knowledge, optimism and awareness, perception of importance, interest and willingness of the contractors to implement the programme. Personnel, investment in IT and infrastructure readiness are used to measure the physical readiness of the respondents to implement the programme. On the other hand, Mohammadi et al. (2009) define knowledge management readiness as the ability of an organisation, department or work-group to successfully adopt, use and benefit from knowledge management. Thus, it is important for companies seeking to adopt knowledge management to analyse their businesses to ensure its productive and beneficial implementation (Shirazi et al., 2011). As Shawn and Tuggle (2003) highlight, “a critical question for organisations that are thinking of attempting to extract the value implicit from knowledge management is to what degree are they ready to have knowledge management successfully adopted by people in the organisation” (p. 153).

The implementation of knowledge management philosophies or knowledge sharing in organisations is a complex issue and requires significant organisational effort (Siemieniuch and Sinclair, 2004; Davenport and Prusak, 1998; Wiig, 1993). According to Wiig (1993), “usually, introducing knowledge management (knowledge sharing) in an organisation results in considerable change. It requires adoption of new perspectives and management and work practices and implementation of new approaches. Such changes require efforts and time” (p.29). In this context, organisations have to undertake a broad range of initiatives (policies, budget actions, organisational structures, which, taken in sum, represent a determined agenda) to assess and actively manage their readiness to setup and implement knowledge-sharing approaches. As such, knowledge- sharing readiness is an important aspect of the process to facilitate and diffuse knowledge management. The following are some examples from previous studies regarding organisational readiness for knowledge management and knowledge sharing. Cho et al. (2000) suggest that knowledge management enablers are related to employees, processes and technology. Similarly, in a model suggested by O’Dell and Jackson (1998), infrastructure, processes, culture and technology are identified as enablers of knowledge management. Meanwhile, Choi and Lee (2002) performed a comprehensive experiment to integrate the many views on knowledge management readiness. Their research examined the relationship between knowledge enablers, processes and organisational performance in an integrative framework.

Organisational readiness for knowledge-sharing approaches is considered a critical precursor to the successful implementation of knowledge management in construction industry settings (Siemieniuch and Sinclair, 2004; Kamara et al., 2002a). Siemieniuch and Sinclair (2004), for example, propose a framework for organisational readiness for knowledge management in different industrial settings, with the introduction of 14 steps of knowledge lifecycle management (KLM) processes. Taylor and Wright (2004) investigated knowledge sharing in a public service context in the UK and identified six factors that influence the readiness of an organisation to share knowledge effectively: an innovative culture; a capacity to learn from failure; and good information quality. All these are strong predictors of successful knowledge sharing. They also identified factors associated with change management, and a predisposition to confront performance indicators, that significantly influence the knowledge-sharing process.

Also, Holt et al. (2004) conducted a study on civilian and military personnel in the US to develop an instrument to assess knowledge management readiness. The study draws on the literature dealing with knowledge management and organisational change to propose a synergistic tool to measure readiness for knowledge management and apply it in an organisational setting. This tool or instrument considers individual, context, content, process measures and knowledge management attitudes. Other research by Holt et al. (2007), considers the receptive attitudes of organisational members to indicate readiness for knowledge management process adoption. They developed an instrument to assess readiness for knowledge management, which mostly concentrates on knowledge sharing processes and human factors.

Hung and Chou (2005) propose a three-dimensional Knowledge Management Pyramid Model (KMPM) to assess the maturity of organisational capabilities in knowledge management in Taiwan. KMPM comprises three components: maturity levels, knowledge management processes and knowledge management capabilities or enabling infrastructures. In addition, Wei et al. (2009, 2007) investigated the readiness of the Malaysian telecommunication industry to adopt knowledge management by investigating the perceived importance and actual level of implementation of five success factors (business strategy, organisational structure, knowledge management team, K-Map and K-Audit), four knowledge management strategies (organisational culture, leadership support, technological infrastructure, performance measurement) and three knowledge management processes (construction, embodiment and deployment). Robinson et al. (2006) provide the STEPS maturity roadmap as a mechanism for construction organisations to benchmark their knowledge management activities and to develop a knowledge management strategy that would improve their activities. The STEPS maturity roadmap is a structured approach to determine the steps involved and the actions required to implement knowledge management, and to benchmark implementation efforts to achieve the goals of corporate sustainability. Mohammadi et al. (2009) further developed a systematic study to determine readiness for knowledge management implementation in the SME sector in Iran. They provide several organisational antecedents for effective knowledge management implementation, including vision for change, infrastructure, structure for change and culture of knowledge. Jalaldeen et al. (2009) propose a model to assess organisational readiness

the knowledge management infrastructure (organisational culture, structure and IT) and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, and suggest that organisational readiness needs to be assessed by taking into consideration both organisational and individual factors. The proposal is still at the conceptual level and not yet empirically validated.

A comprehensive review of the knowledge management literature above reveals that very limited information is available on knowledge management readiness (in particular knowledge sharing). Moreover, previous studies report that there is a dearth of empirical research into knowledge-sharing readiness for construction organisations. In view of this, the above review of the literature confirms that the concept of knowledge-sharing readiness has to be explored. Based on the above discussion on the organisational readiness dimensions, this study explores the level of organisational readiness to setup and implement knowledge-sharing approaches. It is argued that different sizes of organisations may have different levels of readiness to setup and implement knowledge- sharing approaches. Hence, this study explores the level of readiness to setup and implement knowledge-sharing approaches in the context of SMEs and large Malaysian construction organisations. However, this study does not attempt to explore and explain every possible scenario that can be used to set-up and implement knowledge-sharing approaches, but provides guidance for the initial set-up of an organisation that is beginning to use knowledge-sharing approaches, along with a number of other suggestions that may help an organisation that wants to set-up and implement knowledge-sharing approaches somewhat differently. The detailed findings on the readiness of organisations to set-up and implement knowledge-sharing approaches will be discussed in Chapter 7.

2.3.6. The significance of knowledge sharing to organisation performance