Literature Review: Factors Causing Poor Knowledge Management in Orgs

This literature review examines the causes of poor knowledge management in organizations, focusing on four key independent variables: people and process, organizational culture, organizational structure, and technology. The review highlights how these factors can hinder effective knowledge sharing and management within an organization. The paper discusses how inadequate recruitment, lack of knowledge-sharing culture, bureaucratic structures, and poor technology infrastructure can lead to inefficiencies, decision-making problems, and ultimately, reduced organizational performance. The review incorporates recent literature (2015 onwards) to support the arguments, emphasizing the interconnectedness of these factors in creating a challenging environment for knowledge management.

Running head: POOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN ORGANIZATION
POOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN ORGANIZATION
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1POOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN ORGANIZATION
Literature Review:
People and Process
People are the most important resources of any organization because they are ones who
help in carrying out all activities and without people none of the activities of the organization can
be carried out. In order to operate machinery, it is necessary to have people who know how the
machines operate (Asrar-ul-Haq and Anwar 2016). Process on the other hand refers to a
collection of activities and tasks that together are responsible for conversion of input into output.
An organization can have different types of inputs and outputs such as people, material and
information. Some of the major examples of processes are customer services, product
development and others. It is the human resources that carry out the processes in the organization
(Obeidat et al. 2016). This means that if the human resource is not recruited properly or re placed
in a job role in which they do not have sufficient knowledge they will not be able to ether help
the people from the lower levels who reach out to them for advice and information and moreover
if the top management does not have sufficient information then it will lead to different problems
(Singh 2018). People will not be in a position to make proper decision and as a result will affect
all the organizational processes and ultimately affect the organizational performance.
Organizational Culture
Organizational culture refers to all the different types of beliefs, values and assumptions
of the people and the way they interact with each other and that also influences the environment
in which the people work. It is a perception of reality that is shared by people about the ways
things should be and the way the things are (Deresky 2017). The organizational culture
determines the conditions of knowledge sharing in the organization. Therefore the concept of

2POOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN ORGANIZATION
knowledge and knowledge sharing are related to the organizational culture. Organizational
culture can also lead to poor knowledge management in the organization. This is so because if an
organization does not have the culture of sharing knowledge then it will become difficult to
create and transfer knowledge in the organization. If a culture of knowledge sharing is not there
it will become difficult to carry out the same among employees and without which there can be
much resistance to any new information or change from the employees and therefore it will lead
to poor knowledge management. If the task force lacks this knowledge then they cannot carry out
their activities or even job roles effectively.
Organizational Structure
Organizational structure refers to outlining all those activities that can lead to
achievement of the organizational goals. These activities are the roles of people, their
responsibilities and other activities. The organizational structure also determines the flow of
information between all the levels of the organization (Head and Alford 2015). It also determines
the activities of supervision, control, and allocation of tasks and others within the organization. It
also affects all the organizational activities, and also provides the foundation for all the activities
of standards and procedures. There can be different types of organizational structure such as the
matrix structure, the functional structure, the flat structure and others and choice of the structure
has a huge impact on the communication of the organization. Therefore it has an impact on the
knowledge management in the organization. If a structure is followed that is bureaucratic that
does not support the sharing of information or communication or the knowledge management it
will affect the sharing of knowledge in the organization. Without appropriate knowledge about
their roles or duties or any other necessary information, the chances of errors in performance of
activities increase.

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Poor or bad technology
Technology has an important role to play in the present era whether it is organizations or
any other places. The use of technologies has reduced the chances of human errors and has also
reduced the tome taken to complete any activity. It has led to improving the efficiency of
activities and has made the work simpler. Information technology plays an important role in
organization because they help in performance of various tasks. It can be used to process
different transactions, and also helps in improving the communication of distributors, suppliers,
customers with the company (Deresky 2017). Further the use of technology helps in improving
efficiency and effectiveness of work of the organizations. Technology also helps in improving
communication for the purpose of marketing. If poor technology is used in the organization then
the communication may be affected which will further lead to poor management of knowledge
sharing in the organization. For instance if there are some problems with the e-mail of the
organization, information cannot be shared easily and that will affect the performance of people
and there may be delay in activities due to lack of information on time.

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References
Asrar-ul-Haq, M. and Anwar, S., 2016. A systematic review of knowledge management and
knowledge sharing: Trends, issues, and challenges. Cogent Business & Management, 3(1),
p.1127744.
Deresky, H., 2017. International management: Managing across borders and cultures. Pearson
Education India.
Deresky, H., 2017. Technology and underdevelopment. Springer.
Head, B.W. and Alford, J., 2015. Wicked problems: Implications for public policy and
management. Administration & society, 47(6), pp.711-739.
Obeidat, B.Y., Al-Suradi, M.M., Masa’deh, R.E. and Tarhini, A., 2016. The impact of
knowledge management on innovation: An empirical study on Jordanian consultancy
firms. Management Research Review, 39(10), pp.1214-1238.
Singh, S.K., 2018. Sustainable people, process and organization management in emerging
markets. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 25(3), pp.774-776.