A Research on Knowledge Management at FlightCenter Travel Group

This report presents a comprehensive research study on knowledge management practices at FlightCentre Travel Group (FCTG), focusing on the FlightCentre brand within the Brisbane area. The research investigates the factors contributing to poor knowledge management, including people and processes, organizational structure, and technology. The study utilized employee surveys and data analysis to identify key issues, such as a lack of knowledge sharing, competition among teams, and inadequate technology support for knowledge management. The findings reveal that the organization suffers from poor knowledge management, with employees reporting challenges in accessing and utilizing information effectively. The discussion section analyzes the findings, linking them to the research questions and relevant literature, highlighting the need for improved knowledge sharing strategies, a supportive organizational culture, and enhanced technology infrastructure to address the identified issues and improve customer retention.

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A research on Knowledge management at FlightCenter Travel Group Research Findings and
Discussion
Student
Institutional Affiliations
State
Date

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FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Research problem
As mentioned in the previous parts of the assignment, FlightCenter Travel Group FCTG
association is facing challenges regarding poor knowledge management of travel destination.
This has been shown by complaints from the organization customers and decrease in customer
retention rate. It was also stated that the organization should have a robust knowledge
management in order to restore the customer retention rate. And this is the reason why this
research was carried out to identify where the problem lies and make improvements based on the
identified areas of weakness.
Research questions
As it identify where the problems lies in the knowledge management at FCTG, this
research seek to provide solutions to the following questions.
1. What are the factors leading to poor knowledge management in FlightCenter
organization? This question is of fundamental relevance in solving the knowledge
management featuring in the organization. It is so because in order to find the relevant
solution to the problem at hand, we have to identify the problem as well as its cause.
2. What are the relevant solutions to the poor knowledge management issues in the
organization? After identifying the problems, it is important that relevant solutions are
also determined in order to help the organization offer satisfactory services and restore its
usual customer retention rate.

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FINDINGS
Demographic frequency of participants
In order to measure the level of knowledge management in the FlightCenter brand,
questionnaires were distributed to employees. Employees were selected and provided their views
with the help of Google docs. The data was collected and analyzed through excel spreadsheet
data analytics tool. Of the distributed questionnaire, 103 employees responded to the
questionnaires which lead to 103 responses which are used in data analysis. The participants’
demographic frequency is shown in table 1 below.

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Employment
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Table 1: Demographic frequency of participants
1. People and process
The data were analyses using excel data analytics tool and various findings on data
identified. Tables 2 shown below demonstrate a summary of the findings of the study. The table
clarify that majority (35 participants) strongly agree that they feel less important when they share
important knowledge with others. 30 participants also agree that they are too busy to share
knowledge with others. However, 48 respondents agree that they feel acknowledged for sharing
information.

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F1: Independent Variable -
People and Process
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree
Strongly
Agree
F1.1 1 39 17 35 11
F1.2 0 17 33 47 6
F1.3 35 22 9 31 6
F1.4 18 50 8 27 0
F1.5 12 47 14 30 0
F1.6 12 35 17 39 0
F1.7 8 35 23 37 0
F1.8 16 13 18 48 8
F1.9 13 41 36 11 2
Sum 115 299 175 305 33
Mean 12.77778 33.22222 19.44444 33.88889 3.666667
Mode 34
Median 19
Table 2: Knowledge management and People and support
But 41respondents disagree that they get rewarded for sharing information while 13
strongly disagree with that. 36 participants, on the other hand are neutral. Generally, as the mode
is shown to be 34, it suggest that people and processes contribute to poor knowledge
management in the organization. Figure 1 below show a distribution chart for knowledge
management in relation to people and culture within the organization.

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1 2 3 4 5
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
F1 Distribution
Sum Mean
Figure 1: F1 Distribution

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2. Organizational Structure
Regarding organizational structure, the results suggest that majority which represents 49, agree
that everyone participates in decision making as shown in table 3.
F2: Independent Variable -
Organizational Structure
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree
Strongly
Agree
F2.1 7 30 17 49 0
F2.2 0 21 13 64 5
F2.3 3 44 19 36 1
F2.4 22 42 13 24 2
F2.5 28 30 33 12 0
F2.6 36 35 18 14 0
F2.7 0 11 0 32 60
Sum 96 213 113 231 68
Mean 13.71429 30.42857 16.14286 33 9.714286
Mode 33
Median 16
Table 3: Knowledge management and organizational structure
According to table 3, 64 respondents also agree that leaders always encourage them to share their
knowledge with the team. The Average and mode show that 33 agree that knowledge
management within the organization is relatively good. However 42 participants disagree that
there is no well-defined knowledge sharing strategies in place. Moreover, 36 participants
strongly disagree that the knowledge they need is created and kept within the departmental silos.

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Additionally, it is shown that nobody agree that they are encouraged by the organization leaders
to share new information within the organization team.
1 2 3 4 5
0
50
100
150
200
250
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
F2 distribution
Sum Mean
Figure 2: F2 distribution
3. Technology
As far as technology is concerned, the study findings show that majority (34) are happy with the
knowledge tools available in the organization and allow them to conduct their duties. It can also
be seen that 44 participants, however disagree that the knowledge systems available in the
organization provide them with the correct information regarding knowledge management while
30 participants have not stand as demonstrated in table 4.

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F3: Independent Variable -
Technology
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree
Strongly
Agree
F3.1 12 29 28 34 0
F3.2 6 25 35 29 8
F3.3 10 40 25 27 1
F3.4 6 44 30 23 0
F3.5 9 51 22 21 0
F3.6 6 18 35 37 7
F3.7 6 43 30 22 2
Sum 55 250 205 193 18
Mean 7.857143 35.71429 29.28571 27.57143 2.571429
Mode 36
Median 28
Table 4: Knowledge management and Technology
Moreover, 51 participants disagree that the knowledge management system are always
updated to reflect the changing business process. The average and the mode show that 36
participants agree that the organization’s technology in place does not support knowledge
management. This is also demonstrated in the following distribution chart shown in figure 3
below.

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1 2 3 4 5
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
F3 Distribution
Sum Mean
Figure 3: F3 Distribution
4. Organizational structure
In the organizational structure, it is evident from the findings in table 5 that the majority
that is 66 participants do not hesitate to take advantage of others’ personal knowledge and
experience for personal gain, 22 participants, however show that they have no stand as far as this
issue is concerned. 44 disagree that there is flow of knowledge across cross functional team. The
participants also disagree that the problems where people keep knowledge to themselves exist in
the organization.
F4: Independent Variable - Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

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Organizational Culture Disagree Agree
F4.1 2 7 22 66 6
F4.2 0 19 35 43 6
F4.3 21 44 18 18 2
F4.4 1 43 18 41 0
F4.5 8 35 28 32 0
F4.6 7 26 17 45 8
F4.7 24 55 8 16 0
F4.8 0 40 17 29 17
Sum 63 269 163 290 39
Mean 7.875 33.625 20.375 36.25 4.875
Mode 36
Media
n 20
Table 5: Knowledge management and organizational structure
Moreover, 40 participants acknowledge that the team always competes against one another.
Overall, it is shown by mean and mode that the organization culture generally contributes to poor
knowledge management within the organization as can be seen in figure 4 below.

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1 2 3 4 5
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
F4 Disribution
Sum Mean
Figure 4: F4 Distribution
5. Poor knowledge management practices
Tables 6 below provide a general insight concerning the level of knowledge management in
FCTG. It is clear from the findings that the organization surfer from poor knowledge
management. This is supported by 56 participants who agree that there are poor knowledge
management practices within FCTG.

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F5: Dependent Variable
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree
Strongly
Agree
F5.1
There are poor knowledge
management practices in
FC
3 12 19 56 13
Sum 3 12 19 56 13
Mean 3 12 19 56 13
Mode 56
Median 13
Table 6: Knowledge management at FC
19 participants, however, are neutral while 13 strongly agree that the organization system surfers
from poor knowledge management. The remaining participants, however, disagree that the
organization experience poor knowledge management issues. But this only represents 14.6% of
the total participants. Figure 5 below summarizes the findings in table 6.

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1 2 3 4 5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
F5 Distribution
Sum Mean
Figure 5: F5 Distribution
DISCUSSION
In the first question about the causes of poor knowledge management, the literature
review identified four major factors which are closely related to knowledge management. The
paper investigated the four key factors through quantitative analysis. In doing so, the researchers
analyzed four independent variables of the factors including organizational culture,
organizational structure, people and process as well as technology.
General findings shown by the modal value of 36 (means agree) suggest that the
knowledge management as far as the organization’s culture is concerned is wanting. Moreover,
24 respondents strongly disagree while 55 disagree that the problems involving people keeping
knowledge to themselves do not exists in the organization. This means that there is no
knowledge sharing. Additionally, 17 participants strongly agree while 29 respondents agree that

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teems usually compete against one another. The key to successful team is the existence of
collaboration. Through collaboration and knowledge sharing, the team members’ strength is
significantly important than individual capabilities. Competition, on the other hand involves
individual ego which only pose negative effects to performance.
General findings suggested by the modal value 33 (means majority agree) from table
three show that people agree that the organization’s structure supports knowledge management.
However, it is also shown that 36 participants strongly disagree while 35 respondents disagree
that the knowledge they need is created and stored in a central place. Moreover, 28 respondents
strongly disagree while 30 disagree that the organizational knowledge sharing is horizontally
shared across the organization. This suggest that there is ignorance in the knowledge
management process and knowledge sharing. A proper knowledge management cannot be
achieved without the two fundamental factors that are ignored by the organization. Knowledge
management is essentially about having the best knowledge source or the right knowledge
available to the right people (Zamir and Park, 2017, pp. 34-79). Knowledge source and
knowledge sharing are the most critical aspects in effective knowledge management. In addition
to that, sharing of knowledge requires a lot of time and willingness (Nonaka and Toyama, 2015,
pp. 95-110; Masa’deh, Shannak, Maqableh, and Tarhini, 2017, pp.244-262). This suggest that
the organization needs a lot of effort to improve its knowledge management.
The people and process, on the other hand moderately favor knowledge management
within the organization. But 30 respondent agree that they are too busy to share knowledge.
Additionally, it is shown from findings that 13 respondent strongly disagree while 41
respondents disagree that they are rewarded for sharing knowledge among the organization
employees. Rewards programs are of fundamental relevance in every successful organization. It

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is used in a bid to reinforce and enhance the values of an organization, promoting an outstanding
performance and through acknowledging a role model behavior (Nazir et al. 2016, pp.596-619).
Information technology offers various functionalities which are essential in knowledge
management. While IT is considered as one of the greatest enablers of an organization’s
knowledge management, it is not taken serious by FCTG. This is demonstrated by the findings in
table 4. The modal value is 36 showing that majority admitted that the organization does not
effectively utilize the potential of information system in knowledge management. 6 participants
strongly disagree while 43 participants disagree that they are provided with training on how to
use the knowledge tools. Additionally, 6 respondents strongly disagree as 44 respondents agree
that the knowledge system in place provide them with the correct information.
The last analysis involved one dependent variable. The findings confirm that there is poor
knowledge management in the organization. 13 participants strongly agree while 56 respondents
agree that the knowledge management is poor. As shown, the lack of knowledge management
can cost an organization. As such, it is imperative that the organization find out solutions to solve
these questions in order to restore their usual customer retention rate.
The second question, on the other hand, is concerned with solution to the problems
identified. For the organization to overcome the challenges, FlightCenter needs an extra effort on
the knowledge management sector. The organization should focus on knowledge sharing or
collaboration as well as knowledge source. In the competitive business environment, an
organization employees that value knowledge sharing, collaboration can promise a significant
benefit to the organization. Additionally, FCTG can solve the challenges involving cultural
issues by rewarding its employees for every valuable act i.e. knowledge sharing. Most
importantly, FCTG should focus on its information system. Information system plays a critical

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role as a catalyst for knowledge management. The information system is capable to assist experts
and knowledge seekers who are engaged in various types of knowledge acquisition processes.
Moreover, sharing knowledge requires sufficient time and passion and therefore should
be given its own time (Mao, Liu, Zhang, and Deng, 2016, pp.1062-1074). Trainings on
knowledge sharing skills is important and many respondents were for the of job training for
better performance of the job. Just in other cases, nobody totally agreed with this suggestion
though seemed to be very significant to most respondents. Sharing of knowledge requires a lot of
time and willingness. People should get acknowledged when they happen to share knowledge at
any level. The modal value of 34 suggests that many people were positive on the sharing of
knowledge at any level.
According to the respondents on the first part of the questionnaire, everybody should
always take part in decision making. 64 respondents encourage leaders to encourage individuals
to share any new or modified knowledge within and across teams rather than bringing
communities together to share knowledge among teams and peers. Existence of a very well
organized process of sharing knowledge and horizontal implementation of knowledge across
organizations seemed to be strange to most respondents. There is no central place where all the
knowledge needed is created and stored. However, a larger number of 60 respondents suggested
that everyone within a given organization should take part in knowledge sharing. A
recommendation of everybody being responsible for knowledge sharing based on the mean and
mode can be very effective to FCTG.
Various respondents should be availed with tools for sharing knowledge though many
respondents could not agree or disagree with the idea that when they are provided with tools for
managing knowledge then they can perform their jobs better. Most of they also insisted that the

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quality of knowledge cannot improve only because of the systems of performing knowledge.
They added that the systems can only help them to improve knowledge shared since they will be
given correct information. Half of the respondents supported the fact that the systems used to
manage knowledge are capable of reflecting the changes that are experienced in the business
process as well as the needs of customers. According to most of them, the knowledge systems
that they were provided with were not difficult to operate and therefore there was no need of
being trained to use them.
One should not fear to acquire other people’s knowledge and experience for personal
benefit since there is much trust among those who work within the same organization according
to the respondents. However, knowledge might not flow seamlessly across all the teams that
actively function within an organization (Paulin and Suneson, 2015, pp. 73). According the
respondents, not everyone usually participate in discussions that involve team members and
therefore not every individual gives open ideas on sharing knowledge based on communication
culture. In fact, many insisted that most people do not easily expose the knowledge they have
that does not exist in an organization reason though they suggested that teams within an
organization do not compete always to oppose each other.
More than half of the respondents agreed that there exist poor practices of managing knowledge
in FlightCentre Travel Group (FCTG). The finding in table 5 above show that there are issues
regarding knowledge management as confirmed by 56 respondents. It therefore implies that the
organization should focus on knowledge management being that it is a fundamental factor in
increasing customer retention (Hislop, Bosua and Helms, 2018, pp.53).

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References
Hislop, D., Bosua, R. and Helms, R., 2018. Knowledge management in organizations: A critical
introduction. Oxford University Press, pp.53.
Zamir, Z.B. and Park, I., 2017. The Impact of Knowledge Capture and Knowledge Sharing on
Employees’ Outcomes, pp.34-79.
Nazir, S., Shafi, A., Qun, W., Nazir, N. and Tran, Q.D., 2016. Influence of organizational
rewards on organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Employee Relations, 38(4),
pp.596-619.
Mao, H., Liu, S., Zhang, J. and Deng, Z., 2016. Information technology resource, knowledge
management capability, and competitive advantage: The moderating role of resource
commitment. International Journal of Information Management, 36(6), pp.1062-1074.
Masa’deh, R.E., Shannak, R., Maqableh, M. and Tarhini, A., 2017. The impact of knowledge
management on job performance in higher education: The case of the University of
Jordan. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 30(2), pp.244-262.
Nonaka, I. and Toyama, R., 2015. The knowledge-creating theory revisited: knowledge creation
as a synthesizing process. In The essentials of knowledge management (pp. 95-110). Palgrave
Macmillan, London.
Paulin, D. and Suneson, K., 2015. Knowledge transfer, knowledge sharing and knowledge
barriers–three blurry terms in KM. Leading Issues in Knowledge Management, 2(2), p.73.